What is Mostel's Travels of Babar?
Raphael Mostel's Travels of Babar is a new composition with multimedia. It is based on the much-loved classic book and art of the same name by Jean de Brunhoff, Le Voyage de Babar. Mostel's Babar has already been presented almost 70 times, and in five languages. The New York Times found "its charms hard to resist" and also described it as "a miniaturized history of classical music". The new full new production of the complete Travels of Babar was first presented in sold-out performances in Berlin by the Berliner Philharmoniker, where “shouts of joy… greeted…the imaginative setting…extremely three-dimensional music"
Is Mostel's Travels of Babar a concert or a show?
Mostel composed one "scene" for each illustration of Jean de Brunhoff's book — 46 in all — and then created an elaborate one-of-a-kind production around his score, including a elaborate multimedia with the original illustrations (now using the Jean de Brunhoff’s original watercolors!). The full multimedia production includes live performance of Mostel's music plus theatrical lighting and elaborate projections of the original artwork along with a reading of de Brunhoff's text. In the original chamber version the full production also includes theatrical lighting that highlights the musicians and also visually harmonizes the music-making with the multimedia.
Although it can also be presented as a concert-work, so far Raphael Mostel's Travels of Babar has always been presented with the much-acclaimed multimedia production he has created to complement the music. The effect of the elaborate multimedia — in coordination with the narrator and live musicians onstage and theatrical lighting — has been compared to a film being edited in real time.
The way Mostel has interwoven all of these elements in the full production has been met with a sense of wonder. German radio (WDR3) echoed many observers in observing “the audience's concentration lasted an insanely long time!” The New Yorker magazine called it "gentle, lyrical show", while The New York Times went so far to underline the one-of-a-kind nature of Mostel's full multimedia production as to describe this non-singing show as "a new kind of digital video opera". Indeed, even though the show involves narration rather than singing, major opera institutions like the Metropolitan Opera Guild and the New York City Opera have used the full production of Mostel’s Travels of Babar as part of their education programs, as an introduction to music and to music-theater. Berlin's Musik Heute (Music Today) praised Mostel’s Travels of Babar as"extremely three-dimensional music"
What is the length of Mostel's Travels of Babar?
When performed complete, The Travels of Babar is approximately 60 minutes, without intermission. However, if desired, Mostel's Babar can also be divided into two separate, self-contained works based on it that each can be performed independently: Babar's Honeymoon (approx. 40 minutes) and Babar's Return to the Land of the Elephants (approx. 30 minutes)
What is the instrumentation of the original chamber version of the score?
Mostel's original scoring for eight musicians represents an orchestra in miniature:
two winds — clarinet (doubling bass clarinet) & bassoon
two brass — cornet & trombone (doubling bass trombone)
two strings — viola & 'cello
piano (doubling celesta) & percussion
This is the version the Berliner Philharmoniker chose for their world premiere of the new production.
Is there a difference between the original version for eight musicians and the new version for orchestra?
Yes. Although the music of both versions is almost all essentially identical, the octet version is more intimate and transparent in ways that are highlighted by the theatrical lighting of the full production that complements and visually harmonizes with the multimedia. What orchestras may lack in intimacy is more than compensated by the richness and depth of sound. While the flexibility of the eight-musician version more easily allows presentation of the complete, hour-long work in the full production, orchestras may find it more practical to present one of the two shorter works that together make up the complete Travels: Babar's Honeymoon and Babar's Return To The Land of the Elephants.
The world premiere of the orchestral version of the Le Retour de Babar aux pays des Éléphants (Return to the Land of the Elephants in French) was presented by the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Place des Arts, Montréal, Québec, Canada. Excerpts of the Babar’s Honeymoon for orchestra were performed by the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center, NYC. The US premiere of the orchestral version of the Babar's Return to the Land of the Elephants was presented by the National Symphony Orchestra at the John F Kennedy Center in Washington, DC on April 7, 2019
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The full production of the original 8-musician scoring includes theatrical lighting that uses the intimacy to highlight the music-making as it is happening and harmonizes it with the visuals. Here, a viola solo in a night-time scene. Viola, Aurora Manuel, Alan R Kay, condcutor. Photo: Jay Muhlin for Source Music, Inc.
The full production of the orchestral version is different from that for the 8-musician version, since there are so many more performers involved. Image above is the National Symphony Orchestra, Steven Reineke, conductor, Regina Aquino, narrator. John F Kennedy Center for the Arts, Washington, D.C., April 7, 2019. Photo: Erica Bruce for Mostel.com (full size, hi-res photo available). Multimedia image: original Jean de Brunhoff watercolor, Kendra & Allan Daniel Collection. Used with permissions
The intimacy of the chamber version allows the introduction of each of the musicians one by one at the beginning, who then demonstrate the sound of their instruments with a short passage from the score. Here, narrator Hans-Jürgen Schatz introduces violist Martin von der Nahmer in the spotlight. Also pictured: bassoonist Paul-Gregor Staka and pianist Helen Collyer. World premiere of the new full production of the complete Babar auf Reisen, presented by the Berliner Philharmoniker in the Kammermusiksaal of the Berlin Philharmonie. Photo: Kai Beinert
World premiere of the new full production of the complete Babar auf Reisen, presented by the Berliner Philharmoniker in the Kammermusiksaal of the Berlin Philharmonie. Stanley Dodds, conductor and Hans-Jürgen Schatz, narrator (foreground). Photo: Kai Beinert
What is the difference between the new production and the prior production?
The elaborate new multimedia is now in High-Definition and 16:9 ratio. The composer has obtained extremely high-resolution scans of Jean de Brunhoff's glorious original watercolors for Le Voyage de Babar from the collection of the Bibliothèque nationale de France. These are supplemented by additional high-resolution scans of other original Jean de Brunhoff watercolors from the Morgan Library and several private collectors. The complex multimedia is now at such high-resolution, there are many details that have not been seen before in the artwork. Brief clips from archival performances with the prior, non-HD production presented by Source Music, Inc. with a number of notable narrators can be seen here
Who was the author and artist creator of Babar, Jean de Brunhoff?
French author/artist Jean de Brunhoff (1899 - 1937) created seven books featuring the famous character he created, Babar. Crediting Jean de Brunhoff as"the father of the modern picture-book", Maurice Sendak wrote "Babar is at the very heart of my conception of what turns a picture book into a work of art. ...My favorite among Jean's books, The Travels of Babar, is full of alarming and very amusing twists of fate... dazzling, dramatic." The author of Winnie the Pooh, A.A. Milne, introduced Babar to the English-speaking world, writing:"I salute M. de Brunhoff. I am at his feet."
Is Raphael Mostel's Babar a new and original work?
Yes, Raphael Mostel’s Travels of Babar is a completely new composition that modernizes and updates Jean de Brunhoff’s classic picture-book of the same name, with the original text for narration. The composer has also directed an elaborate multimedia show — now using the original watercolors in HD — that uses Jean de Brunhoff’s famous images. Interleaving music performance, multimedia and narration, in the full production Mostel’s Travels of Babar is a one-of-a-kind, complex of tightly interwoven art forms, operating at the same time — and all forming an integrated, harmonious whole. The effect is heightened even more when performed in the original 8-musician scoring with theatrical lighting visually harmonizing the stage while subtly highlighting what the musicians are doing as they perform the score. Jean de Brunhoff's Le voyage de Babar — the second of his Babar picture-books, is generally considered the masterpiece of the whole series. The book tells the story of the newly-crowned King Babar and his wife Queen Celeste as they go off in a balloon on their honeymoon and all the “alarming and very amusing twists of fate” that ensue. Mostel’s composition creates one “scene” for each of the book’s illustrations. The score both supports de Brunhoff’s tale while also conveying an additional layer of its own ”voyage” through the world of music-making. The combination is evocation of a wonder and magic that, The New York Times advises is “hard to resist!"
Is Mostel's Babar related to the films and television shows with Babar characters?
No. The Travels of Babar is a new creation of Raphael Mostel based on and modernizing the Jean de Brunhoff book of the same name. It is independent of all other works that have used a Babar character, such as the existing animated films and television series that are the products of Corus Entertainment, Nelvana and The Clifford Ross Company. Mostel.com is the sole publisher of Raphael Mostel Travels of Babar (in all versions) and is also the proprietor of the production.
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Poster for Source Music, Inc. presentation of first U.S. performance of the full new production in the original 8-musician scoring, November 2 & 3, 2018. Image credit: Jean de Brunhoff original watercolor from the Collection of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, used with permission.
How did this project start?
Mostel’s score was originally commissioned by Mr. S.T. Semba to accompany a Japanese CD release of a reading of text. Source Music, Inc. produced the recording for the Japanese CD release with the composer conducting. The commission did not include performance and promotional rights. Separately and subsequently, the composer acquired these rights and permissions for his work, world-wide and in any language. The first performance of Mostel's Babar was mounted by Source Music, Inc. in a workshop for invited audience at Long Island University prior to the recording for the Japanese CD release. It was conducted by the composer and narrated by Jean de Brunhoff's eldest son, Laurent de Brunhoff, who himself is the author/artist of almost 50 subsequent books featuring his father's Babar character. Laurent de Brunhoff subsequently narrated the first public performance in the French of his father’s original text in the full production of Raphael Mostel’s complete Le Voyage de Babar produced by Source Music, Inc. at Florence Gould Hall of the French Institute Alliance Française in NYC, with generous funding from the Florence Gould Foundation.
Does Mostel's Travels of Babar use the Random House book edition of The Travels of Babar?
No. Although the English-language Random House (U.S.) and Methuen (U.K.) book editions also derive from the same source — Jean de Brunhoff’s Le voyage de Babar originally published in France — there are differences. Mostel’s Travels of Babar modernizes this classic picture-book, and new and updated translations are used for each language. The French of author/artist Jean de Brunhoff is of course used when performances are narrated in French. The new translation in English was created especially for Raphael Mostel's work by noted author Phyllis Rose, who also happens to be the wife of Laurent de Brunhoff. The new Spanish translation for Mostel’s El viaje de Babar is by Marjorie Agosìn. The new German translation for Mostel’s Babar auf Reisen is by Tine Kindermann. More languages coming! Part of the fees for premiere performances in new territories is covering the costs of creating an approved new translation and using it in new score, parts and production books.
Who is the publisher of Mostel’s Travels of Babar?
Raphael Mostel is self-publishing The Travels of Babar, through his dba (“doing business as”) publishing, Mostel.com The production is handled as Grand Rights. Raphael Mostel and Mostel.com are members of ASCAP. For further information —
For further information, contact: info [at] mostel.com
For reviews, photos, and other info about the Berliner Philharmoniker's World Premiere of the new production please click here
For more about Source Music, Inc. please click here