Filippo d'Agliè's Ballets (1604-1667)

Festival culture is an area which has attracted increasing interest in the field of Renaissance studies in recent years. Even though there are numerous books about European festivals, emphasizing their great importance for interdisciplinary study, the great tradition of court entertainment in the House of Savoy has been largely overlooked. Filippo d'Agliè (1604-1667) dominated the musical life of seventeenth-century Turin, during the reign of Duchess Cristina, for more than three decades (1624-1660) with the creation of more than thirty ballets, carousels and tourneys, whose popularity magnified the political significance of court festivities, such as royal weddings, birthdays and carnivals. D'Agliè's ballets are undoubtedly among the masterpieces of the theatrical genre of the era. His surviving manuscripts clearly show the extend of his ingenuity and diversity of his artistic talents. He was one of the eminent personalities in the history of seventeenth-century Italy and his extraordinary talents as a musician, choreographer and poet transformed the royal entertainment of the day into an event of major historical, aristic and cultural significance.