Le gendarme incompris The misunderstood Gendarme | |
---|---|
Written by | Jean Cocteau and Raymond Radiguet |
Date premiered | 24 May 1921 |
Place premiered | Théâtre Michel (Paris) |
Original language | French |
Genre | Comédie bouffe |
Le Gendarme incompris (The misunderstood Gendarme) is a one-act play written in 1920 by Jean Cocteau and Raymond Radiguet and set to music by Francis Poulenc, his FP 20a.
The play features three characters: Commissaire Médor played by Pierre Bertin), a gendarme named the Penultimate whose replicas are from a poem in the Divagations by Stéphane Mallarmé, and an old lady, the Marquise de Montonson.
It was played publicly only once, on 24 May 1921, in addition to the dress rehearsal the day before. Two more performances were scheduled for 25 and 26 May.
Suite
Poulenc derived a suite for orchestra drawn from the incidental music, which was first performed in London on 11 July 1921, conducted by Ernest Ansermet).
The work comprises 3 movements for double bass, cello, violin, clarinet, trumpet and trombone:
- I. Ouverture
- II. Madrigal
- III. Final
The duration is about 6:35 minutes
Notes
- common name for a dog in French
References
- Hervé Lacombe (2013). Francis Poulenc. Paris: Fayard. p. 1888. OCLC 828409020. 1bMPswLwba0C.
- Duchesnau, Michel; de Médicis, François; Caron, Sylvain (2006). Musique et modernité en France, 1900-1945. Montréal: Les Presses de l'Université de Montréal. p. 101. OCLC 123960160. 49zu4F0IOC0C.
External links
- Le Gendarme incompris on YouYube
- Le Gendarme incompris on data.bnf.fr
- Le gendarme incompris (suite), FP 20b on IMSLP
- Le Gendarme incompris
- Poulenc: Le Gendarme Incompris - Comédie-bouffe en un acte mêlée de chants - Scène 2 - "Enfin cette ridicule comédie va cesser" on Amazon