The dancing king

That is to say 'Le Roi Danse', a costume drama from Belgium about Jean-Baptiste Lully, a Frenchman of Italian origin who invented the French version of opera during the reign of Louis XIV, an invention involving the collaboration of first Molière and then Quinault. A drama first noticed at reference 1.

We saw the DVD for the first time a week or so ago, taking it in in two sittings over two evenings, not successive as I recall.

Our own books did not yield much about Lully, but I then remembered that Surrey's performing arts library had relocated to Bourne Hall and paid them a visit. I did not find anything particularly about Lully, but I did find references 3 and 4 which provided very serviceable introductions to his operas and from which I share a couple of snippets.

That it was normal for French nobles and even kings to perform in the elaborate 'ballets de cour' of the seventeenth century - including here both Louis XIII and Louis XIV. Presumably the kings declined to portray anything less than a senior divinity - but odd considering the uncertain status of actors recorded in the postscript below. Also odd considering it is quite tricky to remain regal while prancing about on a stage. Although BH reminds me that our own Good Queen Bess was rather fond of energetic dances.

There was much debate about whether it was possible to translate the spoken poetry of French drama into song and much work by composers such as Lully to fit the rhythms of poetry - perhaps Alexandrines - to the rather different rhythms of music. A theory of music festival - and I wonder what my brother would have had to say about it all - professing as he did to hate both the theory of music and the theorists - despite having had, on occasion, to teach the stuff himself. With one bit of theory here being that it was good practise in French drama to tell rather than show - while effete Italian opera (with its castrati) was more into show rather than tell.

Then, having absorbed a bit of background, we had a second go at the DVD, once again taking it in in two sittings over two evenings. All very successful, with me really liking the stately music and leaving me keen to get at the real thing.

One of the scenes showed us Lully being very cross that it was Molière's name which appeared on the title pages (as above) rather than his own - and he was very determined to do something about it. His collaboration with Molière ended shortly thereafter, in favour of Quinault.

Another showed us the king at his council table, which was indeed covered with a carpet or cloth, as mentioned at reference 6. I suppose that councils started having tables when the meetings of the councils started having refreshments, documents, memoranda, minutes and so on and so forth. Whereas in the olden days it was enough to sit in a circle, provided only that the king had a much bigger chair than everyone else.

I was struck by way that being an entertainer to an absolute monarch would bring on bad habits and bad personality traits in both entertainer and entertained. And reminded that in many ways Louis XIV, like Napoleon who followed, was a bad thing. Far too find of extravagant displays, of battles and of wars. And while he did perform in some of the displays, I don't think he appeared anywhere near the front line in many - if any - of his battles. At least Napoleon was a joiner-in as far as that went.

And I was reminded of the way that the jobs of impresario, writer or composer and performer were all mixed up in these early days - as it was with our own Bard. No proper division of labour.

Another feature of the displays was a lot of fancy cloth and a lot of fancy clothes. Must have been quite sweaty in the summer for Lully, who, on the evidence of this film, had an energetic style of conducting. But I think they put off the heavy gear when it came to dancing. From where I made a reciprocal association to the fashions of Pakistani ladies today, noticed at reference 1.

Next, off to Bachtrack of reference 5, to find that there is not much Lully done in this country, but that there are to be what looks like a couple of touring productions of 'Le bourgeois gentilhomme' in France next year. Maybe we will make it to Caen for the one that gets there in May. No so very far away.

In the meantime, I take a peek at Amazon to find that I can buy DVD's of staged productions of Lully but that they come in at around £35 a pop. Which despite the much larger expense involved in going to Caen, seems rather a lot, so I have desisted for the moment. Maybe I should be going back to the performing arts library to see what they can offer...

PS: two facts about Molière reported by Wikipedia: 'Molière suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis ... he collapsed on stage in a fit of coughing and haemorrhaging while performing in the last play he had written … and which ironically was entitled 'Le Malade imaginaire' ... Molière insisted on completing his performance. Afterwards he collapsed again with another, larger haemorrhage before being taken home, where he died a few hours later, without receiving the last rites because two priests refused to visit him while a third arrived too late ... Under French law at the time, actors were not allowed to be buried in the sacred ground of a cemetery. However, Molière's widow ... asked the King if her spouse could be granted a normal funeral at night. The King agreed and Molière's body was buried in the part of the cemetery reserved for unbaptised infants'.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/08/kensington.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/09/sullivan.html. This morning I associated to 'Topsy Turvey', a film about the making of the G&S hit 'The Mikado', last mentioned in this post. Another lush costume drama, with some basis in the truth, with a musical theme.

Reference 3: The Rise of Opera - Robert Donnington - 1981.

Reference 4: French Opera: a Short History - Vincent Giroud - 2010. I was amused to be told by the library people that I cannot renew this item. Someone else out there has been digging into the catalogue of the performing arts library! Late of Vaughan Williams House, Dorking.

Reference 5: https://bachtrack.com/.

Reference 6: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/08/basket.html.