Today, Lully takes over the French operatic stage - literally.

Jean-Baptiste Lully is one of those figures who loom large in histories of music; much less so in concert and on disc. In fact he's probably best known as the victim of the worst conducting accident in history, whacking himself on the toe with the weighty staff he used, in those pre-baton days, to beat time. Tragically, time was up for Lully, and he died of a gangrenous infection, at the peak of his powers, a little over two months later. All this week, Donald Macleod explores the life and work of this ambitious, arrogant, difficult, ruthless but remarkable man who came from the backstreets of Florence to be the preeminent composer of the French court in the late 17th century, the founding father of French opera and one of the leading figures in the music of his era.

In today's programme, Lully belatedly goes into the opera business - as both poacher and gamekeeper. Not only does he write the first fully-fledged tragédies lyriques, but in a characteristically brazen move he buys the operatic 'privilege', giving him an absolute monopoly on the production of musical stage-works throughout France. Since he had fallen out with his erstwhile collaborator Molière, he was now in need of a librettist; he chose Philippe Quinault, like Lully, a man of humble origins. By this stage Lully had made a lot of enemies, and his early productions with Quinault faced a formidable cabal. At first they had the support of King Louis XIV, but that changed with their sixth collaboration, Isis - the tale of a beautiful nymph who was lusted over by Jupiter, much to the chagrin of his shrewish wife Juno. The fable was generally taken to be an allegory of court life, with Jupiter representing Louis; Isis corresponding to Marie-Elizabeth de Ludres, the latest young beauty at the court of Versailles to catch the king's eye; and Juno being an deeply unflattering portrait of Louis's chief mistress, Mme de Montespan. When the time of reckoning came, it was Quinault who took the hit; he was temporarily 'disgraced', while Lully continued to go about his business with impunity. Show less