# French Ballet



## Huilunsoittaja

Ravel wrote great music for ballets. _Bolero _and _La Valse _come to mind as choreographed _tone poems_. I supremely enjoy _Daphnis et Chloe_, the full work. I've listened to many other excerpts besides what's in the 2 suites, and all of it is really nice. Still, the Suite no. 2 is my favorite compilation: from beginning to end, ecstasy.

Also, I like Dukas' choreographed tone poem _La Peri_:





Otherwise, besides Delibes, I'm not very familiar with French Ballet. Any other great favorites?


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## joen_cph

Yes, "Daphnis & Chloe" and "La Peri" would be my favourites too, together with the quirky Poulenc "Aubade", a bit of a concert piece for piano & ensemble









Ravel´s "Ma Mere L´Oye" also has a lot of wonderful poetry in it: 




and Schmitt´s "La Tragedie de Salome" has been compared to "Sacre", but is earlier:




 (shortened suite without chorus).

The rest I know would probably belong to second tier. Personally, I don´t get Debussy´s "Jeux" that much, often considered a masterpiece, and "Parade" by Satie _is_ rather clownish, for instance.


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## StlukesguildOhio

Check out this unique recording:










It presents two ballets, _L'eventail de Jeanne_ and _Les maries de la Tour Eiffel_ which were the result of a collaboration between several composers including: Milhaud, Poulenc, Ravel, Auric, Ibert, Roussel, Honneger, Ferroud, Tailleferre, Delannoy, Schmitt and Roland-Manuel.

Personally, I love the French Baroque and there are a good number of ballets to be found there... as well as hybrids of opera/ballet. This is one particular favorite:


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## Selby

Darius Milhaud's "jazzy" ballets La Création du monde and Le Boeuf sur le toit are both fantastic.

I will say, however, I know them by their orchestration and have never seen them choreographed and performed _as_ ballets.

While typing this I found Le Bœuf sur le toit at: 



 - haven't watched it yet though.


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## PetrB

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Ravel wrote great music for ballets. _Bolero _and _La Valse _come to mind as choreographed _tone poems_. I supremely enjoy _Daphnis et Chloe_, the full work. I've listened to many other excerpts besides what's in the 2 suites, and all of it is really nice. Still, the Suite no. 2 is my favorite compilation: from beginning to end, ecstasy.
> 
> Also, I like Dukas' choreographed tone poem _La Peri_:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Otherwise, besides Delibes, I'm not very familiar with French Ballet. Any other great favorites?


Ravel's re-orchestrations of the two suites from Daphnis et Chloe are masterly (combined, they are nearly the complete ballet), but even he could not get around the absence of the full chorus (wordless) which is an integral part of the original full-length piece. The chorus is used as yet an additional instrumental section of an already very large orchestra. You're cutting yourself short, imho, as well as slighting the piece, to not give yourself the real pleasure of hearing it in its original scoring, the full length version.




[An early and still wonderful recording, available and budget, is: Boston Symphony, Charles Munch conducting.]

I very much like Satie's Parade, and have seen a few (tantalizing) vintage clips of the original production, Léonide Massine (who choreographed the ballet) as the Chinese Magician, etc. This cubist / surreal / dadaist stage work has no plot, outlandish sculptural costumes by Picasso, and was commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev for the Ballet Russes, performed first in Paris.

The score is _a delight_, highly episodic, subversive in its twists and turns, uses also a typewriter, a pistol, a siren, and there is no real plot. I think it is brilliant as well as fun. I also like Satie's Relache, and Mercure, though I have no idea of what the staging was like.
[One of the best recorded performances I've heard of this, to date, remains the one done by Maurice Abravanel, the Utah Symphony (Satie, orchestral works, a two CD set)]

Debussy's L'apres midi d'un faune is still done, perhaps as an almost archival bit of programming, the piece picked up and made into a brief ballet by the Ballet Russes, that choreography by Nijinsky, who danced the lead role. Jeux I believe a musical masterwork, but the storyline of that is a love triangle between three people, played out on a tennis court !  ?

Poulenc's Les Biches, which I only know in the form of the suite made by the composer, is a fine score, lively, playful, tuneful, alternately ebullient, a bit melancholic, etc. Yet another commissioned by Diaghilev, the choreography was by Bronislava Nijinska. The original full score used an offstage chorus -- I believe as a theatrical surprise, vs an integral part of the complete scoring -- not present in the suite.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_biches





I think Poulenc's Aubade another amazing piece of music, just recommended it in the "this one, that one," thread of Ingenue's. (page 5, #65 -- links provided)
http://www.talkclassical.com/27160-we-all-know-one-5.html

Dukas, _La Péri_ is another very fine score.


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## Neo Romanza

Two of my favorite French ballets, besides Ravel's, are Roussel's _Le festin de l'araignée_ and _Bacchus et Ariane_. Absolutely first-rate works.


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## QuietGuy

I wholeheartedly agree. Daphnis et Chloe is what my idea of what heaven must sound like.


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## Art Rock

Going back to the 19th century, we have an absolute classic in addition to Delibes: 
Adam - Giselle


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## KJ von NNJ

Hello everyone,

I'm new to the site but I wanted to share my enthusiasm for Delibes's Coppelia. I listened to it today. The Bonynge, National Symphony Orchestra, Decca recording. All genres of classical music appeal to me and ballet music is one of the forms that enables me to get things done. If you ask what I mean, it is simply that I can do other things while I am listening to it. The problem is, that some ballet scores are so good that all I want to do is listen. My favorites are Coppelia, Giselle and Swan Lake. I am also a fan of Vitezslav Novak's two ballet-pantomimes Nikotina and Signorina Gioventu. There are a few more that I can talk about based on my listening over the years.


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## jegreenwood

I've recommended this before.

https://www.amazon.com/New-York-City-Ballet-Paris/dp/B06XWVVN64

Jerome Robbins' _Faun_ is also worth watching.

I'll be seeing Balanchine's _Coppelia_ in the spring.


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## Pugg

KJ von NNJ said:


> Hello everyone,
> 
> I'm new to the site but I wanted to share my enthusiasm for Delibes's Coppelia. I listened to it today. The Bonynge, National Symphony Orchestra, Decca recording. All genres of classical music appeal to me and ballet music is one of the forms that enables me to get things done. If you ask what I mean, it is simply that I can do other things while I am listening to it. The problem is, that some ballet scores are so good that all I want to do is listen. My favorites are Coppelia, Giselle and Swan Lake. I am also a fan of Vitezslav Novak's two ballet-pantomimes Nikotina and Signorina Gioventu. There are a few more that I can talk about based on my listening over the years.


Bonynge and ballet music lover , always nice to see another fan.
Welcome.


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