A Paris Letter by Sir Lennox Berkeley September 1932

The Debussy memorial was unveiled on June 17, and official honours were paid to the greatest French composer of modern times. The ceremony was presided over by the President of the Republic, speeches were made, and extracts from Debussy's music were played by the band of the Garde Républicaine. The monument itself, which is situated in the Boulevard Lannes, near the Bois de Boulogne, is very well done; a series of bas-reliefs portrays Saint Sébastian, Melisande, the Faun, and the' Cathédrale Engloutie,' and the whole thing is given a charming and most appropriate delicacy by the reflection in the water which forms an important part of the whole conception.

In the evening, on the same day, an orchestral concert was given at the Théatre des Champs Elyseés. M. Philippe Gaubert conducted part of 'Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien,' M. Pierné conducted the Nocturnes, and M. Inghelbrecht a selection from' Pelléas.' All three gave very satisfactory performances, but the most striking thing of the evening was Toscanini's rendering of ‘La Mer’. This was a magnificent performance of a work that is notoriously difficult. The only other item of the programme was an interesting experiment which must be acknowledged as a failure: 'L'après midi d'un faune' was received by wireless from Basel, conducted by Weingartner. Unfortunately the transmission was poor, the timbre of the instruments being so much impaired as to be rendered at times unrecognizable.

The season of Russian opera and ballet at the Opéra Comique was a great success, the chief attraction being Chaliapin, who sang in 'Boris Godounov,' 'Prince Igor' and 'Mozart and Salieri.' The ballet under the direction of Mme. Nijinska included a revival of 'Les Biches' and a new ballet danced to Casella's suite' Scarlattiana.'

We have been very well provided for in the way of ballet lately, for simultaneously with the ballets at the Opéra Comique the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo' gave a short season at the Champs Elysées. They produced some remarkably good new ballets, the best we have seen here since the death of Diaghileff -in fact they were very much in the Diaghileff tradition, and critics spoke of 'the renascence of the Russian ballet.' Boris Kochno's ballet 'Jeux d'enfants' was particularly successful; the ballet was made to a series of delightful pieces by Bizet (written originally, I believe, for piano duet); the scenery was by Miro and the choreography by Massine.
The other new ballets were ‘La Concurrence’ -ballet and scenery by Derain, music by Auric and choreography by Balanchin; 'Cotillon,' another ballet by Kochno to a selection of Chabrier's music and with very clever scenery and costumes by Christian Berard, and 'Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme,' after Molière, to Strauss's music. All the ballets were good and the dancing excellent throughout. Great excitement was caused by the fact that the 'première danseuse' was a prodigy of only sixteen-Tamara Toumanova. She has a technique of extraordinary virtuosity, and a gracefulness and charm that make her already a great dancer. The troupe also includes Leon Woizikovsky, who is an old friend of all lovers of ballet, and an excellent young dancer David Lichine who shares with him the most important parts.

The Salle Pleyel is perhaps a little large for a trio, even when the trio is made up of Cortot, Thibaud and Casals, nevertheless the three concerts at which they played all Beethoven's trios were unforgettable, and drew enormous and enthusiastic audiences.

There has not been very much new music, but some interesting new things were played at a chamber concert of works written for the Vicomte de Noailles. The composers represented were Auric, Markevitch, Nabokoff, Poulenc and Sauguet. Sauguet's work for voice and small orchestra was pleasing, and is probably the best thing that he has done so far; Markevitch's 'Galop' for piano and small orchestra is clever and strikes a personal note. Poulenc's' Le Bal Masqué' (poem by Max Jacob), for voice and a small number of instruments, was perhaps the most enjoyable work of the evening. It is very typical of Poulenc, tuneful and witty, and carried along with great brio from beginning to end. It is extremely well orchestrated and one notices particularly the progress that Poulenc has made in this side of his art.

Transcribed from The Monthly Musical Record September 1932 - with minor edits.
With thanks to the Sir Lennox Berkeley Estate for permission to reprint this article