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Ibert’s cycle songs for the movie “Adventures of Don Quixote”

國立臺北藝術大學 / 音樂學系研究所 / Author:Chen, Ching Yao

The Songs of Don Quichotte are extracted from film of the same name carried out by the Austrian Wilhem Pabst and turned to Nice in September 1932. The music had, in addition to symphonic passages, to contain songs whose producers had decided to entrust interpretation to famous low Russian, Féodor Chaliapine (1873-1938): several type-setters had been had a presentiment of to write this music, on texts of Paul Morand and Alexandre Arnoux. It seems that a bad management of the organizers did one of them, Maurice Ravel, a victim: it composed at the end of the summer 1932 three melodies, entitled Don Quichotte in Dulcinée but they were not used for film. Jacques Ibert did not compose of it less the music requested, which comprises the four Songs of Don Quichotte but also the Song of Sancho as well as symphonic passages. The historical recording, in studio, of the four songs, in February 1933 by Chaliapine, under the direction of Jacques Ibert constitutes an invaluable printed music and stylistic. The poems were written by Alexandre Arnoux (born in 1893). Man of letters, enthusiastic amateur of Spanish literature, it published many translations or adaptations of Calderon and of Cervantès, in particular, first, the Life is a dream, and the Doctor of its honor. The friendship between Ibert and Arnoux concretized by a renewed collaboration three times: there were initially the Songs of Don Quichotte then, at the beginning of 1935, the Doctor of its honor, from which was extracted Between act, celebrates part for flute or violin and guitar or toothing-stone.