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Pulcinella is a ballet
Ballet

Ballet is a formalized type of performative dance, the origins of which date lay in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century France courts, and which was further developed in England, Italy, and Russia as a concert dance form....
 by Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian-born composer, considered by many to be the most influential composer of 20th century music. He was a quintessentially Cosmopolitanism Russian who was named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people of the century....
 based on an 18th-century play — Pulcinella
Pulcinella

Pulcinella, often called Punch and Judy or Punchinello in English, Polichinelle in French, is a classical character that originated in the Commedia dell'arte of the 17th century and became a stock character in Naples puppetry....
 is a character originating from Commedia dell'arte
Commedia dell'arte

Commedia dell'Arte is a form of improvisational theatre that began in Italy in the 16th century and held its popularity through the 18th century, although it is still performed today....
. The ballet premiered in Paris
Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
 on 15 May, 1920 under the baton of Ernest Ansermet
Ernest Ansermet

Ernest Alexandre Ansermet was a Switzerland Conducting....
. The dancer Leonid Myasin (Léonide Massine) created both the libretto and choreography, and Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso

Pablo Diego Jos? Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Mar?a de los Remedios Cipriano de la Sant?sima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso was a Spanish people Painting, drawing, and Sculpture....
 designed the original costumes and sets. It was commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev
Sergei Diaghilev

Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev , also referred to as Serge, was a Russian people art critic, patron, ballet impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes from which many famous dancers and choreographers would later arise....
.

hilev wanted a ballet based on an early eighteenth-century Commedia dell'arte
Commedia dell'arte

Commedia dell'Arte is a form of improvisational theatre that began in Italy in the 16th century and held its popularity through the 18th century, although it is still performed today....
 libretto and music he thought was composed by Giovanni Pergolesi.






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Pulcinella is a ballet
Ballet

Ballet is a formalized type of performative dance, the origins of which date lay in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century France courts, and which was further developed in England, Italy, and Russia as a concert dance form....
 by Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian-born composer, considered by many to be the most influential composer of 20th century music. He was a quintessentially Cosmopolitanism Russian who was named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people of the century....
 based on an 18th-century play — Pulcinella
Pulcinella

Pulcinella, often called Punch and Judy or Punchinello in English, Polichinelle in French, is a classical character that originated in the Commedia dell'arte of the 17th century and became a stock character in Naples puppetry....
 is a character originating from Commedia dell'arte
Commedia dell'arte

Commedia dell'Arte is a form of improvisational theatre that began in Italy in the 16th century and held its popularity through the 18th century, although it is still performed today....
. The ballet premiered in Paris
Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
 on 15 May, 1920 under the baton of Ernest Ansermet
Ernest Ansermet

Ernest Alexandre Ansermet was a Switzerland Conducting....
. The dancer Leonid Myasin (Léonide Massine) created both the libretto and choreography, and Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso

Pablo Diego Jos? Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Mar?a de los Remedios Cipriano de la Sant?sima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso was a Spanish people Painting, drawing, and Sculpture....
 designed the original costumes and sets. It was commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev
Sergei Diaghilev

Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev , also referred to as Serge, was a Russian people art critic, patron, ballet impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes from which many famous dancers and choreographers would later arise....
.

History

Diaghilev wanted a ballet based on an early eighteenth-century Commedia dell'arte
Commedia dell'arte

Commedia dell'Arte is a form of improvisational theatre that began in Italy in the 16th century and held its popularity through the 18th century, although it is still performed today....
 libretto and music he thought was composed by Giovanni Pergolesi. Although the music was then attributed to Pergolesi, much has since proved to be spurious; some of it may have been written by Domenico Gallo
Domenico Gallo

Domenico Gallo was an Italy composer and violinist. He was born in Venice in 1730. He composed church music, sonatas, and possibly violin concertos....
, Carlo Ignazio Monza
Carlo Ignazio Monza

Carlo Ignazio Monza was an Italian composer. He was born in Milan and died in Vercelli. Works of his were possibly among the music that formed the basis for the Pulcinella score by Igor Stravinsky....
, and possibly Alessandro Parisotti
Alessandro Parisotti

Alessandro Parisotti was an Italian composer and music editor.Though also a composer, Alessandro Parisotti is better known today as the original editor of a collection of songs known as arie antiche ....
 and Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer
Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer

Unico Willem van Wassenaer, Holy Roman Empire, was a Netherlands diplomat and composer.His most important surviving compositions are the Concerti Armonici, which until recently have been misattributed to the Italian composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi ....
. Conductor Ernest Ansermet
Ernest Ansermet

Ernest Alexandre Ansermet was a Switzerland Conducting....
 wrote to Stravinsky in 1919 about the prospect, but the composer initially did not like the idea of music by Pergolesi. However, once he studied the scores, which Diaghilev had found in libraries in Naples and London, he changed his mind. Stravinsky rewrote this older music in a more modern way by borrowing specific themes and textures, but interjecting modern rhythms, cadences and harmonies. Pulcinella is scored for a modern chamber orchestra with soprano
Soprano

A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four part chorale style harmony the soprano takes the highest part which usually encompasses the melody....
, tenor
Tenor

The tenor is a type of male voice type and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between the C one octave below middle C to the A above in choral music, and up to high C in solo work....
, and baritone
Baritone

Baritone is a type of European classical music male voice type that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice....
 soloists. Pulcinella is often considered to be the first piece of Stravinsky's neoclassical
Neoclassicism (music)

Neoclassicism in music was a 20th century development, particularly popular in the period between the two World Wars, in which composers drew inspiration from music of the 18th century, though some of the inspiring canon was drawn as much from the Baroque music period as the Classical music era period ? for this reason, music which draws infl...
 period.

Movements of the complete ballet


  1. Overture: Allegro moderato
  2. Serenata: Larghetto, Mentre l'erbetta (tenor)
  3. Scherzino: Allegro
  4. Allegro
  5. Andantino
  6. Allegro
  7. Ancora poco meno: Contento forse vivere (soprano)
  8. Allegro assai
  9. Allegro- alla breve: Con queste paroline (bass)
  10. Andante: Sento dire no'ncè pace (soprano, tenor & bass)
  11. Allegro: Ncè sta quaccuna po (soprano & tenor)
  12. Presto: Una falan zemprece (tenor)
  13. Allegro: - Alla breve
  14. Tarantella
  15. Andantino: se tu m'ami (soprano)
  16. Allegro
  17. Gavotta con due variazioni
  18. Vivo
  19. Tempo di minuetto: Pupillette, fiammette d'amore (soprano, tenor & bass)
  20. Finale: Allegro assai


Pulcinella Suite

The Pulcinella Suite is derived from the Ballet and has no singing parts. The Suite was revised by the composer in 1947, some references say 1949. The Ballet score was revised in 1965.

The Pulcinella suite consists of eight movements
Movement (music)

A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession....
:
  1. Sinfonia
  2. Serenata
  3. a: Scherzino b: Allegretto c: Andantino
  4. Tarantella
  5. Toccata
  6. Gavotta (con due variazioni)
  7. Vivo
  8. a: Minuetto b: Finale


Suite Italienne

Stravinsky based the following works on the ballet:
  • 1925: Suite Italienne for violin and piano.
  • 1932/33: Suite Italienne for violoncello and piano (in collaboration with Gregor Piatigorsky
    Gregor Piatigorsky

    Gregor Piatigorsky was a Ukraine-USA cello....
    ).
  • 1934: Suite Italienne for violin and piano (in collaboration with Samuel Dushkin
    Samuel Dushkin

    Samuel Dushkin was an United States violinist of Poland birth.Dushkin was born in Suwalki, Poland. He studied at the Conservatoire de Paris as well as with Leopold Auer in New York City and Fritz Kreisler....
    ).


Story

The ballet unfolds in one single act and features Pulcinella, his girlfriend Pimpinella, his friend Furbo, Prudenza and Rosetta, and Florindo and Cloviello. The story starts with Florindo and Cloviello serenading Prudenza and Rosetta. The two women are unimpressed and reply by showering the suitors with water. Prudenza's father, a doctor, appears and chases them away.

A new episode begins with Rosetta with her father appearing. Rosetta dances for Pulcinella and they kiss. But Pimpinella sees this and interrupts the scene. Florindo and Cloviello, disguised as Pulcinella, arrive and jealous of Pulcinella, they beat him up. Pulcinella is then stabbed, but this is actually a mockery to get Pimpinella to forgive Pulcinella. Furbo disguised as a magician appears and resurrects Pulcinella's body in front of everybody. Pimpinella indeed forgives Pulcinella, Prudenza and Rosetta succumb to Florindo's and Cloviello's wooing. The ballet ends with the marriages of the couples.

Importance

Pulcinella was the gateway to Stravinsky's second phase as a composer, the neoclassical
Neoclassicism (music)

Neoclassicism in music was a 20th century development, particularly popular in the period between the two World Wars, in which composers drew inspiration from music of the 18th century, though some of the inspiring canon was drawn as much from the Baroque music period as the Classical music era period ? for this reason, music which draws infl...
. He wrote of Pulcinella: “Pulcinella was my discovery of the past, the epiphany through which the whole of my late work became possible. It was a backward look, of course — the first of many love affairs in that direction — but it was a look in the mirror, too.” It was revived and revised by New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet

New York City Ballet is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein with musical director Leon Barzin and with founding choreographers Balanchine and Jerome Robbins....
's balletmasters George Balanchine
George Balanchine

George Balanchine , born Giorgi Melitonis dze Balanchivadze in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to Georgians parents, was one of the 20th century's foremost choreographers, a pioneer of ballet in the United States, co-founder and balletmaster of New York City Ballet: his work created modern ballet, based on his deep knowledge of classical for...
 and Jerome Robbins
Jerome Robbins

Jerome Robbins was an United States film director and choreographer whose work has included everything from classical ballet to contemporary musical theater....
, who both danced, Robbins in the title role, for their 1972 Stravinsky Festival.

External links

  • for the composers, on whose music Stravinsky based the score
  • by Saint Louis Symphony