Ballet Comique de la Reine
The Ballet Comique de la Reine (at the time spelled Balet comique de la Royne) was an elaborate court
Creation
The Ballet Comique de la Reine was created under the auspices of Henry III's mother, the dowager queen Catherine de' Medici, as part of the wedding celebrations for the Duke de Joyeuse and Queen Louise of Lorraine's sister, Marguerite de Vaudemont.[3] The ballet was choreographed by Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx and was the first piece to combine poetry, music, design and dance according to the rules of Jean-Antoine de Baïf's Académie de Poésie et de Musique. The ballet was inspired by the enchantress, Circe, from Homer's Odyssey. The pricey production lasted five and half hours and the Queen and King both participated in the performance. The Queen, along with a group of lady court dancers arrived on a fountain that was three tiers high dressed as dryads. The dancers were entering and exiting from both sides of the set, which was unusual for previous court ballets. The ballet was also made in hopes of bringing resolution to the religious hardship that caused the French people to separate. Circe was a symbol of civil war, while the restoration of peace at the end of the ballet represented the country's hopes for the future.[4][5]
"Amaryllis"
The final nine measures of the first ballet, labelled "Le Son de la clochette auquel Circé sortit de son jardin" (the sound of the bell at which Circe leaves her garden), contain a tune that forms the basis of a nineteenth-century arrangement by
Likely as a result of its popularity in Japan, it was selected as the tune that plays when a Zojirushi rice cooker finishes its job.[9]
See also
References
Notes
- ^ Anthony 1997, p. 41, and Lawrenson 1986, pp. 182–184, both identify the location of the performance as the Petit-Bourbon (known as the Hôtel de Bourbon at the time), and Lawrenson reproduces the engraving shown here. Lacroix 1876, p. 506 (the source of the image) identifies it as the "Gallery of the Louvre", and McGowan 1998, p. 275, gives "Salle de Bourbon of the Louvre". Brette 1902, pp. LIV–LXIX, discusses the history of the confusion of the location of this room in the Petit-Bourbon with the Louvre in great detail.
- ^ Yates 1988, p. 236.
- ^ Anthony 2001. Marguerite de Vaudemont, also known as Marguerite of Lorraine, was the queen's half-sister, daughter of the queen's father Nicolas, Duke of Mercœur, and his second wife, Joanna of Savoy.
- ^ McGowan 1998, p. 275.
- ^ Thames & Hudson, 1988 p.14 [full citation needed].
- ^ Kasey Marie Mattia, Crossing the channel: Cultural identity in the court ... 2007 Duke University Page 11 "Beaujoyeulx had ultimate control over the ballet, but was assisted by Lambert Beaulieu and Jacques Salmon who composed the music, La Chesnaye who wrote the text, and Jacques Patin who designed the stage sets and costumes.
- ^ Aercke 1994, p. 27 "... Balthasar Beaujoyeux (actually Baltazarini), with music by Lambert de Beaulieu and Jacques Salmon on a text by La Chesnaye and painted scenery by Jacques Patin (who also designed the costumes), it is the earliest such ballet of which .."
- ^ Arvey 1941, p. 80.
- ^ Zojirushi: Design Explained – Our Signature Tune! https://www.zojirushi.com/blog/?p=4406
Sources
- Aercke, Kristiaan (1994). Gods of Play: Baroque Festive Performances As Rhetorical Discourse. Albany: State University of New York Press. ISBN 9780791420492.
- Anthony, James R. (1997). French Baroque Music from Beaujoyeulx to Rameau, revised and extended edition. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN 9781574670219.
- Anthony, James R. (2001). "Ballet de cour" in Sadie 2001. Also at Oxford Music Online (subscription required).
- Arvey, Verna. (1941). Choreographic Music for the Dance. New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc. ISBN 9781406758474.
- Brette, Armand (1902). Histoire des édifices où ont siége les assemblées parlementaires de la Révolution française et de la première République, tome premier. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale. .
- Cohen, Selma Jeanne, editor (1998). International Encyclopedia of Dance (6 volumes). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-517369-7(2004 paperback edition).
- Graafland, Arie (2003). Versailles and the Mechanics of Power': The Subjugation of Circe. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers. ISBN 9789064504921.
- Lacroix, Paul (1876). Manners, Customs, and Dress during the Middle Ages, and during the Renaissance Period. London: Chapman and Hall. View at Google Books.
- Lawrenson, T. E. (1986). The French Stage and Playhouse in the XVIIth Century: A Study in the Advent of the Italian Order, second edition, revised and enlarged. New York: AMS Press. ISBN 9780404617219.
- ISBN 9780866980128.
- McGowan, Margaret M. (1998). "Balet Comique de la Royne, Le" in Cohen 1998, vol. 1, pp. 275–277.
- Preston, VK (2015). "How do I Touch this text?: Or, the Interdisciplines Between: Dance and Theatre in Early Modern Archives", pp. 56-89, in George-Graves, Nadine. "The Oxford Handbook of Dance and Theatre." Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0190698072.
- OCLC 419285866(eBook).
- OCLC 335923.
- ISBN 9780415002219.
External links
- Media related to Ballet comique de la reine at Wikimedia Commons
- Balet comique de la Royne, copies 1 and 2 at Gallica.
- "Le Balet Comique de la Reine, 1581: An Analysis" by Elizabeth Cooper at the Wayback Machine (archived June 4, 2011)