Igor Stravinsky (1882 - 1971)
Jeu de Cartes

Stravinsky changed his style several times in his career, shocking the critics and his public each time. After traditional student works composed under the guidance of Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov came the three great ballets for Diaghilev's Ballet Russe company -The Firebird, Petrushka, and The Rite of Spring. These exploded onto a public at first hostile, then startled, and eventually admiring. Then in the 1920s his style thinned and clarified, and his many so called "neo-classical" works followed. The ballet Jeu de Cartes is one of these. Then in the 1950s, at the age of 70, he adopted Webern's serial or 12-tone method of composition - much to the dismay of most of his public. The late works are still rarely performed or recorded, even today.

Jeu de Cartes, [A Card Game] "A Ballet in Three Deals", was written in 1936, and first performed by the American Ballet at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, on 27th April 1937 - exactly 60 years ago (tomorrow!). The commission for a ballet for the American Ballet company, though with no plot specified, resulted from a visit to America in 1935. A keen card player, Stravinsky later recalled ... "The idea for this ballet entered my head one evening in a taxi while I was on my way to visit some friends. I was so delighted that I stopped the driver and invited him to have a drink with me."

Lasting a little over 20 minutes, the music is continuous. The action is in three deals, and each deal contains a shuffle and the ensuing play of the cards. The introduction to each deal is recognisably similar, and returns at the very end.

Deal 1 is the shortest. After the introduction, a gentle lilting section with a notable flute solo is followed by the first appearance of the Joker, in a dance both fast and aggressive.

Deal 2 is longer. After the shuffle, a march becomes the subject of five variations danced by the Queens of the four suits. The first three offer florid decoration of the march by various instruments (the first on horns and flutes, the second on all the woodwind, and the third on the strings). The fourth is more gentle, and the fifth, for all four Queens together, is a loud angular variation for the whole orchestra. A reprise of the march is followed by an ensemble for the whole orchestra, a complex development of much of the music heard so far - the hand that holds the Joker is ultimately victorious.

Deal 3 begins with the usual shuffle, which leads into a full scale waltz. This is followed by a faster finale (and yes, that is a fragment of Rossini's Barber of Seville!) which works up considerable energy and excitement, and eventually the Joker, at the head of his sequence of Spades, is beaten by a "Royal Flush" in Hearts.