The Wooden Prince, op. 13, BB74
The Wooden Prince (Hungarian: A fából faragott királyfi), Op. 13, Sz. 60, is a one-act pantomime ballet composed by Béla Bartók in 1914–1916 (orchestrated 1916–1917) to a scenario by Béla Balázs. It was first performed at the Budapest Opera on 12 May 1917 under the conductor Egisto Tango.
Synopsis
A prince falls in love with a princess, but is stopped from reaching her by a fairy who makes a forest and a stream rise against him. To attract the princess' attention, the prince hangs his cloak on a staff and fixes a crown and locks of his hair to it. The princess catches sight of this "wooden prince" and comes to dance with it. The fairy brings the wooden prince to life and the princess goes away with that instead of the real prince, who falls into despair. The fairy takes pity on him as he sleeps, dresses him in finery and reduces the wooden prince to lifelessness again. The princess returns and is finally united with the human prince.
- The Wooden Prince, Sz. 60: I. Prelude
- The Wooden Prince, Sz. 60: II. Dance 1: Dance of the Princess in the Forest
- The Wooden Prince, Sz. 60: III. Dance 2: Dance of the Trees
- The Wooden Prince, Sz. 60: IV. Dance 3: Dance of the Waves
- The Wooden Prince, Sz. 60: V. Dance 4: Dance of the Princess With the Wooden Doll
- The Wooden Prince, Sz. 60: VI. Dance 5: The Princess Pulls and Pushes Him and Tries to Make Him Dance
- The Wooden Prince, Sz. 60: VII. Dance 6: She Tries to Attract Him With a Seductive Dance
- The Wooden Prince, Sz. 60: VIII. Dance 7: Alarmed, the Princess Rushes After Him, but the Forest Stops Her
- The Wooden Prince, Sz. 60: IX. Postlude
Synopsis from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recommended recordings
- Chicago Symphony Orchestra · Pierre Boulez YouTubeSpotify (subscription)
- Budapest Festival Orchestra · Iván Fischer YouTubeSpotify (subscription)