Double bill featuring Carmina Burana by Edward Clug and Jeunehomme by Uwe Scholz with choir and orchestra
A beautiful vital energy emerges from this double bill. Edward Clug invites the audience to indulge in an evocative work depicting a world in constant renewal while Uwe Scholz exploits the playfulness of Mozart with unrivalled mastery.
In this vividly staged contemporary ballet, Romanian choreographer Edward Clug revisits a major 20th century musical work by German composer Carl Orff. Borne by the formidable energy of almost 150 artists on stage (dancers, musicians, chorus and soloists) and the timeless beauty of the score, this piece of contemporary dance created for Les Grands Ballets sweeps along everything in its path. A true ode to life!
When he created the ballet Jeunehomme in 1986, the late German choreographer Uwe Scholz wanted to pay homage to Mozart, especially the beauty and the melancholy of the great composer’s works. A pure treasure, the piece enthrall spectators by the changes in rhythm through its three movements.
Powerful scores by composers Carl Orff and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart will be carried by the solo voices, choir and Les Grands Ballets Orchestra.
Photo: Sasha Onyshchenko | Dancer: Tetyana Martyanova
To this day, Carmina Burana remains one of the pieces best-known by the general public in the classical repertoire.
When Carl Orff composed Carmina Burana, in 1935, he could never have imagined that this “scenic cantata” inspired by medieval poems would earn the universal popularity that it did, eclipsing all the rest of his output.
To this day, Carmina Burana has remained one of the pieces in the classical repertoire best-known to the general public, largely thanks to the exposure of its initial chant, O Fortuna, in motion pictures – in Excalibur, among other films.
It was in 1803 that a mysterious manuscript was discovered in the Benedictine monastery of Benediktbeuern, in Bavaria. It consisted of a collection of sacred and secular poems and texts in Latin, German and old French that spoke of love, spring and such pleasures of life as fine food, wine and partying.
For his cycle, Carl Orff chose 24 of these poems and grouped them in major sections with their particular settings. The introduction, O Fortuna, invokes the goddess of fortune in Roman mythology, who returns in the conclusion. Cruel empress of the world, Fortuna is depicted as a pitiless wheel that turns and draws her subjects into a destiny over which they have no control.
The central parts unfold in springtime, in the meadow, at the tavern and in the court of love. They involve multiple scenes expressing the joys and sorrows of existence, and present love from the masculine and feminine points of view. The result is a generally festive atmosphere, often tinged with humor. We need only think of the bawdy drinking songs and the swan roasting on a spit who bemoans its fate.
At the musical level, Carl Orff did not attempt to imitate or reimagine medieval music. Rather, he took advantage of it to reinvent himself. To that point, his compositions had been influenced by the postromantic music of Richard Strauss and his contemporaries. With Carmina Burana, he saw the opportunity to develop a unique style, based on simple rhythms and harmonies, one that contrasted sharply with the music of his time.
Audiences immediately took to Carmina Burana, starting with its premiere at Frankfurt-on-Main; the work reaches out to human beings in their most fundamental and primitive dimensions. This should not come as a surprise, since Carl Orff, who revolutionized musical teaching by reconnecting with the physical and dance aspects of music, conceived a visceral and spectacular work that has inspired artists in all disciplines since its creation.
In the world of dance, Carmina Burana has seen many adaptations throughout the years. Les Grands Ballets staged choreographer Fernand Nault’s version in 1966 and presented it as part of the World Fair of Montreal a year later; the show became an overnight sensation. Many tours and performances followed, making Carmina Burana one of the most celebrated pieces from Les Grands Ballets’ repertoire.
'' A piece of great beauty. The dancers are charismatic, hypnotizing (…).''
Eugénie Lépine-Blondeau, Radio-Canada
Choreography: Edward Clug
Sets: Marko Japelj
Costumes: Léo Kulas
Lighting: Marc Parent
Music: Carl Orff
Duration: 61 minutes
With Carmina Burana, choreographer Edward Clug revisits a major 20th century work by German composer Carl Orff. This “scenic cantata” - one of the most celebrated in choral singing - is adapted from 24 medieval poems. Its world famous first movement O Fortuna evokes the World's destiny while humanity is powerless in facing its uncertain future. The irresistible energy emanating from this work continues to fascinate.
The ballet follows the structure of the composition, based on the concept of the circle : the Wheel of Fortune, embodying the cycle of existence, made up of joy, bitterness, worry and hope. Based on this central theme, choreographer Edward Clug has imagined an immense circle overhanging the stage, an orbit drawing dancers into it, like solitary satellites – attracted as though by an invisible magnet – and holding some of them at its center. The powerful breath of Carmina Burana is a bearer of love, of awakening and of constant renewal. Borne by the formidable energy of the group, the passion of the chorus and soloists, the power of the orchestra and the timeless beauty of the score, this piece centres on human beings in their most visceral dimension: legacy and longevity.
Choreographer: Uwe Scholz
Costumes and scenography: Karl Lagerfeld
Lighting: Marc Parent
Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 9 in E♭ major, K. 271, known as the Jeunehomme concerto
Duration: 34 minutes
Uwe Scholz (1958–2004) was inspired by the joy found in the great Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s works to create this 21-dancer piece, premiered at the Ballets de Monte-Carlo in 1986. Jeunehomme follows a classical three-movement structure (allegro, andantino and presto) and centres around six couples from the corps de ballet and two couples who each perform a pas de deux. The work ends with a solo dancer playing Mozart himself. The discipline of the six dance couples in perfect harmony and the three soloists’ beautiful technique complete the graceful and emotional pas de deux.
Mozart composed the Jeunehomme Concerto when he was just 21. A critical success, the work was said to have been composed for Victoire Jenamy (incorrectly understood by Mozart as “Jeunehomme”), daughter of dancer and ballet master Jean-Georges Noverre.
Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9, the “Jeunehomme” Concerto, was a landmark event in the composer’s career. It was his first undisputed masterpiece in any genre. It is not only the earliest of Mozart’s piano concertos to remain in the popular repertory, but one of the finest by any standard. It is also the longest – only Concerto No. 22, K. 482 (also in E-flat) comes close – which means that it was also the longest piano concerto written before Beethoven, and even the latter’s concertos surpass it by only a few minutes.
Right from the opening moments we know we are in for something special. Orchestra and soloist share the first subject, a novel gesture. Not until Beethoven’s Fourth Concerto (1806) did the piano soloist play anything until the orchestral exposition was finished. This opening gesture becomes a hallmark of the entire movement: orchestra plays the fanfare, piano responds. Only once is the order reversed – at the announcement of the recapitulation, and it is a startling moment indeed to experience this exchange of roles.
The second movement is the first of those truly tragic slow movements that become a feature of the later Mozart piano concertos. Many listeners find that this music, so deeply imbued with profound pathos and searing beauty, resembles a grand operatic scena, in which a vocalist is replaced by the piano. Violins are muted throughout (still another “first” in a Mozart piano concerto), resulting in a veiled sonority.
The finale too abounds in surprises. The rondo is set in motion by the soloist with a highly spirited main theme. Three contrasting episodes are presented in alternation with returns of the main theme. The third of these episodes constitutes perhaps the greatest surprise of the entire concerto – a seventy-measure minuet that amounts nearly to a movement in itself. In almost every respect it contrasts with what came before: tempo (moderate), meter (triple rather than duple), key (A-flat major) and mood (gracious and composed).
And what of the concerto’s subtitle, “Jeunehomme”? Until quite recently, it was widely presumed that this was the name of the lady for whom Mozart wrote the concerto. However, research by the Viennese musicologist Michael Lorenz in the early twenty-first century uncovered her true identity: she was a Frenchwoman named Victoire Jenamy (1749-1812), and the name “Jeunehomme” had been a fabrication invented by biographers Wyzewa and Saint-Foix more than a century ago but never used by Mozart himself.
Notes by Robert Markow
Photos: Sasha Onyshchenko | Dancers: Rachele Buriassi and Esnel Ramos
ABOUT THE SHOW
Jeunehomme: 37 minutes
Intermission: 20 minutes
Carmina Burana: 61 minutes
Total duration: 1 hour 58 minutes
LES GRANDS BALLETS