Abstracts
Abstract
This article investigates music−dance (and design) interplay and balletic challenges in Daphnis et Chloé, focusing upon the Ravel−Ashton−Craxton production for The Royal Ballet (1951, revived in 2004), in comparison with the Ravel−Fokine−Bakst original of 1912. Sources drawn upon include accessible choreographic materials of Frederick Ashton (1904−88), held at the Royal Opera House Archives in London, as well as first-hand correspondence with the designer John Craxton (1922−2009). In order to explore the main music−dance relationships and emergent meanings, the study engages with multimedia ideas founded upon “consonance” and “dissonance” (Albright 2000), supported by music analytical (Cook 2001; 1998) and conceptual blending approaches (Fauconnier and Turner 2002). Particular moments from the ballet are selected for interpretation and, moving beyond rather over-simplified oppositions of unity versus independence or consonance versus dissonance, a case is made for complexes, transformation, and plurality.
Résumé
Dans cet article, nous examinerons l’entrecroisement de la musique et de la danse (et de la scénographie) et commenterons les défis que pose Daphnis et Chloé, avec une attention particulière sur la production Ravel-Ashton-Craxton du Royal Ballet (1951, reprise en 2004) en comparaison avec la production originale Ravel-Fokine-Bakst de 1912. Les sources ayant servi à cette étude sont les documents disponibles de Frederick Ashton (1904-88) conservés au Royal Opera House Archives de Londres, ainsi que sa correspondance directe avec le scénographe John Craxton (1922-2009). Afin d’expliciter les grandes lignes des rapports musique-danse et ses significations émergentes, nous aborderons les notions multimédias fondées sur la « consonance » et la « dissonance » (Albright 2000) et corroborées par les démarches d’analyse (Cook 2001 ; 1998) et d’intégration conceptuelle (Fauconnier et Turner 2002). Des passages du ballet seront sélectionnés pour l’analyse et, au-delà des oppositions simplistes telles que l’unité par rapport à l’autonomie ou la consonance relativement à la dissonance, nous proposerons des modèles d’entités complexes, de transformations et de pluralités.
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Appendices
Biographical note
Deborah Mawer is Professor of Music at Lancaster University, United Kingdom. Her research focuses upon twentieth-century French music, especially music-dance and classical-jazz relations. Books include Ravel Studies (2010), The Ballets of Maurice Ravel: Creation and Interpretation (2006), The Cambridge Companion to Ravel (2000), and Darius Milhaud: Modality & Structure in Music of the 1920s (1997). Articles and reviews have appeared in Twentieth-Century Music, Opera Quarterly, Journal of the Royal Musical Association, Music & Letters, Music Theory Online, British Journal of Music Education, and in edited collections. She is currently completing a monograph on French Music in Conversation with Jazz: From Debussy to Brubeck (Cambridge, 2014).
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