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About
The Collection
The University of North Texas Music Library's Jean-Baptiste Lully Collection includes almost thirty rare seventeenth- and eighteenth-century scores of operas, ballets, and compilations by the seventeenth-century French composer Jean-Baptiste Lully and his sons. Many of the volumes are first editions printed by Christophe Ballard, who held the privelège for music printing under King Louis XIV. Several are second editions, printed by Henri de Baussen or Jean-Baptiste Christophe Ballard. The collection also contains manuscript copies of operas and one ballet that were probably offered for sale, like the prints, at performances. In addition, the collection features a number of libretti prints and collections of stage works by his collaborators, including Philippe Quinault, Thomas Corneille, and Molière.
While not exhaustive, the collection offers a rich and varied potential source of information about the culture surrounding the production and the performances of the works represented. Included are first editions of the first Lully opera (Bellérophon, 1679) and the first Lully ballet (Le triomphe de l' Amour, 1681) to appear in printed form. The manuscripts are artifacts of dissemination and circulation of Lully's opera scores before Ballard began publishing them. The mix of Ballard first editions and de Bausson second editions illustrates the transition in French music publishing from movable type to copperplate engraving during the early eighteenth century. Numerous pagination errors, handwritten and pasted-in corrections, canceled pages and even, in the case of Le triomphe de l'Amour, several signatures added after the text had been printed, testify to the haste with which the scores were brought to press and to the public. A variety of contemporary bindings, from the most frugal (Roland,1685) to the most opulent (Thesée,1688 and Proserpine,1680) indicate varied attitudes toward printed books and the practice of book making, from austerely utilitarian to ornately decorative.
We hope that on-line access to the volumes of this unique special collection and information regarding the history, production, and dissemination of the works will spark imagination and interest and lead to new scholarly insights and revelations.
The Web Project
The online thematic catalog of the Lully Collection began with the Lully Web Project in 1994. The result of a one-semester special project initiated by then-University of North Texas doctoral student Dorothy Keyser and supervised by Assistant Music Librarian Mark McKnight, the project was conceived as an expedient and unique way of increasing the Web presence of the University of North Texas Music Library. The choice of the Lully materials as a focus for the project, and the continued interest and development of the project is the result of several factors:
- The significant number (14 at the time of the project's inception) of first and second edition prints of operas and ballets by seventeenth-century French composer Jean-Baptiste Lully and his sons within the Music Library holdings;
- The potential for incorporating audio clips of Lully works in the website;
- The strong presence of historically-informed performance ensembles at The University of North Texas, including the French Baroque troupe, Les Petits Violons, directed by Cecil Adkins, and the early music ensemble, Collegium Musicum, directed by Lyle Nordstrom;
- The wealth of iconographic materials in the UNT Lully collection, such as woodcuts and engraved scenes not otherwise found in contemporary editions or facsimiles;
- The lack of copyright restrictions on the Lully materials.
At the time of the original web design, HTML 2.0 was not yet supported, and there were few HTML editors. The original project was created in a word processor and saved as ASCII text. In order to minimize handling of the rare volumes, images were scanned in using a hand-held scanner. A few musical excerpts were produced using MIDI.
A pilot version of the Lully Web Project was uploaded in the spring of 1997.
In the fall of 1998, Head Librarian Morris Martin successfully applied for a grant from TexShare to finance a new extension of the project. The funding from the grant allowed for full-text scans of all the volumes in the collection to be made available in bookmarked, downloadable and printable PDF documents. The grant also provided funds for a complete renovation of the site. The Lully Web Project 2.0, now the Jean-Baptiste Lully Collection Website, was completed in the summer of 1999 and uploaded in August of that year.
In the summer of 2005, the site was redesigned again to update the content and to create an architecture and virtual environment that was commensurate with that of the Music Library's Virtual Rare Book Room.
In the summer of 2007, the pages of the site were moved into the new Plone content-management system format adopted by the University of North Texas Libraries. In addition, PDF scans were replaced by high-resolution scans courtesy of the Digital Projects Department. The transition to the new university system promises to yield higher exposure for the website, the contents of which will, for the first time, be directly searchable and accessible through user interface with the library system. In addition, the new professional scans will bring the Web Project into full-compliance with institutional initiatives to improve the quality of images available through the University of North Texas online systems. The improved quality of scans will also facilitate the study of iconographic material, as well as evidence of preservation, conservation, and bookmaking which was precluded by the quality of the previous PDF versions of the materials.
In part due to the success of the Web Project, the Music Library has since acquired several more early edition Lully prints, and continues to aggressively pursue acquisition of Lully primary source print materials. Archival Lully materials receive first priority in digital imaging and web availability, and are added to the site upon acquisition.
Credits
Original Website Design and Creation
Dr. Dorothy Keyser, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks:
Original concept, site design, HTML authoring, text, text editing, and MIDI realizations
Dr. Gregory Straughn, Abilene Christian University:
Research, copywriting, and recording oversight
Luke Griffin and Susannah Cleveland, University of North Texas:
Scanning and PDF production
Jean Hellner, Concordia College:
MIDI realizations
2005 Website Redesign and Maintenance
Susannah Cleveland, Music Recordings and Digital Resources Librarian,
University of North Texas:
Text editing, site design, organization
Cynthia Beard, Graduate Library Assistant, University of North Texas:
Text editing, research, scanning, PDF production, organization
Christi English, Graduate Library Assistant, University of North Texas:
Scanning, PDF production, metadata entry
Misty Shaw-Clanton, Graduate Library Assistant, University of North Texas:
Text editing, research, scanning, PDF production, organization
2007 Website Transition
Andrew Justice, Music Recordings and Digital Resources Librarian,
University of North Texas:
Text editing, site design, organization
Jackson Ross Best, Jr., Graduate Library Assistant, University of North Texas:
Text editing, research, data transfer, page maintenance
Musical Excerpts
Producer, transcriptions, musical direction: Gregory Straughn
Recording engineer: Brian McDonald
Strings:
- James Gallagher, violin
- Yura Nakajima, violin
- Warren Pattison, viola
- Simon Lim, violone
Winds:
- Kelly Wowzynski, recorder
- Kim Friddell, flute
- Janelle Anderson, flute
- Susannah Cleveland, oboe
Continuo:
- Gregory Straughn, violoncello
- Hye-Jean Choi, harpsichord and organ
Vocalists:
- Amy Blizzard, soprano
- Dorothy Keyser, soprano
- Kevin Sutton, tenor
- Daniel Farris, bass
Instruments courtesy of the University of North Texas Collegium
Special Thanks to:
Dr. Donald Grose, Dean of Libraries; the UNT Libraries' Digital Projects Department, Media Library, Interlibrary Loan Department, LAN Management Department, and Rare Book Room; Kenn Moffitt from PAIS; Mark Wilcox from Web Services; Dr. Cecil Adkins; Carlos Barrera; Peter Gannon; Jean Hellner; William Hicks; Dr. Ken Lavender; Marilyn Lucas; Dr. Lenora McCroskey; Sonja Mihelcic; Eric Schwartz; Gwen Smith; Myra Walker; and Pamela Ward.
This Website was made possible in part by a grant from TexShare.
