Die blaue Blume (ballet)

Die blaue Blume (ballet)
(The Blue Flower) Ballet music – ‘a summer night’s open air ballet’ on a scenario by choreographer Pino Mlakar

Short description
The ballet Die blaue Blume was composed by Frank Martin in 1935-1936 for a ballet music competition organised by the Zürcher Stadttheater and the Schweizerische Tonkünstlerverein. The complete ballet music survives in manuscript (short score on chalk paper) and was (re)discovered in the spring of 2021 in the archive of the Frank Martin House in the Bollelaan in the Dutch town of Naarden. It is now in the care of the Paul Sacher Stiftung in Basel. In early 2024 a hardbound, neat but untitled manuscript version was found among other scores in the Frank Martin archive. According to a third manuscript, in rough draft, the composer commenced work on 15 October 1935 and completed it on 9 January 1936.

Ballet music competition
The ballet is based on a scenario by the Slovenian choreographer Pino Mlakar (1907-2006). In the years 1934-1938 he and his wife Pia were engaged by the Zürcher Stadttheater as soloists and masters’ pair at the Zürcher Ballett. In addition to the scenario for Die blaue Blume Pino Mlakar also wrote the scenario Die Strasse. Both scenarios formed the basis of Mlakar’s entry for the competition announced in 1935, in which ten Swiss composers took part.
On 18 May 1936 the jury announces its verdict on the entries. The first prize is not awarded, a shared second prize is given to Frank Martin and Walter Müller von Kulm, each of whom have taken the scenario Die blaue Blume as point of departure. 
Martin’s ballet music for Die blaue Blume was not programmed by the Zürcher Stadttheater and disappeared in a drawer. The choice of the composition by Walter Müller von Kulm may well be accounted for by the opinion of the ballet master: according to Frank Martin his work remained unperformed because Mlakar considered the music too difficult and too modern. In a letter to the conductor Admond Appia (1894-1961) in November 1939, Martin describes his use of twelve-note technique in this ballet score as ‘not entirely without rather serious harmonic sharpness’, especially at the beginning of the work.
Martin created an orchestration for two pianos and orchestra of an approximately 15-minute selection from Die blaue Blume – roughly movements 10 and 11 and the introduction. This Danse de la peur was premiered in Geneva on 28 June 1944. Edmond Appia conducted and Martin’s good friends Madeleine and Dinu Lipatti were at the pianos. The Danse de la peur is published as a separate piece.

Read the article Die blaue Blume – a ballet in a desk drawer (ENG/NL) about the rejection of this ballet.

 

Year of composition

1936

Duration

75'

Scored for

no instrumentation by Frank Martin, except for Danse de la peur (Dance of Fear), for two pianos and small orchestra: 0 0 2 0 - 0 2 3 1 - timp. - perc. - cel. - alto sax, t.sax - strings (15')
In 2024 the complete ballet has been orchestrated for large orchestra by the Swiss composer Nicolas Bolens: 2 2 2 2 2sax - 2 2 3 1 - perc. - harp - acc. - cel. - 2pno - strings
In 2025 the Dutch composer Bart Visman made a selection for a Suite Die blaue Blume which he orchestrated for chamber orchestra: 2 2 2 2 - 2 2 0 0 - timp. - strings (22')

Publication information

Universal Edition: ‘Danse de la peur’ (UE15845)

Premiere

World première of ‘Danse de la peur’: Geneva, 28 June 1944. Madeleine and Dinu Lipatti, piano; Edmond Appia, conductor
World première of ‘Die blaue Blume’ in the orchestration of Nicolas Bolens: Geneva, 19 October 2024 - L’Odyssée Frank Martin. Orchestre de la Haute école de musique de Genève (HEM); Thierry Fischer, conductor; Pierre Fouchenneret, solo violin; Loïc Vallaeys and Arthur Noël, piano; Mourad Merzouki, direction and choreography; dancers of the Käfig Company with the participation of dance students from the Conservatoire populaire’s pre-professional curriculum
World première of ‘Suite Die blaue Blume’: Lausanne, 30 April 2025. Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne; Thierry Fischer, conductor

Manuscript

Manuscript (short score) at the Paul Sacher Stiftung

Recordings (selective list)

  • The recording of the world première of Die blaue Blume (complete ballet) in Geneva has been broadcast on 28 February 2025 by RTS - Concert du soir (Radio Télévision Suisse). After an extensive introduction including an interview with orchestrator Nicolas Bolens, the announcement and concert registration starts at 37'00".

  • The performance of the Suite Die blaue Blume by Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and Thierry Fischer in Concertgebouw Amsterdam on 3 May 2025 can be listened to via NPO Klassiek - NTR ZaterdagMatinee (Dutch public broadcaster for classical music).

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