Ballet de cour

(Fr.)

‘Court ballet’: a type of ballet danced at the French court from the late 16th century to the late 17th. Circé ou le Balet comique de la Royne (1581) was the first to combine poetry, music, décor and dance in a single scenario; most later ballets de cour consisted of dramatically separate entrées. Lully contributed to the genre from c 1655, but it suffered an eclipse when Louis XIV ceased to dance (1670) and it was only briefly revived under Louis XV.

A court ballet. Derived from the spectacles of the Italian Renaissance, which were designed as entertainment for the nobility, the ballet de cour was performed by aristocrats (usually enthusiastic amateurs under the guidance of a professional dancing master) from the royal courts of Europe and included elements of music and verse as well as dance. It enjoyed its greatest flowering in France, from the middle of the 16th century until the reign of Louis XIV a century later. The ballet de cour, with its lavish decor and costumes and elaborate special effects, was often used to mark an important event or to convey a political message. In the case of Louis XIV, who as a teenager appeared as the Sun in Ballet de la Nuit, the grand theatrical display was also used as a public assertion of power. The subject-matter of such ballets was usually mythological or allegorical. The Ballet comique de la reine (1581) is the earliest-known example of ballet de cour.

An entertainment, extremely popular from the late 16th to the late 17th c., which exploited the different skills of poet, musician, choreographer, painter, and machiniste in a series of tableaux unified by a common theme. Of Italian inspiration, it became established after the spectacular Ballet comique de la reine of 1581. Free of constricting rules and traditions, it underwent multiple transformations in which, at different times, satire, melodrama, allegory, and the burlesque were given prominence; its thematic inspiration was similarly varied, drawing on ancient history or myth, chivalric romance or contemporary fiction. In some of Molière's court entertainments, the role of librettist, often subordinated to that of musician and choreographer, became more pronounced; from these would develop the sophisticated art of comédie-ballet. For all its diversity, it was characterized by its taste for spectacle, providing a refuge for the imagination as the classical aesthetic took hold [see also Machine Plays]. But it also served social or political functions. In the early years, it reflected the aspirations of courtly society, with its representations of celestial harmony or the dawn of a new Golden Age; under Louis XIV it often served a more specific purpose, helping to create and sustain the myth of the Sun King.

[Jonathan Mallinson]

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