Holcombe :: The Ballet School (Impressions of Edgar Degas Paintings)

The Ballet School

Holcombe, B

Musicians Publications presents The Ballet School (Impressions of Edgar Degas Paintings) composed by Bill Holcombe and arranged for flute and piano by Bill Holcombe Jr.

In The early 1960's, Bill worked on a film for the Metropolitan Museum of Art called 'What IS A Painting'. The film discussed content, composition and style of paintings through out history. For each period of art history, Bill wrote an original composition in the style of the composers from that period. This work is a development of the ideas from the French Impressionist segment of the movie score, specifically Edgar Degas series of paintings depicting life in the Paris Opera Ballet School in the late 1800s. Originally scored for full concert band, this piece has been carefully transcribed by Bill Holcombe, Jr.

Degas is especially identified with the subject of dance; more than half of his works depict dancers. Degas regularly went to the Paris opera house, not only as a member of the audience, but as a visitor backstage and in the dance studio, where he was introduced by a friend who played in the orchestra. At that time, the opera was still housed in the rue Le Peletier and had not yet moved to the building designed by Garnier which was soon to replace it. From the 1870s until his death, Degas's favorite subjects were ballerinas at work, in rehearsal or at rest, and he tirelessly explored the theme with many variations in posture and gesture. More than the stage performance and the limelight, it was the training and rehearsals that interested him.