Maria Danchenko
National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy, Kyiv.
ORCID ID 0000-0002-7846-9947
DOI:
Keywords: German Baroque, XVII century, Anton Ulrich von Braunschweig, Isaac de Benserade, Louis XIV, court ballet, Marie-Madelaine de Scudéry, heroic romance.
Abstract.
This article aims to investigate the perception of French esthetical and cultural narratives by Anton Ulrich of Brunswick, a prominent German intellectual and literato, in his literary oeuvre within the period between 1650s and 1660s. Our objective is to explore how Anton Ulrich reflected the growing developments of the French court culture and in what way he reacted to its expansion in Europe at the time of the early years of Louis XIV reign. The article studies the semiotic dialogue between the celebrious French “Ballet Royal de la Nuit” of Isaac de Benserade (1653), and the lesser-known German “Ballet des Tages” (1659), created by Anton Ulrich, at the time a co-regent apparent to dutchy of Brunswick and Lüneburg. The study makes a particular accent on the comparison of the textual and stylistic affinities and discrepancies of the texts of both librettos. In this article we also explore Anton Ulrich’s perception and the ways of his interpretation of the genre the French heroic romance and his evaluation of the French influence present in it. In the introduction to his own oeuvre “Die Durchläuchtige Syrerin Aramena” (1669), the first known example of the German heroic romance, Anton Ulrich deploys his doctrine for the development of German literature and its co-existence with the foreign narratives. The following research serves to elucidate the specificity of the French influence on the oeuvre of Anton Ulrich, an emblematic representative of the German court culture of Baroque.
Author‘s biography.
Maria Danchenko
senior lecturer, Department of Cultural Studies, National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy
References:
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The article was received by the editorial office on 02.04.2026.
The article was accepted for publication after review on 28.05.2026.
The article was published on 04.07.2026.
Vol 29 No 1 (2026)
Section: WORLD CULTURE AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS.