Le Gendarme incompris

Le gendarme incompris
The misunderstood Gendarme
Written byJean Cocteau and Raymond Radiguet
Date premiered24 May 1921
Place premieredThéâtre Michel (Paris)
Original languageFrench
GenreComédie 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[a] 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.[1]

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.[2]

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

  1. ^ common name for a dog in French

References

  1. ^ Hervé Lacombe (2013). Francis Poulenc. Paris: Fayard. p. 1888. OCLC 828409020. 1bMPswLwba0C.
  2. ^ 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.