Abstract
Extraordinary manifestations displaying the grandeur of the kings reached their height in the seventeenth-century “fêtes de cour baroques,” such as Les Plaisirs de l’isle enchantée performed from May 7, 1664, and spilling over in baroque fashion, until May 14, 1664. This “fête” inaugurated the opening of Versailles, the former hunting lodge of Louis XIII, as the “Palais enchanté” of Louis XIV, a palace “qui charme en toutes manières”.1 Officially, this fête de cour was in honor of the Queen Mother Anne d’Autriche and Louis XIV’s wife Marie-Thérèse, but everyone knew it was for his mistress Mlle de la Vallière. These performances highlighted the artistic collaboration of the author-actor Molière, the composer Lully, the ballet choreographer Beauchamps, the verse creator Benserade, the machine designer Vigarani, and singers, dancers, musicians and spectators as performers. Louis XIV appointed the Duc de Saint Aignan to create a living and dynamic unity between the various entertainments and to integrate them into the parklike outdoor setting.
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Notes
Molière, “Les Plaisirs de l’isle enchantée ”, Oeuvres complètes,vol. III (Paris: Payot, 1927), p. 237. All further references to this edition will be included in parentheses in the text.
Philippe Beaussant, Lully ou le musicien du soleil (Paris: Gallimard,1992), p. 317.
Louis XIV, Mémoires, ed. Jean Longnon (Paris: Jules Tallandier, 1978 ), p. 134.
Philippe Beaussant, Versailles, Opéra ( Paris: Gallimard, 1981 ), p. 65.
Beaussant, Versailles, Opéra,p. 74.
See E. Léonardy, “Les Fêtes de cour baroques”, Questionnement du baroque,ed. Alphonse Vermeylen (Louvain-la-Neuve: Collège Erasme, 1986), pp. 113–152 for a discussion of the “esprit chevaleresque” and a comparison of the Austrian “fête de cour” celebrating the marriage of Leopold I and Les Plaisirs de l’isle enchantée. Rulers of European countries looked for inspiration in the “fêtes de cour baroques” of other European countries. They then relied on freedom, imagination, and creative genius to attempt to outshine the others.
Leonardy, p. 124.
Leonardy, p. 135.
Bernard Chédozeau, Le Baroque ( Paris: Nathan, 1989 ), p. 107.
Marie-Christine Moine, Les Fêtes à la Cour du Roi-Soleil 1653–1715 ( Paris: Lanore, 1984 ), pp. 21–25.
Moine, pp. 11–12. Louis XIV was born twenty-six years after the marriage of Anne d’Autriche and Louis XIII. He was considered a special gift from God. See Robert Isherwood, Music in the Service of the King (Ithaca: Cornell, 1973), pp. 162–169, for a discussion of mythological imagery and Apollo.
Quoted by Mark Franko, Dance as Text (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993), p. 2. See pp. 1–14 for the construction of the baroque body in dance and pp. 108–132 for an analysis of Les Facheux and Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme.
Jean Chevalier and Main Gheerbrant, Dictionnaire des symboles (Paris: Laffont/Jupiter, 1969), pp. 645–649. See also arbre, île,and jardin.
Beaussant, Versailles, Opéra, pp. 33–39. The pavan is also a slow stately court dance performed by couples. Fencing, horseback riding, and dancing were the foundation of the French nobleman’s formation. For a discussion of Louis XIV and dance, see Regine Astier, “Louis XIV, Premier Danseur”, Sun King, David Rubin ed. ( Washington: Folger, 1992 ), pp. 73–99.
See Louis E. Auld, “The Music of the Spheres in the Comedy-Ballets”, L’Esprit Créateur,Fall 1966, pp. 176–187 for a discussion of universal harmony and the relationship of music and dance in Molière’s comedy-ballets. Cassiodorus, in Institutiones (c. 550–562), relates music and dance to universal harmony. He writes: “The discipline of music is diffused through all the actions of our life…. Music is indeed the knowledge of apt modulations… dancing in time… when we commit injustice we are without music”, p. 178.
Henri Prunières, quoted in Stephen Fleck, Music, Dance, Laughter,p. 9, views comedy- ballet as a “genre très particulier, caractérisé par l’association étroite à l’action non seulement d’épisodes lyriques plus ou moins développés, mais surtout de scènes de pantomime et de danses rythmées par la musique”.
Gisèle Mathieu-Castellani, Eros baroque ( Paris: Union Générale d’Éditions, 1979 ), p. 44.
See Mathieu-Castellani, pp. 9–48 for a discussion of the characteristics of Baroque love, its mythological figures, its pleasures and games, its portraits, and the places of Baroque passion.
Mathieu-Castellani, p. 44.
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Ruoff, C. (2000). Enchantment in Baroque Festive Court Performances in France: Les Plaisirs de L’Isle Enchantée . In: Kronegger, M., Tymieniecka, AT. (eds) The Aesthetics of Enchantment in the Fine Arts. Analecta Husserliana, vol 65. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3234-5_19
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3234-5_19
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