The Birth of Ballet and the Golden Ballerina The year is 1581. There’s
a marriage in the air. The Duke de Joyeuse and Queen Louise’s sister.
Oh the tumult…the ecstasy of the court and its attendant members.
Paroxysms of joy invade each soul. The most lavish of social events
of that year or any other year for that matter…was a comin’.
Catherine de M�dicis was commissioning Baltazarini di Belgioioso–her
favorite court musician–to arrange for the entertainment. Oh how
Balta worked…how he toiled over his composition. But he did not
disappoint queen mother. On October 15, 1581, in the Salle Bourbon of
the Louvre Palace, he staged the Ballet Comique de la Reine. This my
friends…pinpointed the birth of ballet.
Italy. 1989. Cindy Leutenegger von Leutenegg…a Swiss
designer…wins the Lady Milano award. Her jewelry creations are
nothing short of magnificent. The brooch you are all about to see
belongs to her collection called: Women and Earth. It is the in form
of golden lady emerging with outstretched arms from the center of a
Lily. She seems, to me, to be an exquisite ballerina.
Catherine de M�dicis’ grand spectacle is a hit. It lasts six hours.
Personally folks, I can’t sit through anything for more than an hour
and a half or so…max. Six hours of entertainment to me heralds
heroic endurance records. A couple of you want to do a pas-de-deux
across the stage a couple of times…okay. Do it for six hours and
ask me to watch…and queen mother or no queen mother…you rule the
country without me there honey bunny. There was no stage for this
ballet folks. The performers cavorted on the floor. It was a
spectacle that pleased Cat no end. And though in no way did that
ballet resemble the ballet as we know it today, CDM was so please
that she distributed illustrated brochures of it throughout Europe.
The formal birth of Classical Ballet was around the next historical
corner.
So why did Cindy use a Lily from which she had her golden lady
emerge? Indeed a most pressing question…a question upon which
surely the very essence of life hinges. Who knows? It is said that
the Lily was named after Lilith…a lady who liked to spend her time
coupling with demons because she thought they were good at what they
did. Perhaps Cindy used a Lily because it is a symbol of virginity.
Did I mention that the Lily was studded with Lapis Lazuli…a stone
that owes its allegiance only to Venus? No? Venus…virginity…demons
and coupling? This is no simple brooch folks. It is–however–a thing
of beauty. Go look.
For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits…may I
direct you to my home page at www.tyler-adam.com where you will
scroll down the table menu till you get to the box that says
Tidbits…and inside the box where it says Tidbit Graphics…click on
the link that says: Ballerina…where you will see a rendering of our
gold lady emerging from a lily.
And there ya have it.
That’s it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark
TYLER-ADAM CORP.–Jewelry Manufacturers
Tel: 1-800-20-TYLER
E-Mail to: webmaster@tyler-adam.com