Molière was given the commission only
two weeks before the performance date. He was to provide
some dramatic incident in support of a series of
elaborate dance sequences by Lully. Instead, he turned
the whole thing into a full-length play, perfectly
integrating the dancing into the action throughout. It is
a tribute to his genius that, 300 years later, the play
is still performed, but the dance is incidental (and,
indeed, often eliminated altogether.)
He used his habitual comic formula, which was to
postulate an irrational attitude embodied in a character,
then to explore the consequences of that attitude in
friction with the real world. As a comédie-ballet,
this play could be said supremely to fulfil his own
paramount principle: "The great rule, above all
other rules, is to entertain".
In Act 1 M. Jordan is exploited by professionals who
are helping him fulfil his social aspirations. In Act 2
we see the comic consequences of his obsession when
pitted against middle-class common-sense and aristocratic
chicanery. His family and acquaintances decide that they
must work with his obsession, thus allowing him to
plunge ever deeper into the fantasy he has constructed.
Act 3 presents a burlesque consecration of M.
Jordans new identity as a titled nobleman. The
conspirators having bamboozled him into sanctioning a
marriage he has already forbidden, the domestic comedy is
resolved in the traditional way.
Music plays a vital and integral role in creating a
graceful entertainment which charms the senses. It also
contributes to the comic effects, as when we hear the
plaintive serenade which the Pupil has composed, into
which Lully, with gentle self-mockery, works some
precious modulations in the fashionable manner of the
day.

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