Entrée grave from Lully’s “Persée” Video recording of the dance
(2023)

Video recording of Louis-Guillaume Pécour’s choreography of 1710 for the “Entrée des divinités infernales” from Lully’s opera “Persée”. Performed by Mojca Gal. This recording is related to the chapter by Mojca Gal: “The Performance Practice of Dance Music in 18th-Century France. Case Study: The Entrée Grave”, in: Tanz und Musik. Perspektiven für die Historische Musikpraxis, Basel 2023, 281–297 (BBHM 42).
This article presents a part of the process of working on the entrée grave (a theatrical dance in the serious style of the 18th-century ballet), which the author learned to perform both as a dancer and as a musician. The discussion mainly focuses on the performance practice of the music, investigating points of intersection and correlations between music and ballet on the basis of period sources, and ultimately questioning the modern performance practice of ballet music.