Lully, Jean-Baptiste

Lully, Jean-Baptiste
orig. Giovanni Battista Lulli

born Nov. 28, 1632, Florence
died March 22, 1687, Paris, France

Italian-born French composer.

He was made a ward of the court after his mother died and was sent to a noble French household at age 13 as valet. There he learned guitar, organ, violin, and dancing and came to know the composer Michel Lambert (1610–96), who introduced him to society and later became his father-in-law. Lully became a dancer and musician for the king and at age 30 was put in charge of all royal music. In the 1660s he composed the incidental music for Molière's plays as well as those of France's great tragedians. In the early 1670s he obtained the sole patent to present opera and produced the series of "lyric tragedies"
most with librettos by Philippe Quinault (1635–88)
for which he is known, including Alceste (1674), Atys (1676), and Armide (1686). The orchestra he developed was an important forerunner of the modern orchestra. A self-inflicted injury to his toe with his heavy conducting stick led to his death. His style of composition was imitated throughout Europe.

* * *

▪ French composer
Italian  Giovanni Battista Lulli  
born Nov. 29, 1632, Florence [Italy]
died March 22, 1687, Paris, France
 Italian-born French court and operatic composer who from 1662 completely controlled French court music and whose style of composition was imitated throughout Europe.

      Born of Italian parents, Lully gallicized his name when he became a naturalized Frenchman. His early history is obscure, but he probably was taken to France by the Duke de Guise. He entered the service of Mlle de Montpensier and became a member of her string ensemble but was dismissed for having composed some scurrilous verses and music. He joined the court violin ensemble of Louis XIV in 1652 or 1653 and soon became composer of dance music to the king and leader of the newly formed Petit-Violons du Roi. In 1658 he began to compose music for the court ballets, and from 1664 to 1670 he collaborated with Molière in such works as Le Mariage forcé, La Princesse d'Élide, and Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. From 1672 until the time of his death he worked with the librettist Philippe Quinault on operatic and ballet works varying from the classical Atys (1676) and Isis (1677) to the heroic Roland (1685) and the pastoral Le Temple de la paix (1685). He died of an infected wound in his foot caused by his long conducting stick.

      Lully was a man of insatiable ambition whose rise from violinist in Louis XIV's court band was meteoric and was accomplished by brazen and merciless intrigue. He held royal appointments as musical composer to the king (from 1661) and as music master to the royal family (from 1662). He then acquired from Pierre Perrin and Robert Cambert their patents of operatic production, and by 1674 no opera could be performed anywhere in France without Lully's permission. In 1681 he received his lettres de nationalisation and his lettres de noblesse. He also became one of the secrétaires du roi, a privilege usually held only by the French aristocracy.

      At the outset Lully's operatic style was thought similar to that of the Italian masters Francesco Cavalli and Luigi Rossi. He quickly assimilated the contemporary French idiom, however, and is credited with creating a new and original style. In his ballets he introduced new dances, such as the minuet, and used a higher proportion of quicker ones, such as the bourrée, gavotte, and gigue; he also introduced women dancers to the stage. The texts in most of his ballets and all his operas were French. His operas were described as “tragedies set to music,” owing to their highly developed dramatic and theatrical aspects.

      Lully established the form of the French overture. He replaced the recitativo secco style favoured by the Italians with an accompanied recitative noted for its great rhythmic freedom and careful word setting. He developed a style of declamation that was well-suited to the French language; this innovation led to a lessening of the demarcation between the recitative and the aria, so that French opera acquired much more continuity. The arias themselves, however, retain many Italian characteristics. Each is written in a particular style and mood: chanson à couplets, air-complainte (arioso), and air déclamé. His operas frequently end with a chaconne movement, and in this he was followed by both Jean-Philippe Rameau and Christoph Gluck.

      Among Lully's other works are many sacred compositions, including the famous Miserere and a number of motets; dances for various instruments; suites for trumpets and strings, a form that became very popular in England during the Stuart Restoration (from 1660); and the Suites de Symphonies et Trios.

Additional Reading
Joyce Newman, Jean-Baptiste de Lully and His Tragédies Lyriques (1979); Caroline Wood, Music and Drama in the Tragédie en Musique, 1673–1715: Jean-Baptiste Lully and His Successors (1996); John Hajdu Heyer (ed.), Lully Studies (2000).

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Lully, Jean-Baptiste — • Article profiles the composer s secular and religious contributions Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006 …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Lully, Jean-Baptiste — (1632 1687)    composer    Born in Florence, Italy, Giovanni Battista Lulli, or Jean Baptiste Lully, as he is known, came to France at age 14 and, in 1652, entered the service of King louis XIV as a violinist and dancer. He later conducted one of …   France. A reference guide from Renaissance to the Present

  • Lully,Jean Baptiste — Lul·ly (lo͞o lēʹ, lŭ ), Jean Baptiste. 1632 1687. Italian born French composer. He was court composer to Louis XIV, founding the national French opera and producing court ballets for Molière s plays. * * * …   Universalium

  • Lully, Jean-Baptiste — orig. Giovanni Battista Lulli (28 nov. 1632, Florencia–22 mar. 1687, París, Francia). Compositor francés de origen italiano. A los 13 años, tras la muerte de su madre, quedó bajo tutela y fue enviado como criado a una residenciade nobles… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Lully, Jean-Baptiste — (29 November 1632, Florence – 22 March 1687, Paris)    Renowned for fusing Italian opera techniques with French choral traditions to produce the tragédie lyrique for the royal court of Louis XIV, his 12 grands motets also exploited homo phonic… …   Historical dictionary of sacred music

  • Lully, Jean-Baptiste — Lulli, Gian Battista …   Sinonimi e Contrari. Terza edizione

  • Jean Baptiste Lully — (ursprünglich Giovanni Battista Lulli; * 28. November 1632 in Florenz; † 22. März 1687 in Paris) war ein Komponist italienischer Herkunft, der den größten Teil seines Lebens für den Hof Ludwigs XIV. arbeitete. Er wurde 1661 französischer Bürger.… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Jean-Baptiste Lulli — Jean Baptiste Lully « Lully » redirige ici. Pour les autres significations, voir Lully (homonymie). Jean Baptiste Lully Giovanni Battista Lulli …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Jean-baptiste lully — « Lully » redirige ici. Pour les autres significations, voir Lully (homonymie). Jean Baptiste Lully Giovanni Battista Lulli …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Jean Baptiste Lully — « Lully » redirige ici. Pour les autres significations, voir Lully (homonymie). Jean Baptiste Lully Giovanni Battista Lulli …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”