BALLET DES NATIONS

NOTES

NOTES

1. Acteurs was the usual terni for the characters during the seven* teenth century. The word “ personnages ” was substituted for it in the last part of the eighteenth.

2. Madame Jourdain. The désignation for married women, not of noble birth, had long been “ mademoiselle.” The appearance here of “ madame ” indicates that the extension of that title to the burgher class was well under way.

3. Cléonte. Favorite name of the lover in Renaissance comedy. Like many of these traditional names it is of Greek origin, and came into French literature through Italian comedy. The same is true of Dorante.

4. Dorimène. Another traditional name of comedy, given to a coquette.

5. Covielle. From the Italian “ Coviello ” (for Jacoviello), the name of one of the types of clowns (perhaps originally from Abnizzi) in the Italian comedy of masks. He is always a prime mover in the action.