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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687)

Composer of the Week: Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687): Episode 1: An Italian in Paris

Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687)

Episode 1

Episode 1: An Italian in Paris

An Italian in Paris

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687), An Italian in Paris

Donald Macleod explores how Lully came to be Louis XIV's favourite composer.

How a Florentine peasant's son came to be the Sun King's favourite composer.

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 arrogant, ambitious, 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, the teenage Lully bumps into a French aristocrat in the Tuscan capital and in an incredible lucky break is whisked off to Paris to teach Italian to Anne-Marie-Louise d'Orléans, a cousin of the king. Lully's talent for dancing provided him with his next lucky break, when he was chosen to take part in a court ballet. The young Louis XIV - six years younger than Lully and himself a skilful dancer - was so impressed by the Italian's moves that he poached him from his cousin's household. Lully now proved that he could write the tunes as well as dance to them, and a court appointment followed, as 'composer of instrumental music' to the king. By the time of Louis's dynastic marriage to Maria Theresa of Spain, Lully had become an indispensable part of the French court's well-oiled musical machine, and in 1661 he was created Superintendent of the King's Chamber Music. Around the same time, he became a naturalized Frenchman, and got married - perhaps partly to dispel the rumours that were beginning to circulate about his sexuality.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Jean-Baptiste Lully

Donald Macleod explores the work of Lully, the pre-eminent composer of the French court in the late 17th century, the founding father of French opera and a leading figure in the music of his era

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Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687)

Episode 1: An Italian in Paris

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