Jean-baptiste Lully, French Composer

Title

Jean-baptiste Lully, French Composer

Artist

Science Source

Medium

Photograph - Photograph

Description

Jean-Baptiste Lully (born Giovanni Battista Lulli November 28, 1632 - March 22, 1687) was an Italian-born French composer, instrumentalist, and dancer who spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. He is considered the chief master of the French baroque style and disavowed any Italian influence in French music of the period. He became a French subject in 1661. His music was written during the Middle Baroque period, 1650 to 1700. Typical of Baroque music is the use of the basso continuo as the driving force behind the music. His music is known for its power, liveliness in its fast movements and its deep emotional character in its slower movements. Some of his most popular works are his passacailles (passacaglias) and chaconnes, which are dance movements found in many of his works. The influence of Lully's music produced a radical revolution in the style of the dances of the court itself. In the place of the slow and stately movements which had prevailed until then, he introduced lively ballets of rapid rhythm, often based on well-known dance types such as gavottes, menuets, rigaudons and sarabandes. Through his collaboration with playwright Molière, a new music form emerged during the 1660s the comédie-ballet which combined theater, comedy, incidental music and ballet. The popularity of these plays, with their sometimes lavish special effects, and the success and publication of Lully's operas and its diffusion beyond the borders of France, played a crucial role in synthesizing, consolidating and disseminating orchestral organization, scorings, performance practices, and repertory. During a performance of his Te Deum to celebrate Louis XIV's recovery from surgery, Lully seriously injured himself when he struck his foot with his long conducting staff. Refusing to have his leg amputated, so he could still dance, gangrene spread through his body and ultimately caused his death in 1687 at the age of 54.

Uploaded

August 3rd, 2015

Statistics

Viewed 465 Times  -  Last Visitor from Fairfield, CT on 04/27/2024 at 2:33 PM

Colors

Embed

Sales Sheet