Jeu de cartes (Stravinsky)

Jeu de cartes (also known in English as A Card Game,^[1] Game of Cards,^[2] or Card Party)^[3] is a ballet in "three deals" by Igor Stravinsky based on a libretto he co-wrote with Nikita Malayev, a friend of his eldest son Théodore.^[4] It was commissioned in November 1935, written late the next year, and premiered by the American Ballet at the old Metropolitan Opera House in New York on 27 April 1937 with the composer conducting. Its European premiere followed on 13 October at the Semperoper in Dresden, where Karl Böhm conducted the Staatskapelle Dresden.^[5]

The idea of basing the ballet on a game of poker did not occur to Stravinsky until after August 1936, when the story took shape. The main character is the deceitful Joker who fancies himself unbeatable owing to his ability to transform into any card.

Structure

The ballet's three scenes are referred to as "deals" in the score.^[6] It can be further partitioned by its tempo markings:^[7]

1. First Deal (Première donne) Introduction. Alla breve Pas d'action. Meno mosso Dance variation. Moderato assai Dance of the Joker. Stringendo Waltz-Coda. Tranquillo

2. Second Deal (Deuxième donne) Introduction. Alla breve March. Marcia Variation I. Allegretto Variation II Variation III Variation IV Variation V. Sostenuto e pesante Coda. Più mosso Reprise of March. Marcia Ensemble. Con moto

3. Third Deal (Troisième donne). Introduction. Alla breve Waltz. Valse Battle between Spades and Hearts. Presto Final Dance Coda. Tempo del principio

Casts

Original

• Annabelle Lyon
• Leda Anchutina
• Ariel Lang
• Hortense Kahrklin
• William Dollar

Reviews

• The New York Times review by Anna Kisselgoff, 30 May 1992^[8]

References

1. White 1966, p. 393.
2. "Russian Violinist Booked at Philharmonic". Los Angeles Times. 6 February 1938. Archived from the original on 27 January 2023. Retrieved 26 January 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "Notes of Music and Musicians". Chicago Tribune. 15 September 1940. Archived from the original on 27 January 2023. Retrieved 26 January 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
4. Nicholas Fox Weber, Patron Saints: Five Rebels Who Opened America to a New Art 1928–1943, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2014
5. Evans, Joan (2003). "Stravinsky's Music in Hitler's Germany". Journal of the American Musicological Society. 56 (3): 525–594. doi:10.1525/jams.2003.56.3.525. JSTOR 10.1525/jams.2003.56.3.525.
6. Walsh, Stephen (20 January 2001). "Stravinsky, Igor (Fyodorovich)". Stravinsky, Igor. Grove Music Online. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.52818. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0.
7. Sanderson, Blair. Stravinsky: Jeu de cartes; Orpheus; Suite: The Soldier's Tale at AllMusic. Retrieved April 20, 2013.
8. Anna Kisselgoff (30 May 1992). "Review/Dance; New at the City Ballet: Works by 2 Old Hands". The New York Times. p. 11. Retrieved 19 January 2024.

Sources

• White, Eric Walter (1966). Stravinsky: The Composer and His Works (2nd ed.). Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520014350.

Further reading

• Walsh, Stephen (2006). Stravinsky: The Second Exile (France and America, 1934–1971). New York City: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-375-40752-9.

External links

• Jeu de cartes, K059 (Stravinsky): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project