Lully, Marche pour la cérémonie des Turcs

The Italian-born Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687) became one of the most prominent composers of the French Baroque era and court composer for French King Louis XIV. Also employed at the time by Louis XIV was the playwright Molière with whom Lully frequently collaborated.

Molière’s Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (1670) is considered the masterpiece of the comédie-ballet form—a play intermingled with music, dance and singing. That sounds something like a variety show or a Broadway revue. The French theatrical forms are distinguished by the prominence of dance. Louis himself was a master dancer, and success in Louis’s court required competence in that art form. If you’ve gone through any of Professor Carol’s rather extensive materials on the Court at Versailles, you’ll know just how important dance was. Lully, in fact, was first recognized for his dancing skills before securing a post as a composer.

This Marche served as incidental music to the play. It conveys the stately air of royalty and the sophistication of court dance. And, despite the somewhat tongue-in-cheek staging of the video by Arena Musicale, it makes the point that music (and the arts in general) were symbols of power.