Ballet Royal de la naissance de Vénus. Dansé par sa Majesté, le 26. de Ianuier 1665.
A Paris: Par Robert Ballard, seul Imprimeur du Roy pour la Musique, M. DC. LXV [1665]. First edition. Later green half morocco over marbled paper boards, spine lettered in gilt. 52 [2] p. Italian provenance: early manuscript ownership inscription on the first leaf dated 30 Genn.o 1665 (30 January 1665), partly torn and restored; later engraved armorial bookplate on the inner front panel. Paper tanned as usual; early folds and handling marks; otherwise clean and well preserved.
Scarce first edition of the libretto of Lully’s Naissance de Vénus, a key work in the development of the French court-ballet tradition, in a copy preserving a contemporary inscription dated only days after the premiere.
First edition, printed for the premiere, of the libretto for the court ballet performed on 26 January 1665 at the Palais-Royal. The text was written by Isaac de Benserade and the music composed principally by Jean-Baptiste Lully, at the request of Louis XIV and in honour of the king’s sister-in-law Henrietta of England, who appeared in the performance as Venus.
The copy preserves an early Italian inscription dated 30 January 1665, only four days after the premiere, suggesting that it may have been received in connection with the performance, possibly by someone present at the court spectacle.
The ballet belongs to the tradition of the French ballet de cour, one of the principal ceremonial theatrical forms cultivated at the court of Louis XIV. The libretto presents a large mythological spectacle in two parts comprising twelve entrées. Conceived on an exceptional scale, the production involved 96 performers representing 106 roles, accompanied by 20 musicians and 14 singers, with Louis XIV himself appearing in the final scene as Alexander the Great.
Printed libretti of this type formed part of the broader genre of festival books, ephemeral publications describing royal festivities and spectacles staged for political and ceremonial display. The present libretto is accordingly included in the Oxford “Early Modern Festival Books” collection, which documents printed accounts of court celebrations and theatrical spectacles across Europe.
A rare printed witness, preserving a contemporary inscription, to one of the most elaborate court ballets of Louis XIV’s reign and an important document of early French operatic culture, marking the culmination of the ballet tradition from which Lully would soon develop the tragédie en musique.
LWV 27
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Price: €6,000.00