Re-write and Re-create the French “Ballet du temps” (1654): Knowledge, Historical Sources, and Creative Strategies

Abstract

"This article discusses the author’s process of reconstructing the “Ballet du Temps”, one of the great court ballets of the French 17th century, danced by King Louis XIV in 1654, which has remained partially copied by Philidor. With the Violin 1 being the only remnant of what has been this Ballet, the article presents the issues raised during the musical rewriting, notably the harmonic formulation, the instrumentarium, the ornaments, among others. This study also recalls the fundamental aesthetic differentiation between the Ballet dances (called Entrées and Airs in the score) and the society dances, which, in the context of the choreographic reconstruction, implies a flexible approach in which expressing the dramaturgy of the Entrée is central. Keywords: ballet de cour, recreation, French 17th century, performance study "