LULLY', or LULLI, JEAN BAPTISTE, 1633-87; b. Florence. He was the son of a miller, but having displayed, while still a child, a remarkable natural gift for music, he was spared from following his father's vocation, and educated by a monk in the use of the guitar. Chancing to fall under the notice of the chevalier Guise, he was recom mended by that nobleman to Mlle. de Montpensier, the niece of Louis XIV., who engaged him as a page and sent for him to be brought to Paris. He was at this time 14 years of age, and was witty and othenvise gifted; but it appears that he could boast of no personal beauty, and he was accordingly degraded to the kitchen, and began his official life as a mormiton, or scullion. He had by this time gained some acquaintance with the use of the violin, and, by devoting all his leisure to practice on that instrument, he succeeded in acquiring considerable mastery over it, and WaS presently released from his bondage and placed among the 24 violinists attached to the service of the king. He soonlindertook composition, and so successfully that the king, having heard him per form his own pieces, made him the leader of a new band, called " les petits violons." Lully now rose rapidly; and 1)64 at first employed in composhag music for the ballets which formed a principal entertainment at the court of Louis XIV., he was appointed superintendent of court music, and finally placed at the head of the academie royale de musique, which the king founded in 1669. His fortune was now assured; and being the king's favorite, he speedily amassed great wealth, and was honored by being made one of the king's secretanes. His death resulted from improper treatment by an unskillful
II practitioner, after Et slight accident which occurred to him while directing a rehearsaL 4 Lully composed 19 operas, besides ballet music and miscellaneous pieces. He has been generally accorded the reputation of being the father of French dramatic music; and even such composers as Handel and Purcell have not hesitated to acknowledge their obligations to him. He was on terms of intimacy with Moliere, composed music for some of his pieces, and even acted with success in his comedies. He married, in 1662, 3IIle. Lam bert, and had 3 sons and 3 daughters. After his death, an inventory of his possessions valued his silver-plate at 16,707 livres; his jewels, etc., 13,000 livres; his ready money, 250,000 livres; his movables at the opera, 11,000 livres; and the house itself, 80,000 livres. Besides these, the rents of seveml houses, 4,600 livres a year. And, finally, his widow sold his place of royal secretary for 71,000 livres. Up to 1778, Lully's opems continued to hold the public favor; but after that period, Gluck, Piccini, and Paesiello came into fashion, and he was heard no more. One of his operas was Ads et Galatee, and wa.4 published with a portrait of the composer. The entire 19 of his operas were publishe,o in score.