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Jean-Baptiste Lully was a dancer, violinist, composer, and impresario who cut an impressive yet intimidating figure in the Parisian court of King Louis XIV. Though born in Italy, Lully achieved immortal status as one of the most influential figures in all of French music history, eventually becoming a powerful symbol of France’s uniquely elegant approach to musical composition.

A purveyor of “pomp and circumstance” well before the age of Edward Elgar, Lully was renowned for his contributions to instrumental music, particularly his interludes, dances, and, perhaps most famously, his rhythmic overtures for larger dramatic works such as operas and ballets. These French ouvertures (literally, “openings”) were almost a genre unto themselves, and their two-part format—one slow, stately, and syncopated; one upbeat and contrapuntal—would become a gold standard of the Baroque era.

Having emigrated to Paris as a teen, Lully caught the eye of the king thanks to the young musician’s talents as both a violinist and ballet dancer. The two men promptly began an enduring friendship that would enable Lully to move up France’s musical and political ranks, amassing titles like “Composer of the King’s Instrumental Music” in 1653 and later becoming master of his very own orchestra. While at King Louis’s court, Lully would even join forces with French literary giant Molière to develop a new hybrid artform combining music, drama, and dance: the comédie-ballet.

But it was the opera that would elevate Lully to his greatest socio-political and artistic heights.

Opera in the 17th century was largely dominated by Italian voices, so much so that Lully himself felt the best operas could only ever be sung in Italian. By 1671, the composer remained skeptical that his adopted country could produce a successful native opera, believing the French language to be “unsuitable” for the nuances of operatic style.

That same year, however, Lully changed his mind after witnessing the public’s response to Robert Cambert’s Pomone (Pomona, 1671), a groundbreaking opera sung entirely in French. Inspired, Lully set out to reimagine Italian recitativo or recitative—opera’s driving dramatic force—so it could cater to French rhythms, phrasing, and verse. Soon the composer had his sights on an operatic empire that he would build alongside writer and frequent collaborator Jean-Philippe Quinault, all with the direct support of the king.

In an unprecedented bid for musical power, Lully leaned on his royal friendship to secure “exclusive” rights to produce operas in Louis XIV’s kingdom. This gave the composer veto privileges over any and all dramatic musical performances throughout the whole of France—meaning most operas would be composed by him and him alone. As a result, Lully was able to develop a vast repertoire at an astonishing rate (reportedly one opera per year): a portfolio that included Alceste (1674), Atys (1676), Isis (1677), Psyché (1678), and Armide (1686), each composed in partnership with Quinault as librettist.

Lully’s effective monopoly over French opera earned him several rivals at court, including one who, legend has it, tried to take the composer out by way of a poisoned snuffbox. Still, his actual death was arguably more gruesome than any vengeful palace murder. At the age of just 54, Lully succumbed to a gangrenous infection following a horrible accident in which he stabbed himself with a stick while trying to keep his orchestra in time.

Decades later, however, Lully’s name would transcend his untimely demise to become synonymous with the inherent beauty and proportional balance of his works. And, as newer, more dissonant musical styles began to take shape, those who championed conventional French music—music that was highly polished yet still emotionally affecting—were dubbed “Lullistes.”

Written by Eleni Hagen

Sources:

Buckley, Jonathan (ed.). Classical Music on CD: The Rough Guide. London: Rough Guides Ltd., 1994.

Grout, Donald Jay and Claude V. Palisca. A History of Western Music. 6th Edition. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 2001.

Riding, Alan and Leslie Dunton-Downer. DK Eyewitness Companions: Opera. New York, NY: DK Publishing, 2006.

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