Nationality:
Italian
Born:
Florence,
November 29th
1632
Died:
Paris,
March 22nd
1687
Type
of music: Opera, Court
ballets, comedy ballets
Main
works: 36
court ballets, 14 comedy ballets, 16 'tragedies-lyriques'
Although
born in Italy, Lully would eventually become the founder of French
opera and would eventually become Naturalised in France. At the age
of 13 his talent for singing was recognised and he was taken to Paris
and employed as a pageboy to a relative of the royal family. He was a
talented violinist and was eager to climb to the social ladder,
quickly attaining his first royal appointment writing music for court
ballets under King Louis XIV.
Lully
then collaborated with the playwright Moliere (1622-1673), with whom
he wrote several comedy ballets with for court entertainment. Most
notably was the ballet 'Le bourgeious gentilhomme' in 1670.
in
1672 he attained a royal licence to import Italian opera and this
subsequently gave him near monopoly over operatic productions in
France. He opened his own opera house on a converted tennis court and
in the following year took residence in the theatre of the Palais
Royal.
Over
the next 14 years Lully and the poet Philippe Quinault (1635-1688)
created several operas together in the new style known as 'lyric
tragedies'. Examples of these are 'Alceste' in 1674 and 'Armide' in
1686. The texts were usually based on Mythology and folklore, and
the king and his audiences enjoyed them greatly.
"The
musician is to follow the poet's direction, only in my opinion, Lully
is to be exempted, who knows the passions and enters further into the
heart of man than the authors themselves”.
-
Seigneur de Saint-Evremond
Spotify
link for the Classical Cafe playlist:
https://play.spotify.com/user/1146446707/playlist/722kiKqGuaxYnbQqnjifAr
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