Arts Desk

Ouch! The Mortal Misstep Of The Sun King's Composer

WRTI Your Classical and Jazz Source

Published March 26, 2017 at 10:05 PM EDT

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Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687), the influential French Baroque composer/conductor in the court of Louis XIV, had an unusual demise. Some conductors in the Baroque era conducted with rolled up scores.

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According to Professor Steven Zohn, it was common for Baroque composer/conductors to conduct with a large pole like the one pictured here, pounding it on the floor to keep the players together.

Falling off the podium or into the orchestra pit weren’t the occupational hazards befalling French Baroque composer Jean-Baptiste Lully - but his was no less risky. Temple University Professor Steven Zohn, an expert in Baroque music, recounts the conducting move that led to Lully’s death.

Zohn says Lully, who first came to the attention of King Louis XIV as a dancer, profited from his relationship with the monarch - and his power over the musical facets of the royal court became wider and wider.

He’s best-known for his operas, and enjoyed a monopoly on stage productions. His death in 1687 at the age of 54 opened the door for the next generation of aspiring French composers to create operas, with Lully’s approach to the new genre as a starting point.

Lully's Chaconne from PHAETON

http://youtu.be/vK5T92co2h0

From the 2000 film Le Roi Danse - warning, slightly gory!

http://youtu.be/u8RJvzOj7PM

Lully031714MDLF.mp3

Professor Steven Zohn of Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance talks more about Lully’s life and death, the current resurgence of his operas and other music, and his monopoly on early French opera.