The Académie Royale de Danse, founded by
Letters Patent on the initiative of
King Louis XIV of France
, 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 Ve ...
in March 1661, was the first dance institution established in the
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania. . As one of King Louis’ first official edicts after the death of royal adviser
Jules Mazarin
Cardinal Jules Mazarin (, also , , ; 14 July 1602 – 9 March 1661), born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino () or Mazarini, was an Italian cardinal, diplomat and politician who served as the chief minister to the Kings of France Louis XIII and Louis X ...
, the “Letters Patent of the King to Establish a Royal Academy of Dance in the City of Paris” represented a critical step towards the young King's wielding of consolidated personal power.
Structurally, the Académie consisted of thirteen dancing masters selected by King Louis XIV for being the “most experienced in the Art
f dance”
This "experience" was determined by each dancer's history of success in previous royal productions of ''
ballets de cour
''Ballet de cour'' ("court ballet") is the name given to ballets performed in the 16th and 17th centuries at courts.
The court ballet was a gathering of noblemen and women, as the cast and audience were largely supplied by the ruling class. The fe ...
''.
Most famously, eight of the selected dancing masters performed with King Louis XIV during his portrayal of
Apollo
Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
, the Sun King, in
''Le'' ''Ballet de la nuit'' (1653).
Although the object of the Académie was to reflect, analyze and normalize matters of dance, no document relating to its activity or to this theorization has survived. The
Académie Royale de Musique
The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be k ...
, founded in 1669 as the Académie d'Opéra, was a closely related opera and ballet company, and although the two institutions never merged, members of the dance academy were also associated with the opera. Little by little, recruitment of dancers into the royal entourage gave way to recruitment into the
ballet-corps of the Opéra. This slowly altered the Académie's profile, making it and its members more dedicated to dance training alone. By 1775, the Académie was nearing the end of its life. On joining the Académie,
Jean-Georges Noverre
Jean-Georges Noverre (29 April 1727 19 October 1810) was a French dancer and balletmaster, and is generally considered the creator of ''ballet d'action'', a precursor of the narrative ballets of the 19th century. His birthday is now observed as ...
, one of ''
ballet d’action''’s most influential choreographers, commented on its ineffectiveness in making meaningful contributions to the dance world.
But Noverre’s dismissive remarks concerning the organization cannot be taken at face value, since on a number of accounts, his statements are polemical, biased and misleading. It is often claimed that the Académie ceased to exist after 1778, merely because a list of the thirteen members was no longer published after this date, or alternatively after 1789, with the coming of French Revolution and the abolition or nationalization of royal institutions. In a tribute to his deceased brother Maximilien published in the '' Courrier des spectacles '' (30 September 1798), Pierre Gardel, the head choreographer at the Paris Opéra at that time, writes that “these positions, which came with a pension
f 500 livres passed in turn to the most distinguished dancers. Citizens
ugusteVestris and
ierreGardel, currently at the Théâtre de la République et des Arts, are the last to have enjoyed these.” It appears then that the Académie was indeed defunct by 1798. The opera and ballet company has survived and today is known as the
Opéra National de Paris
The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be ...
.
Objectives
In the introduction to the Letters Patent, King Louis XIV cites the corruption of dance (primarily in his own court) as motivation for establishing the Académie. He goes on to charge the appointed dancing masters with restoring “the art of dancing to its original perfection and
mprovingit as much as possible.”
[Astier 1998, p. 4.]
It is important to note that Letters Patent of this kind were only customarily written from the King's perspective; it is unlikely King Louis’ personal convictions regarding the state of the art are actually represented here. This becomes clear when the Letters Patent are compared to those which established the
Académie Française in 1635 and
Académie Royale de Peinture et Sculpture in 1648; both mentioned the Académies would serve to right artistic disrepair and were promulgated well before King Louis’ was old enough to draft policy.
Due to the King Louis’ probable lack of involvement in the edict, it has been argued that the establishment of the Académie was primarily motivated by the dancing masters themselves. Using their proximity to the King and other royals in ''ballets de cour'', the dancers were able elevate their profession above guild status while simultaneously securing wealth and influence.
In service of the broad objective to revitalize dance, the Letters provided sweeping powers to the Académie which brought the art squarely under royal control. Statute VIII of the Letters required all new dances in France—of any description—be reviewed and accepted by a majority of the Académie members (''académistes'') before they could be performed. In addition, Statute III established that dance instructor licenses were to be distributed solely by the approval of the ''académistes''. The Letters left no ambiguity: it would be up to the Académie to define Parisian dance. Other statues, like VII and XI, went beyond the ''académistes'', requiring all professional dancers in Paris and the surrounding area to be officially registered with the Académie; the best of that number were then expected to be available for casting in court ballets at the whim of the King.
Legacy
Since no archives of the Académie have been found, it has not been possible to evaluate in detail its activities and accomplishments. Despite this, it is still possible to trace the organization's influence through indirect means.
Dance historian Maureen Needham suggests the founding of the Académie may have been at least partly responsible for the end of ''
ballets de cour
''Ballet de cour'' ("court ballet") is the name given to ballets performed in the 16th and 17th centuries at courts.
The court ballet was a gathering of noblemen and women, as the cast and audience were largely supplied by the ruling class. The fe ...
'' proper. As ballet became more formalized at the hands of the Académie, the technical ability required to perform choreography went up substantially, quickly outpacing the skill of non-professional courtiers. Unable to keep up with the steps, members of the court could not dance alongside their accomplished masters as they did in the days of ''Le Ballet de la nuit'' (1653) and were thus consigned to observing performances from the sidelines. Countering declining numbers of courtiers dancing, the population of professional dancers expanded substantially.
More concretely, King Louis XIV requested the development of a dance notation system by the ''académistes''.
Pierre Beauchamp
Pierre Beauchamp or Beauchamps (; 30 October 1631 – February 1705) was a French choreographer, dancer and composer, and the probable inventor of Beauchamp–Feuillet notation. His grand-father was called Christophe (a musician) and his ...
, director of the Académie in 1680, provided one which was later co-opted, refined, and popularized by
Raoul Auger Feuillet
Raoul Auger (or Anger) Feuillet (c.1660–1710) was a French dance notator, publisher and choreographer most well-known today for his ''Chorégraphie, ou l'art de décrire la danse'' (Paris, 1700) which described Beauchamp–Feuillet notation, ...
, after whom the
notation system was subsequently named.
Something of the organization’s purpose can be gleaned from an entry in the '' Spectacles de Paris '' (1778: 29-30):
"Independent of the Royal Academy of Music
.e., the Paris Opéra there is an Academy of Dance, the meetings of which are held at the director’s
ome
Ome may refer to:
Places
* Ome (Bora Bora), a public island in the lagoon of Bora Bora
* Ome, Lombardy, Italy, a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Brescia
* Ōme, Tokyo, a city in the Prefecture of Tokyo
* Ome (crater), a crater on Mars
Tran ...
This Royal Academy of Dance was set up by Louis XIV in 1661, through '' lettres patentes '' ratified by '' parlement '' in 1662. The number of academy members is fixed at thirteen, and they enjoy the privilege – as do their children – of demonstrating the art of dance without '' lettres, '' as well as the right of '' committimus '' and other such, like those of the '' Officiers Commensaux '' of the '' Maison du Roi. ''
They are to meet once a month in order to deliberate on whatever concerns their art. One of the main purposes of this Academy is to train '' sujets ''
.e., soloistsfor the Opéra."
The 13th Member Controversy
While the published “Letters Patent of the King to Establish a Royal Academy of Dance in the City of Paris” specifies thirteen dancing masters were to lead the Académie, the corresponding list of names numbers only twelve. Based on cross-referencing mentions of the organization's thirteen members with other documents, however, it is clear the number is correctly stated.
The identity of the omitted thirteenth member has long been a point of disagreement among dance historians.
Gaston Vuillier
Gaston Charles Vuillier (7 October 1845, Perpignan – 2 February 1915, Gimel-les-Cascades) was a French painter, designer, traveller and ethnographer. He was employed by many of the major periodicals and journals of the time; including ''Le T ...
forwarded Beauchamp as the missing member, while Régine Astier (Kunzel) unabashedly claimed it was Henri Prévost. Both were wrong. The original document signed by King Louis XIV was preserved in the French National Archives, and upon its close inspection in 1997 by scholar Maureen Needham, the thirteenth name was revealed to be “Molière.”
Not to be confused with
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Molière (1622–73), the famous playwright of King Louis’ reign responsible for ballets such as ''
Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme
''Le Bourgeois gentilhomme'' (, translated as ''The Bourgeois Gentleman'', ''The Middle-Class Aristocrat'', or ''The Would-Be Noble'') is a five-act ''comédie-ballet'' – a play intermingled with music, dance and singing – written by Molière ...
'' (1670), the Molière mentioned in the text is accompanied by “La Jeune” translated into English as “the young” or “the younger.” Given Poquelin was never known by such a title, it indicates “Molière” is rather the courtly spelling of “Mollier” as in Louis de Mollier (1615–88) an acclaimed dancer and musician of the court. Of course, Louis de Mollier is older than Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Molière, however historical records (such as pg.103 of the ''
Mercure Galant'', July 1677) show Louis de Mollier was commonly known as “le petit Molière,” likely due to his waning popularity in comparison Poquelin.
It is thus feasible that “Molière La Jeune” is equivalent to “Molière le petit.”
Dance scholar Rose Pruiksma offers yet another possibility. Citing the gender of the name used in the official edict: “La” Jeune (female) rather than “Le” Jeune (male), the mysterious deletion of the name in all official court documents, and the definitive lack of youth in Louis de Mollier by 1661 (he would be forty-six), Pruiksma proffers the daring hypothesis that “Molière La Jeune” is perhaps Marie Blanche Mollier (1644-1733), the daughter of “Molière le petit.” In her own right, Marie Mollier was an accomplished dancer of ''ballets de cour'' and was no stranger to the stage of Louis XIV by the time of the Académie's establishment. As Pruiskma indicates, the addition of a female dancing master in the Académie provides a compelling reason for the thirteenth name to be wiped from official court documentation, and would explain the development of female dancers in ''Le Triomphe de l’amour'' at the Paris Opéra in 1681.
Of course, while the name “Molière La Jeune” indicates youthfulness, Marie Mollier's age, only seventeen in 1661, makes her being the 13th “senior” ''académiste'' still highly contested.
The Saint-Julien Conflict
The dance academy's members (''académistes'') formed part of the king's entourage and court and were, for the most part, simultaneously both dancers and musicians. It was this that motivated the fraternity of musicians of Saint-Julien to publish a virulent factum against the "" in 1664. This long ', entitled ', was signed by
Guillaume Dumanoir, "violin player to His Majesty, one of the 25 members of his "grand' Bande", and also holder of the Office de Roy of the Instrument Players, and of the
dance master
Dance Master UK is a dance competition held annually in the United Kingdom.
Overview
Dance Master UK was established in the late 1990s by the International Dance Teachers Association, as the male equivalent of their long running competition Mis ...
s of France". The quarrel was settled in 1695, by a decree according the same rights to both parties.
Founding Letters Patent
Members
See also
*
Paris Opera Ballet
The Paris Opera Ballet () is a French ballet company that is an integral part of the Paris Opera. It is the oldest national ballet company, and many European and international ballet companies can trace their origins to it. It is still regarded a ...
*
French art salons and academies
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
References
Notes
Sources
* Astier, Régine (1998). "Académie Royale de Danse" in Cohen 1998, vol. 1, pp. 3–5.
* Christout, Marie-Françoise (1998). "Paris Opera Ballet" in Cohen 1998, vol. 5, pp. 86–100.
* Cohen, Selma Jeanne, editor (1998). ''International Encyclopedia of Dance''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (hardcover). (2004 paperback edition).
* Craine, Debra; Mackrell, Judith (2000). ''The Oxford Dictionary of Dance''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. .
* Harris-Warrick, Rebecca (1992). "Paris. 2. 1669–1725. (i) The Académie Royale de Musique (Opéra)" in Sadie 1992, vol. 3, p. 856.
*"Mercure Galant, juillet 1677 – Mercure Galant, OBVIL
obvil.sorbonne-universite.siteRetrieved 2018-10-24.
*Miller, Elizabeth Maxfield (1959). "Molière and His Homonym Louis de Mollier. in Modern Language Notes vol. 74 pp. 612-621.
*Needham, Maureen (1997). "Louis XIV and the Académie Royale de Danse, 1661: A Commentary and Translation" in Dance Chronicle vol. 20 pp. 173–190.
*Pruiksma, Rose A. (2003). "Generational Conflict and the Foundation of the Académie Royale de Danse: A Reexamination" in Dance Chronicle vol. 26 pp. 169–187.
* Sadie, Stanley, editor (1992). ''
The New Grove Dictionary of Opera
''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volu ...
'' (4 volumes). London: Macmillan. .
* Some of the information on this page was translated from the
corresponding article in the French Wikipedia.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Academie Royale de Danse
Performing arts education in France
Dance schools in France
Ballet schools
Arts and culture in the Ancien Régime
1661 establishments in France