With Madame de Pompadour dancing the leading role Lagarde

With Madame de Pompadour dancing the leading role
Lagarde, Pierre de, 1717-ca. 1792.[composer] Æglé, ballet en un acte représenté devant le
roi sur le Théâtre des petits appartemens, a Versailles, le 13 janvier 1748. et repris le 25
fevrier 1750. et mis au Théâtre de l'Académie royale de musique, le 18 fevrier 1751. Paris, :
Chés l'auteur, ... Mme. Boivin, ... le Sr. Le Clerc, ... et à la porte de l'Opera.,1751.
Small folio. Bound in modern calf and boards.([2], 70 p. engraved music score) Minor tape
repairs. Title page with ink name and large paraph across title. Light soiling. Condensed score of
13 staves, with libretto by Pierre Laujon. Gravé par Labassée Ballet “divertissement pastoral”
divided into 7 scènes, with engraved music and libretto. Instructions include indications where
dances are to be performed and what type: (rigodon, contredanses, rondeau, etc.). At the
conclusion of the ballet is noted : "On joue la Contredanse en tournant et l'on chante le Choeur
sur le Rondeau jusqu'à la conclusion du Ballet".
A chronicle of the performances in Théâtre des Petits Cabinets notes in January 13, 1748 was
performed 'les Dehors trompeurs', by Boissy, and a pastorale, Eglé, by Laujon (music by the
very young Lagarde, barely twenty.) On February 15 [1748], in a reprise of 'le Mariage fait et
rompu' by Dufresny, and 'Eglé'. Pompadour appeared (for the first time) in Dufresny's piece as
the hostess. De Pompadour also danced the leading role in the ballet. The duke de Luynes gave
her good reviews: "Mme. de Pompadour is the only woman who acts very well..... Mme. de
Pompadour, who played Eglé, sang and acted superbly." (THEATER: Starring.... La Pompadour)
The composer La Garde [Lagarde, Garde], Pierre de (b nr Crécy-en-Brie, Seine-et-Marne, 10
Feb 1717; d c1792), as an ordinaire de la chambre du roi he was highly regarded by Louis XV,
who made him responsible for the musical training of the royal children. In 1755 he shared this
duty with Mion, Maître de musique des enfants de France, and gained the title himself two years
later. He was an assistant conductor at the Opéra from 1750 to 1755. “While La Garde seems to
have written no compositions during the last 25 years of his life, his airs remained popular for
many years. In 1780 La Borde stated that the composer’s ‘charming duets and melodious songs
will always be sung with pleasure by music lovers. He is, without doubt, the finest composer in
this genre’.” (Tunley. Ibid) La Garde’s reputation as a composer was firmly established when his
Aeglé, a pastorale héroïque in one act, was performed at Madame de Pompadour’s Théâtre des
Petits Cabinets in 13 Jan 1748 and reprised in 1750 and 1751. Aeglé is indebted to Rameau,
particularly in its orchestral style. Two years later it was incorporated into La journée galante as
the second act of that opéra-ballet; the first and last acts, of which no scores are extant, were La
toilette de Vénus and Léandre et Héro. While there is no record of La journée galante being
performed outside court circles, Aeglé was performed at the Opéra in 1751 and continued to be
played there until 1777. (Tunley)
References: THEATER: Starring.... La Pompadour. Article in SUNDRIES: An eighteenth
century newsletter N° 27 - April 22, 2006. The article provides an interesting note on the theatre
“ In 1747, now Mme. de Pompadour and the king’s mistress, in her on-going effort to entertain
the king, she proposed building a small theater like that at Etiolles, inside the king’s apartments
at Versailles. The resulting theater was known as “The Theater of the Small Apartments” or “The
Theater of the Small Cabinets”; [Fétis] pseud of Lavallier, Louis-César de La-Beaume-le-Blanc
(1708-1780), Ballets, Opera et Autres Ouvrages Lyriques. .(Paris:1760; London 1967) P.215
Apollon was acted by Duc d’Ayen and La Fortune by the Duchess de Brancas; Tunley, David
La Garde, Pierre de from The New Grove Dictionary of Opera (Biography) Source: Grove
Music Online; RISM A/I,; L 201 Reduced score./ Libretto./ "."--t.p./ Sometimes referred to as
Églé. Cf. Sonneck.
$1,250.00