Tchemerzine, I, p. 605; Malkin, Dancing by the Book, 107.11.<\/i><\/p>\n
First edition.<\/p>\n
Isaac de Benserade (1613-1691) began his literary career with the tragedy of Cl\u00e9op\u00e2tre (1635), which was followed by four other pieces. On Richelieu’s death Benserade lost his pension, but became more and more a favorite at court, especially with Anne of Austria. Benserade provided the words for more than 20 court ballets, and was, in 1674, admitted to the Academy, where he wielded considerable influence.<\/p>\n
In 1675 he provided the quatrains to accompany the thirty nine hydraulic sculpture groups depicting Aesop\u2019s fables in the labyrinth of Versailles. The introduction gives all necessary details for the ballet : “Le sujet de ce Ballet est tir\u00e9 du lieu o\u00f9 il se danse, & les agreables deserts de Fontainebleau devenus frequents par le seiour de la plus belle Cour qui fut iamais, les Bergeres qui les habitent en tesmoignent leur ioye par un Concert, auquel plusieurs Bergers & quelques Faunes se meslent: Diane & ses Nimphes, que le plaisir de la Chasse attire en ces Forests, paroissent en suite: Les Saisons y succedant les unes aux autres, chacune marqu\u00e9e par un changement de Theatre, produisent les Entr\u00e9es du Ballet, & la derniere comme desagreable & infructueuse en est chass\u00e9e par le retour d’un eternel Printemps qui doit regner \u00e0 iamais en ce lieu bien-heureux, o\u00f9 tout ce qui peut regarder la gloire, la prosperit\u00e9, & le plaisir, contribu\u00eb \u00e0 l’agr\u00e9ment de ce Ballet”.<\/p>\n
“Le Ballet des Saisons constitue un r\u00e9el tournant dans l’ \u0153uvre de Lully : exit la musique italienne. Le compositeur sera aid\u00e9 par Michel Lambert, son futur beau-p\u00e8re dans son effort d’assimilation du go\u00fbt fran\u00e7ais. Le Ballet des Saisons est aussi le premier ballet dans\u00e9 apr\u00e8s la cr\u00e9ation de l’Acad\u00e9mie Royale des Dames” (site Lully).<\/p>\n
Other than the 9 copies located in France (BnF, Arsenal, Op\u00e9ra, Lyon), this edition is very rare outside of France. OCL locates 1 copy at Cambrige (UK), and 1 at Stanford University in the United-States.<\/p>\n
Fine copy of the rare book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
4to (223 x 165 mm) 23 pp. Modern flexible vellum, bound in style.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":80328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[544],"product_tag":[1450,1255],"class_list":{"0":"post-80333","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-literature","7":"product_tag-first-edition","8":"product_tag-theatre-dance","9":"pa_auteur-benserade-isaac-de-2","10":"pa_type-de-livre-printed-book","12":"first","13":"instock","14":"shipping-taxable","15":"purchasable","16":"product-type-simple"},"acf":{"artist":" Isaac de BENSERADE","chapeau":"","adresse_bibliographique":"Paris, Robert Ballard, 1661","book_type":"Printed book","provenance":"","afficher_prix":""},"yoast_head":"\n