"Les Sylphides" Question

[Solor]

I was sampeling recordings of "Les Sylphides" on Amazon.com. I came across one that had the ballet in the arrangement of Glazunov (who had originally orchestrated the Chopin music for the 1909 premiere) and I found tunes I had never heard before. This music is available with a recording of "The Nutcracker". Heres the link to it -

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=samples#disc_1

what is this music? I have never a seen a "Les Sylphides" with this music included.

[Mel Johnson]

That's not "Les Sylphides". That's the older suite "Chopiniana", which title is sometimes used by Russian and other companies for "Les Sylphides".

[MinkusPugni]

That's not "Les Sylphides".  That's the older suite "Chopiniana", which title is sometimes used by Russian and other companies for "Les Sylphides".

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

"Chopiniana" is "Les Sylphides" just not the one most companies perform today. It is Fokine's original one but he redid it to show us what we see today.

[rg]

in haste, i BELIEVE the genesis of 'our' LES SYLPHIDES began with m.fokine's coming across a copy of a suite of chopin pieces orchestrated by glazunov. (it is this suite, i think, that was recorded as filler on the naxos NUTCRACKER cd.) fokine worked with this original suite (or some version of it) for what's often now called CHOPINIANA, 1st version, in dance history. then he proceeded to remake the first version variously with additonal composers brought in to orchestrate the chopin he wanted included along the way, most notably i think after glazunov, maurice keller, alexander taneyev and later stravinsky.

lynn garafola's DIAGHILEV'S BALLETS RUSSES (oxford hardcover reprinted paper) has an excellent appendix of fokine ballets including a good rundown of the various CHOPINANAs up until the later version, rechristened LES SYLPHIDES by serge diaghilev was first presented in paris in 1909.

[Solor]

Is there any recording that anyone knows of of Stravinsky's orchestrations of Chopin's music in "Les Sylphides"?

[Mel Johnson]

Stravinsky only arranged one of the movements, and without a detailed search, I can't say which one. Diaghilev wanted the suite to be all-Chopin, but each movement arranged by a different musician.