Contemporary Classics September 11, 2018 Paris in the 1920s Dance Part 2

This is the second episode featuring music for ballet from Paris in the 1920s.

Le train bleu is a one-act ballet choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska to music by Darius Milhaud for Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, based on a scenario by Jean Cocteau. The title was taken from the night train called Le Train Bleu, which transported wealthy passengers from Calais to the Mediterranean Sea.   Henri Laurens supplied a Cubist beach scene and Coco Chanel outfitted the cast in sportswear. The curtain was painted after Deux femmes courant sur la plage, a 1922 work by Pablo Picasso.

The ballet was first performed on 20 June 1924 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris.  The work is in 1 movements.

                        

Henri Sauguet  La Chatte    is The 1927 ballet La Chatte (The Cat, or more literally, The She-Cat) that was choreographed by George Balanchine.  And the design (billed as “architecture and sculpture”) by the avant-garde artists Naum Gabo and Antoine Pevsner.  Again the commission was for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes.

The work is in 8 movements following an overture.

Le Bœuf sur le toit, Op. 58 (The Ox on the Roof ) is a surrealist ballet made on a score composed by Darius Milhaud, which was in turn strongly influenced by Brazilian popular music. The title is that of an old Brazilian tango, one of close to 30 Brazilian tunes (choros) quoted in the composition. Scenario by Jean Cocteau, stage designs by Raoul Dufy, and costumes by Guy-Pierre Fauconnet. The premiere was given in February 1920 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and comprised, besides the ballet, pieces by Georges Auric, Francis Poulenc and Erik Satie were performed.

 

Apollo is a neoclassical ballet in two tableaux in 10 movements composed between 1927 and 1928 by Igor Stravinsky who was highly influenced by Lully. The Paris version was premiered June 12, 1928 choreographed by twenty-four-year-old George Balanchine, with the composer contributing the libretto for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. The scenery and costumes were designed by André Bauchant, with new costumes by Coco Chanel in 1929.

The story centres on Apollo, the Greek god of music, who is visited by three Muses: Terpsichore, muse of dance and song; Polyhymnia, muse of mime; and Calliope, muse of poetry.

                 

Aubade (FR 051) a choreographic concerto for piano and 18 instruments, is a work of Francis Poulenc premiered in 1929. It was conceived as a ballet, but is more often played as a chamber piano concerto. The work was premiered as a ballet on 18 June 1929 at the Noailles, which determined the size of the orchestra Poulenc could employ. The choreographer was Bronislava Nijinska. A few months later, it was revived at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in the choreography this time by George Balanchine, which Poulenc disapproved.