Download Jean-Baptiste Lully (Giovanni Battista Lulli) (1632 – 1687

Jean-Baptiste Lully
(Giovanni Battista Lulli)
(1632 – 1687)
Biography
Jean-Baptiste de Lully, the Italian-born French composer, was one of
the prominent figures in French Baroque-style. His operas were
greatly admired and continued to be performed long after he was
gone.
Giovanni Battista Lulli was born in Florence, Grand Duchy of
Tuscany, to a family of a miller Lorenco di Maldo and his wife
Katerina del Sero.
The church of Saint
Lucia where Lully
were baptized
The plate which signs the place
where Lully was born
His general education and his musical training during his youth in Florence remain uncertain. He
used to say that a Franciscan friar gave him his first music lessons and taught him guitar. He also
learned to play the violin. In 1646, dressed as Harlequin during Mardi Gras and amusing
bystanders with his clowning and his violin, the boy attracted the attention of chevalier de Guise
who took the boy to Paris.
By February 1653 Lully had attracted the attention of young Louis XIV, dancing with him in the
Royal Ballet. By March 16, 1653, Lully had been made the royal composer for instrumental
music. In 1661 Louis XIV named Lully superintendent of the royal music and music master of
the royal family.
When he married the daughter of the renowned singer and composer Michel Lambert in 1662,
Giovanni Battista Lulli declared himself to be “Jean-Baptiste Lully, esquire”, son of “Laurent de
Lully, Florentine gentleman”. The latter assertion was an untruth.
Lully’s work belonged to the realm of theatre music. He composed music for more than 40
ballets as well as for entertainments in the theatre. The highly esteemed dramatist, Molière was
one of his confederates. In 1670, Molière’s comedy “The Parvenu” was performed with
incidental music by Lully. Even today, Lully’s music is often used in the performance of the
Molière play. Between 1672 and 1686, Lully produced twenty operas which speak of his
virtuosity in different styles and genres.
Lully died from gangrene, having struck his foot with his long conducting staff during a
performance of his “Te Deum” to celebrate Louis XIV's recovery from surgery. He was buried in
the church of Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, where his tomb with its marble bust can still be seen.
All three of his sons (Louis Lully, Jean-Baptiste Lully fils, and Jean-Louis Lully) had musical
careers as successive superintendents of the King's Music.
Creative works
Lully worked in different genres. He wrote music
for church and theatre.
Lully's grand motets were written for the royal
chapel, usually for vespers or for the king's daily
low mass.
As composer of instrumental music for the King's
chamber, Lully wrote overtures, dances, dancelike songs, descriptive instrumental pieces such
as combats, and parody-like recitatives with
Italian texts.
Lully composed music for the ballets “The
Mockery”, “The Impatience” and others.
Lully worked a lot with Molière. He wrote music for Molière’s plays like the comedy Nuisance”,
“Marriage captivity”, “Princess Elide”, “The Parvenu” and “Psyche”. Lully's operas were
described as “tragedies in music”. Some of his works like “Isis”, “Thesee”, “Armide”, and
“Atys” are few of the most brilliant pieces of operatic work.
Florence Influence
First of all, Lully was born in Florence and the Italian music was bred-in-the-bone.
The atmosphere of Florence Late Renaissance with its interest to the ancient heritage (Greek and
Roman myths) and its renovations of this heritage prepared the boy to his fortune of the great
innovating composer.
Almost everything in his surroundings pushed Lully to music.
As a little boy he played in the streets and watched the performances of street theatres. The
strolling actors used the traditions of the Comedy de Art with its humour, parodies for wellknown persons, colourful dresses and funny dances. In his performances Lully applied to the
traditions of the Italian Comedy de Art. Some of his characters are generalizing like the
characters of the Italian comedy. He used Italian texts for songs and recitatives in his operas.
Going to the mess and listening to motets the little boy absorbed the traditions of the medieval
church music. It is not surprising that he had his first musical education in a Florentine
Franciscan Monastery. Lully created a lot of church music using old and neo-Latin verses.
It was in Florence that Lully met his fortune, chevalier de Guise, who gave him the opportunity
to go to France, where Lully became famous.
In his composer career he used the tradition of the Italian music especially the Italian opera. But
his influence on the world music lies in the development of these traditions and creation of his
own style and the French opera.
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en.wilipedia.org›wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Lully
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it.wikipedia.org/.../Chiesa_di_Santa_Lucia_sul
www.unt.edu lully eference Lullfram.html
www.allmusic.com/.../jean-baptiste-lully-mn00
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