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Tanzsuite aus Klavierstücken von François Couperin, TrV 245


The orchestral Dance suite from keyboard pieces by François Couperin (Tanzsuite aus Klavierstücken von François Couperin), TrV 245 was composed by Richard Strauss in 1923 and consists of eight movements, each one based on a selection of pieces from Couperin's Pièces de Clavecin written for the solo harpsichord over the period 1713 to 1730. It is also sometimes referred to as simply The Couperin Suite.

The origins of the Dance suite arose out of the collaboration of Strauss with Heinrich Kroeller (1880–1930) who had choreographed Strauss' ballet Josephslegende for its 1921 Berlin premier. The arrangements by Strauss of Couperin's keyboard pieces were part of a "Ballettsoirée" (ballet evening) which premiered on 17 February 1923 (as part of the Vienna Fasching or carnival), which consisted of four parts. Part 1 was François Couperin: social and theatrical dances in the manner of Louis XV based on books 1–4 of Couperin's Pièces de Clavecin (composed over the period 1713 to 1730). Part 2 was Maurice Ravel's Mother Goose which made its Viennese premier (with Ravel's orchestration). Part 3 was a selection of Rameau's music titled The Ballerina's suitors: a dance scene in Ballet style from the time of Louis XIV (it is not known if the music was arranged for the modern orchestra, and if so by whom). The evening concluded (as it had to) with part 4 entitled "Galloppwalzer" by Vienna's very own Johann Strauss II, consisting of the Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka Op. 214 followed by the Accelerationen-Walzer Op.234. This was "pure dance display" evoking the Vienna of the "Ringstrasse era" (1858-1900).

As co-director of the Vienna opera, Strauss had collaborated closely with Kroeller in selecting the music for the "Ballet evening". However, Strauss's main role was selecting and orchestrating the Couperin keyboard pieces. Strauss had long been a Francophone and he had a longstanding interest in French music. In his work on Ariadne auf Naxos and Le bourgeois gentilhomme suite he had "appropriated and reinterpreted" music from the French Baroque (Jean-Baptiste Lully in particular).


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