Musical Diversions at the Court of Louis XIV

Abstract

During the carnival season of 1700, as some of the entertainments at the court of Louis XIV, there were presented seven mascarades at Marly, a châiteau near Versailles. The mascarade was a small-scale musical production that combined music and dance and was influenced by the ballet de cour and later the tragidie-lyrique. They were composed by André, Anne, and Pierre Philidor who were members of a family dynasty of wind players connected to the French court for several generations. Sources including the music, libretti, descriptive journal and diary entries, costume drawings, and related research allow reconstruction of the mascarades. These sources, especially the survival of the music in this collection, are important in that they display the type of musical/theatrical entertainment occurring at the court of Louis XIV. The thesis includes a modern edition of the music