Giselle question

[fandango]

I love listening to or watching Giselle, and my ear gets used to the melodies for various parts. Recently I was surprised by a change in the melody for Albrecht's entrance in Act 2. Usually it is an oboe solo, but the oboe had been replaced by a cello, and the melody sounded as though it might have been harmony for what I had thought was the original.

Can anyone explain where the cello and different melody might have originated?

[phenby]

I love listening to or watching Giselle, and my ear gets used to the melodies for various parts. Recently I was surprised by a change in the melody for Albrecht's entrance in Act 2. Usually it is an oboe solo, but the oboe had been replaced by a cello, and the melody sounded as though it might have been harmony for what I had thought was the original.

Can anyone explain where the cello and different melody might have originated?

I cannot address the specifics of your instance but here follows the general situation.

During the 18th and 19th centuries ballet scores were typically only published in piano reductions, if at all.

Orchestral scores could only be obtained by having a copyist create a duplicate score: time-consuming and expensive. As an alternative it was often cheaper and more expediant to have someone create a new orchestration based on the published piano reduction.

I believe Adam's orchestration of Giselle remained unpublished until the 1920's when the composer/conductor, Henri Busser, prepared an edition for publication. Busser's edition contained all manner of 'improvements': the era of musically authentic texts was yet to come. Most of the recordings I have heard seem to use Busser's text. One notable exception was a recording by Bonynge which went back to Adam's original orchestration. Despite the availability of Busser's edition for these many years, a number of productions used commissioned orchestrations. That can avoid royalty fees. Constant Lambert was responsible for one such orchestration.

PHENBY

[fandango]

It seems to be mostly ABT's productions that do this. The one I can put my hands on immediately is the Fracci Bruhn DVD, with John Lanchbery and the Orchester der Deutchen oper Berlin. There is another ABT DVD with the same cello; and last year's productions were the same. Giselle is on the calendar for next month and I wonder if it will be the same.

I love listening to or watching Giselle, and my ear gets used to the melodies for various parts. Recently I was surprised by a change in the melody for Albrecht's entrance in Act 2. Usually it is an oboe solo, but the oboe had been replaced by a cello, and the melody sounded as though it might have been harmony for what I had thought was the original.

Can anyone explain where the cello and different melody might have originated?

I cannot address the specifics of your instance but here follows the general situation.

During the 18th and 19th centuries ballet scores were typically only published in piano reductions, if at all.

Orchestral scores could only be obtained by having a copyist create a duplicate score: time-consuming and expensive. As an alternative it was often cheaper and more expediant to have someone create a new orchestration based on the published piano reduction.

I believe Adam's orchestration of Giselle remained unpublished until the 1920's when the composer/conductor, Henri Busser, prepared an edition for publication. Busser's edition contained all manner of 'improvements': the era of musically authentic texts was yet to come. Most of the recordings I have heard seem to use Busser's text. One notable exception was a recording by Bonynge which went back to Adam's original orchestration. Despite the availability of Busser's edition for these many years, a number of productions used commissioned orchestrations. That can avoid royalty fees. Constant Lambert was responsible for one such orchestration.

PHENBY

[Solor]

I love listening to or watching Giselle, and my ear gets used to the melodies for various parts. Recently I was surprised by a change in the melody for Albrecht's entrance in Act 2. Usually it is an oboe solo, but the oboe had been replaced by a cello, and the melody sounded as though it might have been harmony for what I had thought was the original.

Can anyone explain where the cello and different melody might have originated?

I cannot address the specifics of your instance but here follows the general situation.

During the 18th and 19th centuries ballet scores were typically only published in piano reductions, if at all.

Orchestral scores could only be obtained by having a copyist create a duplicate score: time-consuming and expensive. As an alternative it was often cheaper and more expediant to have someone create a new orchestration based on the published piano reduction.

I believe Adam's orchestration of Giselle remained unpublished until the 1920's when the composer/conductor, Henri Busser, prepared an edition for publication. Busser's edition contained all manner of 'improvements': the era of musically authentic texts was yet to come. Most of the recordings I have heard seem to use Busser's text. One notable exception was a recording by Bonynge which went back to Adam's original orchestration. Despite the availability of Busser's edition for these many years, a number of productions used commissioned orchestrations. That can avoid royalty fees. Constant Lambert was responsible for one such orchestration.

PHENBY

I have heard this to fandango - the different cello solo accompanying Albrecht's entrance. What staging did you see/hear this?

The original 1841 Adolphe Adam 'Entrance of Albrecht' (or occasionally its 'Entrance of Albrecht and Wilfred' as in the Mariinsky staging) is orchestrated for solo clarinet, which then leads into cello solo. I believe the music that you heard where the entire number is played for solo cello, with a variation on the melody, is John Lanchbery's reorchestration/revision of the Adam score, done for ABT in the 1970s. Anybody know why Lanchbery ever revised the score? Is the Lanchbery revised version still in use by ABT? I know of 1 recording where snippets from Act II are presented in Lanchbery's revision, on a CD called "Homage a la Pavlova" with the Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec conducted by Simon Streatfeild.

The Mariinsky's score I believe is the version that has been in use since Imperial times, which was orchestrated by Minkus. The passsage in question is the same as the orignal Adam in that version.

Hey Phenby, where did you come by your info? Thats very good stuff! Was there not some publication done some years ago concerning the 'journey' of Adam's score since 1841? I did not know that there was any type of 'royalty situation' going on with Adam's score.....thats very interesting.

I was wondering if anyone has heard the recording of GISELLE on the label Capriccio played by the Orchestra of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, conducted by Sir Neville Marriner (here a link to it -

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002J88S...v=glance&n=5174 ) What version is performed in this recording?

[fandango]

As of last year, ABT was using the cello solo. In June I am attending this year's ABT Giselle and will report back.

I do know that Richard Bonynge's recording of Giselle, which I thought was supposed to be the most representative of Adam's score, with original repeats, does have the oboe. At least it sounds like an oboe to me. If it is a clarinet it fooled me.

Thanks, Solor and Phenby.

[leonid17]

I cannot address the specifics of your instance but here follows the general situation.

During the 18th and 19th centuries ballet scores were typically only published in piano reductions, if at all.

Orchestral scores could only be obtained by having a copyist create a duplicate score: time-consuming and expensive. As an alternative it was often cheaper and more expediant to have someone create a new orchestration based on the published piano reduction.

I believe Adam's orchestration of Giselle remained unpublished until the 1920's when the composer/conductor, Henri Busser, prepared an edition for publication. Busser's edition contained all manner of 'improvements': the era of musically authentic texts was yet to come. Most of the recordings I have heard seem to use Busser's text. One notable exception was a recording by Bonynge which went back to Adam's original orchestration. Despite the availability of Busser's edition for these many years, a number of productions used commissioned orchestrations. That can avoid royalty fees. Constant Lambert was responsible for one such orchestration.

PHENBY

I understand that the only published orchestral score(in the style of Adam) available is that which was revised and arranged by Henri Busser (for the Paris Opera revival staged by Nikolai Sergeyev) and published in 1924. Given the work he carries out, as a basis, Busser could have used the piano version published in 1841 by chez Meissonnier, Aîné et Companie, Rue Saint-Rome, No 28 Au Mont Vesuve en Paris, or perhaps Sergeyev provided some sort of score. The Busser score includes the interpolations by Burgmuller(in 1841) and Minkus(in 1884) and standard changes as they were fully part of the Giselle(Coralli/Perrot/Petipa) returning to Paris, via the Russian performing tradition. I did handle a published score at a London Sotheby's sale that was used by Pavlova that had annotations by Cecchetti. I am sorry to say I was not quite so interested in matters of musical editions then, as I am now and will have to check the catalogue to see who published that version. We know from Adam's memoirs that he. "... completed the sketches in 8 days and the full score for Giselle in just three weeks.". Is it likely that his orchestral manuscript exists?

[fandango]

Hmmm, here is a new twist. In the above-cited CD (Neville Marriner and Academ of St. Martin in the Fields)the instrument playing is a wind instrument--sounds more like flute than oboe to me, but my ear is unable to tell the difference. However, the melody is what I will call the "alternate" melody, played by the cello in the ABT versions. This "alternate" melody is the one that has a half-step interval between the first and second notes, rather than the 6th interval. The CD insert is not helpful in clarifying anything from an orchestral point of view.

[phenby]

Hey Phenby, where did you come by your info? Thats very good stuff! Was there not some publication done some years ago concerning the 'journey' of Adam's score since 1841? I did not know that there was any type of 'royalty situation' going on with Adam's score.....thats very interesting.

Solor:

There is nothing more complicated in the world right now than the international music copyright situation. Most of the western countries subscribe to the Bern Convention, which guarantees that all materials copyrighted in the participating nations will be granted the same protection in each country accorded to its own citizens. The problem occurs in that every nation has a different set of copyright laws. Some countries have extended copyright terms to absurd lengths (the USA for instance). At the other extreme some have very limited terms (Italy for instance). So the question is not always IF a given piece is still under copyright, but rather WHERE it is still under copyright.

At the moment the term of musical copyright in the United States is 'frozen' at about 1923. Most music published before that is now in public domain (there are exceptions). The Busser edition of Giselle would still be under copyright in the US, probably also France and England, probably not Germany and Italy (these are guesses).

Adam's original score is definitely not under copyright. Anyone who can gain access to the Paris Opera Library can make a copy of it. But if someone chooses to publish a new 'edition' then that 'edition' would be under copyright. By definition an 'edition' must add or change something in the original text.

No changes, no edition, no copyright, NO ROYALTIES!

I do know a couple of publishers have put out 'suites' from Giselle since the Busser edition. Again, these are 'editions' which make some changes. I've never heard of a publication of the complete score other than the Busser edition. If I can ever regain access to my research archives (in storage since the renovation of my house began a year ago) I'll send a list if there's interest.

I'm not familiar with any study dealing with the score of Giselle, but have not kept up with academic publishing much in the last ten years so perhaps something has been done.

As for my sources, well .... I grew up with training in both ballet and music. When I moved to NYC in the mid-70s I became the majordomo of a wealthy balletomane who dreamed of creating a museum devoted to ballet. The private collection of materials, both published and manuscirpt, was vast and for several years I consumed its contents in the process of cataloging the collection. Alas, the ballet museum never came to fruition, its materials dispersed in the 1990's.

By the way, Leonid, I was also authenticating a few Pavlova scores for Sotheby's in the 1970's. I wish I'd paid more attention to them.

PHENBY

[fandango]

Hey Solor and Phenby, I think you nailed it. Here is my guess: the Lanchbery edition is a variation that is, yes, still (as of tonight) used by ABT. I also heard the same melody in the St. Martin of the Fields audio recording, which was NOT attributed to Lanchbery but oh well. I have not experienced it live at the ABT productions as well as on their DVDs.

I prefer the other one--is it really clarinet and not oboe?

[fandango]

Okay, I saw Giselle at the Met with ABT. The Albrecht entrance was the cello melody.

I asked one of the orchestra members about the different melodies. She checked with the conductor, and told me Monday night that...are we ready for this...the conductor said that BOTH melodies are in the original piano score. I think I need to see this one for myself. My source also said that Boyal Ballet used the cello melody until about 10 years ago.

So, my next question is, how does one get to see the original piano score? Is it in Paris? Where?

[Paul Parish]

It was not unusual for Lanchberry to cobble some music together -- he did this for Ashton all the time, when he was at the Royal Ballet, before coming to ABT --e.g., most notably for La Fille Mal Gardee -- see David Vaughan's "Frederick Ashton and His Ballets", p304 -- but also he put together/orchestrated/cut/pasted scores for Marguerite and Armande and A Month in the Country, I believe. I've heard he got his start playing piano for silent movies, which similarly, of course, used music as needed to suit the action.

Indeed, it's kind of the norm for the score to be whatever the choreographer needs. Petipa's working-score notes on Sleeping Beauty (I heard Roland John Wiley, the foremost authority, read a lecture on this, and this section he intoned gleefully, like a hilarous litany) "Too long -Cut! cut, too long, cut, cut, cut, too long."

So there's no point asking WHY Lanchberry did this; the answer is surely because either he or the person who was setting the ballet (Macmillan? wonder who?) or both, thought the production needed that effect. The questioj is why the person STAGING the ballet wanted it.....

[fandango]

Adam's original score is definitely not under copyright. Anyone who can gain access to the Paris Opera Library can make a copy of it.

How does one gain access to Paris Opera Library?

[phenby]

Adam's original score is definitely not under copyright. Anyone who can gain access to the Paris Opera Library can make a copy of it.

How does one gain access to Paris Opera Library?

I see my quoted words are a bit of an overstatement. Non-copyright materials in the collections of the French National Libraries (of which the Paris Opera Library is a branch) may be copied by the staff after the payment of the service fee. Otherwise research is reduced to making notes in paper and pencil.

To gain access to the library you must apply well in advance of your visit. You must list your academic qualifications, materials you wish to examine, and the purpose of your research. The first step is a letter (en Francais) to the director. I have not been for several years and I'm told these days this can be done by e-mail.

Pierre Vidal, directeur

Bibliothèque-Musée de l’Opéra

8, rue Scribe

75009 Paris

France

bibliotheque-musee-opera@bnf.fr

After you'vre received permission and you're in Paris you take the letter to the central library where a library card will be issued. Again, I'm told this part may also now be accomplished by e-mail.

The web site with instructions will be found at www.bnf.fr

Good luck!

PHENBY

[fandango]

I have located an "original" Busser piano score. Maybe it would be cheaper to get that one than to try and go to Paris...

[fandango]

The original Busser score has what I call the oboe melody (half step between the first two notes) for Albrecht's entrance.

In St. Martin of the Fields, the "alternate" melody is played with an oboe.

Colorado Ballet recently had a rendition in which the oboe was used for Albrecht's entrance, but it was the "alternate" melody. I do not know the origin of the orchestra score.

My thought is that it is a copyright issue, and thanks to all for your informative comments.

[fandango]

oops I misspoke. The "original" oboe melody is not a half step between the first 2 notes, but a 6th or 7th. The "alternate" melody is the half step.

There is also a variation in the final pdd melody I have noted in some productions, including the Colorado Ballet Giselle.