the scores of la fille mal gard&amp;eacute;e . 2 - Herold &apos;s score . John Lanchbery and Ivor Guest . the score for the 1828 revival of la fille mal gard&amp;eacute;e at the Paris Op&amp;eacute;ra was described on the playbills for the first performance ( see fig 1 ) as being newly arranged by M Herold . presumably , when the question arose of producing this long-popular ballet at the Op&amp;eacute;ra , the original music , which still accompanied performances of it at the Porte-Saint-Martin and other theatres , was considered too light . the chorus-master , Ferdinand Herold ( 1791-1833 ) , who had already composed the music for three ballets , was accordingly given the task of refurbishing the score . since the ballet was no doubt too well-known for the original music to be discarded altogether , several of the best numbers were retained , but Herold wrote a considerable amount of new music and inserted several numbers borrowed from familiar sources . borrowings of this kind were common in ballet composition at this time . the ballet composer regarded his task as part of his day &apos;s work rather than as a serious artistic creation , and this practice greatly lightened his burden . it was also considered that the interpolation of a melody which the public would associate with the line of a song appropriate to the action it accompanied was an aid to understanding the situation . our knowledge of Herold &apos;s music for la fille mal gard&amp;eacute;e is based on the full score preserved in the library of the Paris Op&amp;eacute;ra , which was used by John Lanchbery as the principal source in arranging the music played today for the royal ballet . this score is too clean to be the score used by the conductor , and it was probably the fair-copy prepared by one of the Op&amp;eacute;ra&apos;s copyists from Herold &apos;s original draft and perhaps used as the master for copying the orchestral parts . it bears the inscription : la fille mal gard&amp;eacute;e &amp;sol; ballet en 2 actes &amp;sol; de Dauberval &amp;sol; mis en scene par Mr Aumer , musique &amp;sol; nouvellement arrang&amp;eacute;e par Mr Herold &amp;sol; represent&amp;eacute; sur le th&amp;eacute;&amp;acirc;tre de l&apos;acad&amp;eacute;mie &amp;sol; Royale de musique le lundi 8 d&amp;eacute;cembre &amp;sol; 1828 . why the score bears this date , which is that of the seventh performance , instead of the date of the first performance , November 17th , 1828 is a mystery . did Herold only have part of his score completed by November 17th , the complete revised score not being ready until December 8th ? as is to be expected , the score is written for a typical orchestra of the period . the music is mostly scored for two flutes , the second usually playing piccolo , two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons , two pairs of horns , and strings . for the number pas de Mr Albert in act 1 ( no 17 ) , however , the orchestra is augmented by harp , trumpets , trombones , drums and percussion ( triangle , bass drum and cymbals ) , while the finales to act 2 ( Nos 36 and 36a ) and an occasional number here and there have parts written for trumpets , trombones and drums . further , there are various places in the score where trombones and/or drums have been added in another hand in a stave at the bottom of the page . judging from the orchestration , which is markedly inferior to that of Herold &apos;s operas , his score of la fille mal gard&amp;eacute;e was hurriedly composed , and this perhaps lends support to the conjecture made earlier that it may not have been quite finished in time for the first performance . in it the strings play throughout , resting for only ten out of the thousands of bars in this hour and a half of music . many of the numbers display great economy of effort by doubling some instruments with others , a common practice of that period . this method of scoring , of course , made it possible to orchestrate a number in a fraction of the time that would be needed in ballet-composing today , although it is still very much in use in the field of commercial arrangement . an example of this is to be found on page 381 of the full score ( see fig 2 ) . reading from the top , the first two staves are the horns ; then follow two staves for the oboes , which double the violins ; the next two staves are the bassoons , which double the cellos ; then come the first and second violins , the violas which also double the cellos , the cellos , and finally the double basses which again double the cellos . thus , in eleven separate staves , there are only five different voices . Herold made no attempt to produce a modernized version of the score in the way that Hertel was to do in 1864 . he retained a considerable amount of folky music in the Bordeaux score , to which he added numbers of his own composition with an essentially French melodic content , and several borrowings which one must allow are excellently suited for their purpose . in fact , from the point of view of orchestration , the borrowed numbers , in which the orchestration has been left unchanged , are among the most effective parts of the score . Herold fulfilled his task in a much more self-effacing and effective way than Hertel . Herold &apos;s numbers are generally longer and more developed than the equivalent numbers of the Bordeaux score , but his score has less continuity than the original , in which one number occasionally runs into the next without pause . Herold gave the music greater characterization , wisely retaining note for note one or two of the more pointed numbers in the Bordeaux score : an outstanding example of this is the spinning number in act 2 , retained by Herold , but discarded by Hertel in favour of a much less suitable number of his own composition . this greater characterization which Herold injected into the score was marked by a much more heightened dramatic content in the music . in Herold &apos;s score there is a stronger predilection for 6/8 than in the Bordeaux score , where the preference is for fast 2/4 . as was the case with the Bordeaux version , there is a frustrating lack of landmarks in the Herold score . our only aids in fitting the music to the scenario are the division of the score into the two acts and a few written indications : lever du rideau in act 1 , scene 1 ; pas des moissonneurs , pas de Mr Albert , apr&amp;egrave;s le divertissement and orage as titles to four numbers in act 1 , scene 2 ; and finale as the only title indication in the whole of act 2 . again , as with the Bordeaux score , it is much easier to wed the music to the action in act 2 than either scene of act 1 , the second scene of which is particularly difficult because of two weaknesses inherent in the score as a whole : a lack of any kind of thematic continuity , and the absence of obvious mime scenes . it would have been difficult to write an overture which better set the scene than the number which Herold borrowed ( no 1 ) . this was the overture from Giovanni Paolo Martini &apos;s comic opera le droit du Seigneur , in which it serves to describe a French countryside scene at dawn . this was the very atmosphere needed for the opening of la fille mal gard&amp;eacute;e , and Herold therefore inserted it down to the last note of scoring , with its bird calls imitated on the woodwind , and the slow legato melody played by the first violins against a monotonous Alberti type of accompaniment from the second violins . the curtain having risen during no 1 , there follows ( no 2 ) another borrowing for Lise &apos;s entrance : the opening chorus from Rossini &apos;s il barbiere di Siviglia ( piano , pianissimo ) chosen no doubt to illustrate an entrance on tip-toe so that Lise &apos;s mother will not be awakened . the orchestration has not been touched , and no attempt has been made to supply the chorus parts of the original , which are of no musical content any way . at one point , however , where sufficient music has been supplied for the purpose , there is an abrupt termination , followed by a three-bar link of the most primitive kind to give some kind of continuity . Nos 3 and 4 have their equivalent in Bordeaux no 3 . the former is a very long allegretto number in 6/8 , intended undoubtedly to accompany Colas &apos;s entrance with the harvesters . so far the music has been growing progressively louder : no 2 brought in two trumpets , and no 4 - a short , loud , dramatic and fast-moving number , presumably for Simone &apos;s entrance - introduces three trombones , and is scored throughout with every instrument playing except drums , and marked fortissimo . no 5 , to which Colas discovers Lise &apos;s ribbon , is identical with Bordeaux no 4 , but transposed down a tone to make it fit . for no 6 , which closely approximates Bordeaux no 5 , Herold has composed a new tune which follows the original to the extent of having not only the same time signature but even the same note values . by present-day standards , this is rather feeble music for the scene which it probably accompanies , Simone telling Colas to be off . Herold also wrote a new number ( no 7 ) for the entrance of the villagers , with the same time signature and speed as Bordeaux no 6 . after a marking plus vite , there is a sudden silent bar , followed by four soft chords and a loud chord played in a slow tempo , serving as a link to no 8 , which is exactly the same as Bordeaux no 7 with a few bars of tasteful coda added at the end . this latter number is scored for strings alone , trumpets and trombones having been silent since no 4 . not surprisingly , no 9 , the playing at horses number , used most probably for the lovers &apos; meeting , is precisely the same as Bordeaux no 8 , even to the extent of reproducing a bowing indication - a great rarity in the Herold score . at the end of this number there is a pencilled sign which is still used today by some continental conductors to indicate the imminent entrance of drums . drums do indeed appear in the first bar of no 10 , a jolly 6/8 tune which in its context must be a continuation of the love scene . it is of considerable length , and its lilt suggests a flirtation with coy and playful exchanges . its counterpart in the Bordeaux score was cut considerably . at the end , however , there is no distant echo of the melody heralding the approach of the village girls , as in the original , but instead , the following number ( no 11 ) , which follows straight on without a break , opens with a sudden sforzando chord . this is a surprisingly effective piece of orchestration : a chord of the diminished seventh with three trombones high up and close together and two oboes and two clarinets in their low reedy register , while all the strings play tremolo . this number , written for Colas &apos;s flight , begins in a bustling manner and then eases off in a relaxation of the tension . no 12 , a folky number in 6/8 written in simple four-part harmony , with flutes strengthening the tune , accompanies the entrance of the village girls who urge Lise to accompany them to the harvest . Simone then appears to prevent Lise &apos;s departure to no 13 , in which her anger is depicted by a striking piece of dramatic scoring for strings only , in which much play is made of unison , fast-moving phrases in the minor , syncopation , quick scales , crushed notes , and a strong dotted rhythm . the final number of the first scene , no 14 , introduces Thomas and his half-witted son Alain , whom Simone plans to marry to her daughter . a loud , majestic , march-like theme is undoubtedly the accompaniment for the entrance of father and son . then follows an effective passage of soft staccato minor chords on strings and clarinets only , which is probably the theme for the stumbling Alain . a return to the major , with a joyous , animated 6/8 theme , and with Alain &apos;s theme repeated , ends the scene with the proposed marriage arranged and the departure of everyone to the harvest . the absence of a clear break in the score at this point is undoubtedly explained by the next number ( no 15 ) being intended to accompany a changement &amp;agrave; vue to the harvest scene . 