Lully's dilemma
Jean Baptiste Lully is probably music history's ultimate Music Bobo. Admittedly contemporary Music Scene is full of them, but if they are looking for a role model, a branch Saint of Music Bobos, look no further. There you have him, Jean Baptiste Lully.
"At the age of 18", he would proclaim during his life, "he had learnt ALL there was to learn about music" and boasted he did not put anything in practise, which he didn't already know by then.
He became Louis XIV's court composer and director of the Royal Academy of Music and nothing could ever be performed in France, which did not carry his approval, his 'imprimatur'' so to speak.
Sort of a 17th century forerunner of the theory of 'All'. And that's a shame, because looking back we all know what exciting things regarding music development would still be in store for us.
The conductor baton in the hand was not invented yet, and Lully would knock his stick on the floor. Even when he accidentally hit is own foot, he remained in serious denial leaving the invention of the baton to someone else. And thus he died, even in Louis XIV's displeasure.
"At the age of 18", he would proclaim during his life, "he had learnt ALL there was to learn about music" and boasted he did not put anything in practise, which he didn't already know by then.
He became Louis XIV's court composer and director of the Royal Academy of Music and nothing could ever be performed in France, which did not carry his approval, his 'imprimatur'' so to speak.
Sort of a 17th century forerunner of the theory of 'All'. And that's a shame, because looking back we all know what exciting things regarding music development would still be in store for us.
The conductor baton in the hand was not invented yet, and Lully would knock his stick on the floor. Even when he accidentally hit is own foot, he remained in serious denial leaving the invention of the baton to someone else. And thus he died, even in Louis XIV's displeasure.
No comments:
Post a Comment