“Music and dance are all you need.” Molière: Le bourgeois gentilhomme (1670)

Dance and diplomacy were inseparable at Louis XIV’s opulent palace in Versailles. Every aspect of the palace was designed to reinforce the King’s absolute authority, and Louis protected his political power through pageantry. In appointing the Italian-born musician, composer and dancer Jean-Baptiste Lully as Master of the King’s Music, Louis chose a political manipulator whose ruthlessness matched his own. Their control over music, dance and opera was enforced by complex social etiquette, with failure to conform being devastating to ambition – ensuring that the arts had the single purpose of glorifying the King and France.