The March for the Turkish Ceremony is an instrumental piece composed by Jean-Baptiste Lully for the comedy-ballet Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, premiered in 1670 with a libretto by Molière. This work appears in the final act of the play, during the famous ‘Turkish ceremony’, a scene that is both spectacular and satirical, intended to ridicule the character of Monsieur Jourdain.

The music accompanies a parody of an imaginary oriental ritual, designed to flatter the 17th-century audience's taste for exoticism while emphasising the grotesque nature of the situation. Lully uses a solemn march style, based on a regular, assertive rhythm, evoking both ceremonial grandeur and a certain deliberate heaviness, which reinforces the comic effect of the scene.

The original orchestration, typical of the French Baroque style, highlights the wind instruments and percussion, helping to create an atmosphere that is both festive and theatrical. The repetition of musical motifs, the melodic simplicity and the very marked rhythm give the march an almost mechanical character, accentuating the caricatural dimension of this fake ceremony.

In this work, Lully demonstrates his dramatic genius: the music does not merely accompany the action, it becomes an essential element, participating fully in the satire imagined by Molière. The March for the Turkish Ceremony thus perfectly illustrates the art of comedy-ballet, where music, theatre and dance come together to serve both spectacle and laughter.

Frédéric Cellier

Jean-Baptiste Lully holds a prominent place in the history of French music during the seventeenth century. Born in Florence, Italy, he moved to France at a young age, where his remarkable talent and keen sense of musical drama quickly earned him a position of influence at the royal court. After becoming a naturalized French citizen, Lully rose to become one of the most powerful and celebrated artists of the reign of King Louis XIV, embodying the splendor and discipline of the Grand Siècle.

A composer, violinist, and conductor, Lully was above all a master of musical authority. Appointed Superintendent of the King’s Music, he established a distinctly French musical style in deliberate contrast to the dominant Italian tradition of the time. His compositions are characterized by rhythmic clarity, a strong connection between music and language, and a controlled yet expressive emotional depth.

Lully’s collaboration with the playwright Molière represents a decisive moment in the development of musical theater. Together, they created the comédie-ballet, a genre combining drama, music, and dance, as exemplified by Le Bourgeois gentilhomme. Later, Lully devoted himself to the creation of French opera through the development of tragédie lyrique, a form he helped define with major works such as Atys and Armide.

Through his artistic vision and institutional power, Jean-Baptiste Lully profoundly shaped the identity of French music. His legacy extends far beyond his lifetime, securing his place as a cornerstone of Baroque music and as a symbol of art placed at the service of royal authority.

Frédéric Cellier

Along his university studies (DEA in musicology, University of Paris IV-Sorbonne), Frédéric Cellier was awarded three first prizes and a development prize at the CNR of Nice and won first prize at the International Competition of Musical Execution - soloist category – of Stresa (Italy).

He is the laureate of the Fondation de France and the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation and accredited teacher at the CNR of Nice, the CNR of Marseille, and at the CRR Olivier Messiaen of Avignon (France).

Frédéric Cellier is the interpreter of Francis Poulenc’s Sonata for clarinet Bb and piano with Jean-Michel Damase, Jean Françaix or Gabriel Tacchino, as well as his own arrangements for clarinet and harp of Erik Satie's Gymnopédies and Gnossiennes with the great French harpist Elizabeth Fontan-Binoche, and for clarinet, piano, and string orchestra of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in blue for Wynton Marsalis or under the baton of Adrian Gershwin, grandson of the composer.

Founder and artistic director of STRADIVARIUS Editions, he is the author of light music pieces played around the world and a considerable number of arrangements of all styles and for all instruments, acclaimed by many personalities in the music world, including Michèle Auric, Jean Françaix, Adrian Gershwin, Wynton Marsalis, Yehudi Menuhin, Madeleine Milhaud, Manuel Rosenthal, Gabriel Tacchino, and Ornella Volta.

"Frédéric Cellier has produced a number of adaptations of Georges Auric's works with such talent and precision that I consider them a natural addition to his chamber music catalogue."
Michèle AURIC - Georges Auric's widow

"To Frédéric Cellier, excellent musician and tireless arranger."
Jean FRANÇAIX - Composer and pianist

"Arranging a musical work is always a delicate and risky exercise, because it requires both modifying it so that it can be played by the desired instruments and preserving its very essence. But that is exactly what Frédéric Cellier has done, preserving the nuances, subtleties and soul of the original works while breathing new life into them.
His arrangements give all the musicians the chance to perform these compositions specially revisited for their instrument, and make music lovers rediscover them in a new light."
Adrian GERSHWIN - George Gershwin’s grandson

"Congratulations for your beautiful new orchestration and rendition of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in blue."
Wynton MARSALIS - Trumpet player, composer, bandleader, general and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York

"It is outstanding that Frédéric Cellier has managed to transpose Saxophone Marmalade from the saxophone to the clarinet. I thank him for it and wish its great and deserved success. "
Manuel ROSENTHAL - Conductor, composer and Maurice Ravel’s pupil

"I am very happy to tell you how much I appreciated your transcription of the Capriccio, based on Francis Poulenc's Le Bal Masqué. It perfectly reflects the spirit and verve of the score for two pianos that I had the opportunity to play and record with Jacques Février, and it was a great pleasure for me to premiere it in Montpellier."
Gabriel TACCHINO - Pianist, Francis Poulenc’s specialist

"I must tell you that I really like your transcriptions and that I think the tone of the instruments you have chosen suits perfectly our beloved composer."
Ornella VOLTA - Musicologist, president of the Erik Satie’s Foundation