Throw enough money at opera and this is an art form that can respond with a lavishness no other can match. Louis XIV was certainly not short of cash and the emergence of a national French opera during ...

The fatal attraction between a sorceress and a Christian Crusader in Lully's opera Armide is the very definition of angst. For a work written in 1686, Armide was also way ahead of its time since it ...

When it comes to gross flattery, nobody outdid the composers who served the court of the Sun King Louis XIV. And nobody outdid Jean-Baptiste Lully , the King’s favourite. "The whole universe praises ...

Ovid's tale of Acis and Galatea is familiar to opera lovers in the sturdy, tuneful and mostly lighthearted version created by George Frideric Handel. But another great musician was also inspired by ...

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. No expense was spared for the premiere of Jean-Baptiste Lully’s Thésée in early 1675. Louis XIV had lavished ...

It's no longer news that live music – and not just classical – has been imperiled as much as most other human enterprises by COVID-19. Back in the day, productions closed, but now cancellations are of ...