We cannot consider the evolution and role of time, or the theme of desire, in 20th-century music without visiting Daphnis and Chloë. Conventions of rhythmic organisation were becoming increasingly disregarded by the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the most radical and obvious early innovation being the distortion or outright avoidance of a clear beat. The opening of Ravel’s ballet Daphnis and Chloë is a perfect example.

In 1909 Ravel accepted a commission from the Ballets Russes impresario Serge Diaghilev to produce a score for one of their new ballets, a new take on an ancient Greek tale that had been popular in France since the Renaissance. Ravel described his score as “a choreographic symphony in three parts,” in which his “intention was to compose a vast musical fresco, less scrupulous as to archaism than faithful to the Greece of my dreams, which inclined readily enough to what French artists of the late 18th century have imagined and depicted.”

Daphnis received a lukewarm reception at its premiere at the Théâtre du Châtelet on 8th June 1912. It didn’t help that Nijinsky’s performance of Afternoon of a Faun had caused a stir just days before and Daphnis got buried in the scandal. Soon after, Ravel published two concert suites derived from the original score, the second of which is the one far more frequently performed and more celebrated.

The storyline of the ballet is based on the ancient Greek writer Longus’ pastoral tale of the passion that grows between Daphnis and Chloë, two foundlings raised by shepherds and goatherds on the island of Lesbos. Part One introduces Daphnis and Chloë, who become fast friends. Daphnis teaches Chloë to play the pan-pipes, the two fall in love, Chloë is abducted by pirates and Daphnis prays to the god Pan for assistance. Musically, Part One introduces themes and motives more fully developed later in Parts Two and Three. Here is, for example, a diaphanous, watery orchestral texture and the rising, sweeping Daphnis and Chloë “love theme,”. In the context of the whole, it feels like a warm-up for the masterwork to follow. Even Ravel’s pupil and friend, Alexis Roland-Manuel, wrote that Parts Two and Three, along with the resulting concert suites, contain “the essential and best-written parts of the work.”

Part Two opens with an acapella choir of wordless voices singing a transcendent and increasingly creepy progression of chords, announcing the arrival of Pan In the pirates’ camp. Pan uses his power to terrify the pirates (we get the word “panic” from his name), and Chloë is rescued. Here we hear the trumpets in a warlike staccato motive that returns in the finale. The scene ends with flutes, oboes, English horn, harp, and strings dominating Chloë’s sinuous, sexy dance.

Anyone familiar with Daphnis and Chloë Suite No. 2 will recognise Part Three of this work, for they are virtually one and the same. The three sections of Part Three comprise the scenes following the rescue of Chloë through the finale. In “Daybreak” Daphnis is awakened by his fellow herdsmen, who bring Chloë to him. In the “Pantomime” the two lovers mime the story of Pan and Syrinx as it is narrated by the bard Lammon. This is where we hear the famous flute solo, an example of using floating, fluid, uncertain rhythms to depict flirtation, the object of desire held just out of reach. In the final section, Daphnis and Chloë are married at the altar of the sacred nymphs, after which they and their friends perform an exultant “General Dance” that builds to the explosive conclusion. It is definitely one of the most brilliant and satisfying endings in all of music and finally releases the tension and desire that has ebbed, flowed, built in the listener throughout the program.

Igor Stravinsky, who was reserved in his praise of fellow musicians, said of Ravel’s score, “Not only is it Ravel’s best work, but also one of the most beautiful products of all French music.”

I find it hard to disagree.

Here is a recording of the whole ballet for you to enjoy. 

Ravel – Daphnis And Chloë (Complete Ballet)

WDR Symphony Orchestra

WDR Radio Choir

Jukka-Pekka Saraste – Conductor