Pas de deux - Ballet (op. 23a, 1962)
for large orchestra
I. Introduktion - Adagio, II. Allegro, III. quasi Cadenza - Presto più mosso, IV. Conclusion
3.3.3.3-4.3.2.1-timpani, percussion, harp, strings
Duration: 13 minutes
Choreography: Horst Müller | Dancers: Hanneline Morá and Horst Dobirr
Orchestra of the Oldenburg State Theatre | Albert Grünes
Title: - - Length: 72 pages - Date: I. 30 April 62 / II. 8 June 62 /III. - / IV. 5 Aug. 62 - Location: Bavarian State Library, Munich
N. Simrock Berlin-London (Boosey & Hawkes)
Score EE 5331 ISMN M-2211-2122-6 (for sale) - Parts (loan material)
The grinding, poster-coloured sounds of Hummel, his ominous cantilenas and the whipping rhythms cry out for hard, bizarre movements.
Extraordinary music in several movements, lush, sometimes sophisticated instrumentation. Extra praise must be given for this world premiere of real stage music.
Hummel's three concise, lively dance scenes achieve extremely refined sound effects that fully exploit the possibilities of the orchestral apparatus and are rhythmically particularly complex, while the melodies are rather sober.
The almost 15-minute ballet Pas de deux for large orchestra was commissioned by the Oldenburg State Theatre in 1962 and premiered there in the same year. The work combines characteristic dance scenes in the following sequence: Introduction - Adagio, Allegro, Cadenza - Allegro molto and Conclusion. A seven-note sequence (modus) of all semitones in the space of the tritone c-f sharp dominates the entire work and, due to the different movement progressions, makes it necessary to vary the basic material in many different ways.
Bertold Hummel
Pictures of the premiere