Daphnis et Chloé is a ballet in one act and three scenes by Maurice Ravel described as a "symphonie chorégraphique" (choreographic symphony). The scenario was adapted by Michel Fokine from an eponymous romance by the Greek writer Longus thought to date from around the 2nd century AD. Scott Goddard published a contemporary commentary that discussed the changes to the story that Fokine made to prepare a workable ballet scenario. The story concerns the love between the goatherd Daphnis and the shepherdess Chloé.
At almost an hour long, Daphnis et Chloé is Ravel's longest work. In spite of the ballet's duration, four discernable leitmotifs give musical unity to the score. The music, some of the composer's most passionate, is widely regarded as some of Ravel's best, with extraordinarily lush harmonies typical of the impressionist movement in music. Even during the composer's lifetime, contemporary commentators described this ballet as his masterpiece for orchestra. Ravel extracted music from the ballet to make two orchestral suites, which can be performed with or without the chorus. The second of the suites, which includes much of the last part of the ballet and concludes with the "Danse générale", is particularly popular. When the complete work is itself performed live, it is more often in concerts than in staged productions.
Daphnis et Chloé is a one-act opérette by Jacques Offenbach. The libretto was by Clairville(alias of Louis-François Nicolaïe (1811–1879)) and Jules Cordier (alias of Éléonore Tenaille de Vaulabelle, 1801–1859), based on the story of Daphnis and Chloe. The origin is the novel by Longus adapted as a play at the Théâtre du Vaudeville in 1849.
Performance history
It premiered at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens (Salle Choiseul) on 27 March 1860 under the direction of the composer. In the 1866 revival, Léonce was Pan, with Ugalde as Daphnis; Collas returned as Chloé.
Bacchantes, observed by the statue of Pan, discuss Daphnis, with whom they are all in love. When they have left Pan reveals that he is in pursuit of the shy but proud Chloé, who next enters with a lamb. As she waits for her rendez-vous with Daphnis she insults the listening Pan. Daphnis confesses to Chloé that when he is alone he only thinks of her – she is the same. They decide that what they need is pipes so that when they meet the other shepherds and shepherdesses they can join in the dances; Pan throws a flute in the lap of Daphnis, but it won't play for him. Pan mocks the innocent lovers. When Chloé rushes off to her flock Pan pursues her while Daphnis tries to dream of her.
Saturday’s inaugural concert at the Jacobs MusicCenter downtown had plenty of star power. ActorBD Wong hosted ...Strings have a luster not encountered before in the old venue ... 5” by Villa-Lobos ... The evening ended with Ravel’s “Daphnis et Chloé” Suite no.
Saturday’s inaugural concert at the Jacobs MusicCenter downtown had plenty of star power. ActorBD Wong hosted ...Strings have a luster not encountered before in the old venue ... 28 ... The evening ended with Ravel’s “Daphnis et Chloé” Suite no ... .
Much of it was “useful” music for specific occasions ... It might not do her originality justice to begin with Persephone, a 1929 piece that shows the student Holst absorbing the influences of Stravinsky and, very obviously, Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé ... ....
Finally, there will be Maurice Ravel’s masterpiece “Daphnis et Chloé Suite No ... The ballet tells the simple story of the pastoral lovers Daphnis and Chloé, who are reunited with the help of the god Pan after Chloé is abducted by pirates ... Time ... Tickets ... .
One recalls, almost at random, a 2015 concert featuring a sensuous account of Delius’s In a Summer Garden, followed by a lithe and muscular suite from Ravel’s erotic Daphnis et Chloé, the ecstatic ...
Alison Balsom... Read more ... Intriguing as the Marsalis concerto was, it inevitably paled by comparison with the LSO’s scintillating realisation of Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, in the complete score the composer himself called a “symphonie choréographique” ... .
2 from Ravel’s “Daphnis et Chloé.” ... Zander has been educating musicians (and audiences) for decades ... “Then we go from that immediately into ‘Daphnis et Chloé,’ the most garishly colorful music that has ever been made for a gigantic orchestra ... ....
View image in fullscreen ...Maurice Ravel’s Le tombeau de Couperin – played with impeccable virtuosity and a sense of weightless clarity, follows on from the ensemble’s recent release of the complete ballet Daphnis et Chloé, by the same composer ... .
Any performance you have previously heard of the complete score of Ravel’s ballet Daphnis et Chloé will have been rehearsed amid much cursing, thanks to the state of the published sheet music, a scrawl of errors and inconsistencies.
... heard of the complete score of Ravel ’s ballet Daphnis et Chloé will have been rehearsed amid much cursing, thanks to the state of the published sheet music, a scrawl of errors and inconsistencies.
San Diego Union-Tribune
30 Sep 2024
San Diego Union-Tribune
30 Sep 2024