Les Noces

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Les Noces (English: The Wedding; Russian: Свадебка) by Igor Stravinsky, is a dance cantata, or ballet with vocalists, choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska that was premiered on June 13, 1923, by the Ballets Russes conducted by Ernest Ansermet. Stravinsky first conceived of writing the ballet in 1913. During its long gestation its orchestration changed dramatically. At first conceived for an expanded symphony orchestra similar to that of The Rite of Spring, it went through numerous permutations, including at one point the use of synchronised roll-operated instruments, including the Pianola, but he abandoned that version when it was only partially completed, owing to the tardiness of the Parisian piano firm of Pleyel in constructing the two keyboard cimbaloms, known subsequently as luthéals. Stravinsky finally settled on the following scoring: soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, and bass soloists, mixed chorus, and two groups of percussion instruments – pitched percussion, including four pianos, and unpitched percussion. This orchestration exemplifies Stravinsky's increasing proclivity towards stripped down, clear and mechanistic sound groups in the decade after The Rite, although he would never again produce such an extreme sonic effect solely with percussion. Stravinsky arranged the libretto himself using Russian wedding lyrics taken primarily from Songs Collected by P.V Kireevsky (1911).

It is a work of remarkable originality and power that remains fresh to the ear even today, combining as it does Russian folk-song, irregular rhythms, a modernist or Cubist sensibility, and instrumentation that one reviewer has termed "black and white." It also contains moments of real expressiveness and pathos, not something usually associated with Stravinsky. Its influence may be heard in the works of Phillip Glass, John Adams ("Short Ride in a Fast Machine"), and Leonard Bernstein ("West Side Story.") Yet it is remarkably underrepresented on disk, and is rarely staged, partly because the spare and stark production is somewhat challenging to a typical audience's ear and eye, and also because it calls for four pianos, six percussionists with instruments, a chorus and four vocal soloists, plus a dance ensemble, on a single stage. Also, it is not particularly easy piece; soloists sometimes have to speak/sing dozens of syllables in rapid succession, and at one point the chorus is called upon to shout, "Shch!"

The work is usually performed in Russian, but French and English translations are sometimes used.

[edit] Trivia

Robert Craft recorded the early versions of Les Noces in the early 1970s on a Columbia LP.

The Pokrovsky Ensemble issued a recording with much of the piano writing sequenced via MIDI through Macintosh computers.

However, the idea that it is impossible or difficult to synchronise a Pianola with other instruments is quite erroneous. The première of the 1919 version of Les Noces, with cimbaloms, harmonium and pianola, took place in 1981 in Paris, conducted by Pierre Boulez.