Jean-Baptiste Lully
(Giovanni Battista Lulli; 28 November 1632 -- 22 March 1687)
Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, first presented on 14 October 1670 before the court of Louis XIV at the Château of Chambord by Molière’s troupe of actors.
In 2005 Le Poeme Harmonique in collaboration with Benjamin Lazar (stage director) and Cecile Roussat (choreographer) presented Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme at the Utrecht Baroque Festival. Informed by the musical and theatrical traditions of 17th century France, the production revived the musical and dance interludes originally scored by Jean-Baptiste Lully and the work was presented in its entirety. The wardrobe was notably bourgeois and ridiculous, evidently the intent of the directors to present Monsieur Jordain as a naive, stunned and yet vulnerable man new to the world of money and privilege “victim and architect of the action“. The use of candlelight as the only lighting source on stage and a frontal performance style even during conve