Known today primarily for his grand motets, Delalande also wrote at least twenty works for the stage. The Ballet de la jeunesse is an important early example of opera-ballet antedating Campra's L'Europe galante by more than a decade. At the center of this Divertissement is an immense and highly organized double chaconne of sixty-two variations each eight measures long. The manuscript reproduced in this volume is a magnificent example of the calligraphy of André Danican Philidor l'aîné.
