Lully, Jean-Baptiste
Period: Baroque
Born: Sunday, November 28, 1632 in Florence, Italy
Died: Saturday, March 22, 1687 in Paris, France
Nation of Origin: Italy/France
Major Works:
Opera:
Armide et Rénaud (1686)
Comedy-Ballets:
Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (1670)
Other Information:
Quick Facts
- Blended ballet and drama to produce the "tragedy lyrique".
- Composed operas on mythological themes with interludes of dancing and singing.
- Elaborate ballet scenes and choruses
- Innovative: used exact notation and proper French declamation in recitative.
- Established the first permanent orchestra in Europe consisting of 24 strings.
- His orchestrations used a 5-part string texture with more woodwinds (especially solo writing for the oboe and bassoon) than was common at the time. He is credited with the birth of the orchestral ensemble.
- He created the French overture, originally just the opening music for the opera, it developed into an independent form. The French overture is in two parts (slow-homophonic followed by fast-contrapuntal).
General Bibliography:
Bukofzer, Manfred F., Music in the Baroque Era, from Monteverdi to Bach, W.W. Norton & Company, November 1947, ISBN: 0393097455
Palisca, Claude V. Baroque Music, Prentice Hall, December 1990, ISBN: 0130584967
Slonimsky, Nicolas and Kuhn, Laura; Editors, Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Gale Group, December 2000, ISBN: 0028655257
Sadie, Stanley and Tyrrell, John; Editors, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Groves Dictionaries, Inc., January 2004, ISBN: 0195170679
Rutherford-Johnson, Tim, Kennedy, Michael, and Kennedy, Joyce The Oxford Dictionary of Music, Oxford University Press, 6th Edition, 2012, ISBN: 0199578109
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