Chronica

On arriving in England in 1935, one of Goldschmidt’s first commissions was from the dance company the Ballet Jooss for a score to an anti-fascist scenario. Originally scored for two pianos, Goldschmidt orchestrated the work in 1958. Later still, he moulded the work into its final form by adding the Intrada of 1985, plus his pungent and sardonic Marche Militaire of 1932. As such, the work ‘chronicles’ almost the whole of Goldschmidt’s career, bringing together elements of his early, middle and late periods, while its balletic origins are evident in the music’s clear outlines and rhythmic vitality, making Chronica potentially attractive to today’s choreographers.