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Les Noces (English: The Wedding; Russian: Свадебка) by Igor Stravinsky, is a dance cantata, or ballet with vocalists, choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska that was premiered on June 13, 1923, by the Ballets Russes conducted by Ernest Ansermet. Stravinsky first conceived of writing the ballet in 1913. During its long gestation its orchestration changed dramatically. At first conceived for an expanded symphony orchestra similar to that of The Rite of Spring, it went through numerous permutations, including at one point the use of the pianola (mechanical piano), but it was finally fixed in the following form: solo soprano, tenor, mezzo-soprano, bass, mixed chorus, and two groups of percussion instruments – pitched percussion, including four pianos, and unpitched percussion. This orchestration exemplifies Stravinsky's increasing proclivity towards stripped down, clear and mechanistic sound groups in the decade after The Rite, although he would never again produce such an extreme sonic effect solely with percussion. Stravinsky arranged the libretto himself using Russian wedding lyrics taken primarily from Songs Collected by P.V Kireevsky (1911)
References
- Dance Pages: Les Noces. Retrieved September 5, 2005.
- Clements, Andrew. "Stravinsky: Les Noces". Guardian Unlimited. November 2, 2001. Retrieved September 5, 2005.
- Brendan McCarthy Les Noces and its performance history. Retrieved 9 November 2005
- Reviews of Les Noces in versions by different choreographers and ensembles.
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