Jacques Ibert was born in Paris on August 15, 1890. He attended the
Paris Conservatory between 1911 and 1919, with a hiatus of several years
during World War I when he served in the French Navy. In 1919 he won the
Prix de Rome. While residing in the Italian capital he wrote a symphonic
work with which he scored his first major success, the suite _Escales_,
introduced in Paris in 1924. From 1937 to 1955 he was director of the
Academy of Rome. During this period he also served for a while as
director of the combined management of the Paris Opéra and
Opéra-Comique.
Ibert has written many works in virtually every form, which have placed
him in the front rank of contemporary French composers. Many of these
compositions are in a neo-classical idiom. Occasionally, however, he has
made a delightful excursion into satire. It is with one of the latter
works, the _Divertissement_ for orchestra (1930) that he has entered the
semi-classical repertory, though to be sure this composition is also
frequently given at symphony concerts. The _Divertissement_ begins with
a short Introduction in which the prevailing mood of levity is first
introduced. Then comes the “_Cortège_.” A few introductory bars suggest
two march themes, the first in strings, and the second in trumpet. After
that appears a loud quotation from Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March” from
his _A Midsummer Night’s Dream Suite_. The “Nocturne” is a dreamy little
melody which precedes a delightful “Waltz” and a breezy “Parade.” The
finale is in the style of an Offenbach can-can, with the piano
interpolating some impudent dissonant harmonies.