1st Part: Jean-Baptiste Lully and The Baptism of l’Opéra français—Italian “Godfather-Style”!
Posted on 03. Feb, 2011 by Hichem in Art, Culture, History, Literature, Music, People, Vocabulary
It seems that, more often than not, when people around the world think of the term opera, it is l’opéra italien that comes up first in their minds. But, all “chauvinistic” considerations aside (no doubt more suitable for the purpose of rehashing the “intricacies” of, say, some highly “theatrical” match finalde la Coupe du Monde de la FIFA), it is important, however, to point out that the French were able to establish un opéra which was français in its very own right.
In fact, while this assertion may come as a mini-surprise to some, French opera was widely viewed, for a long time throughout Europe, as more raffiné than its comparatively older, more “colorful”, yet often frivolous, verging on the edge of the “buffonesque“, Italiano counterpart.
Lully, an Italian by birth, and pioneer -”Godfather-style”- of the French Opera (see some of the gory details mentioned below) was to eventually develop a more specifically “French style” of Opera, which, pour la petite histoire (as a side anecdote), would posthumously instigate two notable clashes on the French artistic and literary scenes: “La Querelle des Lullystes et des Ramistes” is a quarrel that, at times, pitted his own disciples and followers against those of Jean-Philippe Rameau (a Frenchman whose works were, ironically, often deemed “too Italian” in comparison to Lully’s), as well as “la Querelle des bouffons“, in which -fittingly enough, given its name- a Jean-Jacques Rousseau was oh’ so “passionately” involved!)
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That being said, one can also prove with solid historical evidence that, ironically enough again, the inception of French opera owes a tremendous debt to the Italian school.
Sans l’ombre d’un doute (without the shadow of a doubt), more than anybody else, including the less noted Pierre Perrin, pioneer of what’s today l’Opéra national de Paris, Jean-Baptiste Lully ought to be considered by all, hands-down, as le fondateur of French opera.
Even though he was d’origine italienne (of Italian background), or rather ”because” of his origin, “Giovanni Battista Lulli” was soon able to ascend the thorny throne of les compositeurs (the composers) who set shop at the royal court of le Roi-Soleil, the “Apollo-wanna-be” Louis XIV…
As Molière or La Fontaine would both discover the hard way, Lully was elevated to this lofty musical rank thanks to several treacherous combines (tricks), mainly by making to his adversaries “des offres qu’ils ne pouvaient lui refuser“ (“offers which they could not refuse to him”)…
He very much enjoyed l’aile protectrice (the protecting wing) of the so-called “Italian clique” that dominated the court. Headed by the astute cardinal Mazarin, whose birth name is actually Mazarini or Mazzarini, the roots of this powerful “Italian Connection” went the way back to the tumultuous times of the “Sun King”‘s grandmother, the famous lady Marie de Médicis.
In many ways, cardinal Mazarin, literally godfather of the young Louis XIV, and even sometimes rumored to be his biological father, can be seen as the undisputed “parrain“ (French for ”Godfather”) of the “Italian Connection.” This Italian network was comparable to a “mafia” in the modern sense, and for a while dominated Louis XIV‘s entourage. At another level, the cardinal paved the way for the Italian-born Jean-Baptiste Lully to become the most powerful of Louis XIV’s music composers
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À Suivre (To be Continued)
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