Suite Life

No other source addressed the ideals of European court culture as comprehensively as Baldasarre Castiglione’s courtesy book, Il libro del Cortegiano (The Book of the Courtier, 1528). It illustrated the fact that scholarly, yet elegant conversation, music, painting, and dance – the arts performed with a certain Sprezzatura (nonchalance) – were the true test of aristocrats.

At the French court, the ball was a particularly special place, where the aristocracy would parade their extravagant costumes and masks which echoed classical, mythical figures. These dances gradually acquired more and more sophisticated choreography and the ball began to take on an air of a performance, with a separate stage area and clearer distinction between artistes and audience.

This gave rise to accomplished performances with professional dancers (Ballets de cour). The Sun King, who was himself a highly competent dancer in his younger days, was the sovereign figure and at the heart of this in the mid-1600s. From about 1700, dance, now sharing equal status with song, became integral to the popular genre opéra-ballet.