The Circe fable provided Balthazar Beaujoyeulx with a wonderful vehicle in which to demonstrate his interest and knowledge concerning the pursuits of humanist scholars. In the libretto to Le Balet Comique de la Reine, Balthazar tells the reader of his conscious desire to create a unified artistic statement in which poetry and music are interwoven with dance.
It is certain that Beaujoyeulx was influenced and inspired by the Neo-Platonist ideals of l'Académie de Musique et de Poésie, also referred to as, Baïf's Academy. The Academy, established by the royal decree of Charles IX, was founded by Jean-Antoine Baïand Thibaut de Courville.
In the year following its inception Baïcomposed a letter to the King written in poetic form, in which he explains that the Academy has been aiming to produce complete poetic dramas that incorporate measured verse set to measured music and accompanied by measured dance in an attempt to revive "Greek drama with all its musical and choreographic accompaniments." * In this composite spectacle, the dance steps were devised to mirror the syllabic length of sung words and the duration of musical notes. In this manner, verse, music and dance were aligned with a single metric property and, thus became a powerful and resounding icon of concord.
Dance, whether in the context of the court spectacle or in a purely social milieu, personified the concept of universal harmony. This pervasive notion is reflected in the verse of Sir John Davies homage to the art of dance, entitled Orchestra :
Concords true picture shineth in thys Art,
Where divers men and women ranked be,
And every one doth daunce a severall part,
Yet all as one, in measure doe agree,
Observing perfect uniformitie:
All turne together, all together trace,
And all together honor and embrace.*
Beaujoyeulx intended that the unified presentation of poetry, music and dance, would produce powerful restorative effects on the souls and intellects of the court audience, as it was said to have done in ancient Greek times. Beaujoyeulx's artistic aim suggests a mélange of philosophical influences.
The legends of the effects of "ancient music" were associated with Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans. The Pythagorean school is purported to have used appropriate songs to induce, among other things, elegance of manners, and for bringing about beneficial changes in the dispositions of the soul. *
The underlying philosophical principles which gave rise to the unification of the arts and to this type of choreographic presentation stem from the Pythagorean model of the physical universe based on number and proportion. According to this model, there is a connection between the harmony of the universe and the soul of man.*
Plato bases his explanation of the physical world on this Pythagorean concept in Timaeus, a work that was no doubt familiar to Beaujoyeulx through the numerous medieval or humanist commentaries.
The image of the cosmic dance of the heavens had a profound impact on the choreography devised for court spectacles. The graceful gestures of the dancers as they moved in and out of intricate geometric shapes and interlacing patterns were understood to resemble, on a microcosmic level, the ordered and harmonious movements of the celestial bodies:
All these things [the retrograde motions and diverse conjunctions of the sun and mood], if one wanted to consider them completely, could be known in advance because they are exactly imitated and represented in the dance...The changes of direction in dancing and the new configurations one makes are nothing other than the spirits located in the heavens; and the beautiful and diverse retreats, straight and oblique, that one executes with so much grace are the same as conjunctions and oppositions of three, four, and even six planets that occur almost every day among the heavenly bodies in their celestial sphere. *
The notion of dance as an instrument of socialization and moral education has it foundation in ancient Greek philosophy. Plato wrote at length about dance as an integral component of choral performance. He considered training in music and dance the first and fundamental steps of education because they permitted a child to become habituated to virtue before the faculties of reason had been fully formed. *
In the Republic he writes, "Rhythm and harmony penetrate most easily into the soul and influence it most strongly, bringing with it decorum and making those who are correctly trained well-behaved" (401de). Conversely, without proper training, music could potentially have adverse effects on the disposition of the soul. *
In Laws, Plato states that an uneducated man (achoreutos), is one who has not been trained to take part in a chorus, and an educated man, is one who is sufficiently trained in this activity. Plato then explains that to participate in a chorus necessitates singing "good" songs and dancing "good" dances, which are those tunes or movements associated with spiritual or bodily excellence. *
Plato stresses the participation of the entire citizenry in choral activity, either as participants or spectators, as a means to transmit and reaffirm the shared beliefs of the entire body politic, and to reverse the natural tendency towards moral degeneration. *
Thus, dance was a means to conduce order in the soul and in the body politic. To be excluded from this activity, meant being excluded from society.
Dance conceived as an exercise in virtue, is a theme that appeals to the Renaissance humanists, and is the subject of many discourses on the proper moral conduct and education of well-bred ladies and gentlemen.
Sir Thomas Elyot wrote, one of the most influential apologies for dance in the Renaissance. In The Book Named the Governor (1531), Elyot hoped to establish, in England, a system of education based on the soundest principles of continental humanism.
Elyot devoted seven chapters of his book to dancing, which he believed necessary for acquiring grace of carriage and imparting moral virtues. * Within these chapters, Elyot combats the accusations of stricter moralists by establishing the respectability of dance, supporting his argument with the citations of classical poets and philosophers. He then proceeds to map out his theories of the moralization of dance.
His ideas are primarily drawn from Plato, Aristotle and Lucian, but it is evident that Plato's Laws and the Republic exerted the greatest influence on his thoughts. The author's precept of dance as an exercise in moral virtue is almost identical to that of Plato.* Elyot instructs his readers that dance is an honest pastime,
wherein may be found both recreation and meditation of virtue...comprehending in it wonderful figures (or as the Greeks do call them, ideae) of virtues and noble qualities; and specially the commodious virtue called prudence (knowledge of things which ought to be desired and of them that ought to be eschewed)...This virtue being so commodious to man, and as it were the porch of the noble palace of man's reason whereby all other virtues shall enter, it seemeth to me right expedient that as soon as opportunity may be founden, a child or young man be therto induced.
And because the study of virtue is tedious for the more part to them that do flourish in young years, I have devised how in the form of dancing now late used in this realm among gentlemen the whole description of this virtue prudence may be found out and well perceived, as well by the dancers as by them which, standing by, will be diligent beholders and markers...*
Elyot then proceeds to explain that the eight steps of the basse dance correspond to the eight branches of the virtue prudence. Elyot is not concerned with discussing the aesthetics of dance. He is interested primarily in education, politics and religion.* His preference for dance is limited in scope to its capacity to indoctrinate virtue.
Elyot was not alone in his desire to establish a role for dance in education and to secure a higher status for its practice in Renaissance society. In Positions (1588), Richard Mulcaster, first headmaster of Merchant Taylors' School (1561-1586) devoted a chapter of his text on education to a sympathetic defense of dancing, in particular, "Why it is blamed, and how delivered from blame."*
In 1596, Sir John Davies printed an allegorical defense of dance, using Homer's Odyssey as a backdrop. Written in verse, and in a manner wholly different from Elyot's sober prose, Davies's' poem Orchestra or a Poeme of Dauncing Luducially prooving the true observation of time and measure, in the Authenticall and laudable use of Dauncing, celebrates the antiquity and excellence of dance. In the following excerpt, Davies portrays dance as a symbol of concord between men and women, and as signifying the tendency toward an order based on reason and harmony that is manifest in all nature.*
Dauncing (bright Lady) then began to be,
When the first seedes whereof the world did spring,
The Fire, Ayre, Earth and Water did agree,
By Loves perswasion, Natures mighty King,
To leave their first disordered combating;
And in a daunce such measure to observe,
As all the world their motion should preserve.
Since when they still are carried in a round,
And changing come one in anothers place,
Yet doe they neyther mingle nor confound,
But every one doth keepe the bounded space
Wherein the daunce doth bid it turne or trace:
This wondrous myracle did Love devise,
For Dauncing is Loves proper exercise. *
The aforementioned works suggest that Renaissance society shared some important attitudes with regard to the practice and art of dancing:
The numerous tracts offering apologies of dance based on classical authorities are testament to the fact that not all humanists approved of the activity of dancing. Fifteenth century educator, P.P. Vergerius, forbade youth to practice dancing on the grounds the it bred "lasciviousness and vain conceit."* Vergerious' denunciation of dance is mild in comparison to that of Cornelius Agrippa, the occult theologian and historiographer of Charles V. In Agrippa's estimation, dancing is,
A thing, which were it not set off with Musick, would appear the greatest Vanity of Vanities, the rudest, most nonsensical, and ridiculous sight in the world. This is that which lets loose the reyns of Pride, the friend of Wickedness, the food and nourishment of Lust, the bane and enemy of chastity, and unworthy so much as the thought of any honest person.*
It is crucial to keep in mind that the libretto of Le Balet Comique de la Reine is an official account of the spectacle, dedicated to Henri III, and written by Beaujoyeulx, an individual who profited and received notoriety from the event. While many participants and spectators sang the praises of Beaujoyeulx and his entertainment, there were others who deplored the expenditure of so much money while the King's lesser subjects suffered from extreme depravations. Naturally, jealousy and harsh criticism came from those people excluded from the court entertainments.
But what of the attitudes of the members of the Valois court? They do not appear to have been disturbed by discrepancies between the desperate political and social circumstances of the general populace and their own efforts to combat these evils within the rarefied and mystical realm of the court spectacle.*
The cosmological, moral and political messages in Le Balet Comique de la Reine were embedded within the aesthetics of the ballet, thus providing the court spectators the potential of a multi-layered perception and interpretation of the events unfolding before them.
It is difficult to know the extent of their perception. If their education had been thorough and informed by humanist ideals, they would be well-versed in classical mythology, Aristotelian science and Platonic cosmology. They would also have grown accustomed to interpreting emblems, devises and other artistic elements allegorically.*
If these different levels of meaning were discernible to the erudite members of the court, then why did Beaujojeulx discuss the implications of the ballet in his address to Henri III, and include four allegorical interpretations of the Circe fable in the libretto? Perhaps he entertained his own doubts regarding the power of the spectacle to delight and instruct.
It is also possible that he included this information solely for those who were unable to attend the entertainment, in order that they might gain a more in-depth impression and understanding of that singular event.
According to dance historian James Miller, an examination of sixteenth century dance criticism reveals that the educated Renaissance spectator tended to focus on three aspects of a court dance performance, representing three distinct stages of perception:
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Miller also asserts that for each stage of perception, the spectator's knowledge of Greek philosophical concepts could have a profound impact on their understanding and interpretation of the dance's meaning.*
The identity of the dancers and their role in the court hierarchy would, of course, also impart significance to the dances. In Le Balet Comique de la Reine, we are told the identity of all the female dancers, the naiads (water nymphs) and the dryads (wood nymphs). These mythical creatures were danced by Queen Lorraine, the Princess de Lorraine, and ladies of the court. Beaujoyeulx also imparts to the reader, and presumably to the audience, explanations of the allegorical significance of the nymphs.
In the absence of personal commentaries and unofficial accounts of Le Balet Comique de la Reine, one is left to speculate as to the spectators' depth of understanding and interpretation of the ballet.
If a spectator were inclined to think in a cosmological strain, then he or she might have seen the dancing nymphs as personifying the basic elements of which the entire physical universe is composed. The triangular, square and circular figures they described on the dance floor would call to mind the inherent order of the universe, based on the number symbolism and geometric forms of Pythagoras and Plato.
The continual formation and dissolution of these figures would perhaps lead the viewer to ponder the transitory nature of the universe, and the process of growth and decay to which all physical things are subject. The precision, clarity and uniformity of the dancer's steps, as they moved in perfect accord with the music, invited the viewer to contemplate, not only the numerical order and harmony of the cosmos, but also the power of Reason, the guiding force underlying all universal processes.*
Assuming an ethical viewpoint, the court spectator might have regarded the dancing nymphs as the embodiment of moral virtues, in particular ,Prudence and Temperance ( in fact, this meaning is assigned to the nymphs in Beaujoyeulx's libretto).
The geometric dances could then be seen to represent a state of concord as governed by reason and restraint. Circe's disruption of the dance sequences might be understood as the state that befalls man when he conducts himself without reason, and allows his baser instincts to dictate his behavior. Mercury, symbolizing human reason, offers only a temporary cessation of Circe's spell because, like humans, he is volatile and therefore susceptible to the evil enchantress's magic.*
The nymphs are not released from their immobilizing spell until Jupiter, lawgiver to all the world, descends from the heavens to join forces with Minerva, Pan, Mercury and, most importantly, the French King. The beauty of the Grand Ballet extends beyond the corporeal. The perfection of the dance and the dancers signified the ordered state of the soul as governed by reason and virtue and the underlying connection between the soul of man and the divine.
The political implications of the ballet were only slightly veiled, and therefore easier for the court spectators to discern. Above all, these dances were meant to celebrate the advent of a golden age in France. By observing the ladies of the court engaged in their harmonious movements, the audience was meant to contemplate the wisdom and judiciousness of Henri III, and the solvency of his kingdom. The power struggle between good and evil, and order and chaos is acted out in Circe's interruptions of the ballet entrées.
The audience was, no doubt, aware that this battle raged not only within the metaphorical world of the ballet . This struggle reflects the political reality of late sixteenth century France which was being torn apart by religious strife and political intrigue. When Henri III is enlisted by the performers in their struggle to vanquish the treacherous Circe, he is, in reality, being called on to rid the kingdom of its evils and reinstate peace, order and concord.
The messages conveyed within the Le Balet Comique de la Reine were for participants and spectators, alike. When the naiads and dryads invited the noblemen onto the dance floor to begin the dances of the grand ball, they were, in effect, inviting them into the ideological theme of the spectacle.*
Le Balet Comique de la Reine must have delighted spectators with its lavish and beautiful blending of artistic elements. It is impossible to say, conclusively, if Beaujoyeulx's production truly possessed the power to transform and instruct its audience. Theater historian Stephen Orgel has suggested a way of resolving or at least allaying the dilemma of gauging audience perception. He writes,
We tend to slight the Renaissance pressure toward explanation, stressing instead the age's devotion to symbolic meaning. But again, the verbal was inseparable from the visual. Then as now, a symbol had meaning only after it was explained. Symbols function as summations and confirmations; they tell us only what we already know, and it would be a mistake to assume that the Renaissance audience, unlike a modern one, knew without being told.*
In Le Balet Comique de la Reine, the verbal is, with the exception of the ballet entrées, entirely inseparable from the visual. The ballet includes speeches addressed to the King, declamations, songs and sung dialogue. These are usually of an expository nature. They serve as a means to further the action of the plot, or to divulge the characteristics and symbolic meaning of the players as they make their entrances. In large part, the allegorical interpretations included in Beaujoyeulx's text are implicit in the prose and sung verse. If the spectators were able to discern what was being spoken and sung, the ethical and political import of the spectacle would have been evident(the cosmoligical significance is not as apparent).
We have know way of knowing, however, if the words were discernible. One outcome of the inclusion of measured verse set to measured music was that five voices simultaneously singing the same syllable could create an incredible resonance. Audibility,however, does not necessarily imply comprehension.
One of the problems that Baïf encountered with measured verse, was that the long and short stresses placed on syllables did not always correspond to the actual stresses used when speaking French. "If one endeavors to read Baï's vers mesurés (measured verse) aloud, emphasizing the meter - trying to make the longs long and the shorts short-the results are often impossible from the point of view of normal French accentuation." *
It is true, that measured verse was not intended to be recited, but sung in synchronicity with the music. This musical union was intended to produce powerful emotional effects on the listeners, but emotional or visceral responses do not necessarily lead to virtuous contemplation or understanding.
The issue of a commonality of interpretation might be more easily resolved if we knew whether of not the audience attending Le Balet Comique de la Reine was provided with librettos, similar in content to that written by Beajoyeulx and published in 1582. Many dance historians support the notion that it was common practice to distribute a sort of playbill or program notes to the spectators at court entertainments. But we must not take for granted the logistics involved in this sort of mass distribution, such as printing capabilites, cost, time, and the availability of reading light in the performance space.
Beaujoyeulx boastfully proclaims that nine or ten thousand people attended the event, and although, this is almost certainly an huge exaggeration, recall that Le Balet Comique de la Reine was held for the wedding celebration of the king's favorite, and was probably performed to a full house. Could playbills have been supplied to the thousands of spectators at this event?
In addition, the absence of program notes, in light of the wealth of extant material evidence relating to Le Balet Comique de la Reine, seems rather odd, suggesting that one never existed. Beajoyeulx discusses in considerable detail, the preparations for the production, the arrangement of the hall, and the excitement and anticipation felt at the Valois court on the morning of the event. Yet nowhere does he mention or hint at the existence of a libretto.
It is possible to draw some interesting parallels between the function of music and dance in Greek antiquity and the Renaissance in relation to their roles in socialization, the instruction of moral virtues , and as a means of social control through persuasion. The classical antecedents influencing the dance spectacle in Le Balet Comique are philosophical and political in nature. They relate to the power of choral song and dance as an instrument of social control over the body politic .
In Laws, Plato discusses the role of dance and music in moral education and the importance of choosing appropriate rhythms and modes for female and male performances based on the natural differences between the sexes. In the Republic, he refers to the power of rhythm and harmony to penetrate the soul and influence behavior. In Plato's ideal state someone who does not know how to dance is considered uneducated .They would be excluded from the goings on in the ideal polis because of their lack of socialization.
These ancient ideals still resound in the Renaissance. The importance of dance instruction as an instrument of socialization and moral education for the elite members of Renaissance society cannot be overstated. Only those educated in the art and practice of dancing knew how to use it to convey meaning and, in turn, understood the meanings encrypted in the various stances, gestures and motions of the body.