''Alborada del gracioso'' ("The Jester's

Aubade An aubade is a morning love song (as opposed to a serenade, intended for performance in the evening), or a song or poem about lovers separating at dawn. It has also been defined as "a song or instrumental composition concerning, accompanying, or ev ...

", or other translations: see below) is a short orchestral piece by Maurice Ravel first performed in 1919. It is an orchestrated version of one of the five movements of his piano suite ''

Miroirs upRavel in 1907 ''Miroirs'' (French for "Mirrors") is a five-movement suite for solo piano written by French composer Maurice Ravel between 1904 and 1905."Miroirs". Maurice Ravel Frontispice. First performed by Ricardo Viñes in 1906, ''Miroirs ...

'', written in 1904–05. Originally created for a ballet, the work has entered the concert repertoire, and has been recorded frequently.

Title

The title, in Spanish, has no exact English translation. It has been various rendered as "Morning Song of the Clown", "The Jester's

",Orenstein, p. 159 and "Morning Song of the Buffoon". ''Alborada'', literally "dawn", has a variety of musical meanings: it can be a lively folk-dance,Bromberger, Eric
Programme note
, San Diego Symphony Orchestra, 15–17 May 2015, pp. 4–6 a Galician folk tune, a type of rhythmically free instrumental music played on bagpipes and small drum, a song for a wedding day, or, as it is usually construed in the context of Ravel's piece, a musical announcement of dawn, a sunrise song, the equivalent of a French or English aubade. In that sense, the roots of the term can be traced to the old

troubadour A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairi ...

and

trouvère ''Trouvère'' (, ), sometimes spelled ''trouveur'' (, ), is the Northern French ('' langue d'oïl'') form of the '' langue d'oc'' (Occitan) word ''trobador'', the precursor of the modern French word ''troubadour''. ''Trouvère'' refers to poet ...

tradition in which the song portrayed the parting of two lovers at dawn.Lee, p. 318 A gracioso was a figure from Spanish comedy, variously described as a jester or a clown, the classic genial buffoon, the standard grotesque lover, akin to

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of West ...

, of ancient Castilian comedy,Huscher, Phillip
Programme note
, Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Retrieved 3 March 2021 a humorous or amusingly entertaining person,Keller, James M
Programme note
, New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Retrieved 3 March 2021 and a servant or squire who often comments satirically on the actions of his superiors.Anderson, Robert. Notes to Naxos CD 8.572887

Background

In the years 1904–05, as he was finishing his String Quartet, Ravel composed ''

'' (Mirrors), a suite of five short piano pieces. He later orchestrated two of them: the orchestral version of "Un Barque sur l'ocean" (A Barque on the Ocean) came out in 1906;Nichols, p. 399 more than a decade elapsed before Ravel orchestrated the other, the "Alborado del gracioso". The orchestration came about at the invitation of

Sergei Diaghilev Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev ( ; rus, Серге́й Па́влович Дя́гилев, , sʲɪˈrɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪdʑ ˈdʲæɡʲɪlʲɪf; 19 August 1929), usually referred to outside Russia as Serge Diaghilev, was a Russian art critic, pa ...

, the impresario of the Ballets Russes. He was well acquainted with Ravel, having commissioned from him the music for ''

Daphnis et Chloé ''Daphnis et Chloé'' is a 1912 ''symphonie chorégraphique'', or choreographic symphony, for orchestra and wordless chorus by Maurice Ravel. It is in three main sections, or ''parties'', and a dozen scenes, most of them dances, and lasts just u ...

'' in 1909. Diaghilev visited Spain for the first time in 1916 and was so taken with the country that he commissioned several ballets on Spanish themes. The first appeared in the same year:

Leonid Massine Leonid (russian: Леонид ; uk, Леонід ; be, Леанід, Ljeaníd ) is a Slavic version of the given name Leonidas. The French version is Leonide. People with the name include: *Leonid Andreyev (1871–1919), Russian playwright a ...

's ''Las meninas'', inspired by Velázquez's painting of the same name. It was danced to a composite score that included "Alborada del gracioso" (in its piano version) along with Gabriel Fauré's ''

Pavane The ''pavane'' ( ; it, pavana, ''padovana''; german: Paduana) is a slow processional dance common in Europe during the 16th century (Renaissance). The pavane, the earliest-known music for which was published in Venice by Ottaviano Petrucci, ...

'' and pieces by

Louis Aubert Louis François Marie Aubert (19 February 1877 – 9 January 1968) was a French composer. Biography Born in Paramé, Ille-et-Vilaine, Louis Aubert was a child prodigy. His parents, recognizing their son's musical talent, sent him to Paris to rec ...

and Emmanuel Chabrier. Diaghilev commissioned Ravel to orchestrate the Alborada (and the Chabrier piece, ''the Menuet pompeux'') for a production of the ballet, retitled ''Les jardins d'Aranjuez'', at the Alhambra Theatre, London in 1919. Before the ballet opened in London the orchestral ''Alborada'' was premiered in Paris on 17 May 1919 by the

Pasdeloup Orchestra The Pasdeloup Orchestra (also referred to as Orchestre des Concerts Pasdeloup) is the oldest symphony orchestra in France. History Founded in 1861 by Jules Pasdeloup with the name Concerts Populaires, it is the oldest orchestra still in existe ...

conducted by Rhené-Baton.Nichols, p. 203

Music

The music consists of two sections of lively dance music, separated by a rhapsodic, extended song.Maycock, Robert
" Alborada del gracioso"
, BBC, 2014. Retrieved 5 March 2021 The opening is marked ''assez vif'' (fairly quick), ♩ = 92. Like the piano original, the piece begins with imitations of guitar music. In the orchestral version they are produced by the first harp, played close to the sound board, along with precisely arranged

pizzicato Pizzicato (, ; translated as "pinched", and sometimes roughly as "plucked") is a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of a string instrument. The exact technique varies somewhat depending on the type of instrument : * On bowe ...

violins and violas. The basic metre of the opening section is but Ravel varies it with occasional bars of and . The music is mainly quiet for the first 28 bars as the themes are established. They are then brought together in what the commentator Eric Bromberger describes as "a great explosion of sound, subtly tinted by Ravel's use of castanets, tambourine, cymbals and harp". and then a fortissimo chord introduces the central episode, a plaintive melody for solo bassoon – the clown's song – alternating with shimmering string sonorities.Schiavo, Paul. Notes to Seattle Symphony Media CD SSM 1002 To represent the sounds of the extreme treble of the piano original, the accompaniment to the bassoon melody is scored for 24-part strings, some instruments bowed, others plucked, and deploying a range of harmonics, multiple stops and ''

sul tasto A variety of musical terms are likely to be encountered in printed scores, music reviews, and program notes. Most of the terms are Italian, in accordance with the Italian origins of many European musical conventions. Sometimes, the special mus ...

'' effects.Russ, pp. 135–136 The music makes a gradual return to the original tempo; Ravel added four bars to the original score here, making use of woodwind tremolos. The piece builds to a conclusion and ends in what critics have variously described as "a blaze of orchestral color", "an exhilarating climax", and "a grand and glorious racket".

Recordings

The first recording of the orchestral ''Alborada del gracioso'' was made by the

Berlin State Opera The (), also known as the Berlin State Opera (german: Staatsoper Berlin), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of Prussian king Frederick the Great from ...

Orchestra, conducted by

Otto Klemperer Otto Nossan Klemperer (14 May 18856 July 1973) was a 20th-century conductor and composer, originally based in Germany, and then the US, Hungary and finally Britain. His early career was in opera houses, but he was later better known as a concer ...

in 1926. Since then there have been numerous versions on record. In a comparative survey of recordings for BBC Radio 3,

Rob Cowan Rob Cowan (born 14 April 1948) is an English music broadcaster and writer. Employed by music publisher Boosey & Hawkes for nineteen years in various capacities, his first record review was published in 1967.

short-listed the following: Recordings recommended by other critics include: In 2015 the conductor

François-Xavier Roth François-Xavier Paul Roth (born 6 November 1971) is a French conductor, who founded Les Siècles, an orchestra which performs on instruments appropriate to the period of composition of each piece, from the late Baroque and Classical eras to 20t ...

and the orchestra Les Siècles, which specialises in historically informed performance, released a recording of the ''Alborada'' using original or reproduction instruments of the period.Clements, Andrew
" Chabrier; Massenet; Ravel; Debussy CD review – joyous and wonderfully vivid"
, ''The Guardian'', 11 June 2015

References and sources

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * {{Authority control Compositions for symphony orchestra 1904 compositions 1919 compositions Compositions by Maurice Ravel