L'opéra-ballet et la Cour de France

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Françoise Dartois-Lapeyre : Balletic opera and the French court. Balletic opera, that most typical of 18th-century genres, is little known. As it evolved late, its repertory dates from between 1695, date of The Seasons, and 1773. The court was subject, actor and audience, and a source of inspiration for the authors who, in the tradition of court ballet, celebrated royal victories, births and marriages ; but the main theme became the triumph of love rather than glorification of the monarch. In the 18th Century the court became merely a spectator ; Louis XV only danced in one opera and nobles were replaced by professionals from the Royal Academy of Music. Operas were now rarely created at court, except in the period 1745-54 under the influence of the Marquise de Pompadour, the Marquis of Courtenvaux and the Slodtz family. Palaces were ill-adapted to the necessary machinery, spectators preferred to watch a single entry rather than a whole opera, and the genre declined and finally vanished in 1774.