Bruno Belthoise and Grégoire Pont are revitalizing the stories of French children’s ballets more than a century after their creation.
Florent Schmitt, photographed at about the time he composed the original piano duet version of Une Semaine du petit elfe Ferme-l’oeil. (ca. 1910 photo)
It’s interesting to note that four of the most important composers from France’s “Golden Age” each wrote music for ballet productions based on children’s topics. Not only that, the music for all four of them originated within a time-span of just three years. Chronologically, they are:
- Maurice Ravel’s Ma Mère l’oye (written in 1910 as a piano duet — then expanded, orchestrated and staged in 1911)
- Florent Schmitt’s Une Semaine du petit elfe Ferme-l’oeil (written in 1912 as a piano duet — then expanded, orchestrated and staged in 1924)
- Albert Roussel’s Le Festin de l’arraignée (written and staged in 1913)
- Claude Debussy’s La Boîte à joujoux (written for piano in 1913 — then orchestrated by André Caplet following the Debussy’s death and staged in 1919)
It’s safe to say that these ballets have enjoyed greater exposure in the recital and concert hall than they have as staged productions. Even so, their undeniable visual appeal continues to manifest itself in various ways, 100+ years after their initial stagings.
Grégoire Pont animations for Albert Roussel’s Le Festin de l’arraignée.
A case in point: In January 2024, I attended a concert in Miami Beach played by the New World Symphony under the direction of French conductor Stéphane Denève that featured the complete music to Albert Roussel’s ballet Le Festin de l’arraignée (The Spider’s Feast), brought to life in the whimsical animations of the outstanding French dessinateur Grégoire Pont.
Grégoire Pont’s animations for Maurice Ravel’s Ma Mère l’oye.
In speaking with Mr. Pont following the concert, I was intrigued to find out that he has also prepared animations for Ravel’s ballet Ma Mère l’oye (Mother Goose), successfully presented in several European countries. He has done the same for Debussy’s ballet La Boîte à joujoux (The Toy-Box), too.
Visiting backstage at a January 2024 New World Symphony concert in Miami Beach featuring the music of Albert Roussel and Florent Schmitt — with Roussel’s ballet graced by the animations of Grégoire Pont. Pictured (l. to r.): tenor Rolando Polo, cellist Aaron Merritt, conductor Stéphane Denève, Phillip Nones, Grégoire Pont.
The cast for the premiere production of Debussy’s ballet La Boîte à joujoux (1919).
Moreover, Mr. Pont has expressed interest in developing a similar animation treatment of Florent Schmitt’s ballet Le Petit elfe Ferme-l’oeil.
These whimsical works have inspired other artistic treatments as well. Among them is a new telling of the Ferme-l’oeil story utilizing Florent Schmitt’s original piano duet score. It is the brainchild of French pianist Bruno Belthoise, who has become intimately familiar with Schmitt’s suite over the past decade, performing the work in various European cities and commercially recording it twice.
And now Belthoise has made a third recording of the music, which is set for release in September 2024. This one is different, however, in that it alters and expands on the original Hans Christian Andersen tale to create a new musical adventure that is at once modern and timeless.
The soon-to-be-released recording, which also includes an updated version of another Hans Christian Andersen story (The Little Match Girl), features several narrators in addition to the music which is performed by Belthoise, his piano duet partner João Costa Ferreira, plus cellist Clara Belthoise Josse.
The new Belthoise recording, set for release in September 2024.
Recently I had the opportunity to visit with Bruno Belthoise about this new recording project and how it came together. Highlights of our discussion are presented below. (Note: Mr. Belthoise’s comments have been translated from French into English.)
PLN: Please describe briefly the genesis of this recording project, as well as the inspiration behind it.
Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875)
BB: This project has had a pretty long gestation, being first envisioned about a decade ago. My love for narration and children’s stories, combined with my keen interest in the music of Florent Schmitt, helped me perceive new potential for combining the tale of Hans Christian Andersen with Schmitt’s flamboyant piano duet music.
Acting on this inspiration, I co-wrote a new narrative version — more contemporary but closely based on Andersen’s original text. I was able to perform it in a number of “narrative concerts” for young audiences in 2013 and 2014, working with different narrators and in different languages (English, Portuguese and French). After successfully trialing the version in public in this way, it remained to find the opportunity for a discographic production, which has happily now come to fruition.
PLN: Your adaptation of Une Semaine du petit elfe Ferme-l’oeil changes the plot line of the original 1912 piano suite – as well as the ballet story of the Sandman-like fairy that Schmitt prepared for the Paris Opéra-Comique stage in the early 1920s. What was the reasoning behind making those changes?
BB: Rewriting of the original text does change the organization of the action, but this was necessary to modernize and further present the story in a compelling way. Andersen was a magnificent inventor of tales, but his grammatical language belongs to 19th century forms which are difficult to use today if we wish to successfully speak to today’s young audiences.
The “orientalist” décor and costumes prepared by André Hellé for the 1924 Paris Opéra-Comique premiere production of Florent Schmitt’s ballet Le Petit elfe Ferme-l’oeil.
This particular tale, considered by Andersen himself as one of the most “variegated” that he created, is dominated by fantasy, descriptive richness, and vivid sensations. Each evening of the week the little elf — the Danish Sandman — appears to the child Hialmar to tell him enchanting and fantastic stories. With his magic umbrella, the elf transforms each of the stories into living dreams.
Discussing Florent Schmitt’s “orientalist” compositions with Bruno Belthoise at a very appropriate venue: the Aux porte de l’Orient restaurant at La Mosquée de Paris. (May 2022 photo)
Andersen had the ability to conjure up a marvelous and dreamlike universe where nature is, in effect, personified and magnified. Its structure — a framing narrative with seven discrete and essentially unconnected stories within it — allowed Andersen to address, with a mixture of seriousness and humor, various elemental themes that were dear to him including courage, journeying, nature, exploring the unknown, sickness, fear and so forth.
All of these elements create conditions that justify the use of new descriptions and colors — to introduce more poetry and humor mainly inspired by the music itself. In so doing, each of the different days of the week has a specific story that is different and distinct from the stories of the other days.
Likewise, Florent Schmitt didn’t create a musical leitmotif or cyclical motif to run through the seven different pieces. Even so, the musical riches of the score are particularly evocative. For reasons of ensuring musical balance with the text — and also to support certain contrasts in the evolution of the different days — I opted for a re-organization of the order of the music, even while keeping the subjects and the overarching inspiration linked to Andersen’s original themes and messages which were, of course, the inspiration and source of the composer’s music.
PLN: The Little Match Girl makes for an interesting companion on the recording. How did the decision to include that story come about?
Patrick Freméaux (l.) and Claude Colombini (r.), the founders of Freméaux & Associés, pictured with Luc Ferry, French philosopher, essayist and politician. (2008 photo)
BB: The producer of this album — Frémeaux & Associés — has developed an important “youth” catalogue in French. Since 1997, I had already designed and recorded three previous youth-oriented CDs with this same publisher. When I came to present the Schmitt/Andersen project, the interest of Patrick Frémeaux and Claude Colombini was immediate and enthusiastic.
Hans Christian Andersen’s tale of The Little Match Girl, first published in the Danish People’s Calendar of 1846, is heartrending: On a freezing New Year’s Eve, a poor young girl, shivering and barefoot, unsuccessfully attempts to sell matches on the street. Afraid to go home because her father would beat her for failing to sell any matches nor earning even a single penny, she huddles in an alley and lights the matches, one by one, to warm herself. In the flame of the matches, she sees a series of comforting visions — a warm stove, a lovely roasted goose, and a beautiful Christmas tree. Each vision disappears as its match burns out. Then in the sky she sees a shooting star, which her late grandmother had told her meant that someone is on their way to Heaven. In the flame of the next match she sees her grandmother, the only person who ever treated her with love and kindness. To keep the vision of her grandmother alive as long as possible, the girl lights the entire bundle of her remaining matches. When they are gone, she freezes to death in the frigid temperatures. The next morning, passers-by discover the girl’s body. They express pity, for they do not realize the wonderful visions she had seen — nor how happy she is with her grandmother now.
However, Une Semaine du petit elfe Ferme-l’oeil with its Sandman-like fairy isn’t one of Andersen’s better-known stories. Moreover, the timing of that selection (fewer than 50 minutes) would make it too short for a commercial album. We therefore chose to add the well-known tale of La Petite fille aux allumettes [The Little Match Girl] by Hans Christian Andersen – lasting approximately 10 minutes – while also creating a new narrative text and music for it.
For the musical portion of this selection, my daughter, Clara Belthoise Josse who is a cellist, has written original music for solo cello which I find very expressive, and which is masterfully interwoven with the story’s narration.
The back cover of the new CD, sheduled for release in September 2024.
PLN: Indeed, the production of this recording seems in many ways to be a “family affair.” Can you describe their contributions to the project?
Béatrice Belthoise has had a notable half-century career in the dramatic arts. (2023 photo)
BB: In developing this narrative project, from the very beginning I envisioned that the main narration, which is quite significant, should be provided by a female voice. So I naturally called on my aunt, Béatrice Belthoise, who is a noted theater and film actress and narrator. It was a great pleasure to propose this project to her, because it was with her that I conceived the development of the first three albums for young audiences, for which I am both the pianist and narrator.
Clara Belthoise Josse. The musician is also accomplished in theatre and set design, painting and sculpting.
The writing of the story offers the possibility, alongside the main narration, of making the voices of Ferme-l’oeil (myself) and that of little Hialmar (Clara Belthoise Josse) heard. It turned out to be exciting to work with family members in this way, involving three generations of artistic talent.
PLN: Florent Schmitt’s score is written for piano duet, and you are joined by pianist João Costa Ferreira on this recording. Had you collaborated with him on other projects before this one?
The double-CD recording featuring French and Portuguese music for piano duet (Coriolan label, 2022).
BB: Indeed yes! João Costa Ferreira is one of the most talented pianists of the new generation. He is also a researcher who prepared his doctoral thesis on the important Portuguese composer José Vianna da Motta, born in 1868 — and he is perhaps the world’s foremost specialist on Motta and his music.
Our four-hand piano duo was established in 2016 and João is my most regular partner. Together we have premiered numerous new works. We’ve recorded a double album of piano four-hand music and performd concerts featuring French piano repertoire (Bizet, Fauré, Saint-Saëns, Schmitt, etc.), as well as Portuguese piano repertoire for which I am also a committed advocate.
Bruno Belthoise (l.) and João Costa Ferreira, photographed in Paris.
Our recording of Florent Schmitt’s original 1912 Petit elfe suite was made in Lisbon by the engineers of RTP-ANTENA 2 and released in 2017. For the creation of this latest recording with Andersen’s updated tale, we decided “go beyond” Schmitt’s original score to build on the original motifs, enabling us to create additional musical material supporting the narration and adding to the “rhythm and pulse” of the storyline.
The result of this musical extrapolation contributes lively and enhanced coloration to the story. It also allows for natural interplay between text and music, such that the narration and evocative imagery interact both symbiotically and elegantly.
PLN: Florent Schmitt’s Une Semaine du petit elfe Ferme-l’oeil is a piano suite that you have presented in recital numerous times over the years. How did you first discover the score? What qualities give the music its special appeal?
BB: Schmitt’s score came into my hands quite by chance sometime after 2005, although I was already acquainted with — and particularly attracted to — Schmitt’s great symphonic works. When I first encountered this score, I was particularly struck by the originality of the musical content, the incredible quality of the four-hand piano writing, and the sophistication of the harmonies. In additiona, this 1912 work immediately made me think of Ravel’s Ma Mère l’oye — particularly in the common “oriental” inspirations.
An inscribed copy of the original edition of Florent Schmitt’s piano duet composition Une Semaine du petit elfe Ferme-l’oeil, composed in 1912.
Florent Schmitt, photographed with his son Jean in the gardens of the family home in St-Cloud. Schmitt wrote several didactic piano solo and duet scores that he dedicated to his son. (ca. 1920 photo)
Schmitt’s score was composed for his students and for his son Jean. He wrote the prima part such that students would never need to move their fingers away from the starting position. But this constraint never limits Schmitt’s creativity — indeed, quite the contrary!
As for the seconda part, doubtless intended to be played by the teacher, it turns out to be very rich on a harmonic level. The ensemble of four hands — which skillfully complement each other — results in extremely original music, nevertheless requiring “know-how” that’s often very demanding from a technical perspective.
Pianists Claude Maillols and Bruno Belthoise perform Florent Schmitt’s Une Semaine du petit elfe Ferme-l’oeil at the Schola Cantorum in Paris (2013).
I had the chance to perform this work for the first time with the pianist António Rosado at the Alcobaça festival in Portugal, recorded at the time by Lisbon National Radio. Subsequently I performed the suite with pianists Christina Margotto, the late Claude Maillols, and lastly with João Costa Ferreira (the second recording done by the National Radio of Lisbon). And now João and I are collaborating in this latest recording as well.
PLN: Is the primary target audience for this new recording young children, or broader than that? Might adults also find this recording of interest?
BB: The target audience is primarily children aged five or six and over. But to me it’s quite obvious that the qualities of the music — and of the text — are quite interesting for adults as well. It should be remembered that Andersen’s tales often go beyond the scope of children’s readership due to the universality of his subject matter. Indeed, like the fables of Aesop and Jean de la Fontaine, they are part of the world’s rich literary and artistic heritage. (Schmitt’s music is as well, I might add.)
I would also note that our version of The Little Match Girl is particularly moving for an adult audience, who will rediscover a tale that is both famous and very sorrowful – and yet presented in a way that differs dramatically from any other previous version.
PLN: Are there plans to present these two programs as live productions, including narration and staging?
BB: Absolutely. The CD will be available starting in September 2024, and we are already planning for a concert presentation at the end of 2024 or the beginning of 2025 to be done at the Maison de l’Ile-de-France [Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris].
PLN: In closing, is there anything else you would like to mention about this project?
Beétrice Belthoise, photographed in 1962 at the start of her career as a stage actress.
BB: It has been a joy for all of us to see the project through to its conclusion. Making an album such as this requires extensive work on many levels. You have to weigh each word, then work very precisely on the editing, the rhythmic and sonic balances. You must be faithful to the spirit of the story but also to show imagination.
By publishing this album at Frémeaux & Associés, this achievement will become that of a true “sound heritage” in every sense of the term. Indeed, we hope that the recording will be appreciated for its musical and narrative qualities by the widest possible audience.
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We look forward to hearing the new recording of these two Hans Christian Andersen tales when the disc is released in September 2024. The album will be available soon for pre-order at the Frémeaux & Associés website (www.fremeaux.com). It will also be available for purchase from FNAC and other online music retailers.