PIERNÉ Gabriel (1863 - 1937)

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Lot n° 150
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PIERNÉ Gabriel (1863 - 1937)
MUSICAL MANUSCRIT autograph "Gabriel Pierné", Cydalise, 1915; 2 folio notebooks of 22 and 16 pages, plus 2 title sheets. Suite of dances from the ballet Cydalise et le Chèvre-pied, Gabriel Pierné's masterpiece. Cydalise et le Chèvre-pied, ballet in two acts and three tableaux, was composed in 1913-1914, and finished on February 14, 1915. Gabriel Pierné worked on a very nice libretto by Gaston de Caillavet and Robert de Flers, who imagined the return of the old sylvan deities to Versailles, in the time of Louis XIV: "How the little goat-foot Styrax, surprised at the bend of a path in the woods of Ville-d'Avray, arrives at the court of Versailles in a basket of theatrical costumes, how he attends the oriental ballet that is being rehearsed for a royal feast, how he disturbs the beautiful Cydalise and joins her after the dances in her apartment, this is what the librettists show us ; but it is Pierné's music that envelops this gallant tale with an atmosphere that is alternately ironic and tender; it is Pierné's music that gives the fauns and the nymphs this grace of a disturbing modernism on ancient modes - the hypolydian of the dance lesson of the Nymphs (scale of F, with B sharp) - and it is Pierné's music that evokes the memory of Lully and Marc-Antoine Charpentier in the Indian entertainment of the second act" (René Dumesnil). It was not until January 15, 1923 that this ballet, completed in 1915, was performed at the Paris Opera, under the direction of Jacques Rouché, marvelously choreographed by Léo Staats, with sets and costumes by Maxime Dethomas, with Carlotta Zambelli in the role of Cydalise and Albert Aveline in that of Styrax, under the musical direction of Camille Chevillard. Pierné drew two suites for orchestra from this work, which were premiered in 1926 with great success. Long before, in April-May 1915, Pierné made this transcription for two pianos of the dances of Cydalise. The manuscript is written in black ink (and red for the titles) on 24-line paper, in Pierné's very clear, precise and elegant handwriting, just like his music, in two books. La leçon de danse (Thème varié dans le mode hypolydien), marked Modéré, signed and dated at the end "Avril 1915. Paris" (22 pages). Let us quote the libretto: "And now the school of the Nymphs arrives [...] Their governess and the old faun gather their pupils and give them a dance lesson in the Hypolydian mode. Styrax takes the old faun's flask and empties it, so that he gets drunk. Styrax has for dancer the small nymph Mnésilla. By his gambols and his madnesses, he throws the disarray in the rounds". Two Dances. - Dance of Styrax (2nd picture), marked Allegro non troppo, dated at the end "May 1915" (8 pages). This is the finale of the 2nd tableau: "the Captain and the General Farmer congratulate the Ballet Master. Cydalise signals that she is cold. The General Farmer, to seek a mantle, rushes towards the basket, opens it... Styrax springs from it, leaps towards Cydalise and kisses her. Everyone is astonished. The Ballet Master asks him who he is, and Styrax, to the general amazement, starts to dance a frantic dance, in which Cydalise ends up joining. Everyone is won over by this frenetic movement, a general dance during which Cydalise and Styrax embrace each other - embrace so closely that the General Farmer and the Captain intervene and drag Cydalise away. Before leaving, she throws the rose from her belt to Styrax, and Styrax gives her the arrow of Love that he has kept. Styrax raises the rose like a trophy and dances his victory and his joy. All imitate him". - Final of the 3rd tableau, marked Allegretto, well measured and rhythmic, dated at the end "April-May 1915" (8 pages). The booklet indicates that Styrax, in Cydalise's room, discovered "the basket of soft bills. Cydalise invites him to write her one, by handing him a feather. But Styrax does not know how to write. She wants him to read the ones left in the basket. He can't read. What can he do? Play the flute! He plays the panpipes, she dances. Little by little he becomes part of this dance, which becomes amorous, then passionate. She makes him swear to love her always. He swears, on the rose she gave him, never to leave her. They go, embraced, towards the bottom. She opens the window to breathe the morning air: from the bottom of the garden go up the voices of the forest which awakes, Styrax stops, very moved. Cydalise tries to take back Styrax, to move him away from the window. He resists, she insists, she blocks his eyes with her hands. Styrax feels taken again by the voices of the nature. And here is that at the edge of the windows, in the day which rises on the pink sky, appear the faces of the goat-feet and the nymphs. Some jump in the room, the small fauns and dryads fall from the skylights or tumble from the bull's-eyes. They carry branches of roses, rustic flowers
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