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''Ballet de cour'' ("court ballet") is the name given to
ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
s performed in the 16th and 17th centuries at
courts A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...
. The court ballet was a gathering of noblemen and women, as the cast and audience were largely supplied by the ruling class. The festivities, which were descendants of festivals, processions and mummeries dating back to the Middle Ages, looked more like a modern-day parade, than what people today would identify as a ballet performance. Where early court ballet differed from its predecessors, is that it was a secular, not religious happening. It was a carefully crafted mixture of art, socializing, and politics, with its primary objective being to exalt the State. Because these celebrations occurred long before the
proscenium stage A proscenium ( grc-gre, προσκήνιον, ) is the metaphorical vertical plane of space in a theatre, usually surrounded on the top and sides by a physical proscenium arch (whether or not truly "arched") and on the bottom by the stage floor ...
had been invented, and were instead executed in large halls with audience members stacked up on three sides of the performance, early court ballet’s choreography was constructed as a series of patterns and geometric shapes that were intended to be viewed from overhead. Once the performance was through, the audience was encouraged to join the dancers on the floor to participate in a, “ball” which was designed to bring everyone in the hall into unanimity with the ideas expressed by the piece. As they developed through time, court ballets began to introduce comedy, went through a phase where they poked fun at manners and affectations of the time, and they moved into a phase where they became enamoured with pantomime. At the time of the court ballet’s birth, a similar art form appeared in Italy called
opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
. The difference between the two crafts is that the developing phenomenon in Italy focused on the singing aspect of performance, whereas in France, movement was front and centre. Early court ballets were influenced by the elaborate entertainments common in royal celebrations and aristocratic weddings of France and Italy. When the Florentine Catherine de’ Medici married the French King Henri II in 1533, French and Italian culture enmeshed as Catherine brought from her native Italy her penchant for theatrical and ceremonial events, including elegant court festivals. A more deliberate contribution the court ballet resulted from the
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 ...
, founded in 1570 by the poet Jean-Antoine de Baif and the composer Thibault de Courville. The aim of the Academie was to revive the arts of the ancient world in order to harmonize dance, music, and language in a way that could result in a higher level of morality. It was from this marriage of traditional grand spectacle and conscious measured order that court ballets were born.
Jean-Baptiste Lully Jean-Baptiste Lully ( , , ; born Giovanni Battista Lulli, ; – 22 March 1687) was an Italian-born French composer, guitarist, violinist, and dancer who is considered a master of the French Baroque music style. Best known for his operas, he ...
is considered the most important composer of music for ''ballet de cour'' and instrumental to the development of the form. During his employment by
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 Vers ...
as director of the Académie Royale de Music, he worked with
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 fa ...
,
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 ...
,
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 w ...
and Mademoiselle
De Lafontaine Mademoiselle De Lafontaine, also known as La Fontaine (1655–1738), was a French ballerina and is regarded as the first female professional ballet dancer. Her first name is unknown. Together with Jean-Baptiste Lully and others, De Lafontaine part ...
to develop ballet as an art form equal to that of the accompanying music.


Notable works

''Ballet des Polonais'' was one of the first works to be recognized as a true court ballet. The spectacle was commissioned by Catherine de’ Medici in 1573 to celebrate the election of her second son, Henry of Anjou, as King of Poland. Performed at the Tuileries Palace and organized by the Italian dancing master,
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.t was surprising thatno lady ever failed to be at her appointed turn or place.” Although its combination of verse, song and dance had been used before, the intricate figure dancing involved in the ''Ballet des Polonais'' marked the beginning of the French style that would become the dominant continental school over the next century. The first ''ballet de cour'' to fuse dance, poetry, music and design into a coherent dramatic statement was the ''
Ballet Comique de la Reine The ''Ballet Comique de la Reine'' (at the time spelled ''Balet comique de la Royne'') was an elaborate court spectacle performed on October 15, 1581, during the reign of Henry III of France, in the large hall of the Hôtel de Bourbon, adjacent ...
'', performed in 1581. As part of the wedding celebration for the queen’s sister, Marguerite of Lorraine and the Duc de Joyeuse, the plot based on Ulysses’ encounter with Circe was symbolic of the country’s desire to heal old wounds and restore peace after religious civil wars. Reaching new heights in scale and diversity, the lavish five-hour production included a three tiered fountain, palace, garden, townscape, and chariot-floats. As with ''Ballet de Polonais'', Beaujoyeulx choreographed and oversaw the ''Ballet Comique'', using form, geometry, measure, and discipline as a foundation that would later develop into the codified ballet technique. An important step towards the ''ballet de cour'' in its final form was done during the reign of
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 ...
, with such rich and ravishing ballets de cour as ''La Délivrance de Renaud'' and the ''
Ballet de la Merlaison The ''Ballet de la Merlaison'' is a ballet de cour first performed on 15 March 1635 at the Château de Chantilly, during the reign of – and commonly attributed to – Louis XIII of France, Louis XIII.McGowan 2001. It is the most popular ballet ...
''.
Catherine Cessac Catherine Cessac (born 19 August 1952 in Bordeaux) is a French musicologist and music publisher. Biography Catherine Cessac studied at the University and the Conservatory of Bordeaux, and later studied musicology at the Sorbonne. From 1990 to 2 ...
, ''L'orchestre de Louis XIII'', p.19-20
The ballets de cour developed into the
comédie-ballet ''Comédie-ballet'' is a genre of French drama which mixes a spoken play with interludes containing music and dance. History The first example of the genre is considered to be '' Les fâcheux'', with words by Molière, performed in honour of Loui ...
and then the
opéra-ballet ''Opéra-ballet'' (; plural: ''opéras-ballets'') is a genre of French Baroque lyric theatre that was most popular during the 18th century, combining elements of opera and ballet, "that grew out of the '' ballets à entrées'' of the early seven ...
during the second half of the 17th century. This was a fully operatic form that included ballet as a prominent feature of the performance. Beauchamp, ''superintendent'' of the ballet and director of the
Académie Royale de Danse The Académie Royale de Danse, founded by Letters Patent on the initiative of King Louis XIV of France in March 1661, was the first dance institution established in the Western world. As one of King Louis’ first official edicts after the death ...
, codified the five positions based on the foundations set down by
Thoinot Arbeau Thoinot Arbeau is the anagrammatic pen name of French cleric Jehan Tabourot (March 17, 1520 – July 23, 1595). Tabourot is most famous for his ''Orchésographie'', a study of late sixteenth-century French Renaissance social dance. He was bo ...
in his 1589 ''Orchésographie''. Emphasising the technical aspects of dance, Beauchamp set out the first rules of ballet technique. The emphasis on turnout, light costumes, female dancers, and long dance sequences with light, flexible footwear, all first seen in ''
L'Europe galante ''L'Europe galante'' (''Galant Europe'') is an opéra-ballet in a prologue and four entrées by André Campra to a French libretto by Antoine Houdar de la Motte. The opera is regarded as the first opéra-ballet, with the entrées sharing a comm ...
'' (1697), was a turning point in ballet practice that led to the
pre romantic ballet Pre or PRE may refer to: Places *Preston railway station, UK National Rail code PRE *Prince Edward station, on Hong Kong's MTR People *Steve Prefontaine (1951–1975), an American runner nicknamed "Pre" Arts, entertainment, and media *Pre (ba ...
era.
Pierre Rameau Pierre Rameau (1674 – 26 January 1748), was the French dancing master to Elisabetta Farnese, and the author of two books that now provide us with valuable information about Baroque dance. Rameau's first book, ''Le Maître à Danser'' (1725, Par ...
expanded on Beauchamp's work in ''Le Maître à danser'' (1725), further detailing carriage of the body, steps and positions. File:Ballet at the Tuileries for the Polish ambassadors, 1573.jpg, Woodcut of a court ballet performed at the Tuileries Palace, Paris, in 1573 File:Ball at the Valois court, c. 1580.jpg, Ball at the Valois Court (around 1580) File:Johann Georg Weikert 003.jpg, Representation of "the Triumph of love" given on the occasion of the marriage of Joseph II with Marie-Joséphine-Antoinette of Bavaria. (January 24, 1765) (Attributed to Georg Weikert)


See also

* Catherine de' Medici's patronage of the arts *
History of ballet Ballet is a formalized form of dance with its origins in the Italian Renaissance courts of 15th and 16th centuries. Ballet spread from Italy to France with the help of Catherine de' Medici, where ballet developed even further under her aristocra ...
* Timeline of ballet


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cour, Ballets De European court festivities Ballet terminology