Le Roi s'amuse (Sargeant)

Delibes’ incidental music combines dance numbers with atmospheric interludes and reflects his pronounced gift for melody, demonstrated so well in his ballets “Coppélia” and “Sylvia”. The score is an early example of what is often called ‘historicism’ (old wine in new bottles).

Later in the same decade, Saint-Saens made use of period music in two operas based on historical figures (Henry VIII and Ascanio). The most famous case of old wine in amazing new bottles came about thirty-five years later when Respighi issued three suites of ‘Antiche danze et arie’.

Some of the Renaissance numbers used by Delibes here were later used by Peter Warlock in his Capriol Suite. Delibes' stylized settings are particularly notable, lending the work a charming, historically evocative sound that brings the courtly atmosphere of the sixteenth century vividly to life.