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''L'enfant et les sortilèges: Fantaisie lyrique en deux parties'' (''The Child and the Spells: A Lyric Fantasy in Two Parts'') is an opera in one act, with music by Maurice Ravel to a libretto by Colette. It is Ravel's second opera, his first being ''L'heure espagnole''. Written from 1917 to 1925, ''L'enfant et les sortilèges'' was first performed in Monte Carlo in 1925 under the baton of Victor de Sabata. After being offered the opportunity to write a musical work, Colette wrote the text in eight days. Several composers were proposed to Colette to write the music, but she was only enthused with the prospect of Ravel. ==Composition history== During World War I, the Opéra de Paris director Jacques Rouché asked Colette to provide the text for a fairy ballet. Colette originally wrote the story under the title ''Divertissements pour ma fille''. After Colette chose Ravel to set the text to music, a copy was sent to him in 1916 while he was still serving in the war; however, the mailed script was lost. In 1917, Ravel finally received a copy and agreed to complete the score, humorously replying to Colette, "I would like to compose this, but I have no daughter." Ravel began composing the work in the spring of 1920, but then stopped due to physical exhaustion and poor health. He was finally compelled to complete the work by Raoul Gunsbourg, director of the Monte Carlo Opera, who insisted Ravel write a sequel to ''L'Heure espagnole''.〔Orenstein (2003): pp. 436-7〕 This was completed in 1924. Colette, who had believed that the work would never be complete, expressed her extreme pleasure, believing that her modest writing had been raised beyond its initial scope. Now officially under the title of ''L'enfant et les sortilèges'', the first performance took place on 21 March 1925 in Monte Carlo, conducted by Victor de Sabata, with ballet sequences choreographed by George Balanchine. Ravel said of the premiere production: :"Our work requires an extraordinary production: the roles are numerous, and the phantasmagoria is constant. Following the principles of American operetta, dancing is continually and intimately intermingled with the action. Now the Monte Carlo Opera possesses a wonderful troupe of Russian dancers, marvelously directed by a prodigious ballet master, M. Balanchine. ... And let's not forget an essential element, the orchestra.",〔Orenstein (2003): p. 437〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「L'enfant et les sortilèges」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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