Éva Szalai Presented by Liszt Academy

Although dances have always been key forms of social interaction, in the Baroque era they acquired a very specific significance far exceeding their former interest and popularity. Despite being unable to pin down the specific moment of change in time, it can still be effectively captured in a symbolic picture: the social role of the culture of 17th century court dance was totally transformed when Louis XIV, who was still in his teens, took to the stage in a ballet performance wearing the golden, sunray costume of Apollo, the god of light, clarity of vision and the sublime arts. Thanks to the most excellent royal dancer, the Sun King (who also took his sobriquet from here), dance became the symbol of aristocratic self-representation and authority throughout Europe, and the spatial movement of fashionable choreographies imitated the shaped bushes and labyrinths, the winding flower beds and their golden ornamentation of order and beauty bending to royal rule. Suites comprising the most popular dances occupied an important place in the oeuvres of all composers from Froberger through Johann Sebastian Bach and Couperin to Rameau, and their successors, artists who lived at the turn of the 19th century, used them for nostalgic artistic games creating atmosphere.