Have you ever seen a music conductor? Picture one in your head right now. Maybe you are thinking of a person in a fancy black suit. They are standing in front of a big group of musicians. They are holding a tiny, thin stick.
That little stick is called a baton. It is very light. It weighs almost nothing. It is like a magic wand. The conductor waves it in the air. Swish, swish, swish. It helps the musicians know when to play fast and when to play slow.
It looks pretty safe, right? It would be very hard to hurt yourself with a tiny stick like that.
But a long time ago, things were very different. Conductors did not use tiny sticks. They used giant poles. These poles were tall. They were heavy. They were made of strong wood or even metal.
And one day, a very famous man named Jean-Baptiste Lully made a big mistake. He was the boss of all music in France. He was a superstar. But he got too excited while he was leading a song.
He didn’t wave his stick in the air. He smashed it on the floor. And one time, he missed the floor.
He hit his own foot. And believe it or not, that is how he died.
This is the true story of the deadliest stick in music history. It is a weird story. It is a little bit gross. But it is 100% true.
Part 1: Who Was Jean-Baptiste Lully?
Before we talk about the accident, we need to know who this guy was.
Jean-Baptiste Lully was a very big deal. Imagine the most famous pop star you know today. Maybe it is Taylor Swift or Bruno Mars. That is how famous Lully was back in the year 1600.
But he didn’t start out rich and famous.
From the Kitchen to the Castle
Lully was born in Italy. When he was a little boy, he didn’t have much money. But he was very talented. He knew how to play the guitar and the violin. He also knew how to dance really well.
When he was a teenager, he moved to France. He got a job working for a rich lady. But he wasn’t writing music yet. He was working in the kitchen! He was a helper. He probably washed dishes and scrubbed pots.
But Lully was special. He was always singing and dancing. People noticed him. Soon, he got a better job. He started working for the King of France.
Best Friends with the King
The King of France was named Louis XIV. People called him “The Sun King.” He was super rich. He lived in a giant palace called Versailles. It was full of gold and mirrors.
King Louis loved one thing more than anything else. He loved to dance.
And guess who else loved to dance? Jean-Baptiste Lully.
The two of them became best friends. It was like they were best buddies in school. They would dress up in costumes and dance in big shows together. The King was the star dancer, and Lully wrote the music for him.
Because the King liked him so much, Lully became very powerful.
The Boss of Music
The King gave Lully a big job. He made Lully the “Superintendent of Royal Music.” That is a fancy way of saying “The Boss of Music.”
Lully was in charge of everything.
- Did you want to sing a song in a theater? You had to ask Lully.
- Did you want to play the violin in the orchestra? You had to ask Lully.
- Did you want to write an opera? You had to ask Lully first.
If Lully didn’t like you, you couldn’t work. He was strict. He was scary. But he was also a genius. He wrote beautiful music that made people cry and cheer.
He had everything. He had money. He had fame. He had the King as his best friend. Nothing could stop him.
Well, except for one thing. A heavy wooden stick.
Part 2: Time Travel to the 1600s
Let’s hop in a time machine. We are going back to the year 1680.
We are going to a music concert.
Today, if you go to a concert, the conductor stands on a box. They hold that tiny white wand we talked about. They move their wrist gently. Flick, flick, flick. The musicians watch the wand to stay in time.
But in the 1600s, music was different.
The Big, Loud Orchestra
The orchestras back then were huge. There were so many musicians! There were drums, trumpets, violins, and big cellos.
It was also very noisy. The instruments were loud. The people in the audience were loud. They didn’t sit quietly like we do today. They talked and ate food during the show.
Because it was so loud, the musicians couldn’t just see the beat. They needed to hear the beat.
The “Audible Beat”
So, the conductor had a job to do. He had to make a loud noise to keep everyone together. He needed a steady beat.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
How did he make that noise? He used a “staff.”
A staff is a long pole. Think of a broom handle, but much thicker. Imagine a baseball bat, but as tall as a person.
It was usually made of heavy wood, like oak. Sometimes, it had a heavy piece of iron on the bottom. This made it loud when it hit the ground.
A Dangerous Job
Conducting music back then was hard work. It was like going to the gym.
The conductor would stand at the front. He would hold the heavy staff with two hands. He would lift it up and smash it down on the floor.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
He had to do this for the whole song. Sometimes a song was an hour long!
Imagine lifting a heavy weight and slamming it down over and over again. You would get sweaty. You would get tired. Your arms would hurt.
Lully was very good at this. He was strong. He had a lot of energy. When he conducted, he looked like a wild man. He would jump around. He would shout. He would slam that stick down hard to make sure every musician heard the beat.
He was passionate. That means he cared a lot. He wanted the music to be perfect.
But being that excited can be dangerous. Especially when you are swinging a heavy weapon around your feet.
Part 3: The Happy Day That Went Wrong
The date was January 8, 1687.
It was supposed to be a very happy day.
The King Was Sick
A few months before, King Louis XIV had been very sick. He had a painful problem with his bottom (we won’t go into details, but it hurt a lot!).
Everyone in France was worried. If the King died, it would be a disaster. Lully was very worried because the King was his best friend.
But then, a doctor fixed the problem. The King got surgery. It worked! The King was healthy again.
The Surprise Party
Lully was so happy. He wanted to celebrate. He decided to throw a huge surprise concert for the King.
He picked a very special song. It was called the “Te Deum.”
“Te Deum” is a song you play when you want to say “Thank You” to God. It is a big, loud, powerful song. It has lots of drums and trumpets. It is perfect for a celebration.
Lully gathered all the best musicians in Paris. There were 150 people in the band! It was going to be the loudest, most exciting concert ever.
The Concert Begins
The church was packed. Lully stood at the front. He was wearing his fancy clothes. He held his giant conducting staff in his hands.
He looked at the musicians. He nodded his head. And then… he started.
Thump! The staff hit the floor. The drums started. Thump! The trumpets played.
Lully was feeling the music. He was so happy the King was alive. He wanted this to be the best performance of his life.
The music got faster. Lully got faster. Thump! Thump! Thump!
He was sweating. His eyes were wide. He was slamming the staff down with all his might. He wanted the beat to be strong.
The Mistake
And then, it happened.
Lully lifted the heavy staff high in the air. He brought it down as hard as he could.
But he misjudged the distance. He didn’t hit the floor.
CRUNCH.
The heavy, iron-tipped staff smashed right onto his foot. It hit his big toe.
It wasn’t just a little bump. It was a smash. It crushed his toe. It probably broke the bone and squished the skin.
The Show Must Go On
Can you imagine how much that hurt? Have you ever stubbed your toe on a table leg? It hurts so much! You want to hop around and cry.
Now imagine dropping a bowling ball on your toe. That is what it felt like.
But Lully was a professional. He didn’t stop. He didn’t drop the stick. He probably yelled “Ouch!” inside his head, but he kept going.
He finished the song. Thump. Thump. Thump.
He conducted until the very last note. The audience cheered. It was a great concert.
But down on the floor, Lully’s shoe was filling up with blood.
Part 4: The Stubborn Composer
After the concert, Lully limped home. His toe was throbbing. It was red and swollen.
He probably thought, “It’s just a smashed toe. It will get better in a few days.”
But it did not get better.
The Toe Gets Worse
A few days passed. The toe didn’t look red anymore. It started to look black. It started to smell bad.
This is very bad news.
Today, if you get a bad cut, you put cream on it and a Band-Aid. If it gets infected, you take medicine called antibiotics. These are pills that kill bad germs.
But in 1687, they didn’t have Band-Aids. They didn’t have antibiotic pills. They didn’t know about germs yet.
So, the bad germs in Lully’s toe started to have a party. They were eating his toe. This is called an infection.
The Doctors Arrive
Lully’s family called the doctors. The doctors looked at the black toe. They shook their heads.
“Monsieur Lully,” they said. “This is very bad. You have gangrene.”
(We will learn more about gangrene in a minute. Just know it is very scary).
The doctors told Lully, “We have to cut off your toe.”
Lully said, “Okay, fine. Take the toe.”
But a few days later, the black color was spreading. It was moving up his foot. It was moving toward his ankle.
The doctors came back. “Monsieur Lully,” they said. “The toe was not enough. The sickness is moving up. We need to cut off your foot. Actually, maybe we should cut off your whole leg, just to be safe.”
The Big Refusal
Lully looked at the doctors. He looked at his leg.
Most people would say, “Please save my life! Take the leg!”
But Lully said, “NO!”
Why did he say no? Was he scared of the pain? Maybe a little. But that wasn’t the main reason.
Remember what I told you about Lully? He wasn’t just a music writer. He was a dancer.
Dancing was his life. He danced for the King. He danced in his own shows. He was proud of his legs.
He thought, “If I have one leg, I cannot dance. If I cannot dance, I do not want to live.”
It sounds crazy to us. But to him, dancing was everything. He was stubborn. He was proud.
He told the doctors to go away. He said he would keep his leg.
The Sad Ending
This was a bad choice.
The sickness didn’t stop. It kept moving up his leg. It got into his blood.
Lully got very hot. He got a fever. He started to feel very sleepy and sick.
His friends came to say goodbye. He laid in his bed, listening to his own music.
On March 22, 1687, Jean-Baptiste Lully died.
He died because he hit his toe with a stick. And he died because he loved dancing too much to let the doctors help him.
Part 5: What is Gangrene? (The Science Part)
Okay, let’s take a quick break from the story. We need to understand the sickness that killed Lully.
It is called Gangrene. (Say it like: Gang-green).
It sounds like a monster’s name. And it acts like a monster, too.
The Bad Germs
When you get a cut, tiny invisible bugs called bacteria try to get inside. Usually, your body fights them off. Your blood cleans the cut.
But sometimes, the cut is too deep. Or the dirt is too dirty.
In Lully’s case, the heavy staff crushed his toe. It killed the skin and the muscle. Dead skin cannot fight germs.
So, the bad germs moved in. They started to eat the dead toe.
Why Does it Turn Black?
When the germs eat the body parts, the skin dies completely. It turns dry and black. It looks like charcoal.
This is the “Rotting Sickness.”
Why Couldn’t They Fix It?
Today, doctors give you a shot or a pill. The medicine goes into your blood and kills the germs.
But in the 1600s, doctors didn’t know about germs. They thought sickness came from “bad air” or “evil spirits.”
Their only way to fix gangrene was to cut off the bad part. Imagine an apple with a rotten spot. You have to cut out the brown part so the rest of the apple stays good.
If you don’t cut it out, the rot spreads to the whole apple.
That is what happened to Lully. He didn’t cut off the “rotten” leg, so the “rot” spread to his whole body. It poisoned his heart and his brain.
It is a very sad way to die. And it all started from one clumsy moment.
Part 6: Why Do We Remember Him?
You might think, “Wow, Lully sounds like a silly guy. He died from a stubbed toe!”
But we shouldn’t only remember his death. We should remember his life, too. He was actually amazing.
He Invented French Opera
Before Lully, operas (plays where everyone sings) were mostly Italian. They were fast and funny.
Lully invented a new style for France. It was fancy. It was serious. It had lots of ballet dancing in it. (Because he loved dancing!).
If you go to a ballet today, you can say “Thank you, Lully!” He helped make dance a big part of music history.
Read Also: 10 Bizarre Musical Moments You Won’t Believe Are Real
He Changed Conducting Forever
But the biggest thing he changed was the stick.
After Lully died, other conductors got scared. They looked at their heavy iron staffs. They looked at their feet. They thought, “Maybe this is not a good idea.”
Slowly, over many years, conductors stopped using the heavy poles.
- First, they used a roll of paper. They would roll up sheet music and wave it. It was quiet and safe.
- Then, they used smaller wooden sticks.
- Finally, they started using the tiny, light baton we see today.
So, in a way, Lully saved the lives of future conductors. Because he died, they started using safer tools.
Now, if a conductor drops their baton, nobody dies. They just feel a little embarrassed and pick it up.
Conclusion
Jean-Baptiste Lully started as a poor kitchen boy. He became the most famous musician in the world. He was best friends with a King.
He lived a big, loud, exciting life.
And he had a big, loud, exciting death.
It is a tragic story. It is sad that he wouldn’t let the doctors help him. He loved his dancing legs more than his life.
But it is also a lesson for us. Passion is good. Loving music is good. But maybe, just maybe… we should be careful with heavy sticks.
The next time you see a conductor waving a tiny little wand, remember Jean-Baptiste Lully. Remember the man who pounded the floor. Remember the man who refused to stop dancing.
And be glad that modern conductors use light sticks!
What do you think? Is this the weirdest death you have ever heard of? Do you think you would have let the doctors take your leg? Let us know what you think!
Read Also: The Night a Baseball Game Turned into an Anti-Disco Riot 1979
