''La boîte à joujoux'' (The Toy-Box) is a ballet score by

Claude Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

, orchestrated from Debussy's piano score by

André Caplet André Caplet (23 November 1878 – 22 April 1925) was a French composer and conductor of classical music. He was a friend of Claude Debussy and completed the orchestration of several of Debussy's compositions as well as arrangements of severa ...

.Anderson, Keith (2011). Notes to Naxos CD 8.572568 In 1913 Debussy was approached by the artist and writer

André Hellé André Laclôtre, known by the pseudonym André Hellé (16 March 1871, Paris - 29 December 1945, Paris) was a French painter, illustrator, lithographer, and toy designer. Life and work His father was a pharmacist, and he grew up in the Parisian ...

, who had devised a ballet scenario from his children’s tale ''La boîte à joujoux''. A children's theme appealed to Debussy, who was devoted to his own young daughter, Emma-Claude (known as "Chouchou"), and had already written his suite ''

Children's Corner ''Children's Corner'', L. 113, is a six-movement suite for solo piano by Claude Debussy. It was published by Durand in 1908, and was first performed by Harold Bauer in Paris on 18 December that year. In 1911, an orchestration by André Caplet ...

'' for her. He composed the piano score, but the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

caused the ballet to be postponed, and it was not staged until 1919, after the composer's death. The work, which plays for about half an hour, is in seven sections: #Prelude: Le sommeil de la boite (The toy-box asleep) #Tableau 1: Le magasin de jouets (The toy shop) #Valse: Danse de la poupée (The doll's waltz) #Tableau 2: Le champ de bataille (The field of battle) #Tableau 3: La bergerie a vendre (The sheepfold for sale) #Tableau 4: Apres fortune faite (After making a fortune) #Epilogue Of the toys in Hellé's box there are three principals, to each of whom Debussy gives a little leitmotiv: a toy soldier, a pretty doll, and a foolish and quarrelsome polichinelle. The soldier falls in love with the doll, but the polichinelle will not give her up. There is a fierce battle, and the soldier is wounded by the polichinelle, who then renounces the doll. She nurses the soldier, falls in love with him, and they marry and live happily ever after.Blakeman, Edward (1989). Notes to Chandos CD set CHAN X10144(4)

Notes

Ballets by Claude Debussy 1919 ballet premieres Compositions by Claude Debussy {{Ballet-stub