Chout
Encyclopedia
Chout, Op. 21 is the usual English-language title of a ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...

 by Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...

, written in two versions between 1915 and 1921. It is sometimes known as "The Tale of the Buffoon", or simply "The Buffoon". There also exists a symphonic suite from the ballet, Op. 21 bis, which is much more often performed than the full ballet score.

The original Russian-language full title was Сказка про шута, семерых шутов перешутившаго (Skazka pro shuta, semerykh shutov pereshutivshago), meaning "The Tale of the Buffoon who Outwits Seven Other Buffoons". The spelling "Chout" is a French romanization
Romanization
In linguistics, romanization or latinization is the representation of a written word or spoken speech with the Roman script, or a system for doing so, where the original word or language uses a different writing system . Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written...

 of the Russian word шут meaning "buffoon".

Chout was Prokofiev's first completed ballet score for Sergei Diaghilev
Sergei Diaghilev
Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev , usually referred to outside of Russia as Serge, was a Russian art critic, patron, ballet impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes, from which many famous dancers and choreographers would arise.-Early life and career:...

. Diaghilev had first commissioned Ala and Lolli, but rejected the score submitted by Prokofiev. Although the composer recast some of the music as the Scythian Suite
Scythian Suite (Prokofiev)
The Scythian Suite is an orchestral suite by Sergei Prokofiev written in 1915.-Background:Prokofiev originally wrote the music for the ballet Ala i Lolli, which is about the Scythians. The score was written to the words of Russian poet Sergey Gorodetsky...

, the projected ballet never saw the light of day. Instead, Diaghilev now asked Prokofiev to write a ballet based on a folk tale recorded by Alexander Afanasyev
Alexander Afanasyev
Alexander Nikolayevich Afanasyev was a Russian folklorist who recorded and published over 600 Russian folktales and fairytales, by far the largest folktale collection by any one man in the world...

. The story had been previously suggested to Diaghilev by Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....

 as a possible subject for a ballet, and Diaghilev and his choreographer Léonide Massine helped Prokofiev to shape this into a ballet scenario.

The story is somewhat ridiculous and brutal, involving seven buffoons who all murder their wives after being told by an eighth buffoon that he has killed his own wife and brought her back to life with a magic whip, and promises to do the same for them. When he fails to deliver on his promise, the other buffoons seek revenge. The principal buffoon is forced to disguise himself as a woman, and is chosen for marriage by a wealthy merchant. He escapes after swindling the merchant out of 300 roubles.

Prokofiev wrote the score in 1915. Although Diaghilev was again not happy with the music, this time he was prepared to work with the composer to recast it into six scenes and retain the best parts of the music already written. He also wanted new entr'actes to be written to make the music play continuously. This Prokofiev did, but not until 1920. In the meantime, the ballet was not produced. He revised the score while staying at Mantes-sur-Seine
Mantes-la-Jolie
Mantes-la-Jolie is a commune based in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris from the center. Mantes-la-Jolie is a sub-prefecture department.-History:...

 near Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. He wrote the piano reduction while travelling by ship to the United States, and finished the full score in early 1921 after his return to France. He played through the score for Stravinsky in Paris, who liked it. Shortly afterwards, Diaghilev also approved the changes. Over 40 per cent of the original score was either deleted or rewritten, and the required additional entr'actes were composed.

The structure of the ballet is:
  • Scene 1: The Buffoon's Kitchen
  • Entracte 1
  • Scene 2: The Seven Clowns
  • Entracte 2
  • Scene 3: The Buffoon's Courtyard
  • Entracte 3
  • Scene 4: The Buffoon's Sitting Room
  • Entracte 4
  • Scene 5: The Buffoon's Bedroom
  • Entracte 5
  • Scene 6: In the Merchant's Garden


The first performance of the ballet was given by the Ballets Russes
Ballets Russes
The Ballets Russes was an itinerant ballet company from Russia which performed between 1909 and 1929 in many countries. Directed by Sergei Diaghilev, it is regarded as the greatest ballet company of the 20th century. Many of its dancers originated from the Imperial Ballet of Saint Petersburg...

 on 17 May 1921, at the Théâtre Municipal de la Gaîté
Théâtre de la Gaîté (rue Papin)
In 1862 during Haussmann's modernization of Paris the Théâtre de la Gaîté of the boulevard du Temple was relocated to the rue Papin across from the Square des Arts et Métiers....

, Paris, with choreography by Fyodor Slavinsky and supervision by Mikhail Larionov. The orchestra was conducted by the composer. It was fairly well received, however the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 premiere on 9 June was bitterly attacked by audiences and critics alike.

Although he initially thought that a symphonic suite of 12 movements would be too long, in 1922-23 Prokofiev arranged such a suite from the ballet, which was premiered in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

 on 15 January 1924 under Frans Rühlmann.

The suite consists of:
  • 1. The Buffoon and His Wife
  • 2. Dance of the Wives
  • 3. Fugue. The Buffoons Kill Their Wives
  • 4. The Buffoon as a Young Woman
  • 5. Third Entr'acte
  • 6. Dance of the Buffoons' Daughters
  • 7. Entry of the Merchant and His Welcome
  • 8. In the Merchant's Bedroom
  • 9. The Young Woman Becomes a Goat
  • 10. Fifth Entr'acte and the Goat's Burial
  • 11. The Buffoon and the Merchant Quarrel
  • 12. Final Dance.


The 12 movements take 35-40 minutes to play (as against an hour for the full ballet).

While neither the ballet nor the suite can be said to have found a large following, the suite is performed more often than the ballet. The ballet was only presented once in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

, in January 1928 under the Ukrainian title Blazen at the Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

 Theatre of Opera and Ballet under A. S. Orlov. The music had to be reconstructed from the symphonic suite, minus the entr'actes, resulting in prolonged pauses. Other attempts to stage it in the Soviet Union failed – Prokofiev refused to allow any changes. The suite has been recorded a number of times and has often been performed in concert, but it was not until the mid-1980s that Gennady Rozhdestvensky
Gennady Rozhdestvensky
Gennady Nikolayevich Rozhdestvensky is a Russian conductor.-Biography:Rozhdestvensky was born in Moscow. His parents were the noted conductor and pedagogue Nikolai Anosov and soprano Natalya Rozhdestvenskaya...

made the first recording of the entire music for the ballet.

External links

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