Synopsis
Just about any time is a good time to be in Paris, but chances are, given your druthers, you wouldn’t have chosen to be there in 1942. The city was occupied by German troops, and World War II had several more dismal years to grind on.
But if you were in Paris on today’s date in 1942, you could have visited the Paris Opera for the premiere of a new ballet by French composer Francis Poulenc: Les Animaux Modeles or The Model Animals, with a scenario based on animal fables by French writer La Fontaine.
In 1924, in happier times, Poulenc had made his name with another one-act ballet. Les Biches or The Does and was written for the Ballets Russes of Monte Carlo. That work’s scenario described the flirtations and seductions of some bright young things at a house party in the country. “Everything was simple and carefree, sunshine and good humor,” as Poulenc himself put it.
Not surprisingly, Poulenc’s 1942 ballet was a darker, often grimmer affair, expressing perhaps the quiet desperation of the German occupation, mingled with a fervent hope for better days to come.
Music Played in Today's Program
Francis Poulenc (1899-1963): Les Animaux Modeles; French National Orchestra; Charles Dutoit, conductor; London 452 937
On This Day
Births
1857 - French composer Cécile Chaminade, in Paris
1905 - French composer André Jolivet, in Paris
1938 - Canadian composer Jacques Hétu, in Trois Rivières, Quebec
Deaths
1950 - Russian composer Nikolai Miaskovsky, 69, in Moscow
1967 - Czech-born composer Jaromir Weinberger, 71, dies by suicide at his home in St. Peterburg, Florida (where he settled in 1939). Weinberger had composed one very popular work, his 1927 opera Schwanda, the Bagpiper, but was reportedly despondent that he was unable to produce any other equally successful works.
Premieres
1882 - Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture, in Moscow (Gregorian date: Aug. 20)
1942 - Poulenc: ballet Les Animaux Modèles (The Model Animals), at the Paris Opéra
1943 - Piston: Prelude and Allegro for organ and strings, on a CBS radio broadcast by organist E. Power Biggs with Arthur Fiedler conducting
1976 - David Del Tredici: first version of An Alice Symphony (after Lewis Carroll) in San Francisco. See also Aug. 7, 1991.
1984 - Berio: opera Un Re in Ascolto (A King Listens), at the Salzburg Festival in Austria
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About Composers Datebook®
Host John Birge presents a daily snapshot of composers past and present, with timely information, intriguing musical events and appropriate, accessible music related to each.
He has been hosting, producing and performing classical music for more than 25 years. Since 1997, he has been hosting on Minnesota Public Radio's Classical Music Service. He played French horn for the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestra and performed with them on their centennial tour of Europe in 1995. He was trained at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Eastman School of Music and Interlochen Arts Academy.