Music and dance
These festivals were marvels of organisation achieved through collaboration and remarkable coordination of artists, poets, musicians, choreographers, fencing masters, noble and professional performers, and – of course – administrative experts. We do not have time during the present talk to study the value of Festival books for the history of music and dance. The books are formidably important for these purposes. These three images from the ballet performed in Celle in 1653 will provide a taste of the kind of activity spectators enjoyed – including grotesque as well as noble dancing.
The first of these illustrations (Illustration 31) presents dancers disguised as bears performing a torch dance.
Illustration 31
Illustration 32 shows the grotesque dancing and costuming of four fools.
Illustration 32
The third of these illustrations (Illustration 33) depicts a Grand Ballet of twelve soldiers engaged in a kind of Pyrrhic dance.
Illustration 33