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Versailles Opera
The Royal Opera of Versailles () is the main theatre and opera house of the Palace of Versailles. Designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel, it is also known as the Théâtre Gabriel. The interior decoration by Augustin Pajou is constructed almost entirely of wood, painted to resemble marble in a technique known as faux marble. The excellent acoustics of the opera house are at least partly due to its wooden interior. The house is located at the northern extremity of the north wing of the palace. General public access to the theater is gained through the two-story vestibule. Some parts of the Opéra, such as the King's Loge and the King's Boudoir represent some of the earliest expressions of what would become known as Louis XVI style. Jean-Baptiste Lully, Lully’s ''Persée'' — written in 1682, the year Louis XIV moved into the palace — inaugurated the Opéra on 16 May 1770 in celebration of the marriage of the dauphin — the future Louis XVI — to Marie Antoinette. The Opéra Roy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opera Royal Versailles 0004
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libretto, librettist and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, Theatrical scenery, scenery, costume, and sometimes dance or ballet. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble, which since the early 19th century has been led by a conducting, conductor. Although musical theatre is closely related to opera, the two are considered to be distinct from one another. Opera is a key part of the Western culture#Music, Western classical music tradition. Originally understood as an entirely sung piece, in contrast to a play with songs, opera has come to include :Opera genres, numerous genres, including some that include spoken dialogue such as ''Singspiel'' and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France , burial_date = 9 September 1715 , burial_place = Basilica of Saint-Denis , religion = Catholicism (Gallican Rite) , signature = Louis XIV Signature.svg Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any sovereign in history whose date is verifiable. Although Louis XIV's France was emblematic of the age of absolutism in Europe, the King surrounded himself with a variety of significant political, military, and cultural figures, such as Bossuet, Colbert, Le Brun, Le Nôtre, Lully, Mazarin, Molière, Racine, Turenne, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grand Trianon
The Grand Trianon () is a French Baroque style château situated in the northwestern part of the Domain of Versailles in Versailles, France. It was built at the request of King Louis XIV of France as a retreat for himself and his ''maîtresse-en-titre'' of the time, the Marquise de Montespan, and as a place where he and invited guests could take light meals (''collations'') away from the strict ''étiquette'' of the royal court. The Grand Trianon is set within its own park, which includes the Petit Trianon (a smaller château built in the 1760s, during the reign of King Louis XV). ''Trianon de porcelaine'' Between 1663 and 1665, Louis XIV purchased the hamlet of Trianon, on the outskirts of Versailles. In 1670, he commissioned the architect Louis Le Vau to design a porcelain pavilion (''Trianon de porcelaine'') to be built there. The façade was made of white and blue Delft-style porcelain (ceramic) tiles from the French manufactures of Rouen, Lisieux, Nevers and Saint-Cl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Racine
Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western tradition and world literature. Racine was primarily a tragedian, producing such "examples of neoclassical perfection" as ''Phèdre'', ''Andromaque'', and ''Athalie''. He did write one comedy, '' Les Plaideurs'', and a muted tragedy, ''Esther'' for the young. Racine's plays displayed his mastery of the dodecasyllabic (12 syllable) French alexandrine. His writing is renowned for its elegance, purity, speed, and fury, and for what American poet Robert Lowell described as a "diamond-edge", and the "glory of its hard, electric rage". Racine's dramaturgy is marked by his psychological insight, the prevailing passion of his characters, and the nakedness of both plot and stage. Biography Racine was born on 21 December 1639 in La Ferté-Milon ( Aisne) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Subsidiary Structures Of The Palace Of Versailles
Five subsidiary structures located near the Palace of Versailles have a historical relation with the history and evolution of the palace. Of these five structures – the Ménagerie, the Pavillon de la Lanterne, the Trianon de Porcelaine, the Grand Trianon (also called the Marble Trianon), and the Petit Trianon – two have been destroyed (the Ménagerie and the Trianon de Porcelaine); however, historical documentation and accounts permit these two structures to be discussed. As an ensemble of buildings related to, yet removed from, the chateau of Versailles, they represent architectural masterworks of the 17th and 18th centuries that have inspired architects to this day. Ménagerie In response to increased interest in zoology—and especially with regard to Aristotelian theology, which experienced a renaissance through the works of Claude Perrault; as well as the passion for the exotic, Louis XIV ordered the construction of the Ménagerie in 1662. Completed in 1664, the Ménage ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philippe Quinault
Philippe Quinault (; 3 June 1635 – 26 November 1688), French dramatist and librettist, was born in Paris. Biography Quinault was educated by the liberality of François Tristan l'Hermite, the author of ''Marianne''. Quinault's first play was produced at the Hôtel de Bourgogne in 1653, when he was only eighteen. The piece succeeded, and Quinault followed it up, but he also read for the bar; and in 1660, when he married a widow with money, he bought himself a place in the ''Cour des Comptes''. Then he tried tragedies (''Agrippa'', etc.) with more success. He received one of the literary pensions then recently established, and was elected to the Académie française in 1670. Up to this time he had written some sixteen or seventeen comedies, tragedies, and tragi-comedies, which began at the ''Hôtel de Bourgogne'' in 1653, and of which the tragedies were mostly of very small value and the tragi-comedies of little more. But his comedies—especially his first piece ''Les Riv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plaisirs De L’Île Enchantée
''The Pleasures of the Enchanted Island'' (French: ''Les Plaisirs de l’Île enchantée'') was a multi-day performance presented from 7 to 13 May 1664 to the court of King Louis XIV of France at Versailles.Kathleen Wine (2002), "''Plaisirs de l'Isle enchantée, Les''", pp. 371–373, in ''The Molière Encyclopedia'', edited by James F. Gaines. Westport, Connecticut/London: Greenwood Press. . At the king's request, it was organized by the Duke of Saint-Aignan, who took the title from a popular episode in cantos 6–8 and 10 of the 1516 Italian epic '' Orlando furioso'' by Ludovico Ariosto, in which the knight Ruggiero (in French, Roger) becomes a prisoner of love at the sorceress Alcina's court. It was staged to celebrate the beginning of the building campaigns for the Chateau de Versailles with the intention to acquaint those involved in its construction—the King's wife, mother, lovers, mistresses, and family in general—with cotillon style ball and overall culture. In addit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
War Of Devolution
In the 1667 to 1668 War of Devolution (, ), France occupied large parts of the Spanish Netherlands and Franche-Comté, both then provinces of the Holy Roman Empire (and properties of the King of Spain). The name derives from an obscure law known as the ''Jus Devolutionis'', used by Louis XIV of France to claim that these territories had "devolved" to him by right of marriage to Maria Theresa of Spain. In the fighting, the French encountered minimal resistance; however, Louis was more concerned with asserting his inheritance rights in the Spanish Empire, and consequently returned much of his gains in the May 1668 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. The terms were agreed by Emperor Leopold I in January 1668, reinforced by the Triple Alliance of England, Sweden and the Dutch Republic. The conflict marked the end of the long-standing Franco-Dutch alliance, and was the first of the French wars of expansion that dominated Europe for the next 50 years. Background As part of the 1659 Treaty o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and world literature. His extant works include comedies, farces, tragicomedies, comédie-ballets, and more. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed at the Comédie-Française more often than those of any other playwright today. His influence is such that the French language is often referred to as the "language of Molière". Born into a prosperous family and having studied at the Collège de Clermont (now Lycée Louis-le-Grand), Molière was well suited to begin a life in the theatre. Thirteen years as an itinerant actor helped him polish his comedic abilities while he began writing, combining Commedia dell'arte elements with the more refined French comedy. Through the patronage of aristocrats including ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Pleasures Of The Enchanted Island
''The Pleasures of the Enchanted Island'' (French: ''Les Plaisirs de l’Île enchantée'') was a multi-day performance presented from 7 to 13 May 1664 to the court of King Louis XIV of France at Palace of Versailles, Versailles.Kathleen Wine (2002), "''Plaisirs de l'Isle enchantée, Les''", pp. 371–373, in ''The Molière Encyclopedia'', edited by James F. Gaines. Westport, Connecticut/London: Greenwood Press. . At the king's request, it was organized by the François de Beauvilliers, 1st duc de Saint-Aignan, Duke of Saint-Aignan, who took the title from a popular episode in cantos 6–8 and 10 of the 1516 Italian epic ''Orlando furioso'' by Ludovico Ariosto, in which the knight Ruggiero (in French, Roger) becomes a prisoner of love at the sorceress Alcina's court. It was staged to celebrate the beginning of the building campaigns for the Chateau de Versailles with the intention to acquaint those involved in its construction—the King's wife, mother, lovers, mistresses, and fa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
House Of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon (, also ; ) is a European dynasty of French origin, a branch of the Capetian dynasty, the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Navarre in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Spanish Bourbon dynasty held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma. Spain and Luxembourg have monarchs of the House of Bourbon. The royal Bourbons originated in 1272, when the youngest son of King Louis IX married the heiress of the lordship of Bourbon. Anselme, Père. ‘'Histoire de la Maison Royale de France'’, tome 4. Editions du Palais-Royal, 1967, Paris. pp. 144–146, 151–153, 175, 178, 180, 185, 187–189, 191, 295–298, 318–319, 322–329. (French). The house continued for three centuries as a cadet branch, serving as nobles under the Direct Capetian and Valois kings. The senior line of the House of Bourbon became extinct in the male line in 1527 with the death of Charles III, Duke of Bourbon. This made the junior Bour ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cardinal Richelieu
Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (; 9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman and statesman. He was also known as ''l'Éminence rouge'', or "the Red Eminence", a term derived from the title "Eminence" applied to cardinals and the red robes that they customarily wear. Consecrated a bishop in 1607, Richelieu was appointed Foreign Secretary in 1616. He continued to rise through the hierarchy of both the Catholic Church and the French government by becoming a cardinal in 1622 and chief minister to King Louis XIII of France in 1624. He retained that office until his death in 1642, when he was succeeded by Cardinal Mazarin, whose career he had fostered. He also became engaged in a bitter dispute with the king's mother, Marie de Médicis, who had once been a close ally. Richelieu sought to consolidate royal power and restrained the power of the nobility in order to transform France into a strong centralized state. In foreig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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