French Baroque Music and the Court of Louis XIV

Vocabulary terms and concepts covering seventeenth-century French Baroque music, the reign of Louis XIV, court dance, and orchestral innovations.

Tosca

An opera by Puccini set in Rome around the time of Napoleon, featuring a painter, his singer girlfriend Tosca, and the chief of police Scarpia.

Italian Musical Style

A musical approach distinguished by its emphasis on melody, intense drama, and highly expressive writing.

French Musical Style

A musical tradition defined by elegance, refinement, restraint, and an integration of dance and ballet.

Cardinal Jules Mazarin

The chief minister to Louis XIV's father who remained in charge of France during Louis' minority until his death in 1661.

Divine Right of Kings

The belief that a monarch's authority comes directly from God and is not answerable to the people, aristocracy, or church.

Bishop Jacques Boussouille

Louis XIV's childhood tutor whose writings taught that the king is a public personage embodying the entirety and will of the state.

Versailles

A former hunting lodge expanded into an opulent palace where Louis XIV permanently relocated the French court and government in 1682.

Court Ballet (Ballet de Cour)

A multi-act French musical-dramatic production with costumes, scenery, dance, and song that exemplified discipline, order, refinement, and restraint.

Music of the Great Stable

A division of wind, brass, and percussion players providing outdoor ceremonial and military procession music, influencing modern band development.

24 Violins for the King

The first large string orchestra, formed under Louis XIV and comprised of six violins, twelve violas, and six bass violins of varied sizes.

Timbre (Tone Quality)

An acoustic attribute elevated by French court tradition into a primary structural element focused on tonal combinations and colors.

Lully

The Italian-born favorite composer of Louis XIV who created the French overture, fostered the modern orchestra, and conducted by pounding a staff.

Uniform Bowing

An orchestral discipline imposed by Lully requiring all string players to move their bows in the same direction at the same time.

French Overture

A musical form marking the entrance of the king, characterized by an opening section with dotted rhythms followed by a faster, imitative fugal section.

Clavecin

The French harpsichord, which replaced the lute as the principal solo instrument in France during the seventeenth century.

Dance Suite

A musical genre created by linking several distinct instrumental dance pieces together into an extended collection.