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L'Apothéose de Lully

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Jean-Baptiste Lully, by Paul Mignard

L'Apothéose de Lully, or Concert instrumental sous le titre d'Apothéose composé à la mémoire immortelle de l'incomparable Monsieur de Lully (English: The Apotheosis of Lully or Instrumental concert with the title of an Apotheosis composed in the immortal memory of the incomparable Monsieur de Lully) is a trio sonata composed by François Couperin. The piece was first published in 1725, a year after his L'Apothéose de Corelli, to pay homage to Jean-Baptiste Lully.[1]

Background

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Lully, a master of French Baroque music and the father of the French overture, famously disavowed any Italian influence in French music of the period. Couperin, however, wanted to accomplish a réunion des goûts: reconciling the national distinctions of style, tradition, and forms of interpretations that differed between France and Italy. He said, "I have always esteemed meritorious things irrespective of author or nation."[2] Despite hailing from a large family of French musicians, Couperin is credited with bringing the trio sonata form, greatly developed in Italy by Arcangelo Corelli, to France. In 1724, he published the Apotheosis of Corelli, as a tribute to the symmetrical and precise Italian Baroque style that made Corelli an Italian Baroque master. A year later, the Apotheosis of Lully was first published, "to do honour to the greatest man in music whom the preceding century had produced",[3] and to reconcile the differences between French and Italian Baroque music.

Couperin (anon.), collection of the Château de Versailles

In 1949, the piece was featured on the first microgroove record to be produced in Europe, recorded by André Charlin and conducted by Roger Désormière.[4]

Couperin himself called L'Apothéose de Lully a "harmonic panegyric".[5] It has been called "the composer's artistic and aesthetic manifesto"[6] and "one of the final flowerings of [Couperin's] ambition".[1]

Structure

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The piece is originally scored for two treble instruments and continuo. Louis Hüe, who engraved the 1725 publication, recommended performing the Apotheosis with two harpsichords, saying that "I find it is often easier to bring these two instruments together, than four people" (i.e. two violinists, a cellist or violist, and a harpsichordist).[7]

The piece, like L'Apothéose de Corelli, is a characteristic example of program music. Couperin shows Lully in the Elysian Fields, performing music in the delicate and well-ornamented French style. A graceful air follows, after which Mercury descends to Lully to warn him of Apollo's imminent arrival. Mercury's descent, with quick notes in the treble lines, is characteristic of Lully's own techniques for composing Zephyr and windlike passages.[8] Apollo's descent is notably nobler than Mercury's. Rumbles and laments are heard from Lully's jealous contemporaries, after which Lully ascends to Parnassus. Corelli and the Italian Muses welcome him in typical Italian Baroque style: instead of writing lentement to indicate the tempo, Couperin writes the Italian largo; the movement is instructed to be played with Notes égales, et marquées (with equal and marked notes), instead of with the lightly-swung feeling typical of French Baroque music; even the clef of the treble instruments is changed from the French, where the Note G is on the bottom line of the staff, to the standard clef favored in Italy where G is one line higher.[1] Lully thanks Corelli in starkly contrasting French style. Apollo then argues that musical perfection can be created only by reconciling the French and Italian styles. He shows this in an overture that combines both styles: the first treble instrument uses the French clef, while the second treble instrument uses the Italian clef. Parts of the overture are in Lully's French overture style, while other sections are characteristic of Corelli's trio sonatas. Throughout the overture, the Muses, depicted by the treble instruments, are often playing in unison, indicating ambivalence of style.[9] Two airs follow, with Lully and Corelli alternating melody, accompaniment, and style. The Apotheosis of Lully ends with peace at Parnassus and a newly-coined, four-movement Sonade en trio – Couperin, and his French Muses, argue that the French spelling of "sonata" should mirror that of "ballade" and "serenade", showing that a réunion des goûts is not only possible but can be entirely successful.

Most movements have descriptive titles:

  1. Lully aux Champs-Élisés, concertant avec les Ombres liriques (Lully in the Elysian Fields performing with musicianly Shades)
  2. Air pour les Mêmes (Air for the same performers)
  3. Vol de Mercure aux Champs Élisés, pour avertir qu'Apollon y va descendre (Mercury's flight to the Elysian Fields to warn that Apollo is about to descend)
  4. Descente d'Apollon, qui vient offrir son violon à Lully, et sa place au Parnasse (The Descent of Apollo who comes to offer his violin to Lully and a place on Parnassus)
  5. Rumeur souteraine, causée par les Auteurs contemporains de Lully (Subterranean rumblings from Lully's contemporaries)
  6. Plaintes des Mêmes, pour des Flûtes, ou des Violons très adoucis (Laments from the same, played by flutes or very sweet-toned violins)
  7. Enlévement de Lully au Parnasse (The raising of Lully to Parnassus)
  8. Accüeil entre doux et agard, fait à Lully par Corelli, et par les Muses italiénes (Welcome, half friendly and half hostile, given to Lully by Corelli and the Italian Muses)
  9. Remerciment de Lully à Apollon (Lully's thanks to Apollo)
  10. Apollon persuade Lully, et Corelli, que la réunion des Goûts François et Italien[s] doit faire la perfection de la Musique. (Apollo persuades Lully and Corelli that the reunion of French and Italian styles must create musical perfection)
  11. Air léger, Lully joüant le sujet, et Corelli l'acompagnant (Air léger: Lully playing the subject, and Corelli accompanying)
  12. Second Air, Correli joüant le sujet à son tour, que Lulli acompagne (Second Air: Corelli playing the melody in turn, while Lully accompanies)
  13. La Paix du Parnasse, faite aux conditions, sur la Remontrance des Muses Françoises, que lorsqu'on y parleroit leur langue, on diroit dorénavant Sonade, Cantade, ainsi qu'on prononce Ballade, Sérénade, &c. (The Peace of Parnassus, which, following a protest from the French Muses, is made on the condition that when their language is spoken, one will henceforth say Sonade and Cantade, as one says Ballade and Sérénade, etc.)[10]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Sadler 2017.
  2. ^ Niecks 1907, p. 35.
  3. ^ Niecks 1907, p. 36.
  4. ^ Borges de Azevedo 2012.
  5. ^ Couperin 1725, Preface.
  6. ^ Rogers 2017.
  7. ^ Couperin 1725, Notice.
  8. ^ Tunley 2004, p. 88.
  9. ^ Tunley 2004, p. 92.
  10. ^ Tunley 2004, p. 89.

Sources

Works cited

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  • Borges de Azevedo, João (22 October 2012). "'Enquête' Aux sources de la stéréophonie – L'ingénieur André Charlin et le chef d'orchestre portugais Pedro de Freitas Branco". Appoggiature (in French).
  • Couperin, François (1725). Concert instrumental sous le titre d'Apothéose (in French). Paris: Louis Hüe. Via L'Apothéose de Lully (Couperin): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
  • Niecks, Frederick (1907). Programme Music in the Last Four Centuries: A Contribution to the History of Musical Expression. Novello. ISBN 9781404791220.
  • Rogers, Curtis (July 2017). "François Couperin – L'Apothéose de Lully & Leçons de ténèbres – Arcangelo & Jonathan Cohen [Hyperion]". Classical Source.
  • Sadler, Graham (2017). "L'Apothéose de Lully" (liner notes). Hyperion Records. CDA68093.
  • Tunley, David (2004). François Couperin and 'The Perfection of Music'. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781138270442.
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