Jeux d'enfants

Georges Bizet (1838-75) started out as a piano prodigy and was studying at the Paris Conservatoire by the age of 10. He wrote copious amounts of piano music, but the enchanting Jeux d’enfants, 12 pieces for four hands (a duet of two players at one piano), is heard more often than all of the rest. It was written in 1871 and two years later Bizet orchestrated five of the pieces as Petite Suite. The music’s irresistible bounce and tenderness made it perfect for a ballet and the choreographer Leonid Massine took it up in 1932, premiering it in Monte Carlo with designs by Joan Miró. Throughout the suite, toys and games alternate in contrasting moods: for instance, the dreamy swing (“L'escarpolette”) is followed by the whirl of the spinning top (“La toupie”), and the doll’s lullaby (“La poupée”) by the gallop of wooden horses (“Les chevaux de bois”). After many more adventures, including blowing bubbles (“Les bulles de savon”) and playing house (“Petit mari, petite femme”), the whole bounds to a close with the most popular of all games: the ball (“Le bal”).