A5416850-3532-4A06-B4ED-78B04E122FFC

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IDA5416850-3532-4A06-B4ED-78B04E122FFC
TitlecodeX641401
Title NameElles for Violin, Alto Sax, Horn and Synthesizer
Marketing CopyInspired by lithographs of Toulouse-Lautrec and commissioned by the Nova Trio. May be performed with slides.
InstrumentationViolin, Alto Saxophone, Horn, Synth
CommissionCommissioned by the Nova Trio
Dedication(not set)
Program NotesThe music for Elles was written to be performed along with a slide display of Henri Toulouse-Lautrec's lithographic folio, one piece for each of die prints in the series. The pieces are intended to be listened to only while observing the prints, so the experience should be (in a decidedly "low-tech" way) multi-media. The music responds not only to the motion and atmosphere of the prints, but also to their abstract texture and technique.

The Elles series is generally considered a milestone of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's career. These lithographs commissioned to be sold as portfolios mended for the erotic print collectors+ market prove to be a financial failure rather than erotic, the series is intimate, replacing licentious explicitness with natural honesty. The images are reminiscences drawn from Lautrec's thematic exploration of the duly routine of life in brothels. Technically Elles (which translates as the feminine pronoun they) holds an important position in the history of printmaking, extending the pictorial possibilities of the medium to achieve fluid and expressive effects previously associated only with painting. Lautrec demonstrates a preference for a modem flat design style over the traditional chiaroscuro, but uses color, ink density and the paper itself to conjure the mood and atmosphere of light and shadow. (These comments are drawn from Nora Desloges Baldwin M. Baldwin Collection catalogue.)

The titles and order of the plates (as established by cataloguers) are as follows:

1. Cover for Elles (Elles, couverture)
2. The Seated Clowness--Mademoiselle Cha-u-ka-o (La Clowness assise [Mademoiselle Cha-u-ka-oj])
3. Woman with a Tray - Breakfast (Femme au plateau -Petit dÄjeuner)
4. Sleeping Woman - Awakening (Femme couchÄe - RÄveil)
5. Woman at the Tub - The Tub (Femme au tub - Le tub)
6. Woman Washing Herself - The Toilette (Femme qui se lave - La toilette)
7. Woman with Mirror - The Hand Mum (Femme ç glace - La glace ç main)
8. Woman Combing Her Hair - The Coiffure (Femme qui se peigne - La coiffure)
9. Woman in Bed, Profile - Awakening (Femme au lit - Au petit lever)
10. Woman in Her Corset - Passing Conquest (Femme en corset - Conquete de passage)
11. Reclining Woman - Weariness (Femme sur le dos - Lassitude)
12. Frontispiece for Elles (Elles, frontispice)
Title Brand2
Year Composed1989
Copyright Number(not set)
Copyright Year(not set)
Duration25
Ensemble Size4
Date Created2018-02-18 20:33:15.000000
Date Updated2025-09-30 20:33:15
Inhouse Notesub code 43204 - R00304
Bsc Code(not set)
Text Author(not set)
Premier Performance Memo(not set)
Recording Credits(not set)
Review(not set)
Awards(not set)
Title Category2
Title Movements(not set)
Title Grade(not set)
Set Series ID(not set)
Title Instrument Category TextQuartet
Title Sub Category Text(not set)
Title Sub Category-1
Title Instrument Header19
Title Grade Text(not set)
Clean Urlelles-for-violin-alto-sax-horn-and-synthesizer-x641401