LES JEUX JALOUX

Jiří Bubeníček found inspiration from a queen: in the middle of the 16th century, Margaret of Navarre wrote her best-known literary work L'Heptaméron. In this collection of novels, the choreographer discovered a short erotic story that inspired him to choreograph Les Jeux Jaloux. He deals very freely with Margaret of Navarre’s text and relocates the plot to a gallant, unspecified time:

A man is out on an adventure. But he goes to his wife's bed instead of — as actually intended — to her maid. Then he sends his servant there, who turns him into a betrayed husband without his wife planning to do so. Freely based on Margaret of Navarre.

Jiří Bubeníček was looking for playful, light music to match the style of the novella from the mid-16th century — and found the desired equivalent around two hundred years later. His choice fell on four early orchestral works that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote between the ages of six and eleven. A later work by Mozart and a movement from a concerto by Joseph Haydn round off the musical basis of the ballet.