(b Paris, 15 Aug 1890; d there, 5 Feb 1962). French composer. He studied with Vidal at the Paris Conservatoire and won the Prix de Rome in 1919; later he returned to Rome as director of the French Academy (1937-60). Writing in an urbane style that suggests Debussy, Poulenc or Stravinsky (or Chabrier in his lighter music), he produced a large output of comic operas, ballets, songs, chamber music (notably the String Quartet, 1942) and orchestral pieces (including the evocative triptych Escales, 1922, and the witty Divertimento, 1930).
Ibert, Jacques (b Paris, 15 Aug. 1890, d Paris, 6 Feb. 1960). French composer who wrote several scores for dance including Nijinska's Les Rencontres (Paris, 1925), R. Page's Gold Standard (Chicago, 1934), Fokine's Diane de Poitiers (Paris, 1934), Petit's Les Amours de Jupiter (Paris, 1934), and Lifar's Escales (Paris, 1948), and Le Chevalier errant (Paris, 1950). He also wrote the music for the Circus number in Gene Kelly's film Invitation to the Dance (1952). Various choreographers have set dances to his Divertissement, including W. Gore (in Street Games, New Ballet Co., 1952), M. Pink (London Festival Ballet, 1981), and M. Morris (in Lucky Charms 1994). P. Wright choreographed his Quintet for woodwind (Stuttgart, 1963).
Ibert, Jacques (zhäk ēbĕr'), 1890-1962, French composer. Ibert, a pupil of Fauré, won the Prix de Rome in 1919. His music is generally bright, colorful, and tuneful. Among the most popular of Ibert's works are Escales (Ports of Call, 1924) and Divertissement (1930), for orchestra; concertos for flute (1934) and for saxophone (1935); Trois pièces brèves (1930) for woodwind quintet; and the piano suite Histoires. He also wrote many ballets, operas, and sets of incidental music.
Genres: Ballet, Chamber Music, Concerto, Film Music, Keyboard Music, Orchestral Music, Vocal Music
Biography
Though Jacques Ibert is best remembered for a handful of orchestral bonbons in the manner and spirit of Ravel, his output encompasses nearly every genre and bears testament to a musical language characterized as much by unmistakable craftsmanship as by picturesque color. Ibert trained at the Paris Conservatory under Paul Vidal; as a student, he showed great promise and took a number of the Conservatory's awards. Following military service in World War I, Ibert travelled to Italy as a recipient of the Prix de Rome; there, he composed what was to become one of his most popular works, the orchestral suite Escales (1922). This "travelogue in tones," which depicts touristy locales in Italy, Tunisia, and Spain, has come to be regarded as representative of the "Ibert sound": breezy, good-humored, and evocative. Still, Ibert was far from a "one-note" composer of chronically pleasant music. Another of his works written in Rome, La ballade de la geôle de Reading (The Ballad of Reading Gaol, 1920), is a tone poem based on Oscar Wilde's far-from-cheery reflection upon life in prison; it was the work, in fact, that first brought the composer to widespread attention.
Though most of Ibert's works for the stage remain relatively little known, both the one-act opera Angélique (1926) and the Don Quixote-themed ballet Le chevalier errant (1935) have enjoyed continued currency. More popular still, and indeed, one of Ibert's most enduring creations, is the colorful, comical Divertissement (1930) fashioned from the composer's incidental score to Labiche's The Italian Straw Hat. Reflecting the farcical frenzy of the story, Ibert's score is a comic panoply that includes everything from jazz elements to Viennese waltzes to the "Wedding March" from Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream.
Among Ibert's other works, the Concerto da camera (1935) for alto saxophone and 11 instruments stands out as one of a handful of genuine mainstays of the saxophone repertoire. Like a number of his "serious" contemporaries, Ibert also ventured from time to time into film scoring; his most conspicuous efforts in this realm include music for Orson Welles' 1948 version of Macbeth and the "Circus" sequence from Gene Kelly's Invitation to the Dance (1952). ~ Michael Rodman, All Music Guide
Career Highlights: Un Chapeau de Paille d'Italie, Feu Mathias Pascal, Macbeth
First Major Screen Credit: Un Chapeau de Paille d'Italie (1927)
Biography
Noted French composer Jacques Ibert is best known for composing opera, ballet music and chamber music. His best known work is his "Concerto for Flute & Orchestra" (1934). Trained at the Paris Conservatoire, Ibert later studied under Fauré. Between the '30s and the '50s, Ibert composed the soundtracks for a number of distinguished films and worked closely with such directors as Duvivier, L'Herbier, Pabst, and Tourneur. Ibert's music can also be heard on the soundtracks of Orson Welles's Macbeth (1948) and on Gene Kelly's Invitation to the Dance (1956). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
He studied under Paul Vidal at the Paris Conservatoire and won the Prix de Rome in 1919 for his cantataLe poète et la fée. From 1937 he was director of the French Academy in Rome, and from 1955 to 1957 directed Paris' Opéra-Comique. He died in Paris.
Ibert's music is considered to be typically quite "light" in character, often witty, colourfully orchestrated with attractive melodies. Although he was not a member of Les Six, his music shares some characteristics with theirs. His best known work is probably the orchestral Divertissement (1930), based on his incidental music for Eugène Labiche's play, Un Chapeau de paille d'Italie (The Italian Straw Hat). In the course of the work he comically quotes many pieces, including Mendelssohn's Wedding March. Other prominent pieces include Escales (1924) for orchestra, the symphonic poemLa Ballade de la geôle de Reading (based on the poem by Oscar Wilde), his concerto for flute and Concertino da Camera for saxophone and Histoires for solo piano. He composed a number of operas, such as L'Aiglon (The Eaglet), and the operettaLes Petites Cardinal, some together with Arthur Honegger. His ballet Le Chevalier Errant (épopée choréographique, 1951) was premiered by Georges Tzipine with the ORTF.[1] Among his film scores is the one for Orson Welles' version of Macbeth (1948). In 1956 he wrote the work Bacchanale to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the BBC Third Programme. Its premiere was given by Sir Eugene Goossens.
