Jean-Baptiste Lully

Jean-Baptiste Lully

Source: Wikipedia

Although born in Florence, Italy, on 28 or 29 November 1632, Jean-Baptiste Lully fairly represents French baroque in full bloom. By the time his compositions began to surface baroque had been around for half a century since its fountains in Italy. Though conceived in Florence, Lully made a point of being a French composer by once stating "Italy? Never heard of it." The largest body of his works were intermedes (music inserted between acts or written into another composer's work such as a ballet), ballets du cour (court ballets), sacred motets grand and petit, and operas. Among ballets were his French overtures as well as the comédie-ballet with playwright, Jean-Baptiste Molière.

Originally named Giovanni Battista Lulli, Lully learned guitar and violin as a youth from a Franciscan friar. In 1646 Charles, Duke of Guise, saw Lully play violin at Mardi Gras and took him to Paris to serve his niece, Mademoiselle de Montpensier (Duchess of Montpensier), as chamber boy, also working in the scullery. He meanwhile assisted her with conversational Italian. Broadly around the time of the engraving below Lully was about age twenty and in his last of six years of service to La Grande Mademoiselle.

Duchess of Montpensier aka La Grande Mademoiselle

Engraving by Gilbert de Seve   1552

Source: Wikipedia

As a skilled musician, Lully was soon studying keyboard under Nicolas Gigault and Francois Roberday. Examining theory with Nicolas Métru, he also performed with the court's musicians. He is later quoted as saying that he learned everything he needed to know about music by age seventeen while in the service of Mlle. de Montpensier. During that period he collaborated with Du Moutier on the ballet, 'Mascarade de la foire de St-Germain'. That premiered at the Palais des Tuileries at the Grande Mademoiselle on March 7, 1652, and is the first dated work by Lully in the Wikipedia directory of compositions. This work isn't assigned an LWV (Lully-Werke-Verzeichnis) number.

Lully left his position at Montpensier in October of 1652 [Whent], not wishing to follow his matron into rural exile, her life in danger due the Fronde rebellions of 1648-59. Which is one version. The other is that he was dismissed for writing "scurrilous" verse. Either way or combination thereabout, in 1653 Lully met fifteen year-old Louis XIV, the pair dancing together in a ballet, upon which he became court composer of instrumental music. Lully's LWV 1 is from 'Ballet du temps' of 1654, believed to be his first work for Louis. 'Ballet du Temps', commonly listed in catalogues as 'Le Temps', has for its theme 23 aspects of time such as the moment, the minute, the hour, the week, the year, the century, the past, the present and the future. These were each to be danced by various including himself and his intimate circle of Louis (as the Golden Age), Moliere and future father-in-law, Michel Lambert, employed at the court as a singer and whose daughter, Madeleine, Lully would marry in 1662. Composing pieces for dance in which Louis took roles would become common. The Sun King had already made his debut as a dancer at age fourteen in the role of Apollo (sun god) in Isaac de Benserade's 'Ballet Royal de la Nuit' premiering on 13 February 1653. That was a thirteen-hour marathon with music by Jean de Cambefort, Jean-Baptiste Boesett and Louis de Mollier.

King Louis XIV as Jupiter

Painting by Charles Poerson   1555

Louis around age 17   Lully around age 23

Source: Wikipedia

Melodies in 'Ballet du Temps' with librettos by Benserade were composed by Lully, Cambefort, Boesett and Mollier. The only piece that Lully wrote for certain is the second part of 7e Entrée 'L'este' which is noted as "Pour les mesmes" ("For the same") [see Opera Baroque]. This is likely 'Air pour l'Esté et ses suivants' (below) which Portman also identifies as Lully's only certain contribution to 'Ballet du Temps'. 'L'este' is capitalized to "L'Este' in most sources. I'm not able to translate to what Lully's 'L'este' refers. Guessing in the vicinity of "east" or "summer" are wild swings perhaps not even near. Assuming 'L'Este' to point in some way to Italy's House of Este could well be in error as well, so I leave its meaning herein a mystery but that it is themed to time or a time. Be as may, it is reported that Louis wasn't particularly fond of 'Ballet du Temps', receiving only four performances in November and December of 1654 before its retirement. LWV numbers are from Herbert Schneider's 1981 'Chronologisch-Thematisches Verzeichnis sämtlicher Werke von Jean-Baptiste Lully'.

Part 2 of 'L'esté'   From LWV 1   Air for ballet by Jean-Baptiste Lully

From 'Ballet du Temps'

Prob the 2nd part ("Pour les mesmes") of 7e Entrée 'L'este'

Premiere 30 Nov 1654 & 3 Dec 1654

For performance by Louis XIV and musical members of his court including Lully

Aradia Baroque Ensemble conducted by Kevin Mallon   1998

One thing you might see in a scene in a movie about Louis XIV is the minuet, brought to Earth by Lully, though some think it originated in the province of Poitou. The tempo of minuets was generally quicker for theatrical works than for slower disciplined dance also popular with Louis. Lully composed some 92 theatrical minuets. Johann Sebastian Bach and George Handel later included minuets in suites, and Mozart's first composition at age six was a minuet. It developed into the scherzo with Beethoven. Lully's initial minuet appeared in 'Ballet de la Raillerie' premiering on 19 February 1659 at Louis' court. He then used it in his 'Ballet de l’Impatience' with text by Buti premiering at Louvre on 19 February 1661.

When Louis began governing in 1661 Lully officially became a French subject and musical director for the royal family, at which point his compositions were automatically published. In 15 years Lully had climbed from humble positions in a royal household, albeit that of a duchess up there in the face cards, to a plateau where there was no higher a musician could go, except to now begin a decade-long collaboration with the playwright, Molière. In 1661 Lully wrote a courante for Moliere's comedy, 'Les Fâcheux', added after its premiere sometime in latter 1661. Come their comic opera in 1663 titled 'L'Impromptu de Versailles'. 'Le Mariage Forcé' arrived in 1664. Lully's 'Menuet pour le trompettes' below is from the comic opera, 'George Dandin', with text by Moliere premiering on 15 July 1668 at Versailles (Louis' court). Moliere wrote the text for 'Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme' premiering on 14 October 1670. Their last collaboration was 'Psyché' in 1671.

'Courante'  From LWV 16   Courante by Jean-Baptiste Lully

Added to Moliere's 'Les Fâcheux' after its premiere in 1661

David Rogers / Joanna Blendulf / Laura Zaerr   2013

'Récit de la beauté'   From LWV 20   Jean-Baptiste Lully

From 'Le Mariage Forcé' premiering at the Palais du Louvre in Paris 29 Jan 1664

Text: Molière

Mezzo-soprano Marie-Claude Chappuis   Lute: Luca Pianca

'Menuet pour le trompettes'   From LWV 38   Minuet by Jean-Baptiste Lully

From comic opera 'George Dandin' w text by Molière

Premiere at Versailles 15 July 1668

Le Concert des Nations / Jordi Savall

Lully began writing ouvertures as preliminary introductions to operas. These are the French overture which would see employment as preparatory pieces by such as Purcell, JS Bach, Händel and Telemann. Alessandro Scarlatti's more common Italian overture arrived only slightly later, his brand of orchestral overture to become customary to compose as a work in itself apart from and usually following its corresponding opera as an abridged symphonic instrumental.

'Ouverture' to 'Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme'   From LWV 43   Jean-Baptiste Lully

Premiere 14 October 1670 w text by Molière

Le Concert des Nations / Jordi Savall

'Ouverture' to 'Psyché'   From LWV 45   Jean-Baptiste Lully

Five-act play w text by Molière et al premiering 19 April 1671

Capriccio Stravagante Orchestra / Skip Sempé

'Le bourgeois gentilhomme' of 1670 and 'Psyche' of 1671 were Lully's last collaborations with Moliere. A falling out between them occurred in 1672 upon Lully becoming director of the Académie Royale de Musique, that is, royal opera, with various stipulations causing Moliere to begin working with Charpentier instead. Now focusing on tragic opera, Lully wrote nigh one per year until his passing in 1687. His first was 'Cadmus et Hermione' premiering in Paris on 7 April 1673 with a libretto by by Philippe Quinault after Ovid's 9th century 'Metamorphoses'. The minuet from 'Cadmus et Hermione' below is an instrumental inserted between two strophes of 'Amant aymez vos chaines' ('Lover love your chains') referred to in the score as "menuet chanté" ("sung minuet").

Minuet from 'Amant aymez vos chaines'   From LWV 49   Jean-Baptiste Lully

From first tragic opera 'Cadmus et Hermione'

Premiere on 27 April 1673 by the Paris Opera at the Jeu de paume de Béquet

Le Poème Harmonique / Vincent Dumestre

'Ouverture' to 'Atys'   From LWV 53   Fourth tragic opera by Jean-Baptiste Lully

Opera w text by Philippe Quinault after Ovid's 9th century 'Fasti'

Premiere 19 April 1678 at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal

Les Arts Florissants

'Isis'   LWV 54   Fifth tragic opera by Jean-Baptiste Lully

Text by Philippe Quinault

Premiere 5 January 1677 at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye

Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset

Lully's 'Te Deum laudamus' ('Thee, O God, we praise') of 1677 is an anonymous hymn included in the Ambrosian Rite which hymns were assembled in the fourth century by Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, who authored some of them.

'Te Deum'   LWV 55   Grand motet by Jean-Baptiste Lully   1677

Musica Florea / Marek Štryncl   2012

'Ouverture' to 'Psyché'   From LWV 56   Sixth tragic opera by Jean-Baptiste Lully

Opera w text by Thomas Corneille premiering 19 April 1678

Capriccio Stravagante Orchestra / Skip Sempé

'Ouverture' to 'Armide'   From LWV 71   Thirteenth tragic opera by Jean-Baptiste Lully

Lully's final complete opera premiering c 15-18 Jan 1684 at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal

Libretto by Philippe Quinault

Les Talens Lyriques / Christophe Rousset   2015   Issued 2017

Lully's opera, 'Roland', premiered on 8 January 1685, around which time Lully fell into scandal with a musical page by name Brunet. Despite marriage to Madeleine Lambert in 1662, Lully had long been known to be bisexual as among a royal underground surrounding Philippe I, Duke of Orléans and transvestite brother to Louis XIV which crossed sexual boundaries.

Duke of Orleans Philip I

Painting by anonymous   c 1554

In costume for coronation of brother Louis XIV on 7 June 1654

Philippe age 13   Louis age 15   Lully age 25

Source: Wikipedia

Louis himself was heterosexual and less than tolerant of homosexuality depending on who you were. What a brother might do was less his affair than if a son in which case he definitely disapproved. As for Lully, Louis had counted him among true friends ever since he was a teenager. Lully's sexual predilections and activities had long since been nothing new but gone ignored as they continued. Louis' wife, however, being Madame de Maintenon, was a yet more conservative force in line with the Church, and homosexuality was discouraged in France, despite Philippe, by being at least officially a capital offense. The Brunet affair was the scale-tipping event which found Louis thereafter making distance between himself and Lully, now beginning the brief period of Lully's demise which many thought he had coming for multiple ethical reasons ever since his break with Moliere in 1671. Yet Lully's musical genius, not to mention long friendship with Louis, always found his career in solid standing. Now finally shunned by the Sun King himself, the last couple years of Lully's works were written in social decline from when he was the cock of the roost of French music.

'Idylle sur le Paix' ('Idyll on Peace')   LWV 68   Divertissement by Jean-Baptiste Lully

Setting to poem by Jean Racine premiering 16 July 1685

Ludovice Ensemble directed by Fernando Miguel Jalôto

'Domine salvum fac regem' ('Lord, save the king') is a setting to Psalm 19 of the Vulgate composed by Jean Mouton for the coronation of King François I in 1515. This became customary to append to the end of the Mass in Catholic France and was used as the French royal anthem until the French Revolution of 1789. Among Lully's latest works was another version of 'Domine salvum fac regem' in 1687 in honor of Louis now dislodged from so favorable support of him after decades of friendship.

'Domine salvum fac regem'   No.14 of LWV 77   Petit motet by Jean-Baptiste Lully

Version of Jean Mouton's 'Domine salvum fac regem' of 1515

Composed for three voices w continuo

Les Dames du Port-royal / Martin Robidoux  / Chapelle Royale de Versailles / 19 May 2011

In 1687 Lully managed to accidentally puncture his foot with a conducting wand during a performance celebrating Louis' recovery from recent surgery, then died of gangrene in Paris on 22 March 1687. He had completed the ouverture and music for Act 1 of the tragic opera, 'Achille et Polyxène'. The prologue and other four acts were finished by Pascal Collasse toward premiere on 22 March 1687. By the time of Lully's passing so had Italy's dominance of baroque, the style spread by then to Northern Europe not only in France but Germany by such as his older contemporary Rosenmüller.