''Le Petit Elfe Ferme-l'œil'' (Op. 73) is an orchestral suite by

Florent Schmitt Florent Schmitt (; 28 September 187017 August 1958) was a French composer. He was part of the group known as Les Apaches. His most famous pieces are ''La tragédie de Salome'' and ''Psaume XLVII'' ( Psalm 47). He has been described as "one of t ...

adapted from his music for the homonymous ballet ("divertissement chorégraphique") after a tale by

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogue (literature), travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fai ...

.ANDERSEN, Hans Christian – ''Une semaine du petit elfe Ferme-l’Œil''
on litteratureaudio.com The concert suite developed from a

piano four hands Piano four hands (, , ) is a type of piano duet involving two players playing the same piano simultaneously. A duet with the players playing separate instruments is generally referred to as a ''piano duet, piano duo''.Bellingham, Jane"piano du ...

suite written in 1912 entitled ''une semaine de Petit Elfe ferme-l'œil'' was premiered on 1 December 1923 at the

Concerts Colonne The Colonne Orchestra is a French symphony orchestra, founded in 1873 by the violinist and conductor Édouard Colonne. History While leader of the Opéra de Paris orchestra, Édouard Colonne was engaged by the publisher Georges Hartmann to lead ...

under the direction of

Gabriel Pierné Henri Constant Gabriel Pierné (16 August 1863 – 17 July 1937) was a French composer, conductor, pianist and organist. Biography Gabriel Pierné was born in Metz. His family moved to Paris, after Metz and part of Lorraine were annexed to Germ ...

. The ballet was premiered on 5 February 1924 at the

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique () is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular Théâtre de la foire, theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief riva ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

under the direction of Albert Wolff.

Analysis

The suite relates the extraordinary dreams of little Hialmar in seven pieces like the seven days of the week, preceded by a prelude. # Prelude # ''La fête nationale des souris: danse du peuple des souris'' # ''La cigogne lasse'':

Sarabande The sarabande (from ) is a dance in triple metre, or the music written for such a dance. History The Sarabande evolved from a Spanish dance with Arab influences, danced by a lively double line of couples with castanets. A dance called ''zara ...

# ''Le cheval de Ferme-l'œil: galop à la poursuite de la cigogne'' # ''Le mariage de la poupée Berthe: alternance d'un motif de cloches et d'un thème de marche'' # ''La ronde des lettres boiteuses: motif sur un rythme claudicant'' # ''La promenade à travers le tableau: motif de berceuse'' # ''Parapluie chinois: deux thèmes sur la gamme pentatonique'' * Running time: 40 minutes

Sources

François-René Tranchefort François-René Tranchefort (30 June 1933 – 22 May 2019) was a contemporary French musicologist. Biography Tranchefort has written, edited or directed, alone or in collaboration with other musicologists, a number of reference works on a wide ...

,
Guide de la musique symphonique
'

Fayard Fayard (complete name: ''Librairie Arthème Fayard'') is a French Paris-based publishing house established in 1857. Fayard is controlled by Hachette Livre. In 1999, Éditions Pauvert became part of Fayard. Claude Durand was director of Fayar ...

1989 (p. 679)

References

External links

Florent Schmitt: ''Une semaine du petit elfe Ferme-l'Oeil''
on YouTube
''Le Petit Elfe Ferme-l’oeil''
on Florent Schmitt.com
''Le petit elfe Ferme-l'oeil'', Op.73 (Schmitt, Florent)
on ISMLP
''Une Semaine Du Petit Elfe Ferme-L'Oeil'', Op. 58 (Piano-Four Hands)
on Discogs
''Une semaine du petit elfe Ferme-l'Œil''. Op. 58
on Data.bnf.fr {{DEFAULTSORT:Petit elfe Compositions by Florent Schmitt Orchestral suites 1912 compositions Music based on works by Hans Christian Andersen