Ravel – Daphnis et Chloé, Suite n°2 (Seiji Ozawa)
Set design by Léon Bakst for the world premiere of the ballet Daphnis et Chloé (music by Maurice Ravel), Paris 1912.
Daphnis et Chloé is a ballet with music by Maurice Ravel. Ravel described it as a “symphonie choréographique” (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.[1] The story concerns the love between the goatherd Daphnis and the shepherdess Chloé. The ballet is in one act and three scenes.
Ravel began work on the score in 1909 after a commission from Sergei Diaghilev. It was premiered at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris by his Ballets Russes on June 8, 1912. The orchestra was conducted by Pierre Monteux, the choreography was by Michel Fokine, and Vaslav Nijinsky and Tamara Karsavina danced the parts of Daphnis and Chloe. Léon Bakst designed the original sets.
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.[1][2] 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.[3] 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.
Structure
Part I
- Introduction et Danse religieuse
- Danse générale
- Danse grotesque de Dorcon
- Danse légère et gracieuse de Daphnis
- Danse de Lycéion
- Danse lente et mystérieuse des Nymphes
Part II
- Introduction
- Danse guerrière
- Danse suppliante de Chloé
Part III
- Lever du jour
- Pantomime (Les amours de Pan et Syrinx)
- Danse générale (Bacchanale)
In popular culture
Music
Trumpeter Harry James, in his 1942 arrangement of Eric Coates‘s By the Sleepy Lagoon, made use of the “Lever du jour” from Daphnis et Chloé for its opening theme.[4]
The title song (“You can see forever”) from the musical On a clear day is based on the “Dawn” passage in the second Suite from Daphnis et Chloé.[citation needed]
Sports
In 2002 American figure skater Sarah Hughes won an Olympic gold medal skating to selections from Daphnis et Chloé at the XIX Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
