PROGR AM NOTES by Ken Metzer
page 18
ERIK SATIE born: May 17, 1866 in Honfleur, France died: July 1, 1925 in Paris, France
Parade (1917) premiere: May 18, 1917 in Paris
In the summer of 1909, Sergei Diaghilev’s spectacular Ballets Russes burst upon the Parisian artistic scene. The Ballets Russes staged the premieres of such works as Igor Stravinsky’s The Firebird (1910), Pétrouchka (1911), and The Rite of Spring (1913), Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, and Claude Debussy’s Jeux (1913). Diaghilev’s brilliant and controversial productions inspired audience and critical reaction that ranged from sheer adulation to violent rebellion. The most famous Ballets Russes scandal occurred at the May 29, 1913 Théâtre des Champs-Elysées premiere of Stravinsky’s pathbreaking The Rite of Spring. Another notorious Ballets Russes premiere took place at on May 18, 1917. On that date Erik Satie’s ballet Parade had its first performance at the Théâtre du Châtelet. Commissioned by the Ballets Russes, Parade was a collaboration between many of the most brilliant artists of the day. The ballet’s plot, by Jean Cocteau, relates the tale of a group of circus performers who offer an outdoor preview of the show, in an attempt to lure customers into the tent. The audience believes it has seen the actual show, and departs. Léonide Massine choreographed Parade. Pablo Picasso designed the costumes and sets, which included the opening red curtain, portraying the performers lounging backstage. Audiences of the time expected ballet to offer an escape from the unpleasant realities of daily life. But Cocteau’s plot made quotidian matters the focus of Parade. Picasso’s cubist costumes, and Satie’s score, a brilliant mélange of classical and popular elements (including numerous exotic percussion instruments added at Cocteau’s insistence), magnified the audience’s disorientation. Guillaume Apollinaire authored the program notes for the premiere of Parade. He described Parade as “une sorte de surréalisme” (“a kind of surrealism”). (continued next page)