Monteclair / Ensemble Odyssee - Dancing With The Sun King - Music CD

Louis XIV (1638-1715) was the personal embodiment of France and he loved to dance. The king himself was a fine dancer and had many opportunities to demonstrate his skill at the multiple dance balls given at Versailles. Michel Pignolet de Montclair's "Srnade en Concerts" is a collection of dances probably written for one such occasion. The collection is exceptional because it contains all the music that was performed in one evening, divided into three parts: airs de fanfares, airs tendres, and airs champtres. When Jean-Fry Rebel, one of the violin players of the Vingt-quatre violons, wrote "Les caractres de la danse", he launched a new fashion: the piece was written for a solo female dancer who performed a rapid succession of different dances, completely changing character every few bars. The piece achieved great popularity.