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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 2: Les Deux Baptistes

Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687)

Episode 2

Episode 2: Les Deux Baptistes

Les Deux Baptistes

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687), Les Deux Baptistes

Donald Macleod focuses on Lully's collaboration with Moliere.

Donald Macleod focuses on Lully's collaboration with the greatest comic actor and playwright of his age, Moliere.

Today, Jean-Baptiste Lully collaborates with a second Jean-Baptiste: Poquelin, a.k.a. Molière.

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, a royal dictat throws Lully together with the greatest comic actor and playwright of his age: Molière. For seven years they enjoyed a close collaboration, producing a series of brilliant comédies-ballets culminating in Le bourgeois gentilhomme, which almost 250 years later inspired Richard Strauss to create his own music for Molière's play. Perhaps a creative relationship of such intensity was too hot not to cool down; for whatever reason - it was probably over money - the two men eventually had an acrimonious bust-up. There's an architectural side-plot; as Lully's success and wealth increased, so did the grandeur of his residential designs. That other McCloud - Kevin - would have loved him.

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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Composer of the Week

Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687)

Episode 2: Les Deux Baptistes

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