Walpurgistnacht Ballet Music -- Composer?

[Helene]

I am listening to a Met Opera Guild podcast* of a recording of the late Father Owen Lee's lecture about "Faust," the first opera performed at the Met, and he said that the ballet music that Balanchine set for his "Walpurgisnacht" ballet was incongrous with the rest of the act, and he suspects it was written by Leo Delibes, not Charles Gounod.  He said there is an edition of the manuscript of it in the archives of the L'Opera with Delibes name on it.  It does have a Delibes-like bounce to it.  But he also notes that Delibes may have orchestrated music written by Camille Saint Saens, who was originally hired to write it when Gounod objected to writting the ballet on religious grounds.

*Episode 170 "Talking about Opera: Faust with Father Owen Lee. ~55:32.

[KarenAG]

On 2/28/2021 at 2:04 PM, Helene said:

I am listening to a Met Opera Guild podcast* of a recording of the late Father Owen Lee's lecture about "Faust," the first opera performed at the Met, and he said that the ballet music that Balanchine set for his "Walpurgisnacht" ballet was incongrous with the rest of the act, and he suspects it was written by Leo Delibes, not Charles Gounod.  He said there is an edition of the manuscript of it in the archives of the L'Opera with Delibes name on it.  It does have a Delibes-like bounce to it.  But he also notes that Delibes may have orchestrated music written by Camille Saint Saens, who was originally hired to write it when Gounod objected to writting the ballet on religious grounds.

*Episode 170 "Talking about Opera: Faust with Father Owen Lee. ~55:32.

Thank you, Helene, this is very interesting. Recalling the music, I can hear Delibes. I will either listen to the music today or watch the NYCB performance in Paris.