[playful classical music]
[ambient ballroom sounds]
Female Narrator: Everyone who was anyone in Rome attended the ball to celebrate the birth of a French royal heir in 1751. The French ambassador, the duc de Nivernais, staged the event in the Palazzo Farnese, transforming a cavernous empty space into an ornate, but ephemeral, ballroom. All the opulence you see - from the crystal chandeliers to the sumptuously decorated walls - were temporary, installed for just this one occasion.
[music ends]
Here’s how the Roman newspaper at the time described it.
[concert tuning]
[applause]
Male Actor with Italian Accent: “Everyone was in gala attire, wearing richly made masquerade dress but without covering the face. Particularly the ladies … were wearing precious fabrics and silks. … The ball was opened by the wife of the Ambassador of Venice with the Ambassador of France.”
Female Narrator: You can see the French ambassador at the far end of the dance floor. Facing him, with her back to the viewer, is the Venetian ambassador’s wife in a splendid yellow gown. In the foreground, the musicians are poised to start playing.
[conductor tapping baton]
