Dancing with the Sun King

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 Montéclairs Sérénade 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 champêtres. When Jean-Féry Rebel, one of the violin players of the Vingt-quatre violons, wrote Les caractères 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.