martes, 4 de junio de 2019

Dance in French stage works (Lully, Charpentier)

Dance

Most notable in French opera is the heightened role of dance and ballet. This is due in part to France’s rich history of dance and ballet, as well as the influence of dance in the compositional style of Jean-Baptiste Lully, the prominent composer of French Baroque opera. Dance was also very important in the court, as one's knowledge of the intricate footwork associated with each dance was evidence of their elevated station in society. Each dance coordinated with a specific meter and tempo, created by instrumental works with names such as Gigue, Minuet, and Allemande.

       I.         The French Baroque
                       A.         Louis XIV (r. 1643-1715)
                                          1.         France was under the rule of Louis' Austrian mother and her Italian lover, Cardinal Mazarin, until 1661.
                                          2.         Louis used the arts to help consolidate his rule.
                                          3.         The palace at Versailles projected his power and kept potential rivals busy with court entertainment for much of the year.
                        B.         The court ballet
                                          1.         Musical-dramatic work, with several acts, staged with costumes and scenery
                                          2.         Members of the nobility were required to take part alongside professional dancers.
                                          3.         Music included solo songs, choruses, and instrumental dances.
                                          4.         Louis XIV took part, playing roles designed to reinforce his identity as the Sun King.
                                          5.         The hierarchy of court ballet production reinforced obedience to authority.
     II.         Dance music
                       A.         Stylized dance music formed the core of the lute and keyboard repertory.
                        B.         Binary form replaced earlier forms.
                                          1.         Two roughly equal sections, each repeated
                                          2.         The first section leads from tonic to dominant (or relative major).
                                          3.         The second section returns to the tonic.
                       C.         Suites
                                          1.         French composers grouped dance movements into suites.
                                          2.         The French order of suite movements differs from the German.
                                          3.         Movements have contrasting tempos, meters, and styles.
                                          4.         Titles came from dance origins or were fanciful.
                                          5.         Preludes
                                                            a.         Unmeasured
                                                            b.         In improvisatory style
                                          6.         Allemande (French for "German")
                                                            a.         Moderately fast
                                                            b.         4/4 meter
                                                            c.         Begins with an upbeat
                                                            d.         Continuous movement in style luthé, with frequent agréments
                                          7.         Courante (French for "running" or "flowing")
                                                            a.         Based on a dignified dance step
                                                            b.         Triple or compound meter, or alternation between triple and compound
                                          8.         Sarabande
                                                            a.         Originally a fast dance from Latin America
                                                            b.         Brought to France via Spain and Italy
                                                            c.         The stylized French version is in a slow tempo.
                                                            d.         Triple meter, with an emphasis on the second beat
                                          9.         Gigue (French for "gig")
                                                            a.         Originated in the British Isles
                                                            b.         Fast tempo
                                                            c.         Compound meter
                                                            d.         Movement in continuous triplets
                                                            e.         Often begins with a section in fugal or quasi-fugal style
                                        10.         Extra dances were often inserted.
                                                            a.         Rondeau, a refrain form with contrasting periods paired in couplets
                                                            b.         Gavotte, a duple-meter dance starting with a half-measure upbeat
                                                            c.         Minuet, a triple-meter couples' dance
                                        11.         The French sequence of allemande- courante-sarabande-gigue was adopted by German composers
                       D.         Influence of French style
                                          1.         After the Thirty Years' War, the refinement of French taste in all the arts was admired.
                                          2.         Instrumental music styles spread, especially suites and overtures.

                                          3.         After the 1660s, the French and Italian styles began to blend.



CHARPENTIER (1643 – 1704)




Le Malade imaginaire, opera, H.495


Te Deum




LULLY (1632 - 1687)


Lully’s stage works are usually divided into three genres (with variations within each): 
  1. ballet, a court entertainment in which dance was the primary element; 
  2. comédie-ballet, in which a spoken play was surrounded by music both sung and danced before and after each act and sometimes during the acts; 
  3.  tragédie en musique, in which a drama is sung throughout (the French equivalent of Italian opera) and dance is a prominent element. He also composed some sacred motets, but virtually all of the known instrumental music is derived from his stage music.

DANCE TYPES

The notated dance scores fall into three main groups:

  1. Ballroom danses a deux (set of partner dances)
  2. Theatre dances
  3. No information is included
The music of seven other ballroom dances choreographed by Pécour is certainly by Lully:

  1. La marieé
  2. La contredanse (gigue)
  3. La pavane de saisons https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sC2J9lt70E
  4. La bourré de Mlle Charollois
  5. La royalle (sarabande-bourré)
  6. La canarie de Madame la Dauphine
  7. La bourrée Dauphine


This document shows the coordination of the music with a specific dance, the Gigue. The music at the top of the page is from Lully's opera Armide, but the choreographic notations at the bottom indicates the use of this music for social dance. On stage, large-scale dance scenes were more common, and usually advanced the plot or decorated an aria. Due to this, the chorus also had a larger role in the storyline. 
CHARPENTIER

Stage Works

David et Jonathas, tragédie en musique, H.490
La descente d'Orphée aux Enfers, opera, H.488
Médée, opera, H.491
Actéon, Scène cinquième: Choeur des Chasseurs
Le Malade imaginaire, opera, H.495

LULLY

Stage Works

Operas, Tragédies lyriques and Pastorale héroique
Acis et Galatée (pastorale héroïque), LWV73
Alceste, ou le triomphe d’Alcide (tragédie lyrique), LWV50
Amadis (tragédie lyrique), LWV63
Armide (tragédie lyrique), LWV71
Atys (tragédie en musique), LW53
Bellérophon (tragédie lyrique), LWV57
Cadmus et Hermione (opera), LWV49
Isis (opera), LWV54
Persée (opera), LWV60
Phaëton (opera), LWV61
Proserpine (opera), LWV58
Psyché (opera), LWV56
Roland (opera), LWV65
Thésée (tragédie lyrique), LWV51

Ballets and Comédies-ballets

Alcidiane (ballet), LWV9
Amour malade (L'Amor malato; ballet), LWV8 7
Divertissement (for first day of Les plaisirs de l'Ile enchantée), LWV22/1-4 (comedie-ballet)
Flore (ballet), LWV40
L' Amour médecin (comédie-ballet), LWV29
La pastorale comique (comédie-ballet), LWV33
La raillerie (ballet), LWV11
Le bourgeois gentilhomme (comédie-ballet), LWV43
Le Grand Divertissement Royal de Versailles (divertissement/comedie), LWV38
Le mariage forcé (comédie-ballet), LWV20
Le Sicilen, ou L'Amour peintre (comédie-ballet), LWV34
Le triomphe de l’amour (ballet), LWV59
Les amours déguisés (ballet), LWV21
Les noces de village (ballet), LWV19
Les plaisirs (ballet), LWV2
Les temps (ballet), LWV1
Monsieur de Pourceaugnac (comédie-ballet), LWV41
Psyché (tragédie-ballet), LWV45
Xerxès (ballet; for F.Cavalli's 'Serse'), LWV12

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