Release Date: 12 January 2000
Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 4891030500815
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: Invitation to the Dance
Description
Carl Maria yon Weber (1786 - 1826) Invitation to the DanceAdolphe Adam (1803 - 1856) Excerpts from Act I & Act II ofGiselle Charles Gounod (1818 - 1893) Ballet Music from Faust Leo Delibes (1836 - 1891) Ballet Music from Lakme Amilcare Ponchielli (1834 - 1886) Dance of the Hours from La gioconda Carl Maria von Weber, a cousin ofMozart's wife Constanze, was to suffer a peripatetic childhood, as his father,a musician and actor, among other occupations, travelled or changed from oneinterest to another. He excelled as a pianist and was to win even more lastingreputation as the creator of the first Romantic German opera, DerFreischuetz.Invitation to the Dance, a rondo, waswritten in 1819, originally for the piano. The work offers a simple programme.The dancer first approaches his prospective partner and persuades her to dancewith him. They talk together, their conversation increasing in warmth, and thenthey dance, chatting as they do so. The dance ends; the man thanks the womanand she replies politely; they part and all is over.Weber's programme for the piece is clearenough. Nevertheless it was intended not for the stage but rather for thesalon. It was the French composer Berlioz who orchestrated the work forperformance in Paris as an obligatory divertissement for thelast act of Weber's great German Romantic opera Der Freischuetz, forwhich he had already provided recitative, in place of the original dialogue.French opera had traditionally included ballet, while spoken words were forbiddenon the stage of the Opera. It was to comply with this usage that Berlioz, usinghis own rather than Weber's orchestral forces, made the present orchestralversion to Invitation to the Dance. Possibly the best known use of Weber'swork in ballet is in the Fokin version of the invitation to the Dance, underthe title le spectre de la rose, choreographed for the company of SergeyDyagilev in Paris in 1911, and danced by Karsavinaand Nijinsky. A young girlreturns from the ball, bringing with her a rose, and falling asleep, dreamsthat she is dancing with the rose. The spirit of the rose leaps through thewindow and she awakes.Adolphe Adam, remembered today chiefly asthe composer of Giselle, rather than for any of his many operas or other works,was born in Paris in 1803, the son of a musician who forbade his offspring anyform of musical education and went on to extend this prohibition, having givenway on the first point, to the composition of any work for the stage. Adamacquired his knowledge of music through his own efforts and entered theConservatoire, where he studied the organ under Benoist but later deserted thisinstrument for the harmonium, on which he performed effectively in thefashionable salons of Paris.As a composer Adam won popularity for aseries of works designed for the Opera-Comique and in 1847 opened his ownTheatre National with the notion of encouraging younger composers. The venturewas ill-timed and came to nothing the following years, when politicaldisturbances
Tracklisting
Dariia Lytvishko
Warsaw Po:Wit
Fort Smith Symph:John Jeter
Azulejos Guitar Duo
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop
Alice Di Piazza; Basel Sinfonietta; NDR Bigband; Titus Engel
Anna Alas i Jove; Miquel Villalba
David Childs; Black Dyke Band; Nicholas Childs
