Les Caracteres de la Danse

French music owes a great deal to dance, from the survival of the Ballet de Cour in the comedies-ballets of Lully, to his tragedies lyriques, these compositions imposed the French choreographic model in Europe. Here is the sequel to Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, which in 1670 marked the peak of the Comédie-Ballet, when Louis XIV stopped dancing. With his Characters of the Dance in 1720, Rebel offers a work without sung text, the first maturity of the choreographic genre, before Rameau gives it a prominent place in Pygmalion, a sumptuous ballet act. When Gluck adapts his Orphée for Paris, he amplifies the danced parts with exceptional inspiration. Finally, Mozart integrates a vast French-style ballet into his Idoménée: the Chaconne is irresistible... Galvanizing the Royal Opera Orchestra, Reinhard Goebel's sharp baton stretches the arc of a century of French-style dance !