Classical and mythological ideals and the rhetorical expression of the passions in the Grand Siècle

BARROS, Classical and mythological ideals

Classical and mythological ideals and the rhetorical expression of the passionsin the Grand Siècle

Ricardo Barros

This paper aims to highlight how – as a result of the inquisitive Baroque mind – artists andphilosophers in the grand siècle incorporated elements from ancient Greece and mythology into theirworks in an attempt to evoke and portray idealised virtues. More specifically, it will investigate theimportance of rhetorical and oratorical principles in French Baroque culture and society, showing howthe realistic depiction of mythological beings in dance attempted to make gods – and monarchs alike –pertinent to the peers of the realm.

1. Oratory and rhetoric in ancient history

The roots of oratory and rhetoric can be traced back to ancient Greece and the writings of Aristotle(384 – 322 BC) and Plato (c. 427 BC – c. 347 BC). In one of the earliest classical texts, Rhetoric (c. 330BC), Aristotle describes it as ‘the faculty of observing in any given case the available means ofpersuasion’.1

The art of persuasion in ancient Greek culture was preoccupied with the integrity and virtue of man.Ethos, character, wisdom, and the balance between the opposing forces of logos (logical reasoning) andpathos (emotional response to stimulus) are a constant concern in Aristotle’s text. Greek rhetoricproposes the questioning of arguments, by employing logical and emotional artifices, in order to test apremise and reach a conclusion without the rejection of truth. The practice of taking into accountdiffering points of view in the whole process of questioning urged speakers and writers to elaboratetheir discourse in order to captivate an audience, a reader or a judge, in a bid to make their view prevailin a discussion or legal judgement.

Classic rhetoric was reinstated in the Roman Empire around 100 BC. Cicero and Quintilian were thetwo exponent authors who referred to Aristotle’s writings when producing their own works. Inaddition to prioritising the virtue of character advocated by their Greek predecessors, Romans realisedthe applicability and the benefits that rhetoric could bring into the tribune. Although the use of strongemotions was disapproved of by both Plato and Aristotle, Roman rhetoricians unrepentantly resortedto such a manoeuvre to accomplish their goals. In order to convince their listeners, orators wereencouraged to make use of emotionally appealing tools during the delivery of a speech, such aschanging the tone of voice, using gestures and dramatic facial expressions.

2. Revival of Classics in the Renaissance and Baroque eras

With the reinstatement of Classical ideals motivated by the unveiling of Greek and Roman art worksand writings during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the art of speaking well became not only afashionable element of courtly life, but also a necessary skill for social establishment and recognition.Indeed, the applications of oratory and rhetoric were much wider, not restricted to the court of law orto politics. The master-works by Greek and Roman philosophers were not just a novelty, butcommonly referred to and ultimately incorporated in the educational syllabus. A well-educated personwas expected to at least understand oratorical and rhetorical precepts, if not to actively employ them.

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The writings of Aristotle were extensively reprinted during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuriesand proved to be an essential source of information. More precisely in France, authors such as FrançoisCassandre (d.1695), Jacques Du Roure (d.1685), and Bernard Lamy (1640-1715) published works thatrelate to Aristotle’s writings.2

In order to convince the audience, an orator should follow certain rules when exhibiting his ideas.These rules were discussed by Bernard Lamy in the third revised and extended edition of his De l’Art deparler (1678). Lamy identifies up to five parts in oratory: These subdivisions had specific functions, andhad amongst them varying gradation of tensions. Lamy insists that the orator should be able to skilfullychoose what rhetorical figures to employ in each of those parts, and most importantly, to graduate theintensity of emotion used in such figures as to raise or counteract certain passions in the audience. Atthe end of his speech, he should have managed to convince the audience of his statement and to havesuccessfully banished any contrary argumentation. To do so, the orator should appeal to the emotions,which were referred to by seventeenth- and eighteenth-century authors as ‘passions’. The orator shouldgradually increase the intensity and opt for the types of passions he wanted to stir in his audience, so asto reach a climax in favour of his statement.

According to Lamy, in a particular case the subdivisions of oratory may have the following specificfunctions:

1 Propositio, incorporating1a - Exordium – a short introduction where the orator addresses his audience, a particularperson or a character;1b - Narratio – following the initial address the orator slightly increases the tension in hisspeech (by means of making use of specific figures or emotional stressing of words) and brieflystates the matter to be discussed;

2 Confirmatio – confirmation of the proposed matter by presenting proof in order to make hisstatement convincingly acceptable;

3 Confutatio – at this point the orator reaches the climax of his declamation. He makes use ofdramatic figures of speech and appeals to the listener’s emotional vulnerabilities in order to banevery single argument one may raise against his initial statement.

4 Conclutio – the orator drastically diminishes the emotional charge in his speech and reinstateshis original proposition.

Alternatively, one could also insert the Partitio, or outlining of the matters to be further discussedduring the speech.

As the main sources in classical rhetoric and oratory propose, all of the above notions can be applied tocertain oral and written texts. However, could these principles also be applied to the composition andperformance of music and dance? If so, how would such sophisticated conceptions be juxtaposed andapplied to these art forms? How would one transform the grammatical theory into sound andmovement? As we shall see, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century writers on both music and dancemake a clear link between spoken and written texts with music and dance. We shall also see that thesetheorists were immersed in a cultural fabric that treasured Classical values, of which rhetoric andoratory formed one of the foundation stones.

3. Application of oratory and rhetorical principles in art

In a musical piece that contains no sung words, the variation in tension caused by rhetorical figures canbe translated into the musical lexicon through well-chosen compositional elements ranging from

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dramatic harmonic changes, extension of register used, expressive figures such as port-de-voix, pincées,coulements, specific poignant intervals, strategically placed rests, interrupted cadences and otherresources. The gradation in tension may also be conveyed in the choreological vocabulary through theuse of specific steps, which correspond to their musical and textual equivalents.

Michel De Pure, who was in the service of Louis XIV, relates the application of textual analysis in thesung récits to dance composition and performance in his text on ancient and new spectacles:

The poet plays more important part in this work [le Recit], than the musician who composed it or the actor whosings it: and it is for him to skilfully convey through its words all that relates to the subject, and everything that can[contribute to] clarify the meaning; that a word, a phrase or a sentence make perceptible the reason and the

connection between the Entrées, and even between the steps and body gestures.3

Claude-François Ménéstrier (1631-1705) states in the preface of his Des représentations en musique (1681)that music ‘expresses in a simple way the affections of the soul, and delightfully paints our manners inorder to teach us how to control them’.4

4. The Theory of the Passions

Although the passions had been frequently referred to by authors since antiquity, they were onlyobjectively addressed in 1649 when René Descartes published his Les Passions de l’âme. According toDescartes, the passions could be stirred up by certain external elements that would incite specificanimal spirits to run inside one's body causing, therefore, reactions such as trembling, crying, blushingand many other symptoms of emotion, of which the causes and effects are minutely detailed.

The conflict between the inner and outer self, the exteriorisation of emotions through encoded artificesand their ensuing perception by a third party were a recurrent concern amongst philosophers andeducated persons during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. As noted by Lucie Desjardins, thetheory of the passions exposes the dichotomy between the inner and the outer self, the visible and theinvisible, the body and the soul, the private and the public realm.5 Such a dilemma was exposed byGuillaume Colletet (1596-1659) in the preface of his Ballet de l’Harmonie, nearly two decades before thepublication of Descartes’s Les Passions. Colletet advocates the unification of the exterior images andactions to interior feelings – or in a rather poetic view, to unify the Harmony of Nature with theHarmony of the Soul.6 This subject recurred fifty years later, when Père Ménéstrier illustrated in his DesBallets anciens et modernes (1682) the relation between rhetoric and dance by paraphrasing Colletet:

Ballet expresses the movements that painting and sculpture can not express, and through such movements itexpresses the nature of things and the inclinations of the soul […]. This imitation is made through the movementsof the body, which are the interpreters of the passions, and of the inner feelings.7

Such an imitation of the manners and affections of the soul is founded on the impressions that the soul naturallycreates on the body, and on our judgement of other people’s manners and inclinations based on these exteriormovements.8

De Pure too mentions the exteriorisation of intimate, private feelings, in the specific section of Idée desspectacles dedicated to ‘Du pas de Ballet’:

Dancing does not solely consist of the dexterity of feet, nor of the precision of the rhythm [...], but in a certain waywhich is arranged, and based on natural movements, that emanate from the body through the troubles and variousagitations of the soul; and that reveal, against our own desire, the interior movements which we endeavour to hideand to keep secret.9

As we shall see, dance and music theorists adopted the same ideas promoted by Lamy, suggesting thatmusic and dance composition should be moulded by similar rules of those applied to oratory.

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Furthermore they suggest that performers, by analogy with orators, should skilfully deliver the contentin order to not only persuade, but also move the passions in the listeners.

De Pure, for instance, draws our attention to the similarities between ballet and dramatic poetry:

This representation [the ballet] has many things in common with dramatic poems, and they are both pleasingspectacles, where by means of their artifices and by addressing the soul we show to those present what happenedin past centuries. […] And through beauty or ugliness they may strengthen in the spectator’s will either love orhatred, which good souls must possess for their virtue or vice.10

De Pure goes on to states that ‘ballet has the same subdivisions as oratory’ and that these subdivisionsare necessary to make a ballet comprehensible to the audience.11

When addressing the ‘essence of the Ballet’, De Pure defines it as ‘a mute representation, where thegestures and movements convey that which could be expressed by words’.12 He continues by statingthat the feet and the hands (or rather the steps and gestures) speak for themselves and are able todecipher and develop all the mysteries contained in its design. He also enlightens his readers regardingthe expressive qualities of dancing by stating:

A ballet step does not simply consist of subtle feet movements or various agitations of the body. It consists of acombination of both and comprises everything that a well skilled and trained body could have in gestures oractions in order to express something without speaking. […] However, the principal and most important rule isthat in order to make the step expressive, the head, shoulders, arms and hands should make comprehensible whatthe dancer does not say.13

De Pure presents some indication of how an audience would expect to recognize certain elements inthe delivery of specific emotions during a dance performance. After having attested that dancingconsists of organized movements that directly result from the various agitations of the soul, De Purestates:

Herein lies the ability of the dancing master, to reconcile the dancer’s movement both to his idea and to therhythm of the music, and to do so in such a way that it does not contradict either. […] He must endeavour toconvey well the many alterations that love, sickness, sadness or happiness may cause in the countenance, or inother [body] parts that may be most appropriate to portray the internal feelings [...]. Without those, the steps aremere convulsions of the dancing master and of the dancer, nothing but a bizarrerie without spirit or design and,consequently, a flawed dance [...] that has no more sense than those who created and performed [it].14

Ménéstrier relates certain movements and attitudes of the body to specific passions. In the sectiondealing with ‘Des mouvemens [du Ballet]’, the author classifies three distinct types of movement in theballet: the carriage of the body, the figures, and the expressions. He explains each of those, affirmingthat the carriage of the body consists of the many formal steps and step motions such as coupé, pirouëtte,sauter, élever, and that the figures comprise floor patterns, evolutions, and the interaction betweendancers on the floor. Ménéstrier briefly describes the expression of specific pantomimic actions andgoes on to state:

Ballet does not exclusively imitate actions; it imitates, according to Aristotle, the passions and manners, which is arather more difficult task than to communicate the actions. Such an imitation of the manners and affections of thesoul is founded on the impressions that the soul naturally makes on the body, and on the judgement we pass onother people’s manners and inclinations [tendencies] through these exterior movements. [...] One must thusexpress, in the ballet, the movements of the heart and the affections of the soul; this is the chef-d’œuvre of this art,for one should perfectly know their nature in order to express them well.15

Ménéstrier goes on to associate such ‘mouvements’, or the display of emotions through an imitation indance, with what ‘the [Ancient] Greeks called demonstrations’.16 He concludes his reasoning by stating:

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Just as in eloquence there are certain figures that seem to bring to the eyes [an image of] the things an orator talksabout, it is essential that the movements do the same in Ballet.17

Not surprisingly, De Pure likewise describes the divisions of dance as a legacy from the past, stating:

The old divisions of dancing still survive, and seem to me the most judicious; and the diversity of the authors whohave spoken about them, and the variety of names that they [these authors] have attributed to them [the olddivisions], do not prevent one from recognising their nature or conformity.18

The ‘old divisions’ De Pure refers to above relate to the three types of movement in the Balletaccording to Ménéstrier, as previously described. De Pure goes on to cite Plutarch (c. 46 – 127), theGreek historian and essayist, who had reported the classification of subdivisions in dance mentioned byhis former tutor Ammonius of Athens (first century AD). By tracing his argument back to Plutarch andAmmonius, De Pure not only advocates the revival of ancient Greek principles, but also promotes theapplication of these in the process of creating new staged performances:

Ammonius […] identified three sorts [of subdivisions]. The first is the carriage, or movement of the body. Thesecond is fine grace, and the beautiful manner of dancing. And finally the third, which is the most difficult toexplain, is the sparkle; or by fear of being untruthful to its classification or to its meaning, the demonstrative. I donot know whether I delude myself or if I am judging this last type accurately; but I think this is none other thanthat of Ballet. For whether the word from the original is explained either literally or figuratively, it can signify onlya visible action […]. Therefore, the ballet is necessarily perceived as a demonstration, for it not only consists of anexternal and evident action, but it also ultimately expresses, paints and shows before the eyes all the issuesrepresented in dance.19

One may ascertain that the three sorts or subdivisions listed by De Pure relate to Ménéstrier’s laterclassification. Both sources highlight the importance of the expressive qualities in the third subdivision,tracing it back to the Greek model.

5. Application of oratorical and rhetorical precepts in dancing

Following are a few examples of how such principles could be applied onto dancing. For the purposeof illustrating this paper I shall focus on some elements contained in the Entrée d’Apollon, achoreography by Raoul-Auger Feuillet (1700)20 set to music by Jean-Baptiste Lully (1681)21. For acomprehensive analysis of this and other stage works please refer to my published PhD thesis.22

The choreological analysis of the Entrée d’Apolon (LMC 2720, 1700-Feu) shows Feuillet’s attempts topresent the dance as a synthesis of the passage from which it is derived. The plot for the Ballet duTriomphe de l’Amour, written by Isaac de Benserade and Philippe Quinault, celebrates the variousinstances where Cupid prevails and conquers even the most unlikely characters. One of such personnagesis Apollo who, during the Quatrième Entrée comes on stage followed by four heroic shepherds tocelebrate for the first time ‘the Pythian games, established in honour of this god’s [Apollo’s] victoryover the serpent Python’.23 The scene in question shows Apollo’s change of attitude after being hit byCupid’s dart. Following this incident, Apollo promptly yields to Cupid’s charms by confessing his loveto Daphne.The choreography is of a virtuosic theatrical nature, being dominated by a profusion of cabrioles (14),pied-en-l’air/ronds-de-jambes (20), contre-temps (16), emböettés (11), tems de Courante (8) and pas-battüs (6).

The music passage is written in binary form with a petite reprise (A and A`, B and B`, and petite repriseB``). During the A section the harmony progresses from the fundamental G minor key to the dominantD major. The main musical elements are exposed here, such as the recurring dotted rhythm, and theeloquent intervals of descending 4th (bar 1) and descending 5th (bar 4). A brief glimpse of the ascendingchromatic line, to be further developed later in the piece, is also presented in bar 3 [figure 1].

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The B section is slightly more elaborated, and can be sub-divided into three smaller sub-sections:

- The first sub-section (bars 9–16) reinstates G minor but promptly progresses into a increasinglyfaster harmonic sequence. The main feature of this passage is the development of the ascendingchromatic line on the dessus part, which in addition to the opposing descending basse line createsan increase in tension and propitiates the aforementioned harmonic development [figure 2].

- The second sub-section (bars 16–20), the shortest of all, develops from Bb major back to thedominant D major. It opens with a climactic ascending octave interval in the dessus part, whichis shortly compensated by a descending scale. The following bold ascending 4th brings back thetension to this sub-section, which is also accentuated with a truncated chromatic ascending linein the basse part [figure 3].

- The third and last sub-section (bars 20–28) progresses from D major to the fundamental Gminor. It is characterised by the long tied notes in the dessus part, creating suspensions inrelation to the moving basse and inner parts. With a few exceptions, this passage features mostlydotted minims and crotchets, therefore being devoid of the agitated and incisive rhythmic unitmade up of a dotted crotchet and quaver that permeated the previous passages. The calminglong notes provide an ethereal texture that suggests, far from the conflict in the openingpassages, a tranquil and infatuated Apollo [figure 4].

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Figure 1 – Entrée d’Apolon (Paris, 1681), Propositio in section A, encapsulating Exordium,

Narratio, and Partitio (bars 1–9.i).


Figure 2 – Entrée d’Apolon (Paris, 1681), Confirmatio in section B (bars 9.ii–16.i).

Figure 3 – Entrée d’Apolon (Paris, 1681), Confutatio in section B (bars 16.ii–20.i).

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The brief musical analysis above presents four distinct subdivisions, which can be superimposed to thestructure of a four-part speech, according to the rules of oratory, as shown in the next table. Thisshows the two major sections of the binary form (A and B), the subdivision of the B section into threesmaller parts and their association with the parts of an oration [table 1].

Both the musical score and the choreographic analysis clearly establish the opening fragment (bars A 1and 2) as the Exordium, where the dancer first addresses the audience. This is promptly followed by theNarratio, which contains a brief introduction to the matter to be presented, or discussed. We shall befocusing our analysis on the Propositio section of the Entrée d’Apollon. .

A closer look at the development of the melodic line of the dessus part in the Propositio (A section)suggests that this material served as the basis for the development of the B section in the binary form,or better still, as basic elements for the further development of the subsequent oratory parts(Confirmatio, Confutatio, and Conclutio). The melodic line in section A can be divided into four smallersemi-phrases, as shown in the next figure, where a contains the short Exordium and the group formedby b, c and d contains the Narratio [figure 5].

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Figure 4 – Entrée d’Apolon (Paris, 1681), Conclutio in section B (bars 20.ii–28).

Table 1 – Linear chart of all repeated sub-sections in the Entrée d’Apollon, providing the order in which oratory parts appear.


One can reason that apart from serving as grounds for the Exordium and Narratio, each exposition ofthe Propositio in music also encapsulates the Partitio, or the enumeration of points to be later discussed inthe Confirmatio, Confutatio and Conclutio. Therefore, in this case the Narratio doubles as a Partitio, which apriori has the function of orderly enumerating the points to be covered in the ensuing discussion. Thekey elements predisposed in the b, c and d semi-phrases of the Partitio are explained in table 2:

In explanation:

� Semi-phrase b (bars A 2.ii to A 4.i):Ascending chromaticism, basis for Confirmatio;

� Semi-phrase c (A 4.ii to A 6.i): Climactic bb followed by descending scale, basis for Confutatio;

� Semi-phrase d (A 6.ii to A9):Long or repeated notes leading to suspensions (twice repeated note ‘e’ would have thesame effect as a minim and dotted quaver tied together), basis for Conclutio.

Figure 5 – Dessus part in section A of Entrée d’Apolon (Paris, 1681), sub-divided into four

semi-phrases.

Table 2 – Relation between semi-phrases presented in section A of the score, their further

development in part B, and their corresponding oratory function.

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The following choreological analysis will demonstrate that the steps employed in each section of thechoreography underline the choreographer’s attention to the structural function of the piece and that,as suggested by the musical source, the Propositio fulfils the three primary functions of Exordium,Narratio and Partitio in the choreography.

6. Choreological Analysis

In the Entrée d’Apolon, the cabrioles are generally used either as the opening statement of a section, afigurative recurrence of the passion initially established by the opening statement, or as a finalpunctuation of a phrase. Indeed, this is the first step used in the choreography, lending to the Exordiuman exceptionally bold character. According to Michel Le Faucheur:

The Exordium ought to be spoken with a low and modest Voice; for to begin with Modesty, is not only agreeableto the Auditors, as it is a Virtue which shews how great an esteem we have of them, and demonstrates the Respectwe pay to their Presence. […] But this Rule yet will admit of an Exception; for there are some Exordiums [that] donot fall under it, which we may call unexpected or abrupt. When ever we have Occasion to make use of them, ’tismanifest that they are to be spoken with an elevated Voice, according to the Passion, either of Anger thattransports, or of Grief that afflicts, and obliges us to set out so abruptly in our Discourse.24

The portraying of Apollo as Cupid’s subject transpired in the original production of 1681. One canverify in both the musical score and the original livret that the ‘Choeur des Divinitez’ preceding Apollo’sentry sings ‘let us follow Cupid, let us carry his chains; do not wait for him to take us’. The original livretprovides the additional information that towards the end of the chorus passage and just before hisentry, ‘Apollo, followed by a group of heroic shepherds, hastens to appear amongst the captives thatshall accompany triumphing Love’.25

In the 1705 revival of Le Triomphe de l’Amour, the livret was rewritten by Antoine Danchet and a fewadded musical excerpts were composed by André Campra. A singing Apollo character, a counterpart tothe dancing character performed by Balon, abridged the chorus passage and the danced Entrée with thefollowing words:

That is enough of celebrating my power, Because at last I have been defeated by Love;I have up to this day defied his vengeance,

But with a dart full of fervour he has pierced my heart;It is for Daphne that I sigh,

Everyday her presence adorns this place;Go on, may all leave now;

For I wish to tell her, without any witness, of my love.26

One can thus relate the grief previously described by Le Faucher to the momentary pain caused by thepiercing dart, and clarified by the fuller picture provided by the newer version of the staged work. Sucha grief justifies the adoption of an ‘abrupt’ Exordium with a bold opening, with the passion beingrepresented by the cabriole (a leap in which the dancer beats his legs against each other in the air).Variations on this step are continually adopted throughout the opening Propositio.

The cabriole is used as a final punctuation in a similar manner, at the end of both Narratios (bars A 9.iand A`9.i): after having progressed to face upstage during bar A 8.i (and A`8.i), the dancer suddenlyturns to face the audience with a cabriole en tournant, performing a semi-circle floor pattern. A similarstrategy is employed twice at the end of the first and third (petite-reprise) exposition of the Conclutio, inbars B 28.i and B``28.i. By using the cabriole in these instances, the choreographer reminds the audienceof the passion (grief) portrayed in the opening passage of the Exordium, thus employing a figurative

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representation of the emotion in question. As pointed out by Judy Tarling, the textbook Rhetorica adHerennium (c. 90 BC) names the placing of a recalling figure at the end of the section as a ‘transition’:

Transition is the name given to the figure which briefly recalls what has been said, and likewise briefly sets forthwhat is to follow next. […] This figure is not without any value for two ends: it reminds the hearer of what thespeaker has said, and also prepares him for what is to come.27

Just as the opening cabriole represents the grief caused by the piercing dart, the following battü and pied-en-l’air (bar A 1.ii) may be seen as the ecstasy of intense love, caused by ‘a dart full of fervour’.

This step sequence (a quick 'beat' of one leg against another, followed by a slow graceful circularmovement in the air) demands great technical and interpretative control from the dancer, who couldportray in its performance the shivery and nearly orgasmic ecstasy that accompanies listlessness causedby love and desire combined. According to Descartes, ‘the passion that most commonly brings aboutthis effect [listlessness] is love, combined with desire, for a thing whose acquisition is not imagined tobe possible at the present time’.28

The following emböetté (two steps backwards – with feet closing behind each other - followed by onestep forwards) in bar A 2.i (and as repeated in A`2.1) may be interpreted as conveying Apollo’ssurrendering to Cupid’s wish, denoting a drastic change of passion. This theory is reinforced by closelyanalysing the music excerpt displayed above the dance notation: following the opening statement in theoriginal key of G minor and the passing harmony of G6b/4 (C minor), there is an indication of asudden change to G major to accompany the emböetté in bar A 2.i (and A`2.i). Although such amodulation is not originally indicated in the printed full score of 1681, Feuillet’s notation posesquestions regarding the possible collaboration between composer and choreographer, and whether thismodification was added at the discretion of the notator or indeed as a result of a later acquiredperformance practice [figure 6].

The emböetté is extensively used during the first exposition of the Propositio. A particular passagealternates the emböettés with a tems de Courante (a solemn step in which dancer accentuates the downbeatwith a raise on the spot, ensued by a languid slide of one feet in 'diminuendo' spatial locomotion – akinin musical phrasing to the sigh effect created by two slurred notes), followed by a turning Sissone (anabrupt skip to change feet position followed by a second skip to lift one of the feet off the floor). As itsname suggest, the tems de Courante is directly derived from the Courante, and generally portrays eitherlanguid or majestic moods. According to Pierre Rameau, Louis XIV 'danced it better than anyone elsein his court'.29 In this particular case the tems de Courante certainly portrays majestic pomp, for itsassociation with the royal figure (and his adopted mythological counterpart Apollo) not only recalls thecourantes performed at the Grand Bals, but also the many occasions when Louis himself impersonatedApollo on stage. In the context of the Entrée d’Apolon, the tems de Courante performed towards upstage

Figure 6 – Opening bars of dessus part in the Entrée d’Apolon according to Ballard’s full score

(Paris, 1681) (left), and Feuillet’s music excerpt in the 1700 Recueil de dances de Mr. Feuillet(right).

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may signify an attempt to flee away with dignity from Cupid’s attempt. However, this is abruptlyfollowed by a turning sissone, a step with an imbued element of surprise akin to the one conveyed by theopening cabriole. In this sense, rather than conveying a change of passion, the recurring emböettés revealApollo’s initial hesitation and cautiousness in absorbing the newly discovered passion (love). One canalso verify that this insertion of the tems de Courante in the Partitio is in agreement with its laterappearance in the Confutatio, as Apollo seems to reinstate his majesty in a self-assuring measure.

The tems de Courante is featured quite prominently throughout the choreography. Although notnecessarily being performed as a sudden turning step to face upstage (as in the passage describedabove), it always suggests a moment of contemplation in which majestic poise and solemnity areconveyed. Notably, the tems de Courante appears twice during the Partitio. Most importantly, each ofthese occurrences have distinct connotations: while the example above indicates resignation, a lateroccurrence in the Partitio (pre-announcing the Conclutio) suggests Apollo’s realisation that he canconciliate the newly-found passion (love) with his majesty without detriment to any of these.

The character’s reluctance is followed by his attempt to escape from the inevitable passion, which isrepresented by two chassés (one leg lifted in preparation to chase the other one, taking it's place, akin toa pendulum movement) performed on the spot over persistent dotted ‘pedal’ chords with a departingbasse line [figure 7].

One can conclude from the above that the opening Exordium and ensuing first exposition of thePropositio, can be read as portraying Apollo’s surprise after being hit by Cupid’s darts and his followingreluctance in conceding to newly-found love.

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Figure 7 – Entrée d’Apolon (Paris, 1681), bars 6 and 7.


The second exposition of the Propositio, however, shows less resistance from Apollo who in this passagedemonstrates the initial signs of gradually relinquishing to love’s attempts. Although the second andthird dance steps still display Apollo’s ecstasy and sudden change of passion, the opening cabriole istoned down and replaced by a fleuret battü en tournant (three consecutive steps adorned by beats andperformed while the dancer spins around on his own axis). This step conveys a temporarydisorientation caused by Cupid’s darts (turning and beating steps occurring concomitantly), rather thanthe actual grief portrayed during the first exposition.

Further signs of Apollo’s surrender to love can be seen in a particular sequence in when the performerprogresses sideways towards stage right, and then back towards stage left, while facing the audience. Acoupé (two consecutive steps, the second one sliding) is placed in preparation for a pas-tombé to stageright (as the name suggest, this step involves the shift of balance, causing a controlled 'fall' to the side).Following the tombé, the dancer briefly poses in a coupé pointé position (here the second step, instead ofsliding, points to the floor in a rested ‘open’ position to the side), as if trying to find his bearings. Afterthis the allure of love forces him to perform yet another pas-tombé, this time to stage left, again followedby a sideways coupé open in second position. Père Pomey, describing an anonymous danced sarabande,mentions an evolution that perfectly agrees with the performance of a pas-tombé:

Sometimes, with the most beautiful timing in the world, he would remain suspended, immobile, and half leaning tothe side with one foot in the air; and then, compensating for the rhythmic unit that had gone by, with anothermore precipitous unit he would almost fly, so rapid was his motion.30

The sideways movement, explored in conjunction with the tombés, can be seen as Apollo’s gradualsoftening of his initial reluctance and consequent enjoyment of love. Here he still shows hisastonishment and momentary lack of orientation previously adopted in the fleuret battü en tournant(A`1.i), by making use of the deliberately precarious balance and subsequent sideways progressioncaused by its momentum. Furthermore, this passage functions as an element of the Partitio, anticipatingthe development of the sideways progressions in the Confirmatio.

The final item in the Partitio presents elements to be later used and developed in the Conclutio. Moreprecisely, the choreographic sequence in bars A`6 to A`7 portrays Apollo being finally and utterlyarrested by the passions of desire and love. Having attempted to regain control in bar A`5, Apollosuddenly turns to face the audience with a demi-coupé (one single step) with his right foot, while at thesame time projecting his opposite leg in a pied-en-l’air, a pose which he holds for half a bar of music. Hecontinues the sequence by performing two battüs dessous and dessus (in this context, beating 'behind' and'in front' the standing leg), after which he steps onto his left foot and performs a series of fourbattements (quick beats) with the right foot. According to the Traité de la cadence31, the timing for thesesteps is equivalent to a minim (demi-coupé and pied-en-l’air) followed by two crotchets (two battüs) andfour quavers (battements). The increasing ‘diminutions’ in the performance of the steps are in agreementwith Descartes’s description of the causes and external signs of someone who experiences love anddesire.32 Applying Descartes’s theory to the passage, the initial static figure portrayed in this sequencewould reflect the listlessness caused by the desire of an unattainable object of love. Apollo’s gradualacceptance of this passion would make him realise the prospect of fulfilling his desire, therefore makinghim more agile. As Descartes adds, ‘when the body is in this condition, the desires of the soul arerendered stronger and keener’.33 In agreement with the function of the Partitio, the above step-sequenceis coherently recalled, with minimal or no modifications, during all the expositions of the Conclutio.

In order to illustrate the power of Cupid, the choreographer explores Apollo’s astonishment andwonder with the prospect of being in love and expressing his desires. The subliminal message conveyedby the choreographer is that wonder and astonishment are the actual causes for the character’sinstability, and not love and desire. Apollo’s struggle is caused by such instability, which vanishes oncethe character learns that the new passions will not be detrimental to his imposing divinity. Love isportrayed as an inevitable, positive passion even when unexpectedly imposed. Any attempt to set this

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passion aside is clearly demonstrated as unfruitful and leading not only to frustration, but also to thedefacing of one’s previous persona.

7. Conclusion

We could see that Greek antiquity and mythology were frequently depicted in 18th-century dance notonly by means of portraying mythological gods or employing epic or heroic themes, but also throughthe adoption of a formal oratorical and rhetorical structure, in an attempt to revive ancient ideals.

We can ascertain, from the aforementioned evidence, that both dance and music shared somecompositional principles that relate to the declamation of a speech without words, using oratory andrhetoric as a frame to shape its course. One can perceive that the interaction between dance and music,abiding by the rhetorical precepts, reinforces the oratory. Just as an orator would carefully choose whatrhetorical figures to apply and what intensity of emotion to use in each section of his speech in order tostir the audience’s emotions, composers and choreographers alike would employ specific musical andchoreological figures which relate to each other and have specific functions in the discourse.

Multi-faceted Brazilian-Portuguese Ricardo Barros is one of the few specialists to conciliate an in-depth understanding ofthe music and dance panorama in the Baroque period, being recently awarded with the prestigious ARAM (Associate RoyalAcademy of Music) title for his ‘significant contribution to the music profession’. His research in the fields of Baroquemusic and dance are reflected in his innovative Mercurius Company with which he performs and directs in fully- and semi-staged concerts involving dancers, singers and instrumentalists, and also in Spirituoso. His doctorate thesis ‘Dance as adiscourse: the rhetorical expression of the passions in French Baroque dance’ establishes, through the cross-reference ofprimary sources and analysis of original choreographic and music notation, a sub-genre of French theatrical dances that arestructured according to a logical oratorical frame and identifies the function of certain choreographic and music figures inthe light of oratory and rhetoric. He leads a busy career performing as a dancer and harpsichordist, directing,choreographing and designing costumes. His academic output covers his research interests on Baroque dance, inheritance ofEuropean Baroque religious festivities in the contemporary Brazilian 'Carnaval' parade, French clavecinistes, and the theory ofthe Passions and is reflected in many papers published and regularly presented in conferences worldwide.

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1 Aristotle, Rhetoric, trans. W. Rhys Roberts <http://www.public.iastate.edu/~honeyl/Rhetoric/rhet1-2.html> [accessed

8 July 2006].

2 François Cassandre, La rhétorique d’Aristote (Paris, 1654); Jacques Du Roure, La rhétorique française (Paris, 1662);

Bernard Lamy, De l’Art de parler avec un discours dans lequel on donne une idée de l’Art de persuader, 3rd ed. (Paris,

1678). 3 Michel De Pure, Idée des spectacles anciens et nouveaux (Paris, 1668; repr. Geneva, 1972), p. 268.4 Claude-François Ménéstrier, Des représentations en musique anciennes et modernes (Paris, 1681; repr. Geneva,

1972), preface.

5 L. Desjardins, ‘Dévoiler l'intime : la savante éloquence des passions au XVIIe siècle’, in Érudition et passions dansles écritures intimes, ed. Manon Brunet (Quebec, 1999), pp. 169–82.6 Guillaume Colletet, Ballet de l’Harmonie (Paris, 1632), preface.7 Ménéstrier, Des Ballets anciens et modernes selon les regles du theatre (Paris, 1682; repr. Geneva, 1972), p. 41.8 Ménéstrier, Des Ballets anciens et modernes , p. 160.9 De Pure, Idée des spectacles, p. 250.10 De Pure, Idée des spectacles, p. 211.11 De Pure, Idée des spectacles,p. 230.12 De Pure, Idée des spectacles, p. 210.13 De Pure, Idée des spectacles, pp. 248–49.14 De Pure, Idée des spectacles, pp. 250–51.15 Ménéstrier, Des Ballets anciens et modernes, pp. 160–62.16 Ménéstrier, Des Ballets anciens et modernes, p. 162.17 Ménéstrier, Des Ballets anciens et modernes., p. 162.18 De Pure, Idée des spectacles, p. 281.19 De Pure, Idée des spectacles, p. 281–82.20 Raoul-Auger Feuillet, Entrée d'Apolon in Recueil de Dances composées par M. Feuillet, Maître de Dance (Paris,

1700), pp. 60-66.21 Jean Baptiste Lully, Le Triomphe de l'Amour, Ballet Royal, Mis en Musique pas Monsieur de Lully, Sur-Intendant deLa Musique du Roy (Paris, 1681).22 R. Barros, Dance as a Discourse – The rhetorical expression of the passions in French Baroque dance (Saarbrücken,

2010).23 Antoine Danchet, Le Triomphe de l’Amour, livret (Paris, 1705), IV. 1, p. 53.24 Michel Le Faucheur, The Art of Speaking in Publick (1727), anon. translation of Traité de l’action de l’orateur ou dela prononciation et du geste (Paris, 1656), pp. 121, 124.25 Isaac de Benserade and Philippe Quinault, Le Triomphe de l’Amour, livret (Paris, 1681), p. 27, and Lully, LeTriomphe de l’Amour, p. 179.26 Danchet, Le Triomphe de l’Amour, IV. 2, p. 54.27 J. Tarling, The Weapons of Rhetoric – a guide for musicians and audiences (St. Albans, 2004) p. 154.

28 René Descartes, Les Passions de l'âme (Paris, 1649), in The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, trans. Robert

Stoothoff (Cambridge, 1985), pp. 325–404.29 Pierre Rameau, Le maître à danser (Paris, 1725; repr. New York, 1967).30 François Pomey, ‘Description d’une Sarabande dansée’, Le dictionnaire royal augmenté (Lyon, 1671), appendix.31 Feuillet, Traité de la cadence in Recueil de Dances (Paris, 1704)

32 Descartes, Les Passions de l'âme, pp. 367, 370.

33 Descartes, Les Passions de l'âme, p. 367.

Classical and mythological ideals and the rhetorical expression of the passions in the Grand Siècle

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