Jean-Baptiste_Lully

Jean-Baptiste Lully Giovanni Battista Lulli was born on November 28, 1632. His father, Lorenzo di Maldo, was a miller and his mother, Caterina del Sera, was a miller’s daughter. Lully was born in Florence, Italy and lived there until age 11. While in Italy he studied dance and music; he played violin and guitar. In March of 1646 he moved to France to tutor Mlle de Montpensier in Italian. There he studied composition and harpsichord. Lully was able to hear the King’s grande bande perform, witness balls where the best French dance music was played. When Mlle de Montpensier was exiled from Paris, Lully was released from her service and gained the attention of King Louis XIV. In February 1653 he danced in “Ballet de la nuit” with the King and less than a month later was appointed the King’s “composituer de la musique instrumentale de Roi.” Over the next ten years Lully gained control over all the royal family’s court music. This is when he began experimenting with performance practices and changing the basic stylistic features of orchestral music. Lully’s “petits violons” brought him international fame. At this point lully, music, style, french, lully’s, opera, orchestra, new, italian, recitative, king, de, ballets, whole, language, changes, violons, time, scene, played, over, orchestral, one, musicians, lyriques, importance, europe, color, characteristics, began, ballet, action, years, tragédie, themes