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The Music of "Fille du Pharaon"


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If the G came after the N then it would be "Poon-jee" which it definately isn't. Do you spell gnocchi with the N before the G? :P

What on Earth does the speling of 'Gnocchi' have to do with this dudes last name?

If it was pronounced "Poon-Yee", the "G" would have to come after the "N", and the spelling would be P-U-N-G-I: thus pronounced "Poon-yee". But its spelled P-U-G-N-I, so it couldnt be pronounced "Poon-yee". So, it must be pronounced "Pooj-nee" unless the letter 'G' is silent often in the Italian language.

Anyway this topic is getting "Stoo-pid".

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In Italian, a G preceding an N makes a "NY" sound. Thus, "Gnocchi" is pronounced something like "Nyokee" and "Pugni" is pronounced "Poon-yee," as we have all been saying. It is similar to the sound in Spanish made by an N with a tilde (~) over it.

Anyone wishing to continue the pronunciation discussion, please start a new thread; this has wandered very far from La Fille du Pharaon.

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FYI: The sourvenir program from the initial Bolshoi Ballet run of LA FILLE DU PHARAON includes an essay by Aleksandr Sotnikov – credited as conductor-co-producer. In short he notes that he found only the music for act I in St. Pete. All t he Bolshoi itself had were the parts for separate instruments. (He notes the Maryinsky’s refusal to let the score out of its hands b/c it was the original copy & considered a rare ms. – it was too fragile to scan or to photocopy.) Connections in France noted materials there, which turned out to be the full score for violin, which were evidently brought out of Russia by an émigré. The Bolshoi’s parts for separate instruments related to the 1864 Moscow perfs. (The Bolshoi Th. also had a piano score, published before the Revolution. “I had to unite this piano score to the full score for violin,” AS writes. When Lacotte arrived in Moscow with his own music version of the ballet, he had a tape recording of the music worked out by a pianist in France, at different tempos. AS says his job was to “combine the piano score, the parts for separate instruments and the full score for violin into a single score.” AS further says that he “collected together all the music, put it into the computer and , thus, the lost score has been resurrected: at the time of writing, all the lost fragments have been fully orchestrated. The style of the music for LA FILLE DUE PHARAON is Cesare Pugni’s style, today no one plays or orchestrates in this way. It seems to me Pugni wrote scores like this due to a lack of musicians. The music for the ballet is very pleasant but strictly speaking, it needs to be rearranged. But if this were done, it would not be Pugni and the atmosphere of the would be lost. I havegiven what amounts to a ‘face lift’ to the score because no one today would be able to play it as written by the composer. Such music is alright for the park, but not for the country’s leading academic theater. To the modern ear it sounds archaic.”

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[donning Moderator's beanie]

The pronunciation debate here has become needlessly contentious. It defies logic (not to mention good manners) that a person posing a question would argue with people who are kind enough to offer answers.

Mel, Hans, FauxPas, Mme. Hermine, and richard53dog have generously tried to share their knowledge here (sorry if I've overlooked anyone else). If that is not enough, the web offers pronuniciation guides. If anyone wants them, search them out.

This thread is for the discussion of the score to "Pharaoh's Daughter." Any posts not related directly to the MUSIC for that ballet will be deleted.

[doffing Moderator's beanie]

editing to add:

There is even a pronunciation guide on this site: http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=12342

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