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Phaëton
Suite (arr. Berensen).Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687)
5.
Marche
7.
Petit Air
8.
Chaconne
When
he was a young boy, Giovanni Baptista Lulli’s Italian mother died and he
was taken to France to work as a servant in the home of a rich aristocrat.
Whilst he was there, he studied guitar, violin, dance and keyboard. He
became known as a dancer, and was eventually named the composer of King
Louis XIV's instrumental music. His responsibilities later grew to include
conducting operas and other music events for the court.
It
was impossible for his contemporaries to perform in ensembles larger than
a handful of musicians due to his strict control of the musical
establishment. Indeed there was no opera performed other than his own
compositions, and it is from one of these tragedies lyrique, Phaëton
(1683) that these pieces come from. In this opera and all French art from
this period the sun-god is an allegory for Louis XIV, Le Roi Soleil.
Lully
died in a very unusual way--from a conducting accident! He used a wooden
staff to beat the time on the floor; however Lully one day hit his foot
instead of the floor. The injury was mistreated, gangrene set in, and he
later died from the infection.
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