The King Who Invented Ballet, BBC Four
David Bintley takes a look at Louis XIV's impact on
classical dance
September 2015 marks the 300th anniversary of the death of
King Louis XIV of France and this documentary looks at how Louis XIV not only
had a personal passion and talent for dance, but supported and promoted key
innovations, like the invention of dance notation and the founding of the
world's first ballet school, that would lay the foundations for classical
ballet to develop.
Presented by David Bintley, choreographer and director of
the Birmingham Royal Ballet, the documentary charts how Louis encouraged the
early evolution of ballet - from a male-dominated performance exclusive to the
royal court to a professional artform for the public featuring the first female
star ballerinas. The film also looks at the social context of dance during
Louis XIV's reign, where ballets were used as propaganda and to be able to
dance was an essential skill that anyone noble had to have.
As well as specially shot baroque dance sequences and
groundbreaking recreations of 17th-century music, it also follows Bintley as he
creates an exciting new one-act ballet inspired by Louis XIV. Danced by 15
members of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, The King Dances features an original
score by composer Stephen Montague, designs by Katrina Lindsay and lighting by
Peter Mumford and receives its world premiere on television directly after the
documentary.
Louis XIV, the King of France from 1643 to 1715, was a
ballet enthusiast from a young age. In fact his birth was celebrated with the
Ballet de la Felicite in 1639. As a young boy, he was strongly supported and
encouraged by the court, particularly by Italian-born Cardinal Mazarin, to take
part in the ballets. He made his debut at age 13 in the "Ballet de
Cassandre" in 1651. Two years later in 1653, the teenage king starred as
Apollo, the sun god, in The Ballet of the Night or in French, Le Ballet de la
Nuit. His influence on the art form and its influence on him became apparent.
His fancy golden costume was not soon forgotten, and his famous performance led
to his nickname, the Sun King. In the ballet, he banishes the night terrors as
he rise as sun at dawn. His courtiers were forced to worship him like a god
through choreography. They were made clear of the glory of King Louis XIV and
that he had absolute authority both on and off the dance floor. The ballets
that young King Louis performed in were very different from ballets performed
today. The form of entertainment was actually called ballets d’entrées. This
refers to the small divisions, or “entries,” that the ballets were broken up
into. For example, Le Ballet de la Nuit, comprised over forty of such entries,
which were divided into four vigils or parts. The whole spectacle lasted 12
hours.
Throughout his reign, Louis XIV worked with many influential
people in his court dances. He worked alongside poet Isaac de Benserade, as
well as designers Torelli, Vigarani and Henry de Gissey, which made fashion and
dance closely interlinked. Possibly his greatest contribution to the French
court was bringing composer/dancer Jean-Baptiste Lully. Louis supported and
encouraged performances in his court as well as the development of ballet
throughout France. Louis XIV was trained by Pierre Beauchamp. The King
demonstrated his belief in strong technique when he founded the Académie Royale
de Danse in 1661 and made Beauchamp leading ballet master. King Louis XIV’s and
France’s attempt to keep French ballet standards high was only encouraged
further when in 1672 a dance school was attached to the Académie Royale de
Musique. Led by Jean-Baptiste Lully, this dancing group is known today as The
Paris Opera Ballet.
The king was very exacting in his behavior towards his
dancing. In fact, he made it a daily practice to have a ballet lesson every day
after his morning riding lesson. As the French people watched and took note of
what their leader was doing, dancing became an essential accomplishment for
every gentleman. Clearly ballet became a way of life for those who were around
King Louis XIV. If one looked at the culture of seventeenth-century France, one
saw a reflection of an organized ballet that was choreographed beautifully,
costumed appropriately, and performed with perfect precision.[according to
whom?] Louis XIV retired from ballet in 1670.
Jean-Baptiste Lully
Perhaps one of the most influential men on ballet during the
seventeenth century was Jean Baptiste Lully. Lully was born in Italy, but moved
to France where he quickly became a favorite of Louis XIV and performed
alongside the king in many ballets until the king’s retirement from dance in
1670. He moved from dancer for the court ballets to a composer of such music
used in the courts. By the time he was thirty, Lully was completely in charge
of all the musical activities in the French courts. Lully was responsible for
enlivening the rather slow stately dances of the court ballets.[3] He decided
to put female dancers on stage and was also director of the Académie Royale de
Musique. This company's dance school still exists today as part of the Paris
Opera Ballet. Since dancers appeared in the very first performances the Opera
put on, the Paris Opera Ballet is considered the world’s oldest ballet company.
When Lully died in 1687 from a gangrenous abscess on the foot which developed
after he stuck himself with the long staff he used for conducting, France lost
one of the most influential conductors and composers of the seventeenth
century. However, Lully did not work alone. In fact, he often worked in
collaboration with two other men that were equally influential to ballet and
the French culture: Pierre Beauchamps and Molière.
Pierre Beauchamps
Beauchamps was a ballet-master who was deeply involved with
the creation of courtly ballets in the 1650s and 1660s.However, Beauchamps
began his career as the personal teacher to Louis XIV. Beauchamps is also
credited with coming up with the five fundamental foot positions from which all
balletic movements move through. Beauchamps techniques were taught throughout
France in secondary schools as well as by private teachers.[5] Contemporary
dancers would astonish Beauchamps at their ability to have 180-degree turnout.
Beauchamps dancers wore high-heeled shoes and bulky costumes which made turnout
difficult and slight. One of the first things that Lully and Beauchamps worked
together on was Les Fêtes de l’Amour et de Bacchus, which they called
opéra-ballet. The opéra-ballet is a form of lyric theatre in which singing and
dancing were presented as equal partners in lavish and spectacular stagings.
The Les Fêtes de l’Amour et de Bacchus, one of their first and most famous
collaborations, consisted of excerpts from court ballets linked by new entrées
stages by Beauchamps. Customarily, King Louis and courtiers danced in the court
ballets; however, in this new form of entertainment, the opéra-ballet, all of
the dancers were professionals. Beauchamps not only collaborated with Lully,
but he also had the great privilege to partner with Molière during his
lifetime.
Beauchamps also originated the Beauchamp-Feuillet notation,
which provided detailed indications of the tract of a dance and the related
footwork. Starting in 1700, hundreds of social and theatrical dances were
recorded and widely published in this form. Although this has been superseded
in modern times by even more expressive notations, the notation is sufficiently
detailed that, along with contemporary dancing manuals, these dances can be
reconstructed today.
Molière
Molière was a well-known comedic playwright during that time
period. He and Beauchamps collaborated for the first time in 1661, which
resulted in the invention of comédie-ballet. His invention of comedies-ballets
was said to be an accident. He was invited to set both a play and court ballet
in honor of Louis XIV, but was short of dancers and decided to combined the two
productions together. This resulted in Les Facheux in 1661. This and the
following comédie-ballets were considered the most important advance in baroque
dance since the development of Renaissance geometric figures.[6] One of the
most famous of these types of performances was Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, which
is still performed today and continues to entertain audiences.[1] The idea
behind a comédie-ballet was a combination of spoken scenes separated by
balletic interludes; it is the roots for today’s musical theatre. Many of
Molière's ballets were performed by Louis XIV. According to Susan Au, the
king's farewell performance was Molière's Les Amants magnifiques in 1670. Not
only were these types of performances popular in the courts, but they helped
transition from courtiers being the dancers to using actors and professional
dancers, soon to be known as ballerinas.[1] The comédie-ballets helped to bring
understanding between the court and the commoners as the transition from court
ballets to a more common place ballet occurred.
With Molière writing the dialogue and directing, Beauchamps
choreographing the ballet interludes, and Lully composing the music and
overseeing the coming together of all the dancers and actors, these three
giants of men worked together to create many beautiful pieces of art for King
Louis XIV.
Ballet originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the
15th and 16th centuries before it had spread from Italy to France by an Italian
aristocrat, Catherine de' Medici, who became Queen of France. In France, ballet
developed even further under her aristocratic influence. The dancers in these
early court ballets were mostly noble amateurs. Ballets in this period were
lengthy and elaborate and often served a political purpose. The monarch
displayed the country's wealth through the elaborate performances' power and
magnificence. Ornamented costumes were meant to impress viewers, but they
restricted performers' freedom of movement.
The ballets were performed in large chambers with viewers on
three sides. The implementation of the proscenium arch from 1618 on distanced
performers from audience members, who could then better view and appreciate the
technical feats of the professional dancers in the productions.
French court ballet reached its height under the reign of
King Louis XIV. Known as the Sun King, Louis symbolized the brilliance and
splendor of France. Influenced by his eager participation in court ballets since
early childhood, Louis founded the Académie Royale de Danse (Royal Dance
Academy) in 1661 to establish standards and certify dance instructors. In 1672,
Louis XIV made Jean-Baptiste Lully the director of the Académie Royale de
Musique (Paris Opera) from which the first professional ballet company, the
Paris Opera Ballet, arose. Lully is considered the most important composer of
music for ballets de cour and instrumental to the development of the form.
Pierre Beauchamp served as Lully's ballet-master, the most important position
of artistic authority and power for the companies during this century. Together
their partnership would drastically influence the development of ballet, as
evidenced by the credit given to them for the creation of the five major
positions of the feet. The years following the 1661 creation of the Académie
Royale de Danse shaped the future of ballet, as it became more evident to those
in the French Nobility that there was a significant need for trained
professional dancers. By 1681, the first of those who would now be called
"ballerinas" took the stage following years of training at the
Académie, influenced by the early beginnings of codified technique taught there.
The King Who Invented Ballet, BBC4
The programme is riveting, blending monstrous extravagance
and social history
Martin Hoyle SEPTEMBER 11, 2015
Louis XIV may not have created ballet, admits David Bintley
of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, but he was ballet’s first icon, as The King Who
Invented Ballet (Sunday, BBC4 8pm) explains. Louis loved to dance, and his
nickname “le Roi Soleil” seemed assured when as a 14-year-old the monarch
appeared at the climax of a 13-hour spectacle, dazzling in gold, representing
the sun dispersing the night’s blackness.
Follow that. And he did, creating the Grand Siècle which saw
France’s apogee, its acknowledged greatness — but also bankruptcy, a legacy
that would destroy his descendants.
Other creations included the Académie Royale de Danse and
the school of the Ballet de l’Opéra where students still bow and curtsy to
adults by royal decree.
The king gave up dancing after 75 roles in court spectacles
but his influence continued and ballet spread to public theatres, with women
also taking part. Above all, Louis established a style of grace and nobility,
epitomised by the famous portrait by Hyacinthe Rigaud in which the king is in
fourth position, one leg forward, toes turned out.
Bintley was starstruck by Louis as a boy and his film
combines history, dance, spectacle — a beautiful book of costume designs for
his famous 13-hour allegory shows werewolves, an anthropomorphic chessboard,
fantastics and grotesques — and music: years of research and informed guesswork
are used to recreate the original orchestration for a recording. Locations
include Versailles, Paris and Birmingham, where Bintley prepares his new
ballet, The King Dances, inspired by Louis’ apotheosis as Sun King.
The programme is riveting, blending as it does politics and
culture, monstrous extravagance and social history. It leads into a complete
performance of Bintley’s ballet, whose premiere was greeted with a mixed
reception in June. But some aspects — lighting ranging from Stygian to
dazzling; Stephen Montague’s score easily combining baroque and modern — work
especially well on TV.
No comments:
Post a Comment