Jean-Baptiste Lully met a rather sticky end. Quite literally, by his own conducting staff. Lully, it is remembered, loved to compose music that could be danced to. As many conductors did at this time, ...

The Palace of Versailles has always been about artifice. Nothing is quite true, its spectacle invented and reinvented for its age. Ironically, in our days of access and equality, it is probably far ...

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 ...

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 ...

When it comes to anecdotes about musicians, the one about 17th century French composer Jean-Baptiste Lully certainly ranks among the most bizarre. Lully, who spent much of his career writing music for ...

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or ...