Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx (modernized French:Balthazar de Beaujoyeux [baltazaʁdəboʒwajø] ), originally Baldassare da (or di) Belgiojoso (modern Italian pronunciation: [baldasˈsaːreda/dibeldʒoˈjoːzo] ; died c. 1587 in Paris) was an Italian violinist, composer, and choreographer. [1] [2]
Beaujoyeulx moved to Paris in 1555, where he became a servant at the court of Catherine de' Medici. He tutored two of her sons and displayed a talent for arranging elaborate entertainments for the court. He participated in the masquerade Défense du paradis in 1572 and mounted the Ballet aux ambassadeurs polonais in 1573: one of the first works to be recognized as a true court ballet, staged to honor the Polish ambassadors who were visiting Paris upon the accession of Henry of Anjou to the throne of Poland. [1] [2]
On 24 September 1581 Henry III's favorite the Duke de Joyeuse married Marguerite de Lorraine (1564–1625), daughter of Nicolas, Duke of Mercœur and sister of the queen consort Louise of Lorraine. For the wedding celebrations Queen Louise devised and presented a five-and-a-half-hour dance extravaganza called the Ballet Comique de la Reine which cost over a million écu. She organized her own team of writers and musicians: the text was by the Sieur de la Chesnaye (Nicolas Filleul), [3] the music by "Lambert de Beaulieu" (in fact Girard de Beaulieu), the sets by Jacques Patin, and Beaujoyeulx, who created the scenario, choreographed, stage managed, and directed. [4] [5] Since it incorporated a story line about the legend of the mythological enchantress Circe, it is generally regarded as the first ballet. [1] [2] The title page of his published account of the event states that he was employed as valet de chambre to both the King (Catherine's son, Henry III) and the Queen (queen consort Louise of Lorraine).
1581 (MDLXXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday in the Julian calendar, and a common year starting on Thursday in the Proleptic Gregorian calendar.
Catherine de' Medici was an Italian (Florentine) noblewoman born into the Medici family. She was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King Henry II and the mother of French kings Francis II, Charles IX, and Henry III. The years during which her sons reigned have been called "the age of Catherine de' Medici" since she had extensive, if at times varying, influence on the political life of France.
Francis II was King of France from 1559 to 1560. He was also King of Scotland as the husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, from 1558 until his death in 1560.
Ballet de cour is the name given to ballets performed in the 16th and 17th centuries at courts.
Comic ballet is a subcategory of narrative ballet, and denotes a dramatic work of a light or comic nature. Catherine d'Medici enjoyed the Italian custom of staging entertainments where classical or allegorical legends were retold through music and dancing, and she introduced this custom to France. It was Catherine's court festival director, Baltazarini da Belgiojoso who staged and choreographed the 'Ballet Comique de la Reine'. This ballet was presented at the Petit Bourbon on 15 October 1581, and related the story of Circe.
The Ballet Comique de la Reine 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.
Margaret of Valois, popularly known as La Reine Margot, was a French princess of the Valois dynasty who became Queen of Navarre by marriage to Henry III of Navarre and then also Queen of France at her husband's 1589 accession to the latter throne as Henry IV.
Tempe Restored was a Caroline era masque, written by Aurelian Townshend and designed by Inigo Jones, and performed at Whitehall Palace on Shrove Tuesday, 14 February 1632. It was significant as an early instance in which a woman appeared in a speaking role in a public stage performance in England.
Ballet is a formalized dance form with its origins in the Italian Renaissance courts of 15th and 16th centuries. Ballet spread from Italy to France with the help of Catherine de' Medici, where ballet developed even further under her aristocratic influence. An early example of Catherine's development of ballet is through 'Le Paradis d' Amour', a piece of work presented at the wedding of her daughter Marguerite de Valois to Henry of Navarre. Aristocratic money was responsible for the initial stages of development in 'court ballet', as it was royal money that dictated the ideas, literature and music used in ballets that were created to primarily entertain the aristocrats of the time. The first formal 'court ballet' ever recognized was staged in 1573, 'Ballet des Polonais'. In true form of royal entertainment, 'Ballet des Polonais' was commissioned by Catherine de' Medici to honor the Polish ambassadors who were visiting Paris upon the accession of Henry of Anjou to the throne of Poland. In 1581, Catherine de' Medici commissioned another court ballet, Ballet Comique de la Reine, however it was her compatriot, Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx, who organized the ballet. Catherine de' Medici and Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx were responsible for presenting the first court ballet ever to apply the principles of Baif's Academie, by integrating poetry, dance, music and set design to convey a unified dramatic storyline. Moreover, the early organization and development of 'court ballet' was funded by, influenced by and produced by the aristocrats of the time, fulfilling both their personal entertainment and political propaganda needs.
A series of lavish and spectacular court entertainments, sometimes called magnificences, were laid on by Catherine de' Medici, the queen consort of France from 1547 to 1559 and queen mother from 1559 until her death in 1589. As wife of Henry II of France, Catherine showed interest in the arts and theatre, but it was not until she attained real political and financial power as queen mother that she began the series of tournaments and entertainments that dazzled her contemporaries and continue to fascinate scholars. Biographer Leonie Frieda suggests that "Catherine, more than anyone, inaugurated the fantastic entertainments for which later French monarchs also became renowned".
Catherine de' Medici was a patron of the arts made a significant contribution to the French Renaissance. Catherine was inspired by the example of her father-in-law, King Francis I of France, who had hosted the leading artists of Europe at his court. As a young woman, she witnessed at first hand the artistic flowering stimulated by his patronage. As governor and regent of France, Catherine set out to imitate Francis's politics of magnificence. In an age of civil war and declining respect for the monarchy, she sought to bolster royal prestige through lavish cultural display.
Italian ballet is the training methods and aesthetic qualities seen in classical ballet in Italy. Ballet has a long history in Italy, and it is widely believed that the earliest predecessor of modern-day ballet originated in the Italian courts of the Renaissance. Two predominant training systems are used to teach Italian ballet today: the Cecchetti method, devised by Enrico Cecchetti, and that of the La Scala Theatre Ballet School.
Margaret Mary McGowan CBE was a British dance historian and historian of early modern France. Her work was mainly focused on the late Renaissance and the fin-de-siècle period at the end of the nineteenth century. She was a chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et Lettres (2020), a winner of the Wolfson History Prize (2009), a member of the British Academy and an emerita research professor at the University of Sussex.
The Hôtel du Petit-Bourbon, a former Parisian town house of the royal House of Bourbon, was located on the right bank of the Seine on the rue d'Autriche, between the Louvre to the west and the Church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois to the east. It was constructed in the 14th century, not long after the Capetian kings of France enlarged the fortress of the Louvre in order to use it as a royal residence. On two 1550 maps it is shown simply as the Hôtel de Bourbon, but by 1652, as the Petit-Bourbon on the map of Gomboust. The Bourbons took control of France in 1589, at which time they also acquired the Louvre.
Amaryllis is a small genus of flowering bulbs, with two species.
Girard de Beaulieu, better known by the incorrectly recorded name Lambert de Beaulieu was a French bass singer, instrumentalist, and composer. He was employed at the court of Henri III as basse singer and composer from 1559. He was associated with the Académie de Baïf, one of whose aristocratic poets, Nicolas Filleul de La Chesnaye, the king's almoner, was to provide the lyrics for the ballet Circé in the first French ballet de cour, the Balet Comique de la Royne of 1581, for which Beaulieu and Jacques Salmon provided the music. Choreography and overall direction were provided by the Italian dancing master Baltazarini, known as Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx. Sets and costumes were provided by Jacques Patin.
Violante Doria, also known as Yolande or Yolante, was an Italian soprano from Genoa. She was considered to be one of “the most successful musicians in France during the reigns of the last Valois kings.” She was married to bass singer Girard de Beaulieu who was a well-known and important singer of the royal court from as early as 1572 until the last year of his life in 1590.” The couple played a large role in the creation of the French ballet de cour, the Balet comique de la royne, in 1581. The successful careers of both Doria and her husband were an important part of structuring the music of the royal court and show the significance in the rise of chamber music.
Nicolas Filleul de La Chesnaye was a French poet. He was professor at the College of Harcourt, Eure where in 1563, he produced Achille (1563). His texts were used for the Ballet Comique de la Reine in 1581.
Jacques Patin was a French painter, decorator, illustrator and engraver.
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