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 to the Louvre Palace in Paris. It is often referred to as the first ballet de cour.

The Ballet Comique de la Reine was created under the auspices of Henry III's mother, the dowager queen Catherine de' Medici, as part of the wedding celebrations for the Duke de Joyeuse and Queen Louise of Lorraine's sister, Marguerite de Vaudemont. The ballet was choreographed by Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx and was the first piece to combine poetry, music, design and dance according to the rules of Jean-Antoine de Baïf's Académie de Poésie et de Musique. The ballet was inspired by the enchantress, Circe, from Homer's Odyssey. 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, the King's almoner, wrote the text, sets and costumes were designed by Jacques Patin. 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, but is today identified with the bass singer Girard de Beaulieu who with his wife, the Italian soprano Violante Doria themselves sung the airs to Circé.

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