Since Lully’s death in 1687, the Académie royale de musique had been looking for a new path, distinct from the tragédie en musique that had made it successful until then. The Parisian public, joined by a generation of young courtiers (centred on the Dauphin, the Duke of Chartres and the Princess of Conti), preferred less severe entertainments than those that prevailed at the time. Librettists and composers in tune with this audience, of the same age group, opted for less conventional theatrical forms, where dance and music discovered a new freedom; the subjects become gallant, imbued with exoticism. From its creation, L'Europe galante (October 1697) was a huge success. The Duchesse de La Ferté hastened to commission an entertainment (Vénus feste galante, January 1698) from André Campra, then still maître de chapelle at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris; the Académie similarly accepted the project Carnaval de Venise by the librettist Jean-François Regnard, the "best of our comic authors after Molière", who had achieved great success at the Italian and French theatres. It was an opportunity to give pride of place to partying, masks and Italian comedy.

Comparative studies by historians of literature, theatre and music, this book was produced with the help of Rebecca Harris-Warrick, Sylvie Mamy, Laura Naudeix, Sylvie Requemora-Gros and Jean Duron.