Stravinsky's Pulcinella & Ravel's L'Heure espagnole in March at Opéra-Comique

For once, all the girls are in love with Polichinelle, so he has to get rid of the jealous ones, while saving his own idyll. The opposite is true of Concepción, wife of the Toledo watchmaker, who is plagued by lovers as disappointing as her husband.

Ravel, whom Stravinsky nicknamed "the Swiss watchmaker", created his first opera at the Opéra-Comique, a musical comedy magnifying the words and mechanics of theater, just before embarking on his collaboration with the Ballets Russes. It was for the latter that Stravinsky agreed to dip his inspiration into Pergolesi's théâtre bouffe after the war: his ballet Pulcinella, premiered at the Opéra, inaugurated the neo-classical period of his production.

Pulcinella | Ballet with song in one act, music after Pergolesi. First performed at the Paris Opéra on May 15, 1920.

L'Heure espagnole | Musical comedy in one act, libretto by Franc-Nohain. First performed at the Opéra-Comique on May 19, 1911.