When Molière played at Versailles

The signal honor of performing before the king is an opportunity to be envied, but formidable. The creation times are short and the execution conditions, in unsuitable spaces, make this extraordinary moment a perilous exercise. Playing in the light of the Sun King is not without risks even if “It is better to do poorly what [the kings] ask of us than not to do it soon enough; and if we have the shame of not having succeeded well, we always have the glory of having quickly obeyed their commands” (The Impromptu of Versailles).

By Fabrice Conan, art historian

When, after more than ten years in the provinces, Molière returned to Paris, he received prestigious protection in the person of the brother of Louis XIV. The Illustre Théâtre becomes Monsieur’s troupe. In October 1658, the guard room of the Louvre Palace was transformed into a theater where actors performed for the first time before the king in Nicomedes. If the revival of Corneille's play was received coldly, the evening ended with a comedy, Le Docteur Amoureux, which aroused more enthusiasm. According to custom, we do not perform a play alone: ​​tragedy, vaudeville, and comedy follow each other during a very long evening with various intermissions – very appreciated moments of sociability.

Back in Paris, the royal entourage protects Molière

The essential is accomplished, Molière is now known by the king and the first gentlemen who program the shows for His Majesty. From 1662, he was one of the appreciated speakers at court and led the King's Troupe from 1665.

The role of an ordinary upholsterer of the king's household, inherited from his father, allowed Poquelin to become familiar very early with the functioning of the court and its subtle workings. Without being close to the sovereign, Jean-Baptiste knows the mysteries of the court from the inside. If he was an “upholsterer despite himself”, this charge, initially reviled, then gave him the keys to success. His talent just has to do the rest to elevate him to the Parnassus of actors.

The 1660s marked a happy period of the reign. Louis is young, benefiting from the aura of the beginning of his reign after the death of Mazarin. He looks good, is brilliant and seductive, and has a series of gallant conquests before beginning military conquests a few years later. He intends to enjoy life, its pleasures, and its amusements. Sensitive to the performing arts, he took to the stage in his youth, for political reasons; the king, who embodied the sun in a memorable ballet, appreciates the charms of the shows. The proliferation of ballets, comedies, and concerts requires a bringing together of diverse talents, and Molière knows how to make himself indispensable in this period of abundant stage demands.

Actor, troupe director, and author, he combines know-how. Thanks to an extraordinary capacity for work, resistance, and creativity, he can respond to requests in a short time. Molière the creator has exceptional striking power! And that’s all that will please the Menus-Plaisirs who are in charge of organizing the royal celebrations.

Festivities are often requested at the last minute. Once you have decided to stay in a place, you have to make the days more enjoyable, making the court want to stay with the king. It is through entertainment, as much as through authority, that Louis XIV holds court with him. Shows, ballets, illuminations, snacks, and theater are all ingredients for a filter of seduction that operates on the lords. Submission through dazzlement in the face of royal majesty is a government strategy. Versailles is the instrument of this magnificence.

First steps in Versailles

At this time, Louis XIII’s Versailles received few modifications, and remained a “house of cards.” Louis XIV saw the estate as a place conducive to relaxation. To add shine to the stays, the shows are ordered and performed promptly, because the Sun King would take umbrage if his desires for comedies were not satisfied! “The way to defend against it, When a king ordered it to me? » recalls Molière in his Impromptu de Versailles, hastily put together for the Versailles stay from October 11 to 23, 1663. Fortunately, the author has in his drawers scenes, situations, and sequences of lines ready for future creations. His actors are used to working together, they are people of art experienced in this exercise. They know how to embroider on a weft that is sometimes a little loose, improvise on a barely drawn canvas, and use turns of phrases and lines that they have in mind. But this time, everything is happening so quickly. How to get out of it? Precisely this will be the subject: the troupe, panicked by the injunction to play, crowds around the playwright. Saved by the king who rejects the spectacle, in the meantime, they will have exposed the roles and anxieties of each.

Molière was able to respond to the royal wish, his aura is reinforced. During this stay, Don Gracie de Navarre, Sertorius, L'École des Maris, Les Fâcheux, and Le Dépit Amoureux, were also performed at the castle in a veritable Molière marathon!

Molière the essential

His organizational skills, to unite teams, to meet the king's expectations, make Molière essential to all evenings. Even more, he was able to understand what excited the king: a mixture of the arts with music, dance, and comedy. It is a new genre that he is experimenting with in association with a composer, the other Baptiste: Lully. Both complement each other magnificently, with a keen sense of direction and action. In music as in verse, in less than ten years, they brought to the stage an innovative genre: comedy-ballet, the joyful embryo of lyrical tragedy. Flattering the king's penchant for dancing by interspersing sung and dance pieces throughout the plot was a brilliant idea – even if it meant artificially juxtaposing two unrelated stories. The enchantment of the show, the richness of the production, and the marvelousness make the disjointed inconsistencies go away. Lully and Molière thus combined their talents and were able to quickly respond to royal requests.

The tandem met in Versailles for an ambitious series of evenings united under the title of Pleasures of the Enchanted Island between May 7 and 13, 1664. Molière developed the stage parts of this entertainment, from the parade opening the feast of the first evening, right down to the pieces assembled for the occasion.

The plot imagined by the first gentleman of the Chamber, the Duke of Saint-Aignan, projects the spectators into a medieval fantasy: Roger and his knights, on their way to the crusade, are held back by the charms of the sorceress Alcine. She bewitches them and gives them feasts and games.

The second evening illustrates these enchantments in a scene appearing as if by magic in the heart of the garden's perspectives. There is a theater adorned with (fictitious) marble columns and tapestries, sparkling in the abundant light. The location is spectacular and exceptionally inconvenient: playing in a vast area where nothing reflects the sound towards the spectators, occupying an immense stage setting... the difficulties multiply for the actors, singers, and musicians.

Luckily, the Molière-Lully team is experienced in these perilous conditions; the artists give the Princess of Élide, a work composed for the occasion, and the magic happens. The enchanting site adds to the general amazement of a crowd of several hundred guests who came specially from Paris. They will be rewarded for the hours of travel made hellish by traffic congestion. The following evening, the incredible fireworks setting the skies ablaze and destroying the decor of the formidable magician's palace, in a profusion of rockets and flames, create a unique scenography.

The historical-gallant aspect of the celebration has as its argument the magician Alcine closes, but the king wishes to take advantage of the season favorable to the festivities (he controls everything in his kingdom, even the elements, the thurifers will say), so the days extend -they.

On May 11, Les Fâcheux, a comedy created in Vaux during the all-too-famous evening given by Nicolas Fouquet to his king in 1661, was revived with a few modifications. Invasive human characters are mocked. It should be noted that Louis XIV suggested scratching Soyécourt who bore his interlocutors with lots of chatter and digressions. Never has a surname been so misused! The king would almost become a co-author! The friendly attack of the intruders has no consequences, and the mood of the play remains light. The joy of rediscovering what was the first comedy ballet in History prevails.

It will be quite different on the evening of May 12. The king insisted on seeing a play that the court had been buzzing about for several weeks. Although unfinished, it is given in three acts instead of the five planned. The Company of the Holy Sacrament of the Altar, a secret society in the Jesuit movement, heard of the intrigue and the charge against false devotees. Molière, assured of royal benevolence, believes himself authorized to take on new themes and attack the moral failings of great characters. As long as it was a question of quack doctors and general traits, Poquelin was pleasant. But this evening, in Versailles, with Tartuffe, Molière takes a moral and political turn. He attacks religion and the people of the world. Immediately, he is mistreated by the powerful whose falsity is exposed. He thought that at the height of his fame, protected by the king, he could go beyond his position as organizer of celebrations and become a philosopher. This was to underestimate the networks of the French court. The Pleasures of the Enchanted Island marks the moment of Molière's greatest favor with the king, but also a declaration of war by certain greats of the kingdom united in a devout party acting around the queen mother Anne of Austria.

The king maintains his esteem for Molière, does not disavow him, and willingly attends the performance the next day, May 13, for a revival of Marriage Forced, mixed with ballets and stories adapted for that day. However, after this audacious piece, the smiling dynamic of Molière's rise has just been shattered at Versailles.

The king is not fooled by his court, he laughs about it heartily, only he is a statesman and he cannot see the image of a Christian reign contradicting – which he darkens by his amorous escapades and his many mistresses. Molière had left his place as an amiable entertainer, without thinking that around the king, everything is order and convention, with immutable respect for attributions. Poquelin-Icare rubbed shoulders with the Sun too proudly... he got burned.

Subsequently, he writes about a lazy husband named Dandin, a Miser, a Bourgeois Gentleman, universal prototypes who are less likely to receive Jupiterian wrath. Tartuffe was not restored until 1669, in a more peaceful religious climate, and under royal power that had become incontestable.

After this episode, Molière was mistreated but not repudiated. The following year, on June 13, 1665, the troupe was sent to Versailles to play La Coquette or Le Favori, a tragicomedy by Madame Desjardins that was not very successful in Paris. To flesh out the spectacle for a royal evening, Lully composed a grand opening symphony, ballets, and entrances; Molière adds extracts from Marriage Forced and La Princesse d’Élide. It is a public confession of confidence that Louis gives to Jean-Baptiste, and once again, this esteem comes to fruition at Versailles.

What scenes at the castle and in the park?

The most important shows, requiring machinery and large stage crews, are well-known and documented by engravings. Each time, these are temporary rooms set up in the gardens, in the heart of the paths, at crossroads in the park. When the pieces are more traditional, without requiring machines and decorations, reports tell us of performances at the castle, and in the King's apartment, unfortunately with some vagueness about the exact location. However, by cross-checking, we can find correspondence with the central vestibule of the ground floor of the small primitive castle. Let us not forget that the Louis-Quatorz expansions were not yet completed when Molière came to Versailles. It is therefore the old castle that he knew.

In the entrance room, which was large without being vast, we note work carried out by Denis Buret "to have made two portable theaters from nine" paid in February and April 1664 the sum of 1,020 pounds. In his book on the Birth of Versailles, Alfred Marie recalls this mention and associates it with the text of Miss de Scudéry who points out this painted and gilded room with two fireplaces, a place "very convenient for comedy, the theater is in one of the recesses and the violins in the other, without embarrassing the assembly and we give the ball there whenever we want, by closing these two recesses with a paneling which is easily put on and taken off..." (La promenade de Versailles, 1669). The place is indeed the simplest to arrange and able to receive selected assistance.

Our king, passionate about shows, and our dear author will never see a large and beautiful performance hall, contenting themselves with ephemeral arrangements in the gardens, in the Great Stable, and, after the installation of the court at Versailles, with a small and awkward comedy room (on the site of the current Passage des Princes). Thus, on September 14, 1665, the troupe performed l'Amour Médecin, a variation on le Médecin Volant which had just been performed and repeated with impromptus to celebrate a - short - remission of the queen mother's cancer and to once again scratch the doctors, as Georges Forestier writes with a very keen sense of opportunity!

New sparkles for a Great Royal Entertainment

It is under this title that in 1668 Versailles was once again chosen for celebrations. Louis XIV celebrates the lightning campaign and his military victories thanks to which he became master of Franche-Comté. As the castle has still not been sufficiently enlarged, it is still the garden that serves as a setting, with temporary rooms designed by Menus-Plaisirs. On July 18, after a snack given in the park, the court discovered in a crossroads (which would become the Saturn basin) the room decorated with tapestries provided by the Garde Meuble. The stage, twelve meters wide, is framed by the statues of Peace and Victory, recalling the king's recent triumphs. Established by Carlo Vigarani, a master machinist who created the previous rooms, the space is praised by the public for its grandeur, its beauty, its marble and lapis lazuli effects, and its impressive capacity of 1,200 seats in the stands.

We perform The Festivals of Love and Bacchus, a new pastoral, coming from the fertile imagination of Molière and Lully. George Dandin's comedy only has three acts. Also to enrich the evening, singing and dancing interludes are associated with it. The show must be put on quickly, the musical parts are unrelated to the theatrical plot. No matter: everything is full of verve, of lightness, the songs are as joyful as possible, on the theme of hunting, of romantic bickering, and the finale, with dancers, actors, singers, and musicians, brings together around a hundred performers. Such an artistic plateau is impossible to bring together without royal patronage. The brilliance of the sovereign is highlighted by the festivals which follow the clash of arms. These entertainments are acts of political communication, promoting a strong nation that allows itself to spend its sums at the end of the war. If only these weapons of deterrence through arts and entertainment could be the only ones used during conflicts and rivalries between States...

The Grand Divertissement royal will be Molière's last spectacular performance at Versailles. Louis XIV then tasted musical representations and mythological librettos. With the arrival of lyrical tragedy, a genre invented for the King of France by the Florentine Lully, the magnificence of the reign is further exposed and the opera further magnifies the great prince. On September 17, 1672, Molière played Les Femmes savantes at Versailles and, a week later, L'Avare. If the king invites him, he does not defend him against Lully who obtains the privilege for any musical performance in France. What a betrayal after so many years spent with Molière creating shows together! His partner finds himself banned from any new musical comedy. Molière went on to stage Le Malade Imaginaire in 1673 but died after the fourth performance. A sign of a distance from royal favor, Louis XIV did not attend the creation of this show. Perhaps a sign of regret, a year later, Molière's troupe returned to Versailles.

When the king pays homage to Molière

The king is certainly not a man to feel remorse, but he is faithful to those who know how to serve him. Jean-Baptiste Poquelina was one of those who made his reputation as a protector of the Arts visible. As such, the king's troupe of actors – Molière's troupe – was invited to perform at the castle in 1674 upon returning from the conquest of Franche-Comté (conquered for the second time). During the third day of the Divertissements de Versailles, July 19, after a snack given in the menagerie, the court returned to the castle and attended the performance of Le Malade Imaginaire in front of the grotto of Thétis. A large stage frame is erected for an evening which serves as a tribute to the genius of Molière. Ten years later, the cave was destroyed to make way for the north wing of the castle; Versailles then entered into greatness.

Molière accompanied the joyful hours of the reign, those of a promising and conquering sovereign, far from the fatigue of age and the wear and tear of power. It quickly became the emblem of this early reign and a jewel of French theatrical heritage. The disputes are forgotten, we could see that “The Court, which honored you with a resounding vote, / Molière, after your death, cries, groans, sighs: / If you had made us laugh less, / We would not mourn you so much. » (1)

1• Latin epitaph by Huet (1630-1721), bishop of Avranches, translated into French in the edition of the works of Molière in 1725.

The impromptu of Versailles

“My God, Mademoiselle, Kings love nothing so much as prompt obedience and do not at all like to find obstacles. Things are only good for as long as they want them, and to blame them for delaying entertainment is to take away all the grace for them. They want pleasures that are not long in coming, and the least prepared are always the most agreeable to them. We must never look at ourselves in what they desire of us: we are only to please them; and when they order us something, it's up to us to quickly take advantage of the desire they have. It is better to do what they ask of us poorly than not to do it early enough; and if we have the shame of not having succeeded well, we always have the glory of having quickly obeyed their commands. »

Félibien's judgment

Félibien recalls for the 1668 entertainment of the Fêtes de l'Amour and Bacchus associated with George Dandin that the Impromptu is "one of those works where the need to immediately satisfy the wishes of the king does not always give the leisure to bring the last touch to it and to form the last features, nevertheless, it is certain that it [the piece] is composed of parts so entertaining and so pleasant, that one can say that it does not matter appeared on the theater more capable of satisfying both the ear and the eyes of the spectators”.

The opening tune of the Grand Divertissement Royal

“From the Prince of the French nothing limits the glory, / It extends to everything, and among the nations / The truths of his history / All the fictions will pass from the old times: / No matter how much we sing the magnificent remains / Of all these heroic destinies / Which a beautiful art took pleasure in raising to the Heavens / We see by its facts the erased splendor, / And all these famous demigods / Whose history makes noise, / Are not at all to our thoughts / What Louis is to our eyes. »