Cupid and Psyche: Narrative, Love and Politics in Seventeenth-Century French Court Ballet

Abstract

This thesis investigates two seventeenth-century French court ballet adaptations of Apuleius' 'Cupid and Psyche': Le Ballet de la Reyne, tire de la fable de Psyche, performed at the court of Louis XIII in 1619; and Le Ballet de Psyche, ou la puissance de l'amour, staged in 1656 during the reign of Louis XIV. Its focus is the reinvention of la fable de Psyche by ballet creators to fit evolving theatrical practice, changing modes of amorous discourse and shifting political circumstances. Firstly, this study probes the operation of narrative and the construction of character in these works, interrogating the concept of ballet as 'imitation of nature' as propounded by seventeenth-century dance theorists. Secondly, it examines the ballets' representation of love and desire; and, thirdly, it scrutinises their projection of monarchic ideology. This thesis offers genre-specific definitions of narrative, character and imitation that have implications for wider court ballet scholarship. It contends that the 'fable de Psyche' provided a set of references, rather than a template for dramatization. Alternative narratives, for example allegorical story arcs, were equally important to the Psyche ballets' conception. Court ballet characters were tripartite constructions consisting of stock figures overlaid with gallant stereotypes and blended with performers' attributes. Imitation in this artform involved encapsulating the essential nature of characters in costume and dance with sufficient accuracy to ensure recognition. In ballets mixing the amours of fictional characters with the love lives of courtiers, women were cast as objects of male desire and love was a powerful catalyst for metamorphosis. The ballets de Psyche restaged royal myths - 'The Triumph of Good over Evil', 'The Restoration of the Golden Age', 'The Queen, Paragon of Feminine Perfection' - that together formed a monarchical mythos, that is a group of interconnected stories supporting an ideology. Analysis of their articulation in the Psyche ballets exposes tensions between projections of an all-powerful monarchy and young sovereigns confronted by turbulence and instability.

Date of Award	31 Dec 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Barbara Lebrun (Supervisor) & Jerome Brillaud (Supervisor)