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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 Louis XIV at Vaux-le-Vicomte, the residence of Nicolas Fouquet, in 1661. The music and choreography were by Pierre Beauchamp, but Jean-Baptiste Lully later contributed a sung courante for Act I, scene 3. Molière, Lully and Beauchamp collaborated on several more examples of ''comédie-ballet'', culminating in the masterpiece of the genre, ''Le Bourgeois gentilhomme'', in 1670, and the scenically spectacular ''Psyché'' of January 1671, a ''tragicomédie et ballet'' which went well beyond the earlier examples of the genre.Gaines 2002, p. 394. After quarrelling with Lully, Molière retained the services of Beauchamp as choreographer. His one-act prose comedy ''La Comtesse d'Escarbagnas'' premiered in December 1671 at the Château de Saint-Germai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France and became a French subject in 1661. He was a close friend of the playwright Molière, with whom he collaborated on numerous '' comédie-ballets'', including ''L'Amour médecin'', ''George Dandin ou le Mari confondu'', '' Monsieur de Pourceaugnac'', '' Psyché'' and his best known work, '' Le Bourgeois gentilhomme''. Biography Lully was born on November 28, 1632, in Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, to Lorenzo Lulli and Caterina Del Sera, a Tuscan family of millers. His general education and his musical training during his youth in Florence remain uncertain, but his adult handwriting suggests that he manipulated a quill pen with ease. He used to say that a Francisc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Imaginary Invalid
''The Imaginary Invalid'', ''The Hypochondriac'', or ''The Would-Be Invalid'' (French title ''Le Malade imaginaire'', ) is a three- act '' comédie-ballet'' by the French playwright Molière with dance sequences and musical interludes (H.495, H.495 a, H.495 b) by Marc-Antoine Charpentier. It premiered on 10 February 1673 at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris and was originally choreographed by Pierre Beauchamp. Molière had fallen out with the powerful court composer Jean-Baptiste Lully, with whom he had pioneered the ''comédie-ballet'' form a decade earlier, and had opted for the collaboration with Charpentier. ''Le malade imaginaire'' was Molière's last work. He collapsed during his fourth performance as Argan on 17 February and died soon after. Characters * Argan, a severe hypochondriac. * Toinette, witty maid-servant of Argan. * Angélique, daughter of Argan, in love with Cléante. * Béline, second wife of Argan. * Cléante, lover of Angélique. Kind, but not very ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Princesse De Navarre
''La princesse de Navarre'' (''The Princess of Navarre'') is a '' comédie-ballet'' by Voltaire, with music by Jean-Philippe Rameau, first performed on 23 February 1745 at La Grande Ecurie, Versailles. Performance history It was commissioned to celebrate the marriage of the Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain to Louis, Dauphin of France. ''La princesse de Navarre'' opened the wedding festivities, while another new Rameau opera, '' Platée'', closed them. The piece takes the form of a ''comédie-ballet'', effectively a play with a large amount of incidental music, recalling the collaborations of Molière and Lully in the 17th century. Voltaire was a great admirer of Rameau, even considering him too good a composer for such a task. Nevertheless, Rameau wrote around an hour of music for the play, including an overture and three ''divertissements'' (musical interludes which ended each act). Little of it has much bearing on the main action of the drama which concerns the compl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antoine Dauvergne
Antoine Dauvergne (3 October 1713 – 11 February 1797) was a French composer and violinist. Dauvergne was born in Moulins, Allier. He served as master of the ''Chambre du roi'', director of the Concert Spirituel from 1762 to 1771, and director of the ''Opéra'' three times between 1769 and 1790. Dauvergne contributed both as a performer and composer to the classical music at the court at Versailles. He is most famous as the composer of ''Les troqueurs'', a work which had a major influence on the development of French ''opéra comique''. He died, aged 83, in Lyon. In addition to operas and opera-ballets, Dauvergne composed a number of other works including violin sonatas (1739), trio sonatas, motets, and what he called ''Concerts de Simphonies'' (1751). The name Dauvergne is sometimes written D'Auvergne. It means "from Auvergne," the region in the center of France covered by the volcanic Massif Central mountain range. List of works Operas and ballets *''Les amours de Te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Princesse De Navarre
''La princesse de Navarre'' (''The Princess of Navarre'') is a '' comédie-ballet'' by Voltaire, with music by Jean-Philippe Rameau, first performed on 23 February 1745 at La Grande Ecurie, Versailles. Performance history It was commissioned to celebrate the marriage of the Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain to Louis, Dauphin of France. ''La princesse de Navarre'' opened the wedding festivities, while another new Rameau opera, '' Platée'', closed them. The piece takes the form of a ''comédie-ballet'', effectively a play with a large amount of incidental music, recalling the collaborations of Molière and Lully in the 17th century. Voltaire was a great admirer of Rameau, even considering him too good a composer for such a task. Nevertheless, Rameau wrote around an hour of music for the play, including an overture and three ''divertissements'' (musical interludes which ended each act). Little of it has much bearing on the main action of the drama which concerns the compl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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, first presented on 14 October 1670 before the court of Louis XIV at the Château of Chambord by Molière's troupe of actors. Subsequent public performances were given at the theatre of the Palais-Royal beginning on 23 November 1670. The music was composed by Jean-Baptiste Lully, the choreography was by Pierre Beauchamp, the sets were by Carlo Vigarani and the costumes were done by the chevalier d’Arvieux. ''Le Bourgeois gentilhomme'' satirizes attempts at social climbing and the bourgeois personality, poking fun both at the vulgar, pretentious middle-class and the vain, snobbish aristocracy. The title is meant as an oxymoron: in Molière's France, a "gentleman" was by definition nobly born, and thus there could be no such thing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michel De La Barre
Michel de la Barre (c. 1675 – 15 March 1745) was a French composer and renowned flautist known as being the first person to publish solo flute music. He played at the Académie Royale de Musique, the Musettes and Hautbois de Poitou and the courts of Louis XIV and Louis XV. Works * 1694 : ''Premier Livre des Trio, pour les violons, Flûtes et hautbois, par Monsieur De La Barre, Flûte de la Chambre du Roy'', Paris, , 1694 ; Seconde Edition, revûë & corrigée .. Paris, Christophe Ballard. * 1700 : ''Le triomphe des arts'', opéra-ballet, 5 acts (without prologue), libretto by Houdar de La Motte, first performed on 16 May 1700 by the Académie Royale de Musique at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris * 1700 : ''Pièces en trio pour les violons, flustes et hautbois, composées Par le sieur De La Barre, Livre Second, ��', Paris, Christophe Ballard. * 1702 : ''Pièces pour la Flûte Traversière avec la Basse-Continue, ��Œuvre Quatrième, ��', Paris, Christophe Ballard. ... [...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 includin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean-Philippe Rameau
Jean-Philippe Rameau (; – ) was a French composer and music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of French opera and is also considered the leading French composer of his time for the harpsichord, alongside François Couperin. Little is known about Rameau's early years. It was not until the 1720s that he won fame as a major theorist of music with his '' Treatise on Harmony'' (1722) and also in the following years as a composer of masterpieces for the harpsichord, which circulated throughout Europe. He was almost 50 before he embarked on the operatic career on which his reputation chiefly rests today. His debut, '' Hippolyte et Aricie'' (1733), caused a great stir and was fiercely attacked by the supporters of Lully's style of music for its revolutionary use of harmony. Nevertheless, Rameau's pre-eminence in the field of French opera was soon acknow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monsieur De Pourceaugnac
''Monsieur de Pourceaugnac'' is a three-act '' comédie-ballet''—a ballet interrupted by spoken dialogue—by Molière, first presented on 6 October 1669 before the court of Louis XIV at the Château of Chambord by Molière's troupe of actors. Subsequent public performances were given at the theatre of the Palais-Royal beginning on 18 November 1669. The music was composed by Jean-Baptiste Lully, the choreography was by Pierre Beauchamp, the sets were by Carlo Vigarani, and the costumes were created by the chevalier d’Arvieux. Lully notably took a role himself on stage in the work's première, portraying a physician in the dance of the enemas. (Molière regularly performed in his own stage works.) Overview This comedy-ballet was written in September 1669 by Molière at the Chateau de Chambord, a village located in the former province of Orleans (Kingdom of France) and the current French department of Loir-et-Cher. The piece was published in Paris by Jean Ribou in a book ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
André Cardinal Destouches
André Cardinal Destouches (sometimes called des Touches) (baptised 6 April 1672 – 7 February 1749) was a French composer best known for the '' opéra-ballet'' '' Les élémens''. Biography Born in Paris, the son of Étienne Cardinal, a wealthy merchant, André Cardinal was educated by Jesuits. With the Jesuit Father Guy Tachard, he went on a mission to Siam for two years, leaving in January 1687, and spending some time at the Cape of Good Hope, arriving in Siam in September. Coming back to France, in September 1688, he spent several months at the academy in the Manège royale, rue de Tournon. In 1692 he joined the army and participated in the invasion of Namur, discovering his musical talent while not occupied by combat. When his father died in August 1694, André Cardinal added "Destouches" to his name in memory of his father's title, Seigneur des Touches et de Guilleville. He quit the army in 1696 to pursue his musical aspirations. Destouches' opera '' Issé'' w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erik Satie
Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (, ; ; 17 May 18661 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. He was the son of a French father and a British mother. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, but was an undistinguished student and obtained no diploma. In the 1880s he worked as a pianist in café-cabaret in Montmartre, Paris, and began composing works, mostly for solo piano, such as his ''Gymnopédies'' and '' Gnossiennes''. He also wrote music for a Rosicrucian sect to which he was briefly attached. After a spell in which he composed little, Satie entered Paris's second music academy, the Schola Cantorum, as a mature student. His studies there were more successful than those at the Conservatoire. From about 1910 he became the focus of successive groups of young composers attracted by his unconventionality and originality. Among them were the group known as Les Six. A meeting with Jean Cocteau in 1915 led to the creation of the ballet '' P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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