DICTIONARY OF MUSIC - El Atril

LULLY LULLY 781
danseuses whom he introduced on the stage, to
the great delight of the spectators. For the
' ' recitativo secco of the Italians lie substituted
accompanied recitative, and in this very im-
port;iut part of French opera scrujiulously
conformed to the rules of prosody, and left
models of correct and striking declamation.
On the other hand, he made no attempt to vary
the form of his airs, but slavishly out them all
aftei' the fashion set by Cavalli in his operas,
and by Rossi and Carissimi in their cantatas.
But although the 'chanson a couplets,' the
' air-complainte ' (or ' arioso ' as we call it), and
the
' air declame
'— afterwards brought to such
perfection by Gluck—unduly predominate in
his works, that monotony of form is redeemed
by a neatness of execution and a sweetness of
expression worthy of all praise.
understood the stage—witness
He thoroughly
the skill with
which he introduces his choruses ; had a true
sense of proportion, and a strong feeling for the
picturesque. The facts that his works are not
forgotten, but are still republished, in spite of
the progress of the lyric drama during the last
200 j'cars, is sufficient proof of his genius.
K^ot but that he has serious faults. His
instrumentation, though often laboured, is poor,
and his harmony not always correct : a great
sameness of treatment disfigures his operas, and
the same rhythm and the same counterpoint
serve to illustrate the rage of Roland and the
rocking of Charon's boat. Such faults are
obvious to us ; but they were easily passed over
at such a period of musical revolution. It is a
good maxim that in criticising works of art of
a bygone age we should put them back in their
original frames ; and according to this rule we
have no right to demand from the composer of
'Thesee,' ' '
Atys, 'Isis,' 'Phaeton,' and 'Arniide'
outbursts of passion or agitation which would
have disturbed the solemn majesty of his royal
master, and have outraged both stage propriety
and the strict rules of court etiquette. The chief
business of tlie king's Surintendant de la
Musique undoubtedly was to please his master,
who detested brilliant passages and lively
melodies ; and making due allowance for these
circumstances we affirm that Lully's operas
exhibit the grace and charm of Italian melody
and a constant adherence to that good taste
which is the ruling spirit of French declamation.
Such qualities as these will always be appreciated
by impjartial critics.
Lully was also successful in sacred music.
Ballard i)ublished his motets for double choir
in 1684, and a certain number of his sacred
pieces, copied by Philidor, exist in the libraries
of Versailles and of the Conservatoire. See tlie
QueUen-Lexikcm. Mrae. de Sevignc's admiration
of his ' Miserere ' and ' Libera ' (Letter, May 6,
1672) is familiar to all. Equally well known
is the manner of his death. While conducting
a Te Deum (.Ian. 8, 1687) in honour of the
king's recovery from a severe illness, he
accidentally struck liis foot with the baton ; an
abscess followed ; the quack in wl)Ose hands he
placed himself proved incompetent, and he died
in his own house in the Rue de la Ville-l'Eveque
on Saturday, Jlarcli 22.
[During the whole of his fifteen years'
directorship of the Ojiera, Lully guarded his
privileges with tlie uttermost care and jealousy.
The National Arcliives elironicle the numerous
commands issued in favour of Lully b}^ Louis
XIV. : August 12, 1672, Order forbidding any
theatre other than Lully's to employ more
than six violins or tweh'e musicians in all
Forbidding Lully's actors and dancers to play
at any other theatres but his own, unless ex-
pressly given leave by Lully. April 1673,
Forbidding any of the other theatres to employ
more than ' two voices and six violins ' in any
of their representations. In 1684 a Royal
Command that no Opera should be jilayed in
the kingdom unless by the permission of the
' Sieur Lully ;
' for infringement of this rule a
penalty of 500 li^•res was demanded.
Jlounting still higher in the king's favour,
Lully was granted in 1681 his Lettres de
Naturalisation and his Lettres de Noblesse, and,
through sheer imjiudence, was made one of the
Secretaires dit Hoi, a privilege previously only
accorded to the nobJesse of the land.]
As both Surintendant de la ilusique and
secretary to Louis XIV., Lully was in high favour
at court, and being extremely avaricious, used
his opportunities to amass a large Ibrtune. At
his death he left four houses, all in the best
quarters of Paris, besides securities and appointments
valued at 342,000 livres (about £14,000).
His wife Madeleine, daughter of Lambert the
singer [or of Michel Cambert, according to the
Quelien- Le:ei/co-n'\, 'whom he married July 24,
1662, and by whom he had three sons and
three daughters, shared his econsmical tastes.
For once laying aside their parsimonious habits,
his family erected to his memory a splendid
monument surmounted by his bust, wliieh still
exists in the left-hand chapel of the church of
the ' Petits-Peres,' near the Place des Victoires.
Cotton ' was the sculptor, and the well-known
Latin epitaph was composed by Santeul :
Perfida Triors, Inimica, audiix, tempraria et excors,
Crudelisque, e caeca probris te absolviiiius istjs,
Nnn de te querimur tua sint haec inunia magna.
Sed qiiando per te populi regisque vohiptas,
Ncii ante aiulitis rapnit qui cantibns orbem
Lui.i.lUR eripitur, querimur modo surda fuisti.
Lain miisieieii, a pamphlet to wdiich both
Ft'tis and the author of tliis article are indelited,
was chiefly compiled by Le Prevost
d'Exmes from various articles written by Senece,
de Fresneuse, and Titon du Tillet. 'There are
many portraits of Lully, of wdiich the best-known
are those engi-avcd by Edelinck, Thomas,
St. Aubin (from the bust by Colignon), and
1 Not Co3son, iia Fetie h^p called him.