SCHMITT FLORENT (1870-1958) - Lot 207

Lot 207
Go to lot
Estimation :
1500 - 2000 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 1 560EUR
SCHMITT FLORENT (1870-1958) - Lot 207
SCHMITT FLORENT (1870-1958) autograph musical manuscript signed "Florent S.", Kermesse-Valse, op. 80; 42 pages large in-fol. in strong paper cover (cracks to a few leaves and edges a bit frayed; some tears to cover). Finale for the collective ballet L'Éventail de Jeanne. This ballet was composed for the patron Jeanne DUBOST by ten of her composer friends: Maurice Ravel, Pierre-Octave Ferroud, Jacques Ibert, Roland-Manuel, Marcel Delannoy, Albert Roussel, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc, Georges Auric and Florent Schmitt. Darius Milhaud tells, in Ma vie heureuse : "In order to thank Jeanne Dubost for the good times she gave us, Auric, Poulenc, Ravel, Roussel and Florent Schmitt decided to surprise her ; we each wrote a little dance which we had performed in her salon by the little rats of the Opéra ; [....] Marie Laurencin, personal friend of Jeanne Dubost, took care of the decor as well as the organdy costumes and feather headdresses. It was such a delightful show that M. Rouché decided to mount it at the Opera". This ballet was created at the home of René and Jeanne Dubost, in their hotel on the Avenue d'Iéna, on June 16, 1927, by six children and a ballerina, Alice Bourgat, who had choreographed the piece with Yvonne Franck, with costumes and scenery by Marie Laurencin. The small orchestral ensemble was directed by Roger Désormière. For the revival at the Opera, on March 4, 1929, in Marie Laurencin's costumes, sets were ordered to Pierre Legrain and René Moulaert; in the choreography of Yvonne Franck and Alice Bourgat, the students of the school of Dance surrounded young ballerinas: Tamara Toumanova, Marcelle Bourgat, Odette Joyeux, Yvette Chauviré, etc. The orchestra was directed by J.-E. Szyfer, and some pieces had been re-orchestrated. Florent-Schmitt's Kermesse-Valse is the last piece in this medley of ten short pieces, and serves as the fi nal to the ballet, which opened with Ravel's Fanfare. This is the version for large orchestra reworked for the Opera: small flute, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones and tuba, 3 kettledrums, military drum (and Basque drum), triangle, cymbals, bass drum, harp, and strings. For this final dance, Schmitt takes a carnival waltz composed in 1903 and turns it into a shimmering and lively general dance, colored by all the timbres of the orchestra, in D to 3/4, Animé, with a central episode Moins vite and À l'aise, in which slight reminders of Ravel's La Valse pass. The manuscript is written in Schmitt's tiny and precise handwriting, in black ink and pencil, on large sheets of paper Lard-Esnault B.F.K. Rives with 30 lines; annotated with red and blue pencils, it served as a conductor for the performances at the Opéra. On the cover, in red and blue, Florent Schmitt has listed the modified parts; he recommends that performers be warned before beginning the ballet to take a look at their parts. DISCOGRAPHY Geoff rey Simon, Philharmonia Orchestra (Chandos 2005).
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue