Comédie ballet

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

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Comédie-ballet

is a theatrical genre inextricably bound up with the name of Molière (1622-73 – see entry). The term refers specifically to his dozen or so comedies written to entertain Louis XIV (1638-1715) and his court and which include substantial amounts of music and dancing. In the preface to his published edition of

Les Fâcheux

(1661), Molière narrates how this, the first

comédie-ballet

, came into being by chance. He and his troupe had been invited to perform a comedy as part of a great

fête

, organized by Louis XIV’s Minister of Finance, Nicolas Foucquet (1615-80). The

fête

took place on 17 August 1661 at Foucquet’s château in Vaux-le-Vicomte, and was given in honour of the King. Molière explains how the original plan had been to have two separate theatrical…

1957 words

Citation: Prest, Julia. "Comédie ballet". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 11 December 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1351, accessed 19 March 2024.]

1351 Comédie ballet 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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