Pierre Beauchamp or Beauchamps (; 30 October 1631 – February 1705) was a French

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who c ...

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire ...

r and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...

, and the probable inventor of

Beauchamp–Feuillet notation Beauchamp–Feuillet notation is a system of dance notation used in Baroque dance. The notation was commissioned by Louis XIV (who had founded the Académie Royale de Danse in 1661), and devised in the 1680s by Pierre Beauchamp. The notatio ...

. His grand-father was called Christophe (a musician) and his father, a violinist of the king's chamber, was simply called Louis. Following a custom of the time, Pierre Beauchamp was named Pierre after his godfather Pierre Vacherot, tailor of the queen's pages and a relative of the Beauchamps family.

Biography

Beauchamp was born at

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...

(

Yvelines Yvelines () is a Departments of France, department in the western part of the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in Northern France. In 2019, it had a population of 1,448,207.Louis XIV Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...

at age 12, in 1648, in the ''Ballet du dérèglement des passions''. He was made director of the

Académie Royale de Danse The Académie Royale de Danse, founded by Letters Patent on the initiative of King Louis XIV of France in March 1661, was the first dance institution established in the Western world. As one of King Louis’ first official edicts after the death o ...

in 1671 (although he was not a founding member of the Académie as is often claimed). Beauchamp was principal choreographer to

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and world ...

's acting company (the Troupe du Roy) during 1664-1673, as well as ballet master at the

Académie Royale de Musique The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be k ...

and ''Compositeur des Ballets du Roi''. He also gave dance lessons to Louis XIV for over twenty-two years. In these positions, he was highly influential in the development of French

baroque dance Baroque dance is dance of the Baroque era (roughly 1600–1750), closely linked with Baroque music, theatre, and opera. English country dance The majority of surviving choreographies from the period are English country dances, such as those i ...

. He continued to choreograph and dance at the Court of Versailles after the death of

Jean-Baptiste Lully Jean-Baptiste Lully ( , , ; born Giovanni Battista Lulli, ; – 22 March 1687) was an Italian-born French composer, guitarist, violinist, and dancer who is considered a master of the French Baroque music style. Best known for his operas ...

in 1687; however, choreography and composition of music and ballets for the Jesuit Colleges became his primary occupation from 1697. He died at

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

in 1705. Writing some years after the actual events, Pierre Rameau credits Beauchamp with the codification of the five positions of the feet in

classical ballet Classical ballet is any of the traditional, formal styles of ballet that exclusively employ classical ballet technique. It is known for its aesthetics and rigorous technique (such as pointe work, turnout of the legs, and high extensions), its ...

, as well as a role in the development of the use of armsRameau, Pierre; ''Le maître a danser'' (Paris, 1725), Seconde partie, Chap. I (note though that, unlike the positions of the feet, the use of arms in baroque dance differs significantly from their use in ballet). The codification method was printed in 1700 by Raoul-Auger Feuillet, who published notated dance scores, and became known as

. It was slightly modified by Pierre Rameau in 1725, but continued to be used to record dances for the stage and for domestic use throughout the eighteenth century. Two choreographies survive in manuscript copies with attributions to Beauchamp: the

ballroom A ballroom or ballhall is a large room inside a building, the primary purpose of which is holding large formal parties called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions and palaces, especially historic ...

duet ''Rigaudons de Mr Bauchand'', and the theatrical solo for a man ''Sarabande de Mr. de Beauchamp''. The

sarabande The sarabande (from es, zarabanda) is a dance in triple metre, or the music written for such a dance. History The Sarabande evolved from a Spanish dance with Arab influences, danced by a lively double line of couples with castanets. A dance c ...

is unusual amongst the surviving male solos because, although it requires a virtuoso technique with its

pirouette In dance and gymnastics, a turn is a rotation of the body about the vertical axis. It is usually a complete rotation of the body, although quarter (90°) and half (180°) turns are possible for some types of turns. Multiple, consecutive turns are ...

s and many ornamented steps, it contains no aerial beaten steps.

Selected works

With Molière and Lully

* ''Les Fâcheux'', choreography, musical composition, orchestral director (1661) * ''Le Mariage forcé'' (1664) * '' Le Bourgeois gentilhomme'', ballets (1669) * ''Les Amants magnifiques'' (1670) * '' Psyché'', ballets (1671) * '' Le Malade imaginaire'', ballets (1673)

Original Choreography for Pierre Perrin

* '' Pomone'' (opera, 1671)

Choreography with Lully

* ''L'Impatience'' (1661) * ''La Naissance de Vénus'' (1665) * '' Alceste'' (1674) * '' Atys'' (1676) * ''Isis'' (1677) * ''Le Triomphe de l'amour'', avec Pécour (1681) * ''Ballet de la jeunesse'' (1686)

References

External links

Facsimile of a 1748 edition of Rameau's book
from The Library of Congress'

An American Ballroom Companion An American Ballroom Companion is an online collection of over two hundred social dance manuals at the Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de ...

.
César UK
Excerpt from Grove Dictionary entry on Pierre Beauchamp. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Beauchamp, Pierre French male ballet dancers French ballet masters French choreographers French male classical composers French Baroque composers Dance notators People from Versailles 1631 births 1705 deaths 17th-century ballet dancers Beauchamp Paris Opera Ballet artistic directors