'Le Boeuf sur le Toit' for Piano, Four Hands, Op. 58 (The Nothing Doing Bar).
by Darius Milhaud. Dover Publications (31 E. 2nd St., Mineola, NY 11501), 2002. 56pp., $10.95. Advanced.A most welcome addition to Dover's publications is Darius Milhaud's duet version of Le Boeuf sur le Toit. This score, which has been difficult to obtain in the past, is reproduced beautifully in this Dover version. The reproduction is that of the 1920 score. The publication is especially significant because Milhaud's music, somewhat underrated and underrepresented in the latter part of the twentieth century, is experiencing a renaissance.
Milhaud, who calls this twenty-minute work a Cinema-Symphony on South American Tunes, says, "Still haunted by my memories of Brazil, I assembled a few popular melodies, tangos, maxixes, sambas and even a Portuguese fado and transcribed them with a rondo-like theme recurring between each successive pair. I called this fantasia Le Boeuf sur le Toit, which was the title of a Brazilian popular song. I thought that the character of this music might make it suitable for an accompaniment to one of Charlie Chaplin's films."
The composer collaborated with his friend Jean Cocteau to produce a symphonic ballet. Cocteau wrote a farcical script to it and entitled it "The Nothing Doing Bar." Milhaud originally scored it for a small orchestra, then, due to its great success, transcribed it for duet.
This Dover edition is particularly remarkable due to the extra information on Le Boeuf sur le Toit. There is an excellent introduction by Brazilian musicologist Manoel Aranha Correa do Lago, who gives a historical account of the work's genesis. Furthermore, it is an account focusing on the effect of Brazilian music on Milhaud. The Brazilian composers and the title of the pieces quoted in the score are listed by do Lago. A table also indicates where and how the themes occur in Le Boeuf sur le Toit.
Cocteau's farcical script also is found in this fine edition. In addition, an English translation by Stanley Applebaum is included. A listing of the characters and the cast in the Parisian premiere is reproduced from the original publication. The cover of the score is a facsimile of Raoul Dufy's art used for the ballet's premiere.
This edition unquestionably serves multi-purposes. It is a substantial addition to Dover's listing of four-hand music. In general, it expands the body of readily available four-hand music. This work is a superb addition for duettists looking for music with a multicultural flavor and will definitely facilitate performances of this rarely programmed major work of the twentieth century. Performers will appreciate the well-reproduced and easy-to-read score. The excellent information provides a good guide for performance practices.
Dare I say, it would have been more wonderful to have had other four-hand music of Milhaud's included. I certainly hope Dover, in the near future, will publish a volume of more music for four hands by Milhaud, such as Kentuckiana, Les Songes, La Libertadora, Carnaval a la Nouvelle-Orleans and, of course, Scaramouche.
The score also is very useful for academic purposes, particularly as a study score in music literature classes. There is enough material from do Lago's introduction to help with a formal and tonal analysis of the work. His musicological information is substantial enough to spark research in all sorts of directions. Furthermore, it is a good example of a score that can peak the interest of students wanting to perform and perhaps stage the work.
As is the case with most Dover editions, the score is of high quality, scholarly, more durable, much more readily available to purchase and, of course, much less expensive than comparable editions from other publishers. Reviewed by William Chapman Nyaho, Kirkland, Washington.
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| Author: | Nyaho, William Chapman |
|---|---|
| Publication: | American Music Teacher |
| Date: | Oct 1, 2002 |
| Words: | 602 |
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