142

Jeux d’enfants

suite

op. 22

  • 1 L’Escarpolette - Rêverie, 62 bars
  • 2 La Toupie - Impromptu, 73 bars
  • 3 La Poupée - Berceuse, 48 bars
  • 4 Les Chevaux de bois - Scherzo, 95 bars
  • 5 Le Volant - Fantaisie, 29 bars
  • 6 Trompette et tambour - Marche, 71 bars
  • 7 Les Bulles de savon - Rondino, 36 bars
  • 8 Les Quatre Coins - Esquisse, 180 bars
  • 9 Colin-maillard - Nocturne, 35 bars
  • 10 Saute-mouton - Caprice, 75 bars
  • 11 Petit mari, petite femme ! - Duo, 91 bars
  • 12 Le Bal - Galop, 161 bars
piano duet (prima and seconda)

Composition: 1871. There were originally ten pieces in the sequence 4, 3, 2, 1, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12. Nos 7 and 8 were then added at the end before the final order was arrived at. The original titles of nos 2 and 6 were La Toupie d’Allemagne and Les Soldats de plomb. At the same time Bizet orchestrated six of the pieces and published five of them as Petite Suite d’orchestre. The feminine terms prima and seconda suggest that the piece was to be played by ladies.

Opus no.: 22. A collette in the autograph of no. 4 suggests that Bizet once intended this to be op. 26.

Note: The first bar of no. 8 is silent (as in Liszt's Mephisto Waltz no. 1).

Self-borrowing (from): No. 6 is derived from no. 19 (Marche et récit) of Ivan IV, omitting bars 1–2 and rewriting the middle section and the end. This was in turn orchestrated for the Jeux d’enfants suite in C minor.

Autograph score: F-Pn Cons MS 454 (1–12), Malherbe bequest, formerly Jacques Durand. 12 cahiers enclosed in a wrapper, 30-stave paper torn in half to make oblong 15-stave paper, 26 f. (50 p. of music). Each piece is separately paginated and the whole collection has been foliated continuously f. 1– 26

Wrapper:
Contents:
pages folios
L’Escarpolette / Rêverie / Jeux d’enfants Georges Bizet 1–4 1–2
No. 2 / La Toupie / Impromptu 1–4 2–3
No. 3 / La Poupée / Berceuse 1–4 4–5
No. 4 / Les chevaux de bois / Scherzo 1–4 6–7
No. 5 / Le Volant / Fantaisie 1–4 8–9
No. 6 / Trompettes et Tambours / Marche 1–4 10–11
No. 11 No. 7 / Les Bulles de Savon / Rondino 1–3, blank 12–13
No. [12?] No. 8 / Les Quatre Coins / Esquisse 1–6 14–16
No. 7 No. 9 / Colin-Maillard / Nocturne 1–3, blank 17–18
No. 8 No. 10 / Saute Mouton / Caprice 1–4 19–20
No. 9 No. 11 / Petit mari, petite femme! / Duo 1–4 21–22
No. 10 No. 12 / Le Bal Galop 1–6 23–25
No. 3 has 4 bars crossed out.
No. 4 has the last 11 bars bars covered by two colletted strips of 20 bars. On the back of the lower collette is a draft: par / Georges Bizet / op: 26 en deux suites chaque.
No. 6 has many corrections and collettes.
No. 7 has some revisions.
No. 8 has an additional 48 bars crossed out, retained in the orchestral version.
Facsimile of p. 2-4 of no. 8 in Éditions Musicales du Marais edition (1990).
Printed scores:
1
pl. no:

D.S. et Cie 1365 (1)–(12)

pages:

title page, 2–63, blank

ann.:

Bibliographie de la France, 20-4-1872 @ 25 fr. for the set, and as separate pieces

date:

early 1872 (sold to Durand on 28-9-1871)

note:

All twelve pieces were issued separately, priced as shown on the title page.

copies:

F-Pn X.579

F-Pn Ac.p.1831(1-12) (stamped 1872)

F-Po A 836b

D-Mbs

E-Mn MC/3762/15

GB-Lbl (stamped 19-7-1872)

I-Mc

Morssen Catalogue (1962) (inscribed by Bizet)

2

Reissued by A. Durand & Fils, pl. no. D. et F. 1365 (1)–(12), with increased prices, after 1891, and by Durand & Cie after 1909. Copies: D-B, GB-En, US-Wc, US-CAe, GB-NWm.

3

Hug, Leipzig, 1906. ed. Adolf Ruthardt. D-B.

4

Hug, Leipzig, pl. no. 4120, 37 p., 1938, ed. Kurt Herrmann. Nos. 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 11, 12 only. D-B, US-CHH. Reissued c. 1952 from Hug’s Zurich address. Reprinted by Edwin Kalmus, c. 1970. IMSLP.

5

International, New York, 55 p., 1952, ed. Isidore Philipp.

6

Peters, Leipzig, 75 p., 1961, ed. Walter Frickert.

7

Schirmer, New York, 63 p., 1977, ed. David Goldberger.

8

Éditions Musicales du Marais, 68 p., 1990, ed. Noël Lee, in the series ‘Patrimoine’.

9

Henle, Munich, 69 p., 1996, ed. Egon Voss.

Arrangements, orchestra:
Arrangements, piano solo:
Arrangement, organ:
Arrangements, wind quintet:
Arrangement, wind quartet and piano:
Arrangement, wind quintet and piano:

Dedicatee: Marguerite de Beaulieu was the daughter of Geneviève’s cousin, Mme de Beaulieu; Fanny Gouin was the daughter of Geneviève’s friends the Gouins.

Letter:
late 1871 Bizet to Lacombe:
'Pasdeloup rejouera, cet hiver, ma symphonie et probablement aussi mes petites suites d’orchestre en cinq morceaux. – Ces morceaux, qui sont de simples esquisses, sont accompagnés de cinq autres. Durand (Flaxland) m’a acheté le recueil qui sera intitulé: Jeux d’enfants !...
Dix morceaux à quatre mains.
1 Les Chevaux de bois Scherzo
2 La Poupée Berceuse
3 La Toupie d’Allemagne Impromptu
4 L’Escarpolette Rêverie
5 Le Volant Fantaisie
6 Les Soldats de Plomb Marche
7 Colin-Maillard Nocturne
8 Saute-Mouton Caprice
9 Petit Mari – Petite Femme Duo
10 Le Bal Galop
La suite d’orchestre est composée des nos 1, 2, 3, 9 et 10, dont j’ai supprimé les titres trop enfantins.'
Imbert, p. 192
9-1871 Bizet to Galabert:
'Je publie en ce moment chez Durand [...] un recueil de dix morceaux à quatre mains intitulé : Jeux d’enfants. J’en suis assez content.'
Galabert, p. 197
[1872-1875] Bizet to ?:
Bizet asks his correspondent to give his wife 'ces petites ordures à 4 mains' which accompany the tickets.'
Macnutt Cat. 115, 1991
Document:
Bizet signed a contract with Durand on 28-9-1871, giving him 600 francs for both piano and orchestral versions.
Performances:

Boris Kochno’s ballet Jeux d’enfants with choreography by Massine and sets by Miró was given in Monte Carlo in April 1932 by the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo. Balanchine’s ballet Jeux d’enfants, using Bizet’s orchestration of nos. 2, 3, 6, 11 and 12 (see Petite Suite d’orchestre) and new orchestrations of the remainder, was given by the New York City Ballet on 22-11-1955. Nos 6, 3, 11 and 12 were later (30-7-1975) recast as a ballet entitled The Steadfast Tin Soldier.

Discography:
Bibliography: