Abstract
Abstract On 13 May 1698, according to the London press, ‘there was fine Dancing at Kensington, where his Majesty was present, as also his Excellency the French Ambassador’. The ‘Dancing’ referred to was a vocal and danced entertainment called (with many allusions to the beauties of Kensington Palace) Le Palais des Plaisirs, and probably staged at the behest of the new French ambassador, Camille d’Hostun, comte de Tallard, as part of the series of delicate negotiations in London following the signing of the Peace of Ryswick the previous year. The French libretto of the Kensington divertissement indicates that it was created out of extracts from scenes in earlier French court entertainments and operas, their music by Lully and words by Molière, Benserade and Quinault. The vocal music and dances for each of the five entrées were performed by members of the Paris Opéra and the London theatres, with choreography devised by Anthony L’Abbé, newly arrived in London from the Paris Opéra.
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