Given that the Ballet des Arts was meant to be seen as well as heard, the music stands up well on its own. Part of the credit is due to Hugo Reyne, who has written a fascinating essay on the multiple hierarchies at work in the ballet. Performed in 1663 by Louis XIV and his courtiers side by side with professional singers and dancers, it was Lully’s first French ballet de cour.

Librettist Isaac de Benserade tailored the poetic texts to specific performers, and one of our challenges is to listen with both the sense and the subtext in mind. We’re told who among the king’s circle was performing and the roles they took: in addition to the king (a shepherd), the dancers included two of his mistresses as nymphs; the composer himself sang and danced in the sixth entrée (tr 20). There is a marvellous musical subtext at work too. Although the Ballet des Arts was published as the work of Lully, we know that some of the music is by his father-in-law, Michel Lambert, himself a fine singer and composer of airs (trs 2 and 7). Tr 2 is an elegantly interwoven dialogue between Peace and Felicity: where Lully precedes the voices with an instrumental version of the air, Lambert provides different music, breaking up the phrases to emphasise individual words (not without some humour does he repeat “toujours”) where Lully simply repeats them (tr 13: “Nous faisons bien d’être morts”).

Prefaced by a gentle overture, the work falls into seven pairs of récits (airs with ritournelles) and entrées (each a series of dances). The performances are beautifully judged and have real warmth about them (members of the orchestra mimic birdsong with their instruments in tr 2 and sea sounds in tr 7; Reyne himself plays the tambourin in tr 6).

With this CD, the tenth in their Lully series, La Simphonie du Marais celebrate their 20th anniversary. Simultaneously they offer a modern score and parts via their website.