Catherine De Medici Is a Notable Figure in Dance Art and Culture Because
We have all probably heard that Catherine de Medici, brought civilization upon the French people (whether they liked paying for it or not), and that she, with her married man Henri II of France, their ix children (one of whom was affianced to Mary Stewart-Queen of Scots from before ten years of age and died, shortly after their marriage), and his mistress (Diane de Poitiers), their three(?) children, were harbingers of the period of enlightenment and of a trendy class of government called (royal) Absolutism -"One King, I Constabulary, One God", an expression epitomized in the 17th century by Louis Xvi, though not even a direct descendant of Catherine'due south; his married woman, Marie Antoinette,was. All of Catherine's children married into prominent royal families of their ain and in turn (copying their female parent) spent a smashing deal of the public largess staging outrageous splendors including victuals, parties, a personal zoo, triumphs, and fêtes dissimilar any of usa have really seen the magnificence of except through tapestries and artworks. Though Catherine'southward heirs (probably hundreds even though many of her ain children died or had no issue)promulgated culture, I do not think their diversity, significance, or largess ever exceeded or met their mother'southward, at the time (they tried). People really practise not sympathise to what caste or how ostentatiously the French, or royalty in general for that thing, in those days, lived, and that as a effect of these opulent expenditures how fortunate we are to have benefited from these grandiose festivals, or from them came what salon arts-among other things, ballet.
Catherine brought, and repeatedly sent for, chefs, tailors, artists, poets, writers, musicians, personal dancing masters, and any number of other coaches, teachers and "servants"-non only from the Italian court where she was a scion too, simply from around the globe; they instructed not only her own children, just the unabridged court, on various arts, as well. Many great performances were planned past her for the enjoyment of her guests, and afterward the public. These spectacles, I have read, involved not only the ladies and gentleman of the court dancing in normal environs, simply imagine great and opulent sets featuring rides and forests, whole elaborate gardens brought in to recreate lavish and fantastical environments to excite the senses, enveloping viewers (and participants) in delights and repasts, and performances the like of which we could not possibly recreate due to their toll solitary, and not possible at all to replicate the magnificence of non just the gesture, but the potential of the earth as seen by their complexity, engineering science, and imagination at the time of enlightenment-oh, were we to enjoy life from the vantage point of a 14th century participant! Not simply were these designed to be highly interactive, each 1 was deemed meliorate than the final, and then on, but as well unique,and in no way like the last. Original.
Queen Catherine was a nifty promoter and through these events managed to keep the court (and the globe) poised and waiting for what she would practice adjacent. Additionally, she used these soirees to entice illustrious counterparts from other kingdoms to France, to her salons in gild to exact her due; this was deliberately washed to iterate her family's political force, and to strategically go along her friends close and her enemies closer, for there were many who aspired to the seat of France. By this, and other methods, she married her sons and daughters to royalty, calling in the obligations for favors as she needed them. You were "in" if she liked yous and "out" when she no longer had any use for you. Mary, Queen of Scots, despite having been a function of that regal family for over x years, considering herself a Frenchwoman, hastened out of French republic by a circuitous dorsum road after the decease of her young hubby, Francis II, King of French republic, and Catherine'south oldest son. Despite their often demonstrated closeness (Mary was reared past Catherine as one of her own), Mary somewhat feared her mother in law just the same and knew when it was time to tuck tail and go out.
Mary, adjacent in line to the English throne, after Henry the 8'south children, was originally affianced to Henry Viii's merely son, Edward Half dozen (Jane Seymour). Just, every bit political intrigue of the day would have information technology, and the time-honored feud betwixt the Scots and the English (for their autonomy), the Scots broke the match and scuttled Mary off to French republic, preferring to maintain the alliance via the Valois house, equally her mother was a member of the Guise family unit (a compatriot of Henri II, King of France). A political move to put a French Queen andKing into the Scottish realm, also Catholic (Catherine would probably non have immune her son to ever go unprotected to England anyway), but tricky. Catherine's rise was accidental, more or less, and this was early on, but she was busy finding royalty for her offspring to marry, and betrothals were a guarantee (of sorts), but she might not have been as clever then as she was later. At whatsoever rate, it was Mary's life at stake in that location and while in France, Mary was still a Guise. Catherine, similar many royals, hither and there, had come to France to ally the 2nd son, not the heir credible (who died, as they did then, suddenly), but she seemingly took up where her predecessor had left off, swimmingly in most regards. Henri II was not known to share affairs of state with Catherine in any style at all; but he did support her in her wifely duties which she appeared to take very seriously. Information technology must have been a different life than Catherine hoped for, married to a sullen and gloomy Prince taken past bouts of depression and who, having been held hostage for four years in Spain, purportedly, was difficult to please and unpredictable-he besides had a very famous mistress, Diane de Poitier. Catherine worked hard to make a success of her life and legacy, and also surprisingly, to make her Male monarch happy, and it appeared that entertainments were the master use she used (also nutrient). Henri II, King of France, like afterwards Kings of the Bourbon line, enjoyed dancing and the company of certain people.
His affair with Diane de Poitiers began so, and lasted his lifetime (not that long). It is said she had greater influence, not but on policy, merely on development and the budget, than Catherine did, then information technology was non until his death that Catherine really gained more control over matters of state, and and so, mainly through her children or rather, because of them. Perhaps France was improve for Mary to abound up in, as she gained more popularity equally an "escaped" ruler living in corrupt France-the glorious France Catherine was promoting, than she would take, without any romantic excursions, living in rustic Scotland. Francis I, King of France, died before long afterward their marriage, at age 15, of tuberculosis (some said ear infection) in 1560. France afforded Mary a life of excitement and wonder, and, if nil else, the privilege and dynasty of the French court, and untold luxury and surroundings-truly a fairy tale lifestyle. The unabridged "situation" infuriated Henry VIII, King of England, and his wrath was witnessed in a series of attacks on Scotland, known as the 'Rough Wooing." Mary and her new fiance, the Dauphin (Henri Two's heir), Francis (1544-1560), were wed on 24 April, 1558, and Mary, briefly, became Queen of France (1559-1560) every bit a result. Mary's was not a happy life, or a long one, simply it was a more typical life of that period than we would exist prepared to believe. Catherine's own story is not dissimilar, and Mary was possibly comforted by the thought that her fate might stop as well as Catherine's, and followed the communication of her betters; this was not to be. Only, had Catherine married Henri VIII's son, it is very possible that Elizabeth I, still would have had her caput. And so, Mary, Queen of France, became Bloody Mary, though it is said. much loved past her people.
In the same year as Francis' death (1560), Mary's mother, Mary of Guise (a Bourbon, married to Henry 5, Male monarch of Scotland), died also; Henry V was her 2nd marriage). Her daughter, Mary, longed to return to Scotland (supposedly), particularly later her mother'southward death (and wise, too), since the French were broken-hearted to rightfully establish "their Queen" equally the monarch of Scotland-apparently to serve dual political purposes, she was given the boot, permission to leave. The French had the young Queen (Mary) sign documents, prior to this "release," which they sent to (Henry 8) England ahead of her, naming her as the rightful heir to the Scottish throne. This arrogant claim past a Queen, upset the English, and undoubtedly fix off the chain of events which led to her ain execution there in 1567, a mere seven years subsequently the loss of both her husband and her mother, only this was not the g design planned for her, and it might be said that what she had learned in her life, prepared her for that eventuality in some respects. Mary was a political pawn, and may have done well to stay in France, or was this was a power motion keeping with Mary's own desires, afterward all? It is never mentioned that Mary had a desire to dominion, but nosotros can assume she was prepared to practice, and had done, what was expected of her, despite any other longings. If death was a possibility, then she had clearly already chosen this path to avert that end already in France -maybe seen every bit the lesser of two evils by her, and as well one of at least, promise.
While this may seem a long way away from ballet, information technology is not, and had Mary stayed in France, had Catherine de Medici not been vigilant in her ambitions to remove threats to the throne, promote her court, or had her ain hold not been so tenuous ballet might not have played the function information technology did, repeatedly, to evoke the results Catherine desired. Afterall, endorphins make people happy, and somehow, Catherine managed to brand "non-sporting" courtiers and the public happy with this fete. It is important to besides compare and contrast the power of women, felt by some to be less than natural and overflowing, then here was a women par example who exercised that power cleverly, if not ruthlessly-and as a man, she would non have taken any criticism for it. This might be the offset example also ofusing ballet forpower every bit atool. Seen as a transparency today, the political goings on of ballet companies, choreographers, schools and governments, or with other women (or persons) with whom we competedaily,and for what reasons and ultimately to what end-it almost seems par for the course, child's play, compared to the lives drawn from it, movements created by information technology, and occurred throughout the history of ballet, in the halls of the cracking Kings, not but in the studio today. I think this is what Shakespeare (1554-1616) meant in As Y'all Like It, Deed II, Scene VII, to preserve fine art faithfully, when he spoke
"All the earth's a phase, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And ane human in his time plays many parts, His acts being vii ages."
Far less is at stake today, and despite bug of governance, Catherine dutifully upheld her position as Queen, in providing diversions and costly entertainments to persuade her adversaries; information technology is said that words are far more important than weapons, and in this case, information technology might take been her pick of entertainments which actually carried her family equally far equally they went. Ballet has played an integral part in the political and financial processes of many countries, and this was but the first. So, information technology is too of import to annotation that history contests the Queen'due south business for Mary, and poses some life or death reasons for her rapid departure from France, non only for Catherine's political interests in England and France, but resolved what all-time to do with her, as she was Queen, and seen as a threat to Catherine's offspring, and a possible pawn by exterior parties. Information technology is difficult to imagine that Catherine had no idea how far alee that wind actually blew. She was still of very marriageable age (purportedly very beautiful), peppery (no dubiety due to her Scottish groundwork), and also considered reckless and passionate, and not very cautious–which some aspect to her liberal French upbringing), and might have been the natural choice for some other claimant to the throne of France. Perhaps information technology was not said by Catherine, and instead these words sonorant in history instead:
"Many of us saw in the place where nosotros are now assembled to deplore her, the Queen on the twenty-four hour period of her bridals, so covered with jewels that the sun himself shone not more than brightly, so beautiful, so charming in all as never adult female was. The walls were then hung with cloth of gold and precious tapestry, every space was filled with thrones and seats, crowded with princes and princesses who came from all parts to share in the rejoicing. The palace was inundation with magnificence, fêtes and masques, the streets with tourney.
"A little time, and it has all vanished like a deject. The marble, the statuary and the iron are decomposed in the air or corroded by dust, only the remembrance of her brightness shall live eternally."
~The Archbishop of Bourges
Or, in the words of Elizabeth I,
"The Girl of Debate,
that eke discord doth sow."
(~Ascribed to Queen Elizabeth)
So much is perhaps written about her, compared to Catherine, that information technology is possible to feel more intimately the realities of the fourth dimension, dark contrasts, possibly fates, and opinions of others through her, when nosotros might look at what was PR by Catherine, and believe that this was indeed a fairy tale existence. This is, in opposite, the path which Catherine herself so arduously avoided. Mary might also take non favored the political process of Catherine, including,ballet. It is yet, also interesting to annotation that has Mary brought these spectacles to Scotland, England'south ain influence on the craft might accept commenced much, much earlier than it did.
Catherine's husband, the Rex, Henri Ii, who jousted and performed many feats for her, including dancing, had died less than two years prior to these events, past an errant splinter to the centre (during a joust), yielding to an infectious fever. This diversion of the new Queen to Scotland, also left France to Catherine's will (and Recency) until Charles IX (about her fifth child) was old enough to become Rex himself. Catherine never ruled herself, but was probably one of the nigh powerful influences backside whatever throne in the 16th century (or any other-truth be known). Reigning as Regent (governor) over 30 years, and including, during her youngest son'south (Henri 3) reign (last male of the Valois line), where she was said to be his nearly potent counselor until very soon before his own murder in 1589. Without Catherine, who merely reigned as "consort" alongside her own married man (Henri II, King of France) from 1547 until 1559, information technology is very doubtful whether her sons would have remained in power at all; they were all seen as weak. In her own way, Catherine had many disappointments in life, simply as an orphan, a follower of Machiavelli, information technology was non what Catherine understood about ruling which express her ability, just what she failed to grasp or take patience to empathise which did, at the end, seem to be her and her family's undoing. She seemed to be vulnerable only due to her great love for her children, unable to counter their whims, transfer her greatness to them, rule for them, and so she did the next best thing by actively protecting them, guarding their interests, and influencing their decisions.
Past this measure, Catherine was a practiced mother, and a conscientious ruler, if unable to see/correct her own children's flaws, she did her best in spite of them. Her ruthlessness is popularly underestimated. Poor Mary, therefore, was doomed from the start due to events completely out her command, a cog in the cycle of a vastly complex coup d'é·tat, and a real tragedy in a game of thrones. Possibly, had she lived, Scotland might have been a seeding ground of civilisation, ballet, and arts, as she had not the chance to dominion, but she and Catherine, and many great "outsiders" and "blackness sheep" have come into their ain past sheer determination and persistence, have survived due to not luck, simply past circumstances, grit, and indomitable forcefulness of volition-maybe mere stubbornness, none of which could be known in accelerate, predicted, or changed, except by death, and just history shows united states of america mayhap where they might have erred. The fact that it was the imagination, intrigue, and manipulation of women, who created something equally interesting every bit ballet, as beautiful, and as full of the possibilities of fine art every bit information technology could exist, does not surprise me. Catherine had to think, she had to be smart, and because of the plight, deaths, and resourcefulness of women, and mothers, in many senses, thereisballet. One tin readily run intowhy Catherine had concern for Mary's charms, which likewise unparalleled beauty (at the fourth dimension), including knownkindness.
Niggling remains of existent information for this period of French rule, and despite Catherine'due south patronage of the arts, very few paintings be of the events and festivities which characterized her court. 1 painter, Antoine Caron, did win her favor, but perchance his paintings are non as realistic every bit many people would like. Either that, or the probable fact that his subjects are fantastical and emblematic, elevating the surroundings to heights partially within Catherine's imagination [sic, this is what it was supposed to wait similar] and therefore constitute her support. Catherine was not ugly past any means, but she may have suffered from rickets, still slightly, and other deformities, such as slight sexual ones, but this was commonplace amongst royalty (See, Hapsburgs), etc. he did have somewhat protruding eyes and a larger mouth, which were not considered beautiful traitsof the day, but was, accredited with beautiful hands, a fine figure, and lovely skin-it is no wonder that these features are exemplified in approved paintings of her, and her faults are minimized, without appearing patronizing.
At Henry Iii's death in 1589, her realm complanate, religious wars were ongoing, both within and without French republic, and with no male person heirs left, Catherine probably looked for her girl Margaret's match to Henri, King of Navarre (of mixed Catholic and Protestant groundwork), to extend the dominion, preserving the control of at least her immediate heirs-he had, after all, promised to convert to Catholicism, and did during her lifetime, anyway, thus gaining her favor past his loyalty. It was non until later that his regular army defeated her son'due south in favor of more tolerance to the Huguenots, his reasoning being that the country was divided. He won overwhelmingly, but continued on, with Henry, in this mode, and this was when, no doubt, Henry III contradicted the volition of his mother, to come out in more liberal position toward the Huguenots, and at which time he was killed, whether to insure Henri of Navarre's ascension to the throne, or due to its inevitability due to birthright, and the fact that Henry III had no heirs.
Henry, became Henry Iv, King of France, in 1859. Information technology is notable that at the festivities of Henri and Margaret's arranged wedlock, nearly 20 years before, on August 24, 1572, Catholics and Huguenots were brought together. The killings and slaughter of Huguenots, some said at Catherine's own social club, are ever afterwards referred to as the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. Henri escaped with his life, with the help of his new wife, promising to catechumen. Later they would divorce, and Henry would issue the Decree of Nantes, becoming briefly one of France's more humane and democratic rulers, offering "tolerance" to Huguenots, equally well as tax concessions, which made him popular during his reign, and before the reversion of the line to the House of Bourbon, where connected rules, authoritarianism, and Catholicism by the devout Catholics and the line of Louis XIII would again find a foothold. Catherine had no fashion to foresee all of this, and at her death probably rested permanently with the thought that the arranged marriage for her girl with this direct descendant to the throne of France was insured, but unstable, equally Margaret and Henri had no issue by that time, so it is probable that when she died, she died knowing of the likelihood of the reversion, and more than than annihilation, perhaps, all of her life, Catherine had feared failure of that- loss of the throne by the House of Valois to the Business firm of Bourbon-probably praying for some interception of fate, badly. Merely no ane could ever say that Catherine de Medici had not done her very best by her family, or that she had non been strong, or true to her purpose.
Though historians often credit Catherine with various decisive and history-irresolute, terrible actions, deportment such as the massacre of the Huguenots, it is pretty clear that the length of time she was able to continue the Valois line on the throne, had much to do with memory and perpetuity, if non the final and permanent adoption by France of the Catholic faith, and she did not know another way of dealing with this trouble. Without all of these publicity and political attempts to entertain the population, establishing what she was to be remembered for, it makes articulate this great woman did that, and did not put more strain on the purse that her successors did, and that she and her children were at least able to govern ostensibly, if not equitably. Often chosen "the rival queens", Catherine had her own trouble with her daughter, Marguerite de Valois, who married the hereafter Henry IV, and inverse the path of france, was in many a historian'due south view, the ultimate betrayal, of a daughter to her mother. Clashes of faith, not civilization, were Catherine's undoing, so much was made of the Valois' contributions to France (collectively), that it is no wonder Louis 14 took nearly a century to catch up to her or best her.
However, without this turmoil, this strife, and these innovations, ballet might never take been the success that it was, then the concentrated efforts of Catherine de Medici to ignite her House of Valois, make it memorable, cannot be too much inflated. At final, it was Henri Iv (Henri of Navarre), who had married her girl, Margaret, who was radical to that terminate, selfish in other ways, and who was the crusade of the destabilization of the Business firm of Valois, and not Catherine, probably due to his more liberal religious views (and his aggressive married woman). The zig-zag form of Catherine's life, the loss of her parents as a newborn, her commoner status, her luck, the decisions she made, that she was able to bear so many offspring post-obit medical corrections, the loss and decease of her children, betrayal, overcoming of certain odds, such equally her hubby'due south lifelong affair with Diane De Poitiers, the selected marriages for her children, her promotion and ingenuity, all acquit testimony to the fact that she was perchance the last and most ambitious of France'south great rulers, and a determined warrior queen, and whom, in the futurity, French republic has had no equal. Aside from Cleopatra, whom fifty-fifty less is known nearly, Catherine de Medici, remains an object of controversy in many more than arenas than any other Queen, and the near fascinating subject of films, books, and diatribes-even so scant the text and proofs-the imagination runs wild, and her interests spannedeverything.
Dancing was ane of Catherine's many passions and she knew it pleased others greatly. Many dancing fetes were held at her many palaces and there was always music, theater and poetry. All of the arts were represented in her court, merely non all at the same time, or at once. There were those who wrote and directed ballets with their household members and as early as 1530, and at that place is a reference of the Count of Savoy preparing and acting in ballets with the princes and princesses of his court, only the most remembered and copied ballets d'activity were those of Catherine de Medici who brought an Italian trip the light fantastic toe principal by the name of Baltazarini to teach her children. Everyone knows (probably) that Queen Catherine brought many fashion experiments to the French court as well, making popular the loftier heel. This shoe was designed, peculiarly for her, to give her the look of a more pointed (and therefore) more than bonny line. A bit chubby and ungainly, she felt that this extended, fabricated more than graceful her legs and feet, and looked prettier while dancing. Soon the whole court was wearing them! The gesture of presenting the foot was made more popular and of form the ankle was turned out, facing the partner, and presentation for her was everything!
So not simply did she feature the first choreographed dances, ordinarily the polonaise (but plenty information is not available to discern the truth completely), with costumes, sets, music and scenery, but she as well fed the idea that "turnout", grace and a focus on footwork was necessary for a virtually appealing presentation of the spectacle of trip the light fantastic toe. These rules and refinements were the minimum set forth in her court and passed along to other courts every bit "the thing to do," and how to practice them properly. Through give-and-take of mouth, fine art piece of work and in-person eye-witness accounts these facts remain.There is a lot of speculation regarding Catherine's planning and motives for the Ballet Comique de la Reine, as nothing she ever did was not for a political purpose (or several), just this, which was to become precedent for ballet, started the form of the cour, and was possibly motivated by personal reasons as well. In her own way, perchance Catherine threw herself into the creation of spectacle and amusement to cast a different light on the Imperial family, enduring his affair, and most of all to insure the popularity of her court and therefore her children. It is said Henry Iii, her fourth son, maybe/peradventure not gay, was encouraged to (actually) celebrate his favorite'due south marriage, Knuckles de Joyeuse, to Margaret of Lorraine. In order to give this sacrament its well-nigh noble and elevated appearance, it is said Catherine planned a most elaborate performance for her son'south benefit, and for her court and admirers, entitled The "Ballet Comique de la Reine." It is is said to accept been the most costly operation of hers to date, coming in at over one-1000000 ecu. Although these tidbits are widely argued and disagreed with by historians, it does seem important to mention them, as in a lot of gossip, sometimes in that location is truth.
This improvident entertainment (Ballet Comique de la Reine) cost more than than a one thousand thousand ecue (a la couronne). Money was rather unstable in this flow of history, and monarchs tended to play effectually with the value of coinage, but merchants did not, so it is adequately certain the price of the affair was remembered accurately. Although the ecu did not rise in value comparatively and stabilize until 100 years afterward, the French sovereign's coin was undoubtedly solid golden, and having the same approximate value as an English or Spanish sovereigns coin would accept had (for they desired to best each other), thus the expression, "worth your weight in gilt." Henry of England'south gold coin, in British culture, was worth more to its people (and to Henry), but in France, the Queen paid in her gold, probably never in silver, so a commission from the Queen would have been in gilt, at the going rate universally, but worth much more (in gilt) as coming from the Queen, whose "weight" was greater than anyone else'southward. So when these costs are bandied almost, and uncertain, the only absolute certainty was that in that location was status in existence paid past the Queen, this payment was the best and highest budgetary payment one could receive, fifty-fifty if its value on the common market place was roughly equal (gold did not get up more than than 10x argent which is nevertheless a little low), until afterward in the next century, and the affair was by principal the near plush. In grams, the ecu was iii.399 weight of gold, and imagine one-million of them for this triumphant spectacle!
One-meg! From gram to Troy pounds this is approximately 2,700 pounds of aureate-a ton is 2000 pounds-more than 1 ton of gold. Peradventure the weight of her entire immediate family. A lot of golden. It'due south fineness was 96.35, and the composite of fine gilt to trash gold was three.275:3.399-a very high ratio of fine golden (the Queen's). In comparing, withal, Henry'southward English language coins were much heavier-and contained more actual pure aureate, and were therefore worth more, next, had gold been valued or measured intelligently at a common market charge per unit, but information technology wasn't, and the gold sovereign sets the standard for gold weighing in at xv.552 grams in 1489. With 15.471 grams of that beingness fine gilt. But Henry would never have spent his gilt on this folly. He liked dancing, but he was more occupied with the costs of war, and then reserved his fortunes for security purposes. France knew the what coin could buy and they bought what they could if merely for promotional purposes. For us, this was the moment ballet was sold to the highest bidder, established as an important art and entertainment class, used for a political purpose, and give thanks goodness, Catherine wanted to buy information technology instead of opera or acting!
The Queen's gold had high value in French republic, simply not so much in England, where there was growing hostility for the Catholic French, but perchance in Italy, her golden had more value even considering although of French, and even English language descent, Catherine had originally come from the Italian courtroom. This may take been the reason she sent so oftentimes for things from Italy, and her golden might have had even more value at that place; she was able to spend less of it, bring what was exotic, cultural, and pleasing to her-it underlines that Catherine knew about Italian culture, understood what was missing from the French culture, and with this noesis, she planned to brand her empire smashing and unique. She did, and whether the Italians worked on credit, sale prices, or obligation, they came and brought their skills where they were paid for and could exist perpetuated and appreciated, for if the Queen would introduce them-how could they fail? Had Henry the Eighth felt that ballet and dancing won compatriots, defined civility, or counted for more than state of war efforts, in other words, competed, ballet might never have go what it was and has been, for through the influence of Henry we would have seen a much different class of danse. But England was always frugal. France extravagant, and Catherine could see that things other than war could make a civilization memorable-she ruled from her seat, not from her equus caballus.
Balthasar (also known every bit Baltazarini) de Beaujoyeux's most important work, was the "Ballet Comique de la Reine" in 1581, considered the first ballet de cour. Of course sets, costume and dialogue were all coordinated as earlier, but what set up this apart as different was that the ballet told the whole story-it was the central theme-the dancing. Catherine recognized this divergence, and had a libretto scripted from it due to its success-sort of a princely take chances, setting it down in history as a fete remarkable. Equally such, the libretto still exists. The event was memorialized with drawings, which were sent in remembrance to all the courts of Europe, sort of like a photo or belated party favor. In this manner, they have been passed downwards in memoriam. She publicized information technology. Every bit a result, it was copied. Instead of Italian ballet masters, the courts now looked to the French for their dancing examples. In one fell swoop, she did what Nureyev did for ballet, in the 1960's, she popularized it, stole it, vanquished her artistic foes, and took ballet, the fine art form, away from the rest of the globe and made it French! Italy was so far behind, they focused on opera, and England'southward art became the theater. Such a insurrection has non been seen before or since, and Nureyev merely stole a stage for a generation, Queen Catherine stole the phase for 200 hundred or more years. She made ballet public.
On October 15, 1581, Queen Catherine's household would showcase this first staged public ballet. Due to Catherine'south influence, and after the succession of her son Henri III, his wife, the reigning queen, Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont, would formally host the event. The Ballet Comique de la Reine was a four-60 minutes spectacle commissioned past her for the nuptials of her sister Marguerite, to Anne de Batarnay de Joyeuse, who was non but a a royal favorite, but besides an agile participant in the French Wars of Religion. It was probably not by blow that each of Catherine'southward grandly staged events was also a testimony to the ability and authorisation of her House, but too were Catholic events, staged by the Catholics, much similar the events in Rome, and miracles, to magnify the ability of the Cosmic Church building and its chosen royal family. No doubtfulness Catherine had seen this washed, and the success of it. Though this was a new mode of promoting her line and her heritage in France, information technology cannot be ignored that these carnivals and fêtes were oftentimes the site and cause of tension and uprising, even fierce, with the Huguenots, such equally the one in 1572, referenced above.
A Gate of the Louvre, after St. Bartholomew's Day
A consummate and utter favorite of Henry, The Duc de Joyeuse, as he was thereafter called, was not to accept this soiree, as his just acme. Male monarch Henry III used the marriage equally a pretext for raising his rank to the nobility of 'Duc de Joyeuse'. He was given number one standing over all other dukes of France, with the exception of 'Princes of the Blood'. His dowry, in consequence, was over 300 000 écus, and he was given the sovereignty of Limours. This is called 'keeping it in the family and the gift of pregnant lands and title were to bequeath upon him, by royal privilege, parlements in a higher place and beyond any other noble.'
In this, we can see the French crown's ambition and path toward absolutism actually outset, which would see its end in the revolution over 200 years later on. So, with ballet, and unprecedented honors, festivities, and celebrations, came politics-always. Today' antics tin hardly be called unique or unusual, but pale famously in comparison, so thing how dastardly they might seem. Beaujoyeux , or Baltarizini, originally a violinist and tutor, headed the direction, staging and designing this Ballet, with a grouping of writers, musicians, actors, dancers, architects, and designers of many talents and copious skills. Beaujoyeux also was the court trip the light fantastic master and choreographer as well as valet de chambre to herself and the King. This marriage called for a larger-than-usual commemoration and consisted of no less than seventeen events including horse ballets, allegorical feats, a triumph, a h2o fete, fireworks, and masquerades. One of these was besides "Le Balet Comique de la Royne," described in great item in diverse accounts of the catamenia, in artwork and poems. So memorable a festival it was, and lasted for nearly ii weeks. The performance took place in the Salle de Bourbon, nigh the Louvre Museum (which is described as a large rectangular infinite) which was festooned with flowers and other decorations placed at strategic points effectually the perimeter of the room. Later, a sort of park, memorialized in some paintings, with a railroad vehicle circle, it was a common venue for such entertainments past the royalty at the time. There were few spaces, fifty-fifty in French republic large enough for such spectacles and ofttimes they were carried on out-of-doors, so we can assume this venue was of such a size and demeanor that it qualified for such an effect.
The story itself concerns the sorceress, Circe, who captures men, turns them into beasts and keeps them in her garden. The performance is stated to accept lasted over four hours, and the ballet opened with loud music. One victim escapes the enchanted garden and asks the King for help. A huge fountain is fatigued into the hall containing the Queen and her ladies in waiting. The Queens praises are sung and here begins a large battle of expert and evil. The Queen and her ladies dance as naiads until the sorceress casts a evil spell over them. Mercury descends from the clouds and dissolves the spell. They begin dancing again and the sorceress casts another spell upon them, forcing them to stop once more. Woods deities enter and begin dancing and Pan is summoned to help the naiads simply he refuses. The four virtues enter and sing well-nigh the King and they call Minerva. She enters and sings with them and herself summons Jupiter. He descends amongst thunder and music from forty musicians in a golden grove. A brief battle ensues between the sorceress and Jupiter, which she of class, loses. A long and complex variation follows consisting of dancing geometric figures. When the ballet is over, gifts were given to prominent audience members; it is said a dolphin, from his mother, to Rex Henry III, to signify that a son (Dauphin) be born to keep their rule (which did non happen), though it appears that Henry was in love with his wife, made many efforts, and had been in love deeply before with another adult female, Marie de Clèves, whom had died prior to his becoming Rex (or he would have married her).
The music , singing and dancing continue throughout the functioning. Music is the main theme-a lute, a minor ensemble, and pieces for up to a whole orchestra, but it is varied and constant. Written accounts stated that the music was "dissimilar annihilation ever heard!" Apparently, in that location were so many diversified performances in costly programs, that no prevailing kind of dancing arose from any of them, every bit they seemed more often than not to be unique and highly experimental. The Balet Comique, a rarefied example, was seen to be the beginning of the ballet de cour-in essence, a clear and dramatic story-line with a structured development and a cohesive theme replete with many art forms. What we do know is that each of these spectacles ends with a grand ballet which is long and complex. Those ballets, up to 1610, were not very well documented and none seemed to be every bit detailed or elaborate as Circe, although there are histories of many copies. The general public, too, seems to have been influenced and impressed by them. Their history stemmed from the Italian Commedia dell'arte which was a traveling comedy bear witness in which their characters wore masks. There were a lot of ballet de cours later on, but the genre seems to have disappeared by about 1673.
Beaujoyeux'due south choice of music was that type equanimous by Lull, Bach and fifty-fifty Mozart,
http://youtu.be/CoLQYe_EPik
and had a very distinct rhythm much like a sixteenth-note polska. Despite the fact that these singing, dancing, poetry-laden independent productions, ending in a ballet, were started in France, they were not formed into a permanent unison by the French. Until much later there was not credible what we at present recognize and exhibit as the fine art grade, but it is Catherine de Medici, and her family and descendants who are the forbears of such noteworthy entertainment and who we can thank for the history of these continued divertissements. What is specially meaning about the ballet de cour itself is the strong position of dancing as well equally the theatricality of the dancing productions. Plates exist to particular some of the creative hyperbole, which the French were known for, and the allegorical references in the productions did become the theme for classical ballets, such as those by Fokine, again popularizing their form in what was not strictly original simply a neoclassical revival of that bygone era. In other words they became the subject area of history of ballet and therefore fodder for subsequently choreographers to develop onto.
Research is partially credited to articles which appeared past Andros on Ballet (http://michaelminn.cyberspace/andros/biographies/de_medici_catherine/), Richard Cavendish (http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/marriage-mary-queen-scots), and Kristin Rygg, Masqued Mysteries Unmasked: Early on Modern Music Theater and its Pythagorean Subtext. Pendragon Press Musiclogical Series, 1953. All highly recommended reads!
Source: https://mysylph.com/2012/04/16/catherine-de-medici-and-the-ballet-comique-de-la-reine/