Old and New Paris: Its History, Its People, and Its Places, v. 1Edwards, H. Sutherland (Henry Sutherland)
History
Old and New Paris: Its History, Its People, and Its Places, v. 1
Edwards, H. Sutherland (Henry Sutherland)
Paris (France) -- Description and travel; Paris (France) -- History
On Sunday, the 15th, the queen gave her feast at the Louvre, and after
the feast the ballet of "Circe and her Nymphs." This work, otherwise
entitled "Ballet Comique de la Reine," was represented in the large
Salle de Bourbon by the queen, the princes, the princesses, and the
great nobles of the Court. It began at ten o'clock in the evening,
and did not finish till three the next morning. The queen and the
princesses, who represented the Naiads and the Nereids, terminated
the ballet by a distribution of presents to the princes and nobles,
who, in the shape of Tritons, had danced with them. For each Triton
there was a gold medal with a suitable inscription; and the composer,
Baltazarini--or Beaujoyeux, as he was now called--received flattering
compliments at the end of the representation from the whole Court. His
genius was extolled and his glory celebrated in verses which hailed
him as one who "from the ashes of Greece had revived a new art," who
with "divine wit" had composed a ballet, and who had so placed it on
the stage that he surpassed himself in the character of "inventive
geometrician."
On the evening of Monday, the 16th, at eight o'clock, the garden of
the Louvre was the scene of a torch-lit combat between Fourteen Whites
and Fourteen Yellows. On Tuesday, the 17th, there were conflicts with
the pike, the sword, and the butt end of the lance, on foot and on
horseback. On Thursday, the 19th, took place the Ballet of the Horses,
in which Spanish steeds, race-horses, and others met in hostile fashion,
retired, and turned round to the sound of trumpets and clarions,
having been trained to it five months beforehand. "All this," says the
chronicler, "was beautiful and agreeable, but the finest feature of
Tuesday and Thursday was the music of voices and instruments, being the
most harmonious and most delicate that was ever heard. There were also
fireworks, which sparkled and burst, to the fright and joy of everyone,
and without injury to any."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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