Ballet

Ballet (FR) Ballet. Poulenc's setting (1924/25, Poèmes de Ronsard #3) for voice and piano of the 40th sonnet from the Second Livre des Sonnets pour Hélène (Second Book of Sonnets for Helen, 1578 [1st ed.]). The original poem is untitled. »Hélène« is Hélène de Surgères (Elena di Fonseca [1546 – 1618], daughter of a Portugese/Sephardic banker), one of Ronsard's adored but unavailable beauties, sublimated into references to classical Greek Helen of Troy. The song is dedicated to Madame Vera…