1653: The Dancing King

1653, Paris. A marathon court spectacle is drawing to a close. As dawn breaks, a teenage boy dressed in gold steps onto the stage to dance the role of the rising sun: Louis XIV, King of France. In that moment, the 'Sun King' is born, and ballet becomes a powerful tool of royal authority.

From courtly spectacle to codified artform, this programme explores how Louis XIV uses music, dance and theatre to project absolute power. With the help of composer Jean-Baptiste Lully and a circle of artists at Versailles, ballet is transformed from aristocratic pastime into a professional discipline.

Gillian Moore is joined by a roster of distinguished historians for this major new BBC Radio 3 series, charting a course through 1000 years of classical music history. For the next eight programmes, historian Suzannah Lipscomb is in the chair.

Producer: Zerlina Vuillamy
Academic Consultant: Professor Laura Tunbridge, University of Oxford
Story Consultant: Kate Leys
Series Editor for BBC Audio: Emma Harding

Key Changes theme tune composed by Joseph Howard and performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Kerem Hasan.

Music includes:

Anonymous: Ballet Royal de la Nuit – Le Roy représentant le Soleil levant
Ensemble Correspondances
Sébastien Daucé (conductor)

Anonymous: Ballet Royal de la Nuit – Ouverture
Ensemble Correspondances
Sébastien Daucé (conductor)

Jean-Baptiste Lully: Le Bourgeois gentilhomme – Marche pour la cérémonie des Turcs
Les Concerts des Nations
Jordi Savall (conductor)

Igor Stravinsky: Apollon musagète – The Birth of Apollo
London Symphony Orchestra
John Eliot Gardiner (conductor)

Léo Delibes: Coppélia – Mazurka
Orchestra of the Paris Opera

Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre: Céphale et Procris – Rondeau, Loure, Gigue
Bellot Ensemble

Jean-Philippe Rameau: Les Indes galantes – Danse des sauvages
Les Musiciens du Louvre
Marc Minkowski (conductor)

To listen to this programme using most smart speakers, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Key Changes."