Long-lost art now takes centre stage

New York

POPULAR forms of entertainment can fade from view so thoroughly that they are almost never seen again. Masques. Commedia dell'arte. Decent Hollywood romantic comedy.

But some eventually return. When William Christie and Les Arts Florissants brought André Campra's 1710 Les Fetes Venitiennes to the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Thursday, they offered audiences a rare chance to see an opera-ballet. The genre - a frothy, sometimes louche amalgam of dance and singing - was wildly popular in early 18th century France but then largely disappeared, arousing interest again only in recent decades.