About the Project
The Online Thematic Catalogue of Lully Keyboard Arrangements (OTCL) provides the first digitized catalogue of over 600 pieces from some 70 manuscript and printed sources that constitute the repertory of keyboard arrangements of Jean-Baptiste Lully’s music. As many scholars have remarked, arrangements, in particular those of Lully’s music, are an integral part of seventeenth-century French harpsichord music. By bringing together information on original sources, modern editions and facsimile editions and the latest research and by making this information searchable, OTCL aims to facilitate research into and performance of this repertory.
OTCL is a dynamic and open-ended resource in which data on sources discovered in the future will be added to the catalogue. As such, OTCL demonstrates how scholarship and technology can work fruitfully together to provide innovative tools for modern researchers.
Sources
Jean Henry D’Anglebert’s Pieces de clavecin (Paris, 1689) is the only printed source. The majority of arrangements survive in manuscripts, roughly half of these in French sources and the other half in sources located in other European countries. For a summary listing of the current locations and provenances of all sources pertinent to OTCL, click ‘Browse Original Sources’.
Previous research on Lully keyboard arrangements
Chung 2015a broadly covers the historical background and modern revival of this repertory, the functions of arrangements and their relationship with French harpsichord music, and related performance practice issues. Harris 2009 contains in-depth discussion of D’Anglebert’s techniques for making arrangements, while David Fuller’s pioneering article (Fuller 1990) remains an excellent introduction to this topic. Beyhurst 2014 investigates the historical and social context of the Lully arrangements and reexamines the significance of this repertory for the organ in the light of several recently rediscovered sources.
OTCL provides basic information for the identification of the arrangements. Source information is mainly extracted from Gustafson’s monumental catalogues (Gustafson 1979, Gustafson and Fuller 1990, and Gustafson 2018), which are indispensable for students wishing to dig deeper into issues of source studies, such as detailed physical descriptions, discussions of original notation, provenance and dating, as well as scribal hands.
Thematic incipits
This catalogue provides thematic incipits in a clear, modern format. By replicating the full texture of the originals, these musical incipits provide visual identification not only of the music, but also of a number of source and scribal characteristics. Generally speaking, I have under-edited to preserve the identifying characteristics of the music sources. Fundamental aspects of seventeenth-century notation are retained, including time signatures, tempo markings, key signatures, beamings, original disposition of staves, ties, slurs and ornaments, in addition to the sorts of rhythmic irregularities frequently encountered in manuscript sources. All of the accidentals from the source are reproduced, including those that are redundant in modern notation, except for the tacit conversion of sharps and flats used to cancel accidentals to natural signs. Certain aspects of the original text that are obsolete have been modernized. Clefs are modernized to treble (G2) and bass (F4), and cautionary accidentals accompanying clef changes, customary for the time, are not duplicated. A few emendations and editorial changes are shown in smaller print, square brackets or dotted lines.
Incipits with full keyboard texture serve to establish that a number of arrangements are based on D’Anglebert’s published versions. ‘Dieu des enfers’ from Ballet de la Naissance de Venus (LWV 27/41) is a case in point. Of the three keyboard arrangements currently known to have survived, the Parville setting is based on D’Anglebert’s printed version, while the Cambridge 9285 setting is apparently a copy of the reduced score.
What is included
This catalogue includes all of the keyboard arrangements of Lully’s music listed in Gustafson and Fuller 1990 (Appendix C, pp. 358–68) and all of the arrangements in newly rediscovered sources that have come to my notice. The ‘new’ sources are discussed in Gustafson 2018. However, Théobon (see Gustafson 2018, pp. 36–39), which could contain as many as 22 Lully arrangements, has been excluded, because this source cannot be traced and information on the arrangements has not been verified by any scholar.
OTCL includes a number of vocal and instrumental pieces with idiomatic keyboard textures, as their rendering as solo keyboard music seems to be a viable option (see Fuller 1990, pp. 472–73). This catalogue also includes melodies found in sources that also transmit proper keyboard arrangements, as information on these melodies could serve to illuminate the bigger picture of this repertory. A few pieces attributed to Lully’s sons (Louis and Jean-Louis) and their colleague Marin Marais are also included.
OTCL includes musical sources that link directly to the generation of musicians contemporary with Lully. Sources that primarily transmit post-1800 repertory have been excluded from this catalogue.
Facsimiles
OTCL is enriched by a number of facsimiles made available by kind permission of various libraries. A facsimile, if available, will be displayed in the full record of an individual piece. Facsimiles that are accessible through libraries’ own websites or digitized collections are indicated in ‘Notes’.
Pieces with multiple LWV numbers
Lully recycled a number of his pieces in different works. OTCL generally adopts the earliest reference of a piece. The concordant pieces relevant to this catalogue are listed below, using the LWV numbering:
| 2/4 | 19/3 | |
| 8/25 | 79/70 | |
| 11/18 | 31/27 | |
| 27/45 | 35/40 | 75/19 |
| 32/9 | 32/8 | 79/26 |
| 32/27 | 79/33 | |
| 35/4 | 79/0 | |
| 36/1 | 52/1 | |
| 38/2 | 79/48 | |
| 40/18 | 47/21 | 52/47 |
| 40/39 | 79/43 | 79/51 |
| 41/6 | 52/41 | |
| 41/7 | 52/42 | |
| 42/4 | 79/16 | |
| 42/21 | 35/53 | 79/23 |
| 43/27 | 46/53 | 52/6 |
| 43/36 | 46/50 | 52/31 |
| 43/37 | 79/41 | |
| 43/38 | 35/50 | 79/42 |
| 45/1 | 56/1 | |
| 45/6 | 46/10 | 56/6 |
| 45/7 | 46/11 | 56/7 |
| 45/16 | 56/29 | |
| 45/25 | 46/68 | 56/48 |
| 45/28 | 46/71 | 56/51 |
| 45/30 | 46/73 | 56/53 |
| 45/36 | 46/79 | 56/59 |
| 45/37 | 46/80 | 56/60 |
Citing OTCL
We suggest the following format for citing OTCL:
David Chung, Online Thematic Keyboard of Lully Keyboard Arrangements, https://digital.lib.hkbu.edu.hk/OTCL/, accessed [date].
The date of the website’s creation and its most recent revision can be found at the top of the page.
About the Principal Investigator
David Chung completed his musicological studies at Cambridge University and has contributed articles and reviews in Early Music, Early Keyboard Journal, Eighteenth-Century Music, Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music, Music and Letters, Notes, and Revue de musicologie. His edition of nearly 250 keyboard arrangements of Jean-Baptiste Lully’s music is available from the Web Library of Seventeenth-Century Music (www.sscm-wlscm.org). Chung maintains an active schedule as harpsichordist and has performed in cities across Europe, North America and Asia. Chung is currently Professor of Music at Hong Kong Baptist University.