Excerpt from an unpublished MA thesis (Musicology, Cornell University, 1993). Lully's Ballet des saisons of 1661, a French ballet de cour, focuses on the progression of the four seasons at the royal château of Fontainebleau. The work also incorporates deeper levels of meaning that would have been apparent to the courtiers at the time. Uncovering these layers requires an exploration of the ballet's various subtexts and the relationship between its surface and political meaning. A close examination allows a more fluid view of the court hierarchy. The ballet, then, acts as a mirror of the society that created it
