Description
Jean Baptiste Lully
arr. Lawrence Dale Harper
Marche pour la cérémonie des turcs
from Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme
for wind ensemble
Instrumentation: Picc, Fl, Ob, C.A., 2 Cl, 2 Hn, 2 Bsn, Double Bass, Perc
Year: 1670
Duration: 3:30 minutes
Level 4
Score preview
“The March for the Ceremony of the Turks” is the concluding musical section of the famous Play/Ballet by Moliere entitled Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (The Middle-Class Aristocrat), written for King Louis XIV of France for a performance for his court at the huge architectural masterpiece called Chateau des Chambord (with more than 400 rooms and 85 staircases!). Lully’s brilliant music for the ballet sections of the play lend an air of sophistication and seriousness to an otherwise comedic spoof of both bourgeois and upper-class lifestyles of the time. This modern performing edition by Lawrence Dale Harper colorfully varies the orchestration for each repetition of the piece while adding characteristic ornamentation that would have originally been improvised. The use of an improvised tenor drum and sleigh bells (or Italian sonagli) give the piece a spirited and uplifted mood.
