Herbert Schneider

Un manuscrit de Charles Babel restitué à sa bibliothèque d'origine

The manuscript of « Tous les Anciens Ballets de feu Monsieur de Jean Baptiste Lully » copied by Charles Babel in 1696 was returned from St. Petersburg to the Staats- und Universitatsbibliothek Hamburg Carl von Ossietzky. It contains 24 suites in parts (two dessus de violon, taille and basse). The haute-contre and the basse continue are missing and the quinte de violon has probably never existed. Of the 343 pieces 22 do not belong to those registered in the LWV, four are taken from works by Hardel, Delalande, H. Purcell and P. Collasse. Some of the non identified pieces might have been composed by Lully. The choice of the works (Ballets de cour, Comedies-ballets etc.) and the individual movements chosen from the original music is different from the Henry Foucault copies. The quality of Babels copy including the taille de violon is accurate and esthetically convincing.