Daphnis et Chloé

Daphnis et Chloé is a 1912 symphonie chorégraphique, or choreographic symphony, for orchestra and wordless chorus by Maurice Ravel. It is in three main sections, or parties, and a dozen scenes, most of them dances, and lasts just under an hour, making it the composer's longest work. In effect it is a ballet, and it was first presented as such. But it is more frequently given as a concert work, either complete or excerpted, vindicating Ravel's own description above.

This article is about the Fokine ballet to Ravel's music. For the original story, see Daphnis and Chloe. For the operetta by Jacques Offenbach, see Daphnis et Chloé (Offenbach).
Daphnis et Chloé
Set design by Léon Bakst for the world premiere of Daphnis et Chloé, Paris 1912.
ChoreographerMichel Fokine
MusicMaurice Ravel
Based onLongus' Daphnis and Chloe
Premiere8 June 1912
Théâtre du Châtelet
Paris
Original ballet companyBallets Russes
CharactersDaphnis, Chloé
DesignLéon Bakst
SettingAncient Greece
Created forVaslav Nijinsky and Tamara Karsavina

The dance scenario was adapted by choreographer Michel Fokine from a pastoral romance by the Greek writer Longus thought to date from the 2nd century AD, recounting the love between the goatherd Daphnis and the shepherdess Chloé. Scott Goddard in 1926 published a commentary on the changes to the story Fokine had to apply in order to make the scenario workable.

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