Made for the Stage: The Operas of Jean-Baptiste Lully

An unrecognized key to understanding the operas of Jean-Baptiste Lully-that Lully conceived his operas as theatrical vehicles with the stage, its multiple aspects, and his Académie Royale de Musique repertory troupe's performers in mind-provides the central tenet of the book Made for the Stage: The Operas of Jean-Baptiste Lully (1673-1686). Over five chapters, this perspective expands our current understanding of how his opera’s librettos were constructed, the deployment of his musico-dramatic settings, his dramatic use of preludes and ritournelles, and spectacle’s role in his works. This stage-centered focus reveals the ramifications of Lully’s unmistakable creative and authoritative involvement in all aspects of his operas and thereby invites scholars, performers and students to consider his works anew. Banducci’s well-developed, persuasive and original argument that Lully and his librettist structured their operas to suit the strengths and weaknesses of particular singers has far-reaching implications.