Written at the request of Louis XIV in honor of his sister-in-law, Henrietta of England, Lully's Le Ballet royal de la naissance de Venus was performed in 1665 with Henrietta herself as the goddess of love and youth. This grandiose spectacle combining dancing, music and poetry, served the power of the king, while attesting to the magnificence of his court. Musically very inventive, it shows the culmination of the ballet genre. The recording, from Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques is completed by excerpts from Les Amours deguises, Psyche, Le Bourgeois gentilhomme and Le Carnaval.
