Scenes de Ballet

Commissioned by Billy Rose for a Broadway revue, Scenes de ballet occasioned one of the best-known Stravinsky anecdotes. Rose telegraphed Stravinsky: "YOUR MUSIC GREAT SUCCESS STOP COULD BE SENSATIONAL SUCCESS IF YOU WOULD AUTHORISE ROBERT RUSSELL BENNETT RETOUCH ORCHESTRATION STOP BENNETT ORCHESTRATES EVEN THE WOKS OF COLE PORTER." To which Stravinsky replied: "SATISFIED WITH GREAT SUCCESS." Only parts of the score were used by Rose. Of a trumpet tune in the Pas de deux, Lawrence Morton writes: "Remove from it the marks of genius, make it four-square, give it a Cole Porter lyric, and you have a genuine pop-tune."





Reproduction Rights
This programme note can be reproduced free of charge in concert programmes with a credit to Boosey & Hawkes/Joseph Horowitz.
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