The ''Ballet Comique de la Reine'' (at the time spelled ''Balet comique de la Royne'') was an elaborate court
spectacle
In general, spectacle refers to an event that is memorable for the appearance it creates. Derived in Middle English from c. 1340 as "specially prepared or arranged display" it was borrowed from Old French ''spectacle'', itself a reflection of the ...
performed on October 15, 1581, during the reign of
Henry III of France
Henry III (french: Henri III, né Alexandre Édouard; pl, Henryk Walezy; lt, Henrikas Valua; 19 September 1551 – 2 August 1589) was King of France from 1574 until his assassination in 1589, as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of ...
, in the large hall of the
Hôtel de Bourbon, adjacent to the
Louvre Palace
The Louvre Palace (french: link=no, Palais du Louvre, ), often referred to simply as the Louvre, is an iconic French palace located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in Paris, occupying a vast expanse of land between the Tuileries Ga ...
in Paris. It is often referred to as the first ''
ballet 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 ...
''.
Creation
The ''Ballet Comique de la Reine'' was created under the auspices of Henry III's mother, the dowager queen
Catherine de' Medici
Catherine de' Medici ( it, Caterina de' Medici, ; french: Catherine de Médicis, ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Florentine noblewoman born into the Medici family. She was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King ...
, as part of the wedding celebrations for the
Duke de Joyeuse and Queen
Louise of Lorraine
Louise of Lorraine (french: Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont; 30 April 1553 – 29 January 1601) was Queen of France as the wife of King Henry III from their marriage on 15 February 1575 until his death on 2 August 1589. During the first three mon ...
's sister, Marguerite de Vaudemont. The ballet was choreographed by
Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx
Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx (also Balthasar de Beaujoyeux), originally Baldassare de Belgiojoso (died c. 1587 in Paris) was an Italian violinist, composer, and choreographer.[Jean-Antoine de Baïf
Jean Antoine de Baïf (; 19 February 1532 – 19 September 1589) was a French poet and member of the '' Pléiade''.
Life
Jean Antoine de Baïf was born in Venice, the natural son of the scholar Lazare de Baïf, who was at that time French amb ...]
's
Académie de Poésie et de Musique The Académie de Poésie et de Musique (french: Académie de poésie et de musique), later renamed the Académie du Palais, was the first Academy in France. It was founded in 1570 under the auspices of Charles IX of France by the poet Jean-Antoine ...
. The ballet was inspired by the enchantress,
Circe
Circe (; grc, , ) is an Magician (paranormal), enchantress and a minor goddess in ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion. She is either a daughter of the Titans, Titan Helios and the Oceanid nymph Perse (mythology), Perse ...
, from Homer's ''
Odyssey
The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major Ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek Epic poetry, epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by moder ...
''. 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.
Nicolas Filleul de La Chesnaye Nicolas Filleul de La Chesnaye (1530, in Rouen – 1575) was a French poet. He was professor at the College of Harcourt, Eure where in 1563, he produced ''Achille'' (1563). His texts were used for the Ballet Comique de la Reine
The ''Ballet Co ...
, the King's almoner, wrote the text, sets and costumes were designed by
Jacques Patin
Jacques Patin (died 28 May 1587) was a French painter, decorator, illustrator and engraver.Benezit 2006, vol. 10, p. 992.
Although the date and place of Patin's birth are unknown, he was part of a family of artists that included his father and br ...
. The music was provided by Jacques Salmon, ''maitre de la musique de la chambre de Roi'', and a certain "Sieur de Beaulieu." This composer was identified as "Lambert de Beaulieu" by
Fétis' in his ''Biographie universelle'', following a probable error in a letter by
Rudolph II, Holy Roman Emperor
Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612) was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Croatia (as Rudolf I, 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–1608). He was a member of the Hous ...
, but is today identified with the bass singer
Girard de Beaulieu
Girard de Beaulieu, better known by the incorrectly recorded name Lambert de Beaulieu (? – after 1587) was a French bass singer, instrumentalist, and composer. He was employed at the court of Henri III as basse singer and composer from 1559. He ...
who with his wife, the Italian soprano
Violante Doria
Violante Doria (fl. mid-1500s), also known as Yolande or Yolante, was an Italian soprano from Genoa. She was considered to be one of “the most successful musicians in France during the reigns of the last Valois kings.” She was married to b ...
themselves sung the airs to ''Circé''.
"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
Henri Ghys
Esprit Charles Henri Ghys (17 March 1839 – 24 April 1908) was a French pianist, organist, composer and arranger of Belgian parentage, who is primarily known today as the first piano teacher of Maurice Ravel.
Life and music
Henri (sometimes: He ...
, which the latter mistakenly attributed to the
air
The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing f ...
"Amaryllis" composed by
Louis XIII
Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...
. In Japan, this arrangement was given Japanese lyrics and introduced as "Amaryllis" on
NHK
, also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee.
NHK operates two terrestr ...
's ''
Minna no Uta
, literally ''Everyone's Songs'' (English title: ''Songs for Everyone''), is a five-minute NHK TV and radio program which is broadcast several times daily. The program started on April 3, 1961. It is one of NHK's long-running programs.
The pr ...
'' series in 1968. The tune has since become well known as a French folk song there, and its melody can be heard today as a chime signaling the hour over the PA systems of some schools and rural municipalities.
Likely as a result of its popularity in Japan, it was selected as the tune that plays when a
Zojirushi
The is a Japanese multinational manufacturer and marketer of vacuum flasks, beverage dispensers, and consumer electronics including bread machines, electric kettles, hot water dispensers, electric water boilers and rice cookers. It has a bra ...
rice cooker finishes its job.
[Zojirushi: Design Explained – Our Signature Tune! https://www.zojirushi.com/blog/?p=4406]
See also
*
Catherine de' Medici's court festivals
Catherine de' Medici's court festivals were a series of lavish and spectacular entertainments, sometimes called magnificences, laid on by Catherine de' Medici, the queen consort of France from 1547 to 1559 and queen mother from 1559 until her ...
References
Notes
Sources
* Aercke, Kristiaan (1994). ''Gods of Play: Baroque Festive Performances As Rhetorical Discourse''. Albany: State University of New York Press. .
* Anthony, James R. (1997). ''French Baroque Music from Beaujoyeulx to Rameau'', revised and extended edition. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. .
* Anthony, James R. (2001). "Ballet de cour" in Sadie 2001. Also a
Oxford Music Online(subscription required).
* Arvey, Verna. (1941). ''Choreographic Music for the Dance''. New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc. ; 2007 reprint: .
* 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.
Viewat
Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...
.
* Cohen, Selma Jeanne, editor (1998). ''International Encyclopedia of Dance'' (6 volumes). Oxford: Oxford University Press. (hardcover). (2004 paperback edition).
* Graafland, Arie (2003). ''Versailles and the Mechanics of Power': The Subjugation of Circe''. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers. .
* Lacroix, Paul (1876). ''Manners, Customs, and Dress during the Middle Ages, and during the Renaissance Period''. London: Chapman and Hall
Viewat
Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...
.
* 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. .
*
McGowan, Margaret M. (1982). ''Le Balet Comique by Balthazar de Beaujoyeulx, 1581: A Facsimile, With an Introduction''. Binghamton, New York: Medieval and Renaissance Texts. .
* 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. .
*
Sadie, Stanley
Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was an influential and prolific British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was publ ...
, editor (2001). ''
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...
'', 2nd edition. London: Macmillan. (hardcover). (eBook).
*
Sharp, Cecil (1924). "The Dance, an Historical Survey of Dancing in Europe". London: Halton & Truscott Smith. .
*
Yates, Frances
Dame Frances Amelia Yates (28 November 1899 – 29 September 1981) was an English historian of the Renaissance, who wrote books on esoteric history.
After attaining an MA in French at University College London, she began to publish her resear ...
(1988
irst published 1947. "Chapter XI. The Academies and Court Entertainments: The ''Ballet comique de la Reine''", pp. 236–274, in Yates, Frances. ''The French Academies of the Sixteenth Century''. London and New York: Routledge. .
External links
*
* ''Balet comique de la Royne'', copie
1an
2at
Gallica.
* {{webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604110532/http://depts.washington.edu/uwdance/dance344reading/bctextp1.htm , date=June 4, 2011 , title="''Le Balet Comique de la Reine'', 1581: An Analysis" by Elizabeth Cooper
Renaissance dance
European court festivities
Ballets by Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx
1581 ballet premieres
Ballets de cour
French royal court