Lully and Charpentier: Power and Exile

Lully monopolized French opera through royal privilege while Charpentier created masterpieces from the margins.

As Surintendant de la musique, Lully commanded the Académie royale and defined tragédie lyrique

as Louis XIV's official art form. His 5 act operas with mythological heroes and integrated

ballets became the template across Europe. Charpentier, blocked by Lully's legal stranglehold,

worked for private patrons and churches, composing over 500 sacred works versus Lully's two dozen.

Where Lully's grand motets glorified monarchy with ceremonial brilliance, Charpentier absorbed Roman expressivity from Carissimi,

using dissonant harmonies and vivid text painting across masses, Tenebrae lessons, and intimate motets.

His stage works like Médée showed Italianate aria forms Lully avoided. Lully embodied musical