Molière à la cour : les Amants magnifiques en 1670
Work published with the financial support of the CRCV.
Molière à la cour : les Amants magnifiques en 1670, directed by Laura Naudeix, Presses universitaires de Rennes, collection “Arts de la scène”, November 2020, 428 p., €30 (ISBN: 978-2-7535-7998-9).
Abstract
Actor, playwright and troupe director, Molière devoted a fundamental part of his activities to entertaining King Louis XIV. The subject of this book is one of these shows, Le Divertissement royal called Les Amants magnifiques, performed at the château of Saint-Germain-en-Laye for the carnival of 1670. Designed to dazzle with its great variety and utter magnificence, it was created in collaboration with set designer and machinist Carlo Vigarani, Jean-Baptiste Lully, the king’s favourite composer, the virtuoso dancers Pierre Beauchamps and Hilaire Dolivet, and the best performers, actors from the Paris company and musicians from the royal academy of music.
Working in several disciplines – history, history of art, music, literature, history of the theatre and dance – the researchers featured here examine the meaning of this complex work, born out of the culture of the aristocratic elites and of Molière’s preoccupations.
A publication of official texts accompanying the creation and archives of the production is the last piece in the puzzle to bring alive the adventure of the performers at the heart of this fascinating society: the court of France.
Book edited by Laura Naudeix, lecturer in theatre studies at the université Rennes 2, specialist in the musical theatre and French opera in the 17th and 18th centuries.
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