Une journée à Versailles

At the court of Louis XIV, music is at the heart of the life of power. In Versailles, where the court permanently settles in 1682, the daily life of the king and the aristocracy is punctuated by ceremonies, parties, shows, walks and hunts. Music accompanies these different moments and fully participates in the art of living of the court.

At court, music is not just entertainment: it helps to stage power and organize the king’s time. Under the impetus of composers like Jean-Baptiste Lully, musical forms develop in close connection with ceremonies, ballets, operas and court entertainment. Each occasion has its own language, rhythm and musical colors.

The baroque flute occupies a singular place: soft, warm and expressive, it lends itself as well to the intimacy of the salons as to dances, pastorals and outdoor scenes. In the eighteenth century, French factors perfected the instrument and composers entrusted it with an increasingly rich repertoire, based on the pleasures, inflections and contrasts characteristic of French taste.

This audition offers a musical crossing of the court society, from the pomp of ceremonies to the pleasures of salons and entertainment, to the excitement of the great royal hunt. Through this course, students explore phrasing, amenities and baroque rhetoric: in the France du Grand Siècle, playing music also involves making the instrument speak and telling a world.

Coordination : Johanne Favre-Engel