Les Animaux

modèles

Les Animaux modèles, FP 111, is a ballet

dating from 1940–42 with music by
Francis Poulenc. It was the third and final
ballet that he composed and was staged
at the Paris Opéra in 1942, with
choreography by Serge Lifar, who also
danced in the 1942 premiere. The themes
of the ballet are drawn from the Fables of
Jean de La Fontaine.
 Les Animaux modèles

Serge Lifar and Yvette Chauviré in the original

1942 production

Choreographer Serge Lifar

Music Francis Poulenc

Based on Fables of Jean de La

Fontaine

Premiere 8 August 1942

Paris Opera, Paris
History
The sections of the ballet are based on
stories from Jean de La Fontaine's
Fables.[1] These tales had inspired works
by French composers from Lully to
Gounod, Offenbach and Saint-Saëns.[2] Its
title was provided by the poet Paul Eluard,
as he had done for several other works by
Poulenc at his request.[3]

Poulenc began work on his ballet in 1940,

completing a piano score in September
1941 and orchestrating it between October
1941 and June 1942.[2] He wrote his own
scenario for the ballet, making the various
animals more human-like than usual.[2] In
his words, "The grasshopper has become
an ageing ballerina, the ant an old
provincial housemaid, the amorous lion a
pimp, Death an elegant woman – a kind of
duchess with a mask".[4] The commentator
Gérald Hugon observes:

[D]ifferent musical styles are

brought together in delightful
fashion – passionate "grand
piano" writing set against the
"bad boy's" waltz-java in Le Lion
amoureux, the verve of the
Offenbachian can-can in
L'Homme entre deux âges et ses
 deux maîtresses, Mussorgskyan
turns of phrase in La Mort et le
Bûcheron and a deliberate
borrowing from Paganini's
Caprice No. 24 in Les Deux
Coqs.[5]

Hugon comments that all these influences

are absorbed by Poulenc and turned into
his own style.[5] At the time of the
premiere, Poulenc's friend and colleague
Arthur Honegger wrote that "the influences
that have worked upon him – Chabrier,
Satie, Stravinsky – are now completely
assimilated. Listening to his music you
think – it's Poulenc."[6]

The company for the premiere was headed

by Serge Lifar (who also choreographed
the work) and Yvette Chauviré. Paris was
under Nazi occupation, and the many
German officers in the audience failed to
spot the composer's defiant incorporation
of the anti-German song "Vous n'aurez pas
l'Alsace et la Lorraine" in his score.[2][7]
Poulenc later reduced the full score to a
shorter orchestral suite.[5]

Structure
Ballet
The action is set in rural Burgundy, during
the 18th century.

1. Petit jour (Dawn): très calme

2. L'ours et les deux compagnons (The
Bear and the Travelers): très animé
3. La cigale et la fourmi (The Ant and
the Grasshopper): très allant
4. Le lion amoureux (The Lion in Love):
passionnément animé
5. L'homme entre deux âges et ses deux
maîtresses (The Man with two
Mistresses): prestissimo
. La mort et le bûcheron (Death and
the woodcutter): très lent
 7. Le combat des deux coqs (The battle
of the two roosters): très modéré
. Le repas de midi (Lunchtime).
Orchestral suite[8]
1. Petit jour: très calme
2. Le lion amoureux: passionnément
animé.
3. L'homme entre deux âges et ses deux
maîtresses: prestissimo
4. La mort et le bûcheron: très lent
5. Le combat des deux coqs: très
modéré
. Le repas de midi

References
 1. Schmidt, p. 268
2. Simeone, Nigel. "Making Music in
Occupied Paris" , The Musical Times,
Volume 147, Number 1894, Spring,
2006, pp. 23–50 (subscription required)
3. Schmidt, p.273
4. Quoted by Hugon
5. Hugon, Gérald (2014). Notes to "Ballet
Suites: Les Biches, Aubade, Les
Animaux modèles", Naxos 8.573170
. Schmidt, p. 275
7. Poulenc, pp. 207–208
. A performance on You Tube

Sources
Poulenc, Francis; Nicolas Southon (ed);
Roger Nichols (trans) (2014). Articles
and Interviews – Notes from the Heart.
Burlington, US: Ashgate. ISBN 978-1-
4094-6622-2.
Schmidt, Carl B (2001). Entrancing Muse:
A Documented Biography of Francis
Poulenc. Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press.
ISBN 978-1-57647-026-8.
Schmidt, Carl B. (1995). The Music of
Francis Poulenc (1899–1963): A
Catalogue . Oxford: Clarendon Press.
ISBN 9780191585166.
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