Johann Sebastian Bach, the German composer, wrote his earliest six English Suites for harpsichord or clavichord, probably dating from 1715 or 1717.  In all, he wrote 19 suites for keyboard that included the Frech Suites, the six Partitas and the Overture in the French style. There is no complete autograph manuscript of these magnificent Six Suittes avec leurs Preludes pour le Clavecin. This is the title given in perhaps the closest source to Bach, having been copied by a pupil, and which contains seven bars of Bach’s own manuscript in the Prelude of the third Suite. This title best describes and points out the real significance of the Preludes in the musical progression and discourse within the cycle of six. Each of the suites is headed by an extraordinary introductory Prelude of brilliant and substantial proportions. These Preludes gain in stature and power as we travel through the set. 

The term "English" is not by Bach and there is nothing particularly English about these works and even less affinity with Baroque English keyboard style. Surface characteristics of the English Suites strongly resemble those of Bach's French Suites and Partitas, particularly in the sequential dance-movement structural organization and treatment of ornamentation; typified by the generation of composers including Jean-Henri d'Anglebert, and the dance-suite tradition of French lutenists that preceded it. According to Bach's biographer, Forkel (1802), they were written for an "eminent Englishman," which is the origin of their name. A hint for that is also found on a manuscript of Bach's son. Originally they were called just "Suites with a Prelude." The Preludes are indeed what distinguish them most from the French suites, and make them closer in character to the later partitas. 
 
In these Suites, Bach's affinity with French lute music is demonstrated by his inclusion of a prelude for each suite, departing from an earlier tradition of German derivations of French suite, which saw a relatively strict progression of the dance movements (viz., Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, and Gigue) and which did not typically feature a Prelude. Unlike the unmeasured preludes of French lute or keyboard style, however, Bach's preludes in the English Suites are composed in strict meter. Allemande was a German dance in 4 of moderate tempo. Bach's Allemandes have usually a particularly rich imitative contrapuntal texture. Courante was a French dance in 3, of heavy and slow beats. Note-wise Bach's Courantes sound fast because there are many notes in between the beats. They are usually rather eccentric in rhythm and often have an unusual and asymmetric phrase structure. Sarabande was a slow Spanish dance of highly emotional character, and Bach's Sarabandes retain that character. Gigue was a fast dance, probably originated in England. Many of Bach's gigues are fast fugues. In Bach's suites all these are usually divided into two parts. Almost always there are additional movements (Minuet, Bourrée, Gavotte, etc.) that change from suite to suite, usually between the Sarabande and the Gigue. The above characterizations apply in general to all the suites, but there are exceptions (e.g. the Allemande of the 4thpartita in D). It is almost certain that in spite of their dance-origins Bach's suites were not intended as dance music and were not actually danced. 
 
The six suites are:
Suite No. 1 in A major, BWV 806
I.Prelude
II.Allemande
III.Courante I
IV.Courante II
V.Double I
VI.Double II
VII.Sarabande
VIII.Bourrée I
IX.Bourrée II
X.Gigue

Suite No. 2 in A minor, BWV 807

1. Prelude
2. Allemande
3. Courante
4. Sarabande
5. Bourrée I
6. Bourrée II
7. Gigue

​Suite No. 3 in G minor, BWV 808

1. Prelude
2. Allemande
3. Courante
4. Sarabande
5. Gavotte I
6. Gavotte II
7. Gigue

Suite No. 4 in F major, BWV 809

1. Prelude
2. Allemande
3. Courante
4. Sarabande
5. Menuet I
6. Menuet II
7. Gigue

 
Suite No. 5 in E minor, BWV 810

1. Prelude
2. Allemande
3. Courante
4. Sarabande
5. Passepied I
6. Passepied II
7. Gigue

 
Suite No. 6 in D minor, BWV 811

1. Prelude
2. Allemande
3. Courante
4. Sarabande
5. Double
6. Gavotte I
7. Gavotte II
8. Gigue

 
The English suites form a definite set (not just a collection of suites), which is indicated by their keys: A (twice), G, F, E, D in that order, which form a descending fifth, and is the melody of the famous chorale "Jesu, mine Freude." Also, the first and last suites are especially long and have 10 and 8 movements respectively (since the prelude in the last one has a long introduction followed by an Allegro, one can even speak of 9 movements). The inner four suites have 7. This first suite is unusual in that it has two courantes and two doubles for the second courante. This suite also departs from the scheme of the other five, in that the prelude is short and based on a theme from a suite by Dieupart. The preludes of the other five suites in this series are based on the allegro of a concerto grosso form. 
 
The great organist and Bach scholar, Albert Schweitzer, writes that Bach's suites surpass previous ones in that he "always visualizes the form, and gives each of the principal dance forms a definite musical personality [...] He thus raises the suite form to the plane of the highest art, while at the same time he preserves its primitive character as a collection of dance pieces." In general the English suites are grand and vigorous in comparison to the more modest and simpler French Suites. In the notes for Gould's recording of the English Suites, Leslie Gerber quotes C. S. Terry describing their character as "of happy humour and exuberant good nature ... [Bach] was an incorrigible optimist, and so his Suites proclaim him." 
 
Here are four albums:
 
J.S. Bach: The English Suites. Richard Egarr (harpsichord, by Joel Katzman, Amsterdam, 1991, after Ruckers, Antwerp, 1638. Pitch: a’ = 409 • Temperament: Egarr, based on 18th-century models). Release Date: 11 Feb 2013. Label: Harmonia Mundi. Catalogue No: HMU907591/92. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 88.2 kHz, 24 bit).
Awards:
BBC Music Magazine, March 2013, Instrumental Choice.
BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2014, Instrumentalist Finalist.
 
Bach: The English Suites. Angela Hewitt (piano). Release Date: 7 Sept 2003. Label: Hyperion. Catalogue No: CDA67451-2. FLAC (CD Quality, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit).
Award:
Radio 3 Building a Library, January 2004, First Choice.
 
Bach: English Suites Nos. 1, 3 & 6. Murray Perahia (piano). Release Date: 7 Mar 2011. Label: Sony. Catalogue No: COLSK60276. FLAC (CD Quality, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit).
Award:
Grammy Awards, 41st Awards (1998), Best Classical Instrumental, Solo Recording.
 
Bach: English Suites Nos. 1, 3 & 5. Piotr Anderszewski (piano). Release Date: 3 Nov 2014. Label: Erato. Catalogue No: 2564621939. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 96 kHz, 24 bit).
Awards:
Gramophone Awards, 2015, Winner – Instrumental.
Gramophone Magazine, February 2015, Disc of the Month.
 

​References:
Bar-Elli, G. (2018). J.S. Bach: The English Suites. Bar-Elli.Co.Il. https://www.bar-elli.co.il/Bach-Eng-Suites.pdf
 
Egarr, R. (2012). Johann Sebastian Bach: The English Suites. Harmonia Mundi.
 
English Suites by Bach. (2023, November 21). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Suites_(Bach)

Ludwig van Beethoven inherited the string-quartet tradition from his predecessors and shaped it into something unsurpassed in virtuosity, invention, and expressiveness. If Haydn is called the ‘father’ of the String Quartet, and Mozart took the form to new heights, then Beethoven characteristically took hold of it and completely transformed it. The five Late Quartets, written in the final years of his life, transcend anything he or anyone else had ever composed. Beethoven wrote 16 string quartets and they reveal his evolution as a composer. Listening to the notes we see deep into the soul of this difficult, irascible man by now profoundly deaf. He has bared himself, exposed his emotions to us in a more profound way than words could ever express. These quartets are widely regarded as the supreme form of chamber music.
 
He composed the String Quartets in three fairly distinct blocks: Nos. 1 - 6 when he was around 27-30 years of age, Nos. 7 - 11 when he was 35-40, and Nos. 12 - 16 in the final three years of his life.

Early Period (1798–1800): Op. 18
The Early Quartets was a huge achievement. Beethoven was not so impressed by them, at least not initially. He sent the first of the set to a friend, and then wrote to him: “Be sure not to pass on your quartet to anyone else, because I have substantially altered it. For only now have I learned to write quartets properly – as you will surely see when you receive them.”

It is certain that he went on to revise fully at least one, possibly two or more of the set. The completed versions are stunning, displaying a whole panoply of emotions. Do not make the mistake of considering these Early Quartets to be ‘lightweight’ Beethoven. There are light moments – the whole of No.3 (in fact the first to be composed) is lighter than the other five – but listen to the fourth movement of No.6. Beethoven named it ‘La Malinconia’ [Melancholy]. We are in a dark world, with a dramatic and highly unorthodox dialogue between anguish and joy.
 
Middle Period (1806–1814): Opp. 59, 74, 95
Forming the bulk of the Middle Quartets are the three Razumovskys, so called because they were commissioned by the Russian ambassador in Vienna, Count Andrey Kirillovich Razumovsky (later Prince), himself an accomplished musician who played second violin in his own quartet. For his benefit Beethoven includes Russian themes in the first two of the set.

The first movement of No. 1 begins with a wonderfully lively and memorable melody, and the second movement begins with a single note repeated so often on the cello that cellists of the day thought Beethoven was playing a joke on them and refused to play it! The respected musical journal of the time, Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, got it spectacularly wrong when it wrote: “The Razumovskys are long and difficult … profound and excellently wrought but not easily intelligible – except perhaps for the third, whose originality, melody and harmonic power will surely win over every educated music lover.” The third, from the very first bar of the first movement, is without doubt the least easily accessible.

The other two of the Middle Quartets are nicknamed, respectively, the Harp and the Serioso, the first because of the plucked strings in the first movement, the second because Beethoven himself named it thus on the manuscript. The Harp is the lighter of the two, but no less characteristic of Beethoven. Its final movement is a theme and variations, a form much loved by Beethoven and one he usually reserved for the piano. The Serioso is indeed that, serious, a masterpiece in compression from the first bar onwards, and certainly a foretaste of what is to come in the final set of Quartets.
 
Late Period (1824–1827): Opp. 127, 130, 131, 132, 133, 135
Aware that his life was running out, his deafness total, and at odds with his nephew, drained physically and emotionally, his health alternating between bad and worse … Beethoven produced five masterpieces. They have no names, they are simply Opp. 127, 132, 130, 131, 135 (in order of composition). Depth of expression, grandeur of proportion, and technical complexity make Beethoven’s late quartets the revolutionary pinnacle of the form. In sheer scale, length, and complexity they stand alone. Countless books have been written about these Quartets. 
 
The extraordinary third movement of Op.132, Beethoven wrote at the top of the manuscript page: Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit, in der lydischen Tonart (Sacred Song of Thanksgiving from a Convalescent to the Deity, in the Lydian Mode), was the outcome of a near death experience. In April 1825 he fell seriously ill with an abdominal complaint. The doctor who told him he was seriously ill and risked inflammation of the bowels which could prove fatal. He put him on a strict diet, banning all wine, coffee, spirits, and spices of any kind. Beethoven went down to Baden when the weather warmed up, but wrote to the doctor: “I spit up rather a lot of blood, apparently only from the windpipe…. There is no doubt that my stomach has become terribly weak.” He recovered. 
 
The slow movement of Op.130, the Cavatina is utterly beautiful, even if you have no idea what is happening in Beethoven’s life. Over a gently pulsating rhythm from the three lower strings, the first violin sobs. In the fragmented notes there is anguish and despair. What could have driven Beethoven to this? It was his relationship with his nephew Karl. The source of so much heartbreak, and again of his own doing. While recovering in Baden and having completed Op.132, Beethoven began work immediately on the next, Op.130. Karl was supposed to come and see his uncle on Sundays, but has clearly not done so. Beethoven is riven with self-pity. An ageing and ailing man trying to control every aspect of his 19 year old nephew’s life, and striving to take the place of the young man’s father. Yet amidst it all, he produces a great work of art, the Op.130 String Quartet. Small wonder that he wrote of the Cavatina that it had affected him more than anything he had ever written and he had shed tears writing it.
 
Beethoven flippantly said to his publisher that this quartet was “patched together from odd bits and pieces here and there.” The String Quartet in C-sharp minor, Op. 131 was his favourite quartet and an absolute game changer. Tossing convention aside by casting the work in seven continuous sections rather than the traditional four, Beethoven mines vast emotional gold from the introspective opening—the “saddest thing ever said in notes,” according to Wagner—to the tempestuous finale. Along the way are the fourth movement’s epic variations, a giddy scherzo, and a heart-wrenching Adagio you might recognize from an episode of the World War II series Band of Brothers. This quartet was played for Schubert on his deathbed, prompting him to say, “After this, what is left for us to compose?”
 
The original final movement of op.130 was the Grosse Fuge, a massive movement that is clearly too massive and unwieldy to sit at the end of the preceding five. Beethoven published it separately, and it remains a separate piece to this day, often performed by a string orchestra. The Grosse Fuge is 21st century music. It is way ahead of its time. It exhausts the performers mentally and physically, and the listener too. 
 
Beethoven was arguably the most critical figure in creating the string quartet movement from the classical era to the romantic era. His string quartets are easily the most intimate of his works. That’s because they involve only four voices (two violins, viola and cello), each with its own personality. For the listener, Beethoven’s string quartets are a keyhole to his genius during some of his most vulnerable times. He took the string quartet to the next level, a level, perhaps, too high for many people of his time. While his predecessors like Mozart and Haydn wrote incredible string quartets as well, Beethoven had something new and exciting to offer in his string quartets. He added a new depth, variation, and complexity. Beethoven’s string quartets are often regarded as “characteristically unique.”
 
Here are four Sets:
Beethoven String Quartets Nos. 1 – 16. Takacs Quartets. Release Date: 24 Mar 2017. Label: Decca. Catalogue No: 4831607. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 48 kHz, 24 bit). 
Awards:
Grammy Awards, 45th Awards (2002), Best Chamber Music Recording.
Gramophone Magazine, June 2017, Editor’s Choice.
 
Beethoven: The Complete String Quartets. Quatuor Ebene. Label: Erato. Release Date: 15 May 2020. Catalogue No: 9029533981. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 96 kHz, 24 bit).
Award:
Opus Klassik, 2021, Winner – Chamber Music.
 
Beethoven: The Complete String Quartets. Quartetto Italiano. Release Date: 11 Nov 1996. Label: Philips. Catalogue No: 4540622. FLAC (CD Quality, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit).
Award:
Gramophone Magazine, 100 Greatest Recordings.
 
Beethoven: String Quartets (7 Volumes). Cuarteto Casals. Release Dates: 15 Jun 2018  - 10 Apr 2020. Label: Harmonia Mundi. Catalogue Nos: HMM90240305-1, 90240305-2, 90240305-3, 90240002b, 90240002c,  90240002d,  90240608. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 96kHz, 24 bit).

Johann Sebastian Bach completed the h-Moll-Messe, an extended version of the Mass ordinary, in 1749, the year before his death. As usual for its time, the composition is formatted as a Neapolitan mass, consisting of a succession of choral movements with a broad orchestral accompaniment and sections in which a more limited group of instrumentalists accompanies one or more vocal soloists. Among the more unusual characteristics of the composition is its scale: a total performance time of around two hours, and a scoring consisting of two groups of SATB singers and an orchestra featuring an extended winds section, strings and continuo. Its key, B minor, is rather exceptional for a composition featuring natural trumpets in D, although far more of the work is in this key than B minor. 
 
The background to this composition began on 1 February 1733, when Augustus II the Strong, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania and Elector of Saxony, died. Five months of mourning followed, during which all public music-making was suspended. Bach used the opportunity to work on the composition of a Missa, a portion of the liturgy sung in Latin and common to both the Lutheran and Roman Catholic rites. His aim was to dedicate the work to the new sovereign Augustus III, a convert to Catholicism, with the hope of obtaining the title "Electoral Saxon Court Composer." Upon its completion, Bach visited Augustus III in Dresden and presented him with a copy of the Kyrie–Gloria Mass BWV 232 I (early version), together with a petition to be given a court title, dated July 27, 1733; in the accompanying inscription on the wrapper of the Mass he complains that he had "innocently suffered one injury or another" in Leipzig. The petition did not meet with immediate success, but Bach eventually got his title. He was made court composer to Augustus III in 1736. In the last years of his life, Bach expanded the Missa into a complete setting of the Latin Ordinary. It is not known what prompted this creative effort. 
 
In Bach's day, Masses composed for Lutheran services usually consisted only of a Kyrie and Gloria. Bach had composed five such Kyrie–Gloria Masses before he completed his Mass in B minor: the Kyrie–Gloria Masses, BWV 233–236, in the late 1730s, and the Mass for the Dresden court, which would become Part I of his only Missa tota, in 1733. The Mass in B minor was likely never performed in its entirety during Bach's lifetime. Its earliest documented complete performance took place in 1859. It is among Bach's most popular vocal works. In 2015, Bach's personal handwritten manuscript of the mass held by the Berlin State Library was included in the UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register, a project to protect and preserve culturally significant documents and manuscripts.
 
Bach did not give the Mass in B minor a title. Instead, he organized the 1748–49 manuscript into four folders, each with a different title. That containing the Kyrie and Gloria he called "1. Missa;" that containing the Credo he titled "2. Symbolum Nicenum;" the third folder, containing the Sanctus, he called "3. Sanctus;" and the remainder, in a fourth folder he titled "4. Osanna | Benedictus | Agnus Dei et | Dona nobis pacem." John Butt writes, "The format seems purposely designed so that each of the four sections could be used separately." However, the first overall title given to the work was in the 1790 estate of the recently deceased C.P.E. Bach, who inherited the score. There, it is called "Die Grosse Catholische Messe" (the "Great Catholic Mass"). The first publication of the Kyrie and Gloria, in 1833 by the Swiss collector Hans Georg Nägeli with Simrock, refers to it as "Messe." Finally, Nageli and Simrock produced the first publication in 1845, calling it the "High Mass in B Minor" (Hohe Messe in h-moll). It soon fell from common usage, but the prepositional phrase "in B Minor" survives.
 
The Mass in B minor is widely regarded as one of the supreme achievements of classical music. Alberto Basso summarizes the work as follows: “The Mass in B minor is the consecration of a whole life: started in 1733 for "diplomatic" reasons, it was finished in the very last years of Bach's life, when he had already gone blind. This monumental work is a synthesis of every stylistic and technical contribution the Cantor of Leipzig made to music. But it is also the most astounding spiritual encounter between the worlds of Catholic glorification and the Lutheran cult of the cross.” Scholars have suggested that the Mass in B minor belongs in the same category as The Art of Fugue, as a summation of Bach's deep lifelong involvement with musical tradition—in this case, with choral settings and theology. Bach scholar Christoph Wolff describes the work as representing "a summary of his writing for voice, not only in its variety of styles, compositional devices, and range of sonorities, but also in its high level of technical polish ... Bach's mighty setting preserved the musical and artistic creed of its creator for posterity." It was described in the 19th century by the editor Hans Georg Nägeli as "The Announcement of the Greatest Musical Work of All Times and All People" ("Ankündigung des größten musikalischen Kunstwerkes aller Zeiten und Völker").Despite being seldom performed, the Mass was appreciated by some of Bach's greatest successors: by the beginning of the 19th century Forkel and Haydn possessed copies.
 
The piece is orchestrated for two flutes, two oboes d'amore (doubling on oboes), two bassoons, one natural horn (in D), three natural trumpets (in D), timpani, violins I and II, violas and basso continuo (cellos, basses, bassoons, organ and harpsichord). A third oboe is required for the Sanctus.
 
The work consists of 27 sections. Tempo and metrical information and parodied cantata sources come from Christoph Wolff's 1997 critical urtext edition, and from George Stauffer’s Bach: The Mass in B Minor. Details of the parodied movements and their sources are given here:

Kyrie and Gloria ("Missa")

1. Kyrie eleison
2. Christe eleison
3. Kyrie eleison
4. Gloria in excelsis
5. Et in terra pax
6. Laudamus te
7. Gratias agimus tibi
8. Domine Deus
9. Qui tollis peccata mundi
10. Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris
11. Quoniam tu solus sanctus
12. Cum Santo Spiritu

 
Credo (“Symbolum Nicenum”)

1. Credo in unum Deum
2. Patrem omnipotentem
3. Et in unum Dominum
4. Et incamatus est
5. Crucifixus
6. Et resurrexit
7. Et in Spiritum Sanctum
8. Confiteor
9. Et expect

 
Sanctus

1. Sanctus

 
Osanna, Benedictus, Agnus Dei and Dona Nobis Pacem

1. Osanna
2. Benedictus
3. Osanna (da capo)
4. Agnus Dei
5. Dona nobis pacem

 
Here are four albums:
 
Bach J.S.: Mass in B minor, BWV232. Masaaki Suzuki with Carolyn Sampson (soprano I), Rachel Nicholls (soprano II), Robin Blaze (alto), Gerd Türk (tenor) & Peter Kooij (bass), and Bach Collegium Japan. Release Date: 29 Oct 2007. Label: BIS. Catalogue No: BISSACD170102. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 44.1 kHz, 24 bit).

Awards:
Diapason d’Or de l’Annee, 2008.
Gramophone Awards, 2008, Finalist – Baroque Vocal.
Presto Recording of the Week, 20 October 2007.
 
Bach J.S.: Mass in B minor, BWV232. John Eliot Gardiner with Hannah Morrison (soprano), Esther Brazil (mezzo), Meg Bragle (alto), Kate Symonds-Joy (alto), Peter Davoren (tenor), Nick Pritchard (tenor), Alex Ashworth (bass), David Shipley (bass), and Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists. Release Date: 30 Oct 2015. Label: SDG. Catalogue No: SDG722. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 96 kHz, 24 bit).
 
Awards:
Gramophone Awards, 2016, Shortlisted – Baroque Vocal.
Gramophone Magazine, Editor’s Choice.
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2015.
 
Bach J.S.: Mass in B minor, BWV232. Peter Dijkstra with Christina Landshamer (soprano), Anke Vondung (mezzo-soprano), Kenneth Tarver (tenor) & Andreas Wolf (bass-baritone), and Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks & Concerto Köln. Release Date: 27 Jan 2017. Label: BR Klassik. Catalogue No: 900910. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 48 kHz, 24 bit). 
 
Award:
International Classical Music Awards, 2022, Nominated – Symphonic Music.
 
 
Bach J.S.: Mass in B minor, BWV232. John Butt (director) with Susan Hamilton (soprano), Cecilia Osmond (soprano), Margot Oitzinger (alto), Thomas Hobbs (tenor) & Matthew Brook (bass), and Dunedin Consort & Players. Label: Linn. Catalogue No: CKD354. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 88.2 kHz, 24 bit).
 
Award:
Gramophone Magazine, August 2010, Editor’s Choice.

​Reference:
Mass in B minor. (2024, October 21). In Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_in_B_minor

Maurice Ravel composed in 1912 the choreographic symphony, Daphnis et Chloe, for orchestra and wordless chorus.  Ravel began to write the score in 1909 after a commission from impresario Sergei Diaghilev for his Ballets Russes, completing it some months before the premiere of the staged work. This took place at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris on 8 June 1912, with sets designed by Léon Bakst, choreography by Fokine, and the Orchestre Colonne conducted by Pierre Monteux. Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Nijinsky danced the shepherdess and goatherd.
 
It is a ballet in three main sections, or parties, and a dozen scenes, most of them dances, and lasts just under an hour, making it the composer's longest work. However, it is more frequently given as a concert work. The dance scenario was adapted by choreographer Michel Fokine from a pastoral romance by the Greek writer Longus, thought to date from the 2nd century AD, recounting the love between the goatherd, Daphnis, and the shepherdess, Chloé. Scott Goddard in 1926 published a commentary on the changes to the story Fokine had to apply in order to make the scenario workable. The music, some of the composer's most passionate, is widely regarded as some of his best, with extraordinarily lush harmonies typical of the Impressionist movement; even during the composer's lifetime commentators described it as his masterpiece for orchestra. Daphnis et Chloé is scored for a large orchestra.
 
The structure in three Parts:
Part I

• Introduction et Danse religieuse
• Danse générale
• Danse grotesque de Dorcon
• Danse légère et gracieuse de Daphnis
• Danse de Lycéion
• Danse lente et mystérieuse des Nymphes

 
On the island of Lesbos, in a meadow at the edge of a sacred wood stands a grotto hewn out of rock, at the entrance of which is an antique sculpture of three Nymphs. Somewhat toward the background, to the left, a large rock vaguely resembles the form of the god Pan. In the background sheep are grazing. It is a bright spring afternoon. When the curtain rises, the stage is empty. Youths and girls enter, carrying gifts for the Nymphs in baskets. Gradually the stage fills. The group bows before the altar of the Nymphs. The girls drape the pedestals with garlands. In the far background, Daphnis is seen following his flock. Chloé joins him. They proceed toward the altar and disappear at a bend. Daphnis and Chloé enter at the foreground and bow before the Nymphs.
 
The girls entice Daphnis and dance around him. Chloé feels the first twinges of jealousy. At that moment she is swept into the dance of the youths. The cowherd Dorcon proves to be especially bold. Daphnis in turn seems upset. At the end of the dance, Dorcon tries to kiss Chloé. She innocently offers her cheek, but with an abrupt motion Daphnis pushes aside the cowherd and approaches Chloé affectionately. The youths intervene. They position themselves in front of Chloé and gently lead Daphnis away. One of them proposes a dance contest between Daphnis and Dorcon. A kiss from Chloé will be the victor’s prize. The group sarcastically imitates the clumsy movements of the cowherd, who ends his dance in the midst of general laughter. Everyone invites Daphnis to accept his reward. Dorcon comes forward as well, but he is chased off by the group, accompanied by loud laughter.
 
The laughter ceases at the sight of the radiant group formed by the embracing Daphnis and Chloé. The group withdraws, taking along Chloé. Daphnis remains, immobile, as if in ecstasy. Then he lies face down in the grass, his face in his hands. Lyceion enters. She notices the young shepherd, approaches, and raises his head, placing her hands over his eyes. Daphnis thinks this is a game of Chloé’s but he recognizes Lyceion and tries to pull away. As though inadvertently, she drops one of her veils. Daphnis picks it up and places it back on her shoulders. She resumes her dance, which, at first more languorous, becomes steadily more animated until the end. Another veil slips to the ground, and is again retrieved by Daphnis. Vexed, she runs off mocking him, leaving the young shepherd very disturbed. Warlike sounds and war cries are heard, coming nearer. In the middle ground, women run across the stage, pursued by pirates. Daphnis thinks of Chloé, perhaps in danger, and runs off to save her. Chloé hastens on in panic, seeking shelter. She throws herself before the altar of the Nymphs, beseeching their protection.
 
A group of brigands burst on stage, capture the girl and carry her off. Daphnis enters looking for Chloé. He discovers on the ground a sandal that she lost in the struggle. Mad with despair, he curses the deities who were unable to protect the girl, and falls swooning at the entrance of the grotto. As night falls, an unnatural light suffuses the landscape. A little flame shines suddenly from the head of one of the statues. The Nymph comes to life and descends from her pedestal, followed by the second and then the third Nymph. They consult together and begin a slow and mysterious dance. They notice Daphnis, bend down and dry his tears. They revive him and lead him toward the large rock, and invoke the god Pan. Gradually the form of the god is outlined. Daphnis prostrates himself in supplication.
 
Part II

• Introduction
• Danse guerrière
• Danse suppliante de Chloé

 
Voices are heard from off stage, at first very distant. A trumpet calls and the voices come nearer. There is a dull glimmer. The setting is the pirate camp on a very rugged seacoast, with the sea as the background. Pirates are seen running to and fro carrying plunder. More and more torches are brought, which illuminate the scene. Bryaxis commands that the captive be brought. Chloé, her hands tied, is led in by two pirates. Bryaxis orders her to dance. Chloé performs a dance of supplication. She tries to flee, but she is brought back violently. Despairing, she resumes her dance. Again she tries to escape but is brought back again. She abandons herself to despair, thinking of Daphnis. Bryaxis tries to carry her off. Although she beseeches, the leader carries her off triumphantly. Suddenly the atmosphere seems charged with strange elements. Various places are lit by invisible hands, and little flames flare up. Fantastic beings crawl or leap here and there, and satyrs appear from every side and surround the brigands. The earth opens and the fearsome shadow of Pan is outlined on the hills in the background, making a threatening gesture. Everyone flees in horror except Chloé, who is given a wreath crown.
 
Part III

• Lever du jour (Sunrise)
• Pantomime (Les amours de Pan et Syrinx)
• Danse générale (Bacchanale)

 
Morning at the grotto of the Nymphs. There is no sound but the murmur of rivulets produced by the dew that trickles from the rocks. Daphnis lies, still unconscious, at the entrance of the grotto. Gradually the day breaks. The songs of birds are heard. Far off, a shepherd passes with his flock. Another shepherd crosses in the background. A group of herdsmen enters looking for Daphnis and Chloé. They discover Daphnis and wake him. Anxiously he looks around for Chloé. She appears at last, surrounded by shepherdesses. They throw themselves into each other’s arms. Daphnis notices Chloé’s wreath. His dream was a prophetic vision. The intervention of Pan is manifest. The old shepherd Lammon explains that, if Pan has saved Chloé, it is in memory of the nymph Syrinx, whom the god once loved. Daphnis and Chloé mime the tale of Pan and Syrinx. Chloé plays the young nymph wandering in the meadow. Daphnis as Pan appears and declares his love. The nymph rebuffs him. The god becomes more insistent. She disappears into the reeds. In despair, he picks several stalks to form a flute and plays a melancholy air. Chloé reappears and interprets through her dance the accents of his flute. The dance becomes more and more animated, and in a mad whirling, Chloé falls into Daphnis’s arms. Before the altar of the Nymphs, he pledges his love, offering a sacrifice of two sheep. A group of girls enters dressed as bacchantes, shaking tambourines. Daphnis and Chloé embrace tenderly. A group of youths rushes on stage and the ballet ends with a bacchanale.
 
Here are four albums:
 
Ravel: Daphnis et Chloe. John Wilson and Sinfonia of London Chorus, Sinfonia of London. Release Date: 3 Nov 2023. Label: Chandos. Catalogue No: CHSA5327. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 96 kHz, 24 bit). 
Awards:
Gramophone Awards, 2024 Shortlist, Finalist – Orchestral.
Gramophone Magazine, November 2023, Editor’s Choice.
Presto Recording of the Week, 3 November 2023.
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2023.
 
Ravel: Daphnis et Chloe. Charles Munch with Lorna Cooke de Varon (chorus master), and New England Conservatory Chorus, Boston Symphony Orchestra. Release Date: 4 Nov 2016. Label: Sony. Catalogue No: G010003618167L. FLAC (CD Quality, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit).
Awards:
Grammy Awards, 4th Awards (1961), Best Engineered Album, Classical.
Grammy Awards, 4th Awards (1961(, Best Orchestral Performance.
 
Ravel: Daphnis et Chloe. François-Xavier Roth with Marion Ralincourt (flute), and Les Siècles & Ensemble Aedes. Release Date: 31 Mar 2017. Label: Harmonia Mundi. Catalogue No: HMM905280. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 96 kHz, 24 bit).
Awards:
Gramophone Awards, 2018, Winner – Orchestral.
Gramophone Magazine, June 2017, Editor’s Choice.
Presto Editor’s Choice, April 2017.
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2017.
Radio 3, Building a Library, February 2022, Also Recommended.

​Ravel: Dapnis et Chloe & La Valse. Pierre Boulez and Berlin Philharmonic.Release Date: 1 Sept 1995. Label: Deutsche Grammophon. Catalogue No: E4470572. FLAC (CD Quality, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit).
Award:
Radio 3, Building a Library, February 2022, Recommended Recording.

​Reference:
Daphnis et Chloé. (2024, November 21). In Wikipedia. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphnis_et_Chloé#Instrumentation