The resurgence of baroque music in the twentieth century, particularly the music of seventeenth-century France, has boosted interest in a traditionally neglected yet important part of Molière's work: his twelve comédies-ballets. It is high time to remind ourselves that 40 per cent of his output consists of works which combine the spoken word with the arts of music and dance.

In truth this new composite genre created by Molière, a genre which encompasses such a diversity of productions, has an unlikely look about it. Not only is it impossible to classify it or codify its rules with any precision, but even its name is problematic. We call it comédie-ballet, but this term (a poor fit, as it downplays the role of music) was imposed only in the eighteenth century; Molière used the term only once - in his edition of Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (1671) - and then in quite special circumstances: not in order to draw attention to the presence of the three arts throughout the comedy, but precisely because the comedy was followed by a ballet, the Ballet des nations, inserted at the end of the spectacle. In the seventeenth century, gazetteers, chroniclers and publishers were puzzled by this strange genre and uncertain what to call it; they most often used an expression which listed the three arts while giving precedence to comedy; thus Le Malade imaginaire, published after the death of Molière (who, with the exception of Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, always sent his comédies-ballets to the publishers as comédies), was entitled 'comédie melée de musique et de danse' ['comedy mingled with music and dance'].