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Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx (d.c.1587) was an Italian violinist whose Ballet Comique de la Reine, first performed at the Louvre in 1581, is generally regarded as the first ballet. The performance was a five-and-a-half hour interpretation of the legends regarding the mythological enchantress Circe performed to celebrate the marriage of Joyeuse and Marguerite of Lorraine. He was a valet de chambre of both King and Queen, as the title page of his published account says. He seems to have often acted as producer of this and other of Catherine de' Medici's court festivals.
