Louis Pécour (also spelled Pecoor, Pecour, Pécourt; 10 August 1653 – 12 April 1729) was a French dancer and choreographer. He is most well known for his work with the Académie Royale de Musique (the name of the

Paris Opera 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 ...

at the time).

Biography

Born Guillaume-Louis Pecour in Paris, he was the son of Jacques Pecour, a royal courier, and Marie Voisin (or Raisin), who lived in the rue des Petits-Champs.Astier 1998, p. 128. He studied dance with Pierre Beauchamps, and likely made his debut in January 1671, as one of eight Zephyrs in the third intermezzo of ''Psyché'' at the theatre of the royal court in the Tuileries Palace.Craine & Mackrell 2000, p. 365. He first danced at the Paris Opera in 1674 in

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 ...

's '' Cadmus et Hermione''. Pécour performed as a principal dancer, both at the Opera's Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris and for the royal court at the

Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye The Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye () is a former royal palace in the commune of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, in the ''département'' of Yvelines, about 19 km west of Paris, France. Today, it houses the ''musée d'Archéologie nationale'' (Nati ...

and Château de Chantilly, and created many dance parts in works by Lully, including the ballet ''Le triomphe de l'amour'' (1681), the opera '' Persée'' (1682, as ''premier danseur'' opposite Mlle Lafontaine), the opera '' Amadis'' (1684), the ballet ''Le temple de la paix'' (1685), and the opera '' Armide'' (1686). According to the Parfaict brothers in their history of the Paris Opera, "he was handsome, well-built, and danced with the noblest air possible." A letter about the ''Ballet des Saisons'' (26 October 1695) claims that "the first and second boxes were redoubled, one could have perished in the pit, and people were on each other's laps in the Paradis, all because of Pécour, who danced a Spanish sarabande.... dances like a master." After the death of the Opera's director Lully in 1687, the company's ballet master Pierre Beauchamps retired, and Pécour succeeded him, creating choreography for ballets at the Opera, as well as for the royal court. He mostly retired as a dancer around 1704 and received a pension in 1705, but his name appears on programs as a dancer in 1709 and 1710, and he continued to choreograph ballets at the Opera until his death in 1729. He mostly created ballets in operas, including ones by

Pascal Collasse Pascal Collasse (or Colasse) (22 January 1649 (baptised) – 17 July 1709) was a French composer of the Baroque era. Born in Rheims, Collasse became a disciple of Jean-Baptiste Lully during the latter's domination of the French operatic stage ...

Henri Desmarets Henri Desmarets (February 1661 – 7 September 1741) was a French composer of the Baroque period primarily known for his stage works, although he also composed sacred music as well as secular cantatas, songs and instrumental works. Biogr ...

, and Toussaint Bertin de la Doué and choreographed

André Campra André Campra (; baptized 4 December 1660 – 29 June 1744) was a French composer and conductor of the Baroque era. The leading French opera composer in the period between Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau, Campra wrote several '' tra ...

's first opéra-ballet '' L'Europe galante'' in 1697, as well as his '' Le carnaval de Venise'' (1699), '' Hésione'' (1700), '' Tancrède'' (1702), and '' Les fêtes vénitiennes'' (1710). Over 100 of Pécour's ballets have been preserved in Feuillet notation, and they were danced at other royal courts, helping to spread the French style of dancing all over Europe. He was probably the first dance choreographer to have such wide influence.Astier 1998, p. 129; Guest 2006, p. 11. Pécour was listed as a member of the Académie Royale de Danse in 1695, when Beauchamps was its director, and in 1719, when Claude Ballon was director. Pécour died in Paris and was buried in the church of Saint Roche.

References

;Notes ;Sources * Astier, Régine (1998). "Pecour, Guillaume-Louis" in Cohen 1998, vol. 5. pp. 128–129. * Christout, Marie-Françoise (1998). "Paris Opera Ballet" in Cohen 1998, vol. 5, pp. 86–100. * Cohen, Selma Jeanne, editor (1998). ''International Encyclopedia of Dance'' (6 volumes). Oxford: Oxford University Press. (hardcover). (2004 paperback edition). * Craine, Debra; Mackrell, Judith (2000). ''The Oxford Dictionary of Dance''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. . * Guest, Ivor (2006). ''The Paris Opéra Ballet''. Alton, Hampshire: Dance Books. . * La Gorce, Jérôme de (1990). "Guillaume-Louis Pecour: A Biographical Essay", translated by Margaret M. McGowan. ''Dance Research: The Journal of the Society for Dance Research'', vol. 8, no. 2 (Autumn), pp. 3–26. . * Pitou, Spire (1983). ''The Paris Opéra: An Encyclopedia of Operas, Ballets, Composers, and Performers. Genesis and Glory, 1671–1715''. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. . * ''Psyché'' libretto (1671). ''Psiché, tragicomédie et ballet dansé devant Sa Majesté au mois de Janvier 1671''. Paris: Robert Ballard
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at Gallica. {{DEFAULTSORT:Pecour, Louis-Guillaume 17th-century ballet dancers 18th-century French ballet dancers Ballet choreographers Ballet masters French male ballet dancers French choreographers Paris Opera Ballet étoiles Paris Opera Ballet artistic directors 1653 births 1729 deaths