Leaving it to the Imagination and the Beauty of Music
World-renowned French Composer, Pianist, and Conductor Maurice Ravel is known widely for his beautifully developed and romantic orchestrations and has succeeded at placing his name on the list of the world’s greatest and most impactful composers. Composing famous, commonly practiced pieces such as Pictures at an Exhibition, Bolero, and Pavane, Ravel has managed to have a lasting impact on classical music and the orchestrations we hear today. Yet one of the lesser known of his most successful pieces is his longest composition known as “Daphnis et Chloe”, which tells the 3-part story of two lovers in the form an hour long ballet written for the Ballets Russes, which coincidentally performed Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” just a year later. What is most interesting about this orchestration, is the fact that it’s premiere proved to show its failure as a ballet and rather, shine light on the beauty of the third and final part.
In an article written on the 50-year anniversary of “Daphnis et Chloe”, Allen Hughes explains the grasp that this romantic modern French composition continues to hold, even though “the music did not turn out to be ideal for the ballet”. Later, Hughes elaborates on this, stating that “the composition score is too long to be played frequently” but spends almost the entirety of the rest of the article explaining the beauty of the few full performances given and recorded for future audiences.
Overall, Hughes acknowledges the original 1912 Paris premiere’s failure as a Ballet, but continues to shine a light on its “controlled excitement” and how “its colors are vivid and bright, its exoticism fresh and its propulsive rhythms… more compelling than ever”. This acknowledgement of the true beauty of this piece shows why it succeeded in maintaining its name today with its famously performed “Daphnis et Chloe: Suite №2” (A shorter version almost identical to the original third part). Yet, while the piece proved to not be great for that of a ballet, the full original orchestration has a lovely development that is rare to experience first hand.
In the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra’s summary of Ravel’s piece, it elaborates on the storyline of “Daphnis et Chloe”, giving the audience a picture in their head for when listening to the full piece in all its glory, since most often than not, the piece is performed without a ballet to portray it. The first part (0:00–26:21) is the introduction, developing the love connection between the Daphnis and Chloe, only to have it halted by the abduction of Chloe by Pirates. The second part (26:21–39:46) opens very eerily as it tells the story of Pan scaring the Pirates and getting Chloe back. Finally, in the third part, Chloe is brought back to Daphnis where they dance together madly in love and are married in a celebratory grand finale.
Listening to this piece is something that some could argue allows you to transcend with the beautiful swells and dips of the strings and rich brass. One article online describes the piece as “a vast, sensuous dreamscape of shimmering colors and hypnotic motion”, which can be largely heard in the first and final part. One of the most well-known sections of “Daphnis et Chloe” is the middle of the third part or “Pantomime (Les amours de Pan et Syrinx)” (47:07) with the famous flute solo picturing the two back in each others arms again. This grand entrance of the flute from the quiet plucks of the lower strings develops into a dramatically romantic love song that tears at one’s hearts strings. This solo is the embodiment of the beauty of this piece in almost 2 minutes.
While it is very difficult to find any large primary sources that portray what audience members originally thought of the premiere of this piece (for it was right between the Stravinsky’s two largest premieres), one can infer that the music caught the attention of those in the audience rather than the ballet itself. In the article by Hughes, he explains how easy it is for one to have “blurred fuzziness” because of the way the piece seems to always continue without any clear endings. This might be a reason why the full hour-long composition is rarely played.
What truly baffles me is why the original intended ballet failed and only the music prevailed. The story behind this orchestration is inexplicably beautiful with its one of a kind love story. Yet, it raises the question why audience members would rather picture the story themselves than allow for a beautifully choreographed ballet right in front of them. Does the final part of “Daphnis et Chloe” have a greater effect without a visual aspect to it? Would the premiere back in 1912 be more successful if there was no ballet? Would it have still succeeded if the piece was not as long, if only a third of it is played today anyways?
There is a multitude of questions that arise when taking into consideration the failed ballet that this world-renowned orchestration was born from, yet I feel as though this is one of Ravel’s greatest compositions. In Hughes’ article, he even states that some of the best recordings of the piece allow for :the marvelous colors of Ravel’s superb instrumentation [to] remain clear and functional”. Regardless of the success of the original format, this piece still proves to be one of the most beautiful pieces performed for live audiences, with splendid lyrical lines and beautiful imagery achieved even without the guided hand of ballet.
Sources:
“YOUNG AT FIFTY: ‘Daphnis et’ Chloe’ Is Still a Major Adornment of Modern French Music” by Allen Hughes
“Daphnis and Chloe: About this piece” by Meg Ryan: https://www.laphil.com/musicdb/pieces/287/daphnis-and-chloe
[Time Stamps and Music Interpretations]: ““Daphnis and Chloe”: Ravel’s Shimmering ‘Symphonie Chorégraphique’” by Timothy Judd: https://thelistenersclub.com/2019/06/05/daphnis-and-chloe-ravels-shimmering-symphonie-choregraphique/
Picture of Daphnis and Chloe in Ballet: https://pixels.com/featured/daphnis-et-chloe-ballet-composed-by-ravel-unknown.html
