Lully, Jean-Baptiste, --Israël Silvestre

Six engraved stage designs by Silvestre for the ballet by Lully & Molière (from a set of 9),  hand coloured, including the title:

1) Les plaisirs de l’Isle enchantée, ou les festes, et divertissements du Roy à Versailles, Divisez en trois journées, et commencéz le 7^me Jour de May, de l’année 1664
[...Vue du chasteau de Versaille].
2) Première Journée "Festin du roy et des reynes avec plusieurs princesses et dames..." ;
3) Première Journée "Course de bague disputé par le Roy..."
4) Seconde Journée "Théâtre fait dans la mesme allée sur lequel la comédye, et le Ballet de la Princesse d'Elide furent representéz", showing the stage and the orchestra;
5) Troisiesme Journée "Théâtre dressé au milieu du grand estang representant l’isle d’Alcine...dans lequel fut dancé un Ballet de plusieurs entrées" ;
6) Troisiesme Journée "rupture du palais et des enchantemens de l’Isle d’Alcine représentée par un feu d’artifice",



6 items, folio (c.29 x 42.5cm), signed by Silvestre, framed and glazed (each c.42 x 56cm overall), tear to legend in no. 5, some browning and damp-staining to corners and margins, a few repairs, without Molière's text.



These engravings are important iconographical sources for the history of the orchestra.



These two divertissements performed at Versailles on 7 & 8 May 1664 were among Lully's earliest comédie-ballets, produced in collaboration with Molière.  The spectacular designs by Israël Silvestre (1621-1691) set the tone for future entertainments glorifying Louis XIV.  Those for La Princesse d'Élide, show the musicians in the orchestra, in front of the stage, but behind a screen, with Louis himself seated prominently in front of the audience.  The orchestra numbers about twenty, of which mainly lutes and viols can be seen, but Spitzer & Zaslaw also name the 19 Grands Violins, 11, Petits Violons, and six keyboards.  A score of Lully's music was published, of which the sole extant copy listed in Brussels (RISM L3046) lacks the title page.  



From the collection of André Meyer (1884-1974)

J. Spitzer and Neal Zaslaw, The Birth of the Orchestra (Oxford, 2004), pp.82-84, figures 3.1 & 3.2

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These engravings are important iconographical sources for the history of the orchestra.

These two divertissements performed at Versailles on 7 & 8 May 1664 were among Lully's earliest comédie-ballets, produced in collaboration with Molière.  Silvestre's designs for La Princesse d'Élide, show the musicians in the orchestra, in front of the stage, but behind a screen, with Louis himself seated prominently in front of the audience.  The orchestra numbers about twenty, of which mainly lutes and viols can be seen, but Spitzer & Zaslaw also name the 19 Grands Violins, 11, Petits Violons, and six keyboards.  A score of Lully's music was published, of which the sole extant copy listed in Brussels (RISM L3046) lacks the title page.  

From the collection of André Meyer (1884-1974)