Jean-Baptiste Lully
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![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/66/Jean-Baptiste_Lully_1.jpeg/220px-Jean-Baptiste_Lully_1.jpeg) |
Born
| 28 November 1632
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Died
| 22 March 1687
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Occupation
| Composer
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Jean-Baptiste Lully
(pronounce: "Loo-lee"), (born
Florence
, 28 November 1632; died
Paris
, 22 March 1687), was an
Italian
composer
,
violinist
and
dancer
who spent most of his life working in the court of
Louis XIV of France
. He took on French
nationality
in 1661. He was the most important
French
composer of his time. Lully realized that music in the Italian style was not suitable for the French language, so he composed his operas in a special way. He created the tradition of French opera. He also wrote a lot of
ballet
music and some
church
music.
Lully was born in
Florence
,
Italy
. Lully did not have much
education
. He taught himself a lot of what he could do. He learned to play the
guitar
and the
violin
and to
dance
.
In 1646 he was taken to
France
where he was given a job teaching
Italian
to a
Duchess
. He had the opportunity to hear a lot of good music, and, by the time he was 20, he was an excellent composer,
violinist
and dancer.
He started to work for
Louis XIV
in 1652. He composed some music for the
Ballet de la Nuit
(Night Ballet). The king liked it very much. He became composer of instrumental music to the king. His orchestra (called
Grande Bande
, i.e.
large band
) had 24 violins. They were not very good, so he got the king’s permission to start another group which he called
Petits Violons
(
Little Violins
). There were 16 in the group (later it became 21), and Lully trained them properly. He did not let them put too many
ornaments
in the music.
He became a Frenchman in 1661. The next year he became Music Master to the Royal Family and he also married. The king and queen signed the marriage document, so Lully was obviously an important man.
Lully composed lots of ballets for the King during the 1650s and 1660s. He was one of the dancers in these ballets. The king also danced. He worked with the great
playwright
Moliere
, composing music for Moliere’s
comedies
. These include
Le Mariage force
(1664),
L'Amour medecin
(1665), and
Le Bourgeois gentilhomme
(1670). Together with Moliere he created the
Comedie-Ballet
which became a great French tradition.
When the king got older he could not dance and so he became less interested in ballet. So Lully became more interested in composing operas. He earned a lot of money from this, because there was an arrangement with the king that Lully would have complete control of any music that was published in France. Lully had become a very powerful man, and many other musicians did not like this. There were a lot of arguments, especially when Lully did not allow music in
puppet
shows.
Lully had lots of successes in his life. He also had many love affairs,
with men and women
. There were several
scandals
, but the king always forgave him because he was a great friend.
[1]
·
[2]
·
.
[3]
Late in 1686 the king had been ill, but he got better, so he asked Lully to organize a concert to celebrate the fact that he was well again. The concert was given on 8 January 1687. The orchestra played a
Te Deum
. Lully conducted the orchestra. Conductors did not yet use
batons
(sticks) in those days. Instead, Lully banged a big stick on the floor to keep the orchestra together. Suddenly, he hit his
toe
with his stick. The
wound
in the toe got an
infection
. The infection later became
gangrene
. He did not want the doctors to cut off his toe. The infection spread to the rest of the body, and he died on 22 March from gangrene.
Lully was rich when he died. He left 800.000
livres
. He had five houses in Paris as well as two country houses.
Lully lived in the middle of the
Baroque period
. He liked fast, lively music, especially music that could be danced to. He changed people’s taste in musical style. He used a lot of instruments that had not been used in orchestras before. His friendship with
Moliere
resulted in a new musical form, the
comedie-ballet
which combined theatre, comedy, and ballet.
Lully also created the style of French opera called
tragedie en musique
or
tragedie lyrique
. Instead of having his opera music divided into
recitatives
and
arias
he often combined the two so that events in the story happened quickly.