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Chorea Lasciva

Premiered on November 4, 2023, by the OHJS under the direction of Maxime Maurer and the saxophone quartet Re/Sono at the Palais des Fêtes in Strasbourg.


The work is dedicated to Charlotte Gudefin.

Instrumentation :

          1 Picc. - 4 Fl.  - 2 Ob.  -  2 Bn. - 1 C. Bn.) - 1 Eb Cl. - 3 Bb Cl. (3 musicians per section)  - 1 B. Cl.  -  2 A. Sx.  - 2 T. Sx. - 1B. Sx. - 4 Hn. - 3 Bb Trp.  -  3 Trb. - 2 B. Trb. - 2 Euph. - 1 Tuba -                     1 Double Bass ( 3 musicians min.) - Hp. - 1 Pn./Cel. - 1 Timp. - 4 Perc. 

pub. Alfonce Production  - dur. ca 13 minutes

In 1526, in Strasbourg, the physician Paracelsus referred to collective trance phenomena as Chorea Lasciva, describing a situation where people seemed to be poisoned, leading them inexorably to dance, sometimes to the point of death.

These collective dance crises have been well-documented over the centuries, and modern psychiatry considers these acts as "collective stress reactions."

Historically, these nervous crises were most often triggered by food shortages and the spread of epidemics, with the transmission of several diseases. A particularly harrowing and enlightening account is that of a mother who threw her newborn into the river from the Crow Bridge in Strasbourg because she had no milk left to feed him. Driven to madness, she immediately began to dance.

The authorities in Strasbourg encouraged these dances, as the belief was that dancing could drive out the evil from the bodies of these poor victims. In this context, a stage was set up, musicians were hired, and at the height of the crisis, no fewer than 400 dancers were present.

Paracelsus also observed that this crisis phenomenon originated from a desperate movement of women facing marital tyranny. He wrote: "Nothing irritates a man more than a woman who dances."

Chorea Lasciva is a concertante piece for saxophone quartet and orchestra. The work is divided into two distinct parts.

The first part is characterized by a palpable tension, introduced right from the opening by chords that recur throughout the piece. Despite this tension, the music retains a lyrical and dreamlike quality. Two main themes are presented: the first, played by the flute in its lower register, and the second, more developed and serving as the thematic backbone of the piece, introduced by the alto saxophone and later taken up by the other saxophone soloists.

The second part is much more lively and explosive, centered around a very short motif that echoes the first part but becomes the focal point of the musical action here. This section, with its obsessive intensity, evokes the Strasbourg epidemic and the dancers driven to dance to their deaths. The finale of the work overlays the motif of the infernal dance with the lyrical theme from the first part, culminating in an orchestral explosion followed by a dramatic conclusion.

As the composer describes: "In my composition, I wanted to depict the gravity of such a situation, where the power of the body's will surpasses that of the mind. Of course, the feeling of inevitability, followed by urgency, is ever-present, but I also wanted to highlight the courage of these women who, through their dance steps, stood up against their husbands. Dance becomes here a metaphor for the mastery of one's own body and freedom. In the end of this work, I aimed to merge all the musical motifs to give meaning and direction, emphasizing the strength and courage of these women. Dance as an outlet, and art as a symbol of freedom."

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