Le Ballet royal de la Nuit

Languishing light, take hiding beneath the billows.
Make way for the loveliest night in the world,
striding its way over the horizon.
The darkness and shadows so greatly prized are mine
and I have a thousand delights in my dark empire
which, for all its splendour, day has not.
THE ROYAL BALLET OF THE NIGHT

Here is a ballet that speaks of night and the day that follows night. It is the year 1652, and France is emerging torn apart from the Fronde. Back in Paris, Mazarin intends to bring an end to these years of civil war, not by having the last rebellious princes arrested, but by a sumptuous entertainment combining song, music and dance: a courtly ballet that will show all that the human spirit can produce in the most fanciful and contrasting way, and that will impress the power of the King on the world.

For weeks, poet, musicians and dancers strive to carry out this masterful communications operation: a picture book of extraordinary inventiveness that embraces all classes of society and features gods, the devil and mythological heroes. The performance lasts an entire night. In the morning, dawn appears, radiating out into the universe. She is accompanied by the young Louis XIV in the costume of Apollo. In the days that follow, rumours of what is already considered to be the "evening of the century" sweep through all the embassies: the Sun King is born.

The Royal Night Ballet occupies an exceptional place in the "archeological site" of Baroque music. In 2015, Sébastien Daucé resurrected this forgotten masterpiece - never revived since its creation - patiently recomposing the missing pieces. He has supplemented it with excerpts from Rossi's Orfeo and Cavalli's Ercole amante, as a necessary counterpoint to the stunning depiction of the Monarch. With the help of director and choreographer Francesca Lattuada, singers and musicians, dancers and circus performers electrify this baroque fairy tale unanimously acclaimed by the critics.