Bernd Alois Zimmermann's Music Featured in New Ballet at Grand Canadian Ballet

The music of Bernd Alois Zimmermann is heard on the stage of the Grand Canadian Ballet in Montreal this month as the company stages the ballet Leonce and Lena with choreography by Christian Spuck. Set to the music of Zimmermann’s Un “petit rein” and his Suite from Das Gelb und das Grün and Marchen-Suite alongside works by Strauss, Schnittke and others, the ballet is staged eight times from October 21 through November 6.

The ballet is based on the 1936 satire by German playwright George Büchner in which Leonce, the prince of the kingdom of Popo, is languishing in utter boredom. Lena, the princess of the neighboring kingdom of Pipi, suffers miserably from the confines and absurdity of the world. Before the two royal misfits can begin their romance, they must first remove themselves from the self-serving, petty conventions of their respective tiny kingdoms. Betrothed to each other in infancy, they flee their kingdoms instead of facing the prospect of an arranged marriage. But, in a bustling inn just beyond the border, the two meet and fall in love.

The ballet was recently premiered in Germany at The Aalto Theater in Essen to which the German web magazine  tanznetz.de commented, "Until now, never has a German stage seen a comic ballet of such magnitude..."

Bernd Alois Zimmermann-Composer Profile

Find out more on the ballet at www.grandsballet.com.

Bernd Alois Zimmermann
Un “petit rein” (1989)
inspired by the play The Moon Birds by Marcel Aymé
3(3 pic, 3.afl).0.0.0-0.0.0.0-3perc-perc.cel.cemb- str
6’

Suite from Das Gelb und das Grün (1952)
music for a puppet theater
1(pic).0.1.1(cbsn)-1.1.1.0-timp.3perc-hp.cemb.pno(cel)-str
9’

Märchen-Suite (1950)
for orchestra
3(3.pic.).2.ca.3 (1.2.asax, 3.bcl,tsax).3(3.cbsn)-4.3.3.1-timp.4perc.hp.cel.pno-str
20’