Marche pour le Cérémonie des Turcs (Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme)

Jean-Baptiste Lully (28 November 1632 – 22 March 1687) was an Italian-born French composer, instrumentalist, and dancer who spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. He is considered a master of the French baroque style. Lully disavowed any Italian influence in French music of the period. He became a French subject in 1661.

Lully was born on November 28, 1632 in Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, to a family of millers. His general education and his musical training during his youth in Florence remain uncertain, but he used to say that a Franciscan friar gave him his first music lessons and taught him guitar.

His career is too extensive to discuss here, but his fame was great, and was given a conspicuous place on Titon du Tillet's Parnasse François ("the French Mount Parnassus"). In the engraving, he stands to the left, on the lowest level, his right arm extended and holding a scroll of paper with which to beat time. (The bronze ensemble has survived and is part of the collections of the Museum of Versailles.) Lully was:
"the prince of French musicians, ... the inventor of that beautiful and grand French music, such as our operas and the grand pieces for voices and instruments that were only imperfectly known before him. He brought music to the peak of perfection and was the father of our most illustrious musicians working in that musical form. ... Lully entertained the king infinitely, by his music, by the way he performed it, and by his witty remarks. The prince was also very fond of Lully and showered him with benefits in a most gracious way."

Marche pour le Cérémonie des Turcs (Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme) dates from 1670. I know nothing about the piece or its origin, but the appeal is immense. It was transcribed by R. Lopes.

The score is attached below, as well as a photo of Jean-Baptiste Lully.