The beloved Clair de Lune (Moonlight) is probably the composer’s most celebrated melody. This is a poetic, sensitive evocation of the peace and beauty of a moonlight light. It comes from his Suite bergamasque for piano (1890), where it can be found as the third of four movements. Orchestral transcriptions have made this piece of music world-famous.
The Girl With the Flaxen Hair (La Fille aux cheveux de lin) is an exquisite portrait, in the composer’s most felicitous impressionist style. It is the eighth number of his Preludes for the piano, Book I (1910), and like Clair de lune is often heard in various orchestral transcriptions; Arthur Hartmann’s adaptation for violin and piano is also familiar.
The Petite Suite (Little Suite) for piano duet (1889) is early Debussy, more in the Romantic vein of Delibes than in the provocative idiom Debussy later made famous. As orchestrated by Henri Busser it is in the repertory of many salon and pop orchestras. There are four short movements. The first, “En Bateau” (“In a Boat”) is particularly popular. In the orchestration a gentle barcarolle melody for flute suggests the gentle course of the boat in a placid lake. This is followed by turns by a vigorous episode and a passionate section, both of them for the strings. The flute then restores placidity, and the opening sensitive melody returns in the violins. “Cortège” (“March”) is a pert little march tune shared by the woodwind and strings. “Menuet” is of classic grace while the finale, “Ballet,” has a compelling rhythmic vigor.
Rêverie (1890) is a brief, atmospheric piece for the piano which has became a favorite with Americans because in 1938 it was adapted into the popular song, “My Reverie.”
Léo Delibes
Léo Delibes was born in St. Germain-du-Val, France, on February 21, 1836. After attending the Paris Conservatory from 1848 on, he became an accompanist for the Théâtre Lyrique and organist of the Church of St.-Jean et St.-François in Paris in 1853. Between 1855 and 1865 he wrote a dozen operas, none of them successful. In 1865 he was appointed chorusmaster of the Grand Opéra where he was encouraged to write music for ballet; the first of these was La Source in 1866 (renamed Naila when later given in Vienna). His most successful ballets were Coppélia in 1870 and Sylvia in 1876, both still vital in the repertory. In 1873 his most important opéra-comique, Le Roi l’a Dit, was introduced by the Opéra-Comique; Delibes’ most important opera, Lakmé, was first performed on April 14, 1883 by the Paris Opéra. Meanwhile, in 1881, Delibes was appointed professor of composition at the Conservatory. Three years after that he became a member of the French Academy. He died in Paris on January 16, 1891.
Delibes is often described as the creator of modern ballet music. He was the first composer to write symphonically for the dance, to bring to ballet music the fullest creative and technical resources of the skilled serious composer. Thus he opened a new field of compositions which later composers (Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, and Ravel among many others) cultivated with fertility. The elegance of Delibes’ style, the caressing warmth of his lyricism, the richness of his harmonic and rhythmic language, the delicacy of his orchestration endow his ballet music with interest even when it is divorced from its choreography.
Coppélia is a staple in the classic ballet repertory. It was introduced at the Paris Opéra on May 25, 1870, choreography by A. Saint-Léon, and scenario by C. Nuitter and A. Saint-Léon based upon The Sandman, a story by E. T. A. Hoffmann. Coppélia is the first successful ballet to utilize the subject of a doll become human. Coppélia is a doll created by Dr. Coppélius. She comes to life and gets out of control. Franz, thinking she is human, falls in love with her. But when he realizes she is but a doll he becomes reconciled with his former sweetheart, Swanilda.
Delibes’ score is one of the earliest in ballet to make successful use of such folk dances as the Mazurka and the Czardas; because of his success in this direction, many later composers of ballet music were encouraged to follow suit.
An orchestral suite adapted from the score never ceases to delight audiences at both symphonic and semi-classical concerts. It opens with the “Valse lente,” a suave waltz to which Swanilda dances as she strives to attract the attention of Coppélia, of whom she is jealous. This is followed by the “Mazurka,” a gay episode danced by a group of villagers after Franz has mistaken Coppélia for a human and salutes her. The “Ballade” then comes as a pensive interlude; to this music Swanilda puts a stalk of wheat to her ear, following a long existing superstition, to discover if Franz has been faithful to her. When the answer is in the negative, she breaks the stalk savagely before his very eyes. “Theme Slave Varié” is danced by Swanilda; this section comprises a tuneful Polish melody and five variations. The stately and at times fiery “Czardas” which concludes the first act is a corybantic in which all villagers join. “Valse de la poupée” (or “Dance of the Doll”) is probably the most familiar musical number in the entire ballet, an elegant waltz danced by Swanilda as she assumes the dress, and imitates the actions, of Coppélia.