Le Carrousel royal - Les Chevaux du soleil

Directed and designed by Jean-Philippe Delavault

Equestrian choreography Clément Gerbaud, Leopold Gombeer and Frédéric Pignon

Belgian Riding Academy

Portuguese Riding School Luis Valença

Pyrotechnics Groupe F

Costumes by Thierry Bosquet made available by the Centre de musique Baroque de Versailles

For the 400th anniversary of the birth of André Le Nôtre, it is relevant to consider a form of entertainment now disappeared, but which was perhaps the main one in France for several centuries, before opera was invented: the Carrousel. Carrousels are of Italian origin. The term finds its etymology in the contraction of two Latin words "carrussoli", which means "sun chariot". Inherited from medieval tournament, the carousel is an intermediary between equestrian parades and Italian war games. During carrousels, the king, surrounded by the nobility, takes on allegorical roles. Carrousels replaced tournaments, which had been banned in France since the tragic death of Henry II in 1559 during a joust with the Count of Montgomery.

The first recreation of a Royal Carrousel since the reign of Louis XIV is emblematic: the show that brings together the best riders in the Kingdom, on the most renowned horses of the royal and princely stables, for an allegorical evocation of the majesty of the Fighting King and his "knights", during monarchy’s heyday, is an equestrian and pyrotechnic festival worthy of the Royal Carrousels that left their mark on French history.

The Carrousel Royal of 1662 is obviously the reference: it was organised on 5 and 6 June, in the courtyard of the Tuileries Palace, in front of 10 to 15,000 people installed on temporary stands. A monumental tribune was built for the Queen Mother, Anne of Austria, Queen Maria Theresa and the ladies of the court. The participants were divided into five quadrilles named after the nations that were considered the most prestigious and exotic in the 17th century: Romans (led by King Louis XIV himself), Persians (led by Monsieur, the King's brother), Turks (led by the Prince of Condé), Indians (led by the Duc d'Enghien), and "Savages of America" (led by the Duc de Guise). The riders competed in ring races and head races: ring races consisted of passing a spear through a suspended ring, head races consisted of carrying off a head (of a Turk, a More or a Medusa) placed at a certain height with the tip of their spear. The Marquis de Bellefonds won the head race and the Count of Sault won the ring race. For the 1662 Carrousel, Louis XIV adopted the Sun as his emblem and the motto "Nec pluribus impar". Former members of the Fronde uprising represented planets or elements of nature, whose fate totally depends on the light of the sun.

Another famous Carrousel opened the famous "Plaisirs de l'Ile Enchantée" festival held in Versailles in May 1664: "The King, representing Roger, followed them, riding one of the most beautiful horses in the world, whose fiery harness burst with gold, silver and gems. His Majesty was armed in the manner of the Greeks, like all those in his quadrille, and wore a breastplate of silver blade, covered with rich gold and diamond embroidery. His bearing and all his action were worthy of his rank; his helmet, absolutely incomparable; and never did a freer air, nor a more warlike one, set a mortal above other men."

Staged by Jean Philippe Delavault, the 2013 version of the Grand Carrousel Royal de Versailles combines the essential elements of the Carrousels of the past: first, the magnificence of the horses, chosen here to evoke those of the French Court, in particular the many Andalusians and Lusitanians who were the glory of the Grande Ecurie. Then the expert riders, the King and the Grand Masters, each at the head of a quadrille, putting on an allegorical show in which the virtues of the monarch appear in full light: the Sun and Apollo embodying the King. Baroque music punctuates the show, with sumptuous costumes for both the riders of the Belgian Riding Academy and the acrobats, before a pyrotechnic finale worthy of Versailles, produced by Groupe F, which has produced the great shows at Versailles since 2007.