Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/718

 712 LULLY tin Martyr and the author of the Clementine Homilies. IrensBus mentions that Luke wrote down the Gospel proclaimed by Paul ; and all admit that at the time of Irenseus and Ter- tullian his Gospel was accepted throughout the whole church in its present form. A state- ment of Tertullian, that Marcion so changed a copy of the Gospel of Luke as to make it con- form to his own views, has called forth in modern times a number of investigations of the relation of Luke's Gospel, as we have it in the New Testament, to that of Marcion. Ritschl (Das Evangelium Marcions), Baur (Die kano- nischen Evangelieri), and others endeavored to Erove that the Gospel of Luke as we have it i interpolated, and that the portions which Marcion is charged with having omitted were really unauthorized additions to the original document ; but Volckmar, in his exhaustive treatise Das Evangelium Marcions (Leipsic, 1852), so completely demolished this theory that Ritschl abandoned his position, and Baur greatly modified his. The statement in the first verse of the Gospel of Luke, that " many " before him " have taken in hand to set forth a declaration of those things which* are most surely believed among us," has been under- stood by several interpreters as intimating an acquaintance with the Gospels of Matthew and Mark on the part of Luke, while others re- fer the expression " many " to other writers. As the occasion for writing his Gospel, the author himself mentions (i. 3, 4) his desire to give to his friend Theophilus a faithful nar- rative of the life of Christ. With regard to the time of its composition, the prevailing opin- ion before De Wette and Credner was, that it was written previous to the destruction of Jerusalem ; but more recently the opinion that it was composed after that event has found advocates in different theological parties. Ac- cording to Volckmarj Die Evangelien (Leipsic, 1870), the book was written about the year 100 by another author than the Pauline Luke. Achaia, Boeotia, and Alexandria are mentioned by the ancients, and Csesarea and Rome are suggested by modern writers, as the place where the Gospel was composed. The Acts are likewise addressed to Theophilus. (See ACTS.) Valuable commentaries on both the Gospel and Acts are contained in the collec- tive works of Olshausen, De Wette, Meyer, and Lange. Among the latest commentaries upon the Gospel are those of Goodwin (Lon- don, 1865), Stark (London, 1866), and Godet (Neufchatel, 1870). Some other works, which have been sometimes ascribed to Luke in the ancient church, as Acta Pauli, Liturgm XII. Apostolorum, were long ago acknowledged to be spurious. See Schleiermacher, Die Schrif- ten des Lucas (Berlin, 1817). LULLY, or Lnlli, Jean Baptiste, a French com- poser, born in Florence in 1633, died in Paris, March 22, 1687. He was of obscure parentage, but having at the age of 10 attracted the atten- tion of the chevalier de Guise, he was taken by him to Paris as a page for Mile. Montpensier, the cousin of Louis XIV. His appearance not pleasing his mistress, he was placed in the kitchen as a scullion. He possessed a strong taste for music, however, and practised on an old violin until he had become a tolerably skil- ful performer. The princess, hearing of his proficiency, had him instructed under an able master, and in a few months he was admitted into the king's fiande des mngt-quatre, so called from the number of the instruments, which were all violins. He was afterward placed at the head of a new band of 16 violins, called les petits vicious, which soon eclipsed the famous twenty-four. To the impulse given by this nucleus' of performers French musicians trace their present orchestral proficiency. Lully, con- tinuing to rise in favor with the king, became director of music at the court, and for many years composed airs and accompaniments for the court ballets, a species of dramatic enter- tainment antedating the opera, and consisting of dances interspersed with singing and reci- tative. He also furnished music for many of Moli&re's comedies, in some of which, such as the Bourgeois gentilhomme, he performed with great success. Having obtained in 1672 a pat- ent for opening a theatre for the performance of lyrical pieces, in conjunction with the poet Quinault he devoted himself thenceforth to the composition of operas. His works of this class number 19, and were highly popular with the king and the court. In the height of his repu- tation Lully met with his death in a singular manner. While conducting the performance of a Te Deum, composed by himself in honor of the king's recovery from sickness, he acciden- tally struck his foot violently with the cane with which he was beating time. Inflammation having set in, he put himself under the care of a quack, whose treatment he did not long survive. Lully is generally regarded as the father of French dramatic music. He may be said to have created orchestral music in France by the new combinations of sound and the fuller harmonies he introduced into instru- mental composition, as well as by the exact- ness of execution which he demanded from the performers. His reputation rests chiefly upon his operas, which are animated by a fine dra- matic spirit, and frequently show beauty and pathos in the melodies, although the harmonies would contrast but indifferently with the works of modern composers. He is entitled to the credit of having invented the overture, and that spirited movement, the largo, which is the general introduction to the fugue. Handel has acknowledged that he modelled his overtures from those of Lully, and Purcell derived many valuable hints from his works. Most of Lully's biographers describe him as irritable and inso- lent to his inferiors, jealous of his compeers, selfish, and addicted to gross pleasures. His avarice gained him the name of Lully le ladre, and to the predominance of this trait has been ascribed his quarrel with Molidre and La Fon-