(Fr.).
A type of Ballet-héroïque whose plot often turns on the loves of nobles or gods (or goddesses), usually in disguise, for shepherdesses (or shepherds) in Arcadian settings. The tone is sentimental, rather than comic. It could be in several acts (e.g. Rameau’s Acante et Céphise, 1751) or a single entrée or act in a larger work (e.g. Floquet’s ‘La cour d’amour’ in L’union de l’Amour et des arts, 1773).
For bibliography see Opéra-ballet.