Jacques Ibert's Divertissement is a six-movement suite for chamber orchestra adapted by the composer in 1930 from incidental music he had written for a production of Eugène Labiche's stage comedy The Italian Straw Hat in 1929. It is among Ibert's best-known works and has been recorded many times.
In the decade after the First World War, Jacques Ibert established himself as a leading French composer, winning France's top musical prize, the French: [[Prix de Rome]] and becoming known to a large public for compositions such as French: La Ballade de la geôle de Reading (a symphonic poem based on Oscar Wilde's The Ballad of Reading Gaol) and French: [[Escales (Ibert)|Escales]] (Ports of Call, an orchestral representation of a Mediterranean sea voyage).[1] In 1929 he composed incidental music for a revival of Eugène Labiche's 1851 stage comedy French: Un Chapeau de paille d'Italie (The Italian Straw Hat) at the French: Théatre d'Amsterdam|italic=no.[2] The following year he arranged the score into a six-movement divertissement for small orchestra. The premiere was given at the French: [[Salle Pleyel]]|italic=no by the French: [[Orchestre symphonique de Paris]]|italic=no on 30 November 1930, conducted by Vladimir Golschmann.[3]
The music critic of French: [[Le Figaro]] wrote after the premiere:
The suite is scored for piccolo, flute, clarinet, bassoon, French horn, trumpet, trombone, timpani, snare drum, wood block, cymbals, bass drum, tambourine, tam-tam, whistle, celeste, piano and strings. The home key of all six movements is C major.
I Introduction Allegro vivo = 92
II Cortège Moderato molto = 69 – Animato subito = 126 – Allegro moderato = 112 – Animato subito = 126
III Nocturne Lento = 63
IV Valse Animato assai = 96 – Tempo di Valze = 60 – Poco più animato = 72– Vivo molto = 144
V Parade Tempo di marcia = 120
VI Finale Quasi cadenza = 100–112 – Vivo (Tempo di galop) = 168
Ibert was a friend of two of the members of French: [[Les six]] – Darius Milhaud and Arthur Honegger, but his music generally had little in common with theirs or that of their fellow group members.[1] The musical scholar Roger Nichols writes that in Divertissement, Ibert comes closer than usual to their style:[4] The composer Michael Ippolito comments that in between the frivolity Ibert offers "a delicately crafted Nocturne that seduces us with atmosphere and sonority, showing an incredible ear for orchestral colour, especially considering the small ensemble".[5]
According to the conductor Richard Auldon Clark, Divertissement is "undoubtedly Ibert's best-known composition",[6] and it has received many recordings.
Source: WorldCat and Naxos Music Library
. Richard Auldon Clark . Jacques Ibert: Oeuvres variées . 1996 . Providence . Newport Classic. 1406916546.
. Roger Nichols (musical scholar) . Ibert: Orchestral Works . 2016. Colchester . Chandos . 968245785 .