Pas de deux

composer's note

I would compare the genesis of Pas de deux to a lizard’s tail growing back – except that here an entirely new body grows back onto the tail. Drawing on the classic four-part ballet form of the same name – entrée, adagio, variations, and coda – our two protagonists, solo violin and solo cello, whirl through the first three sections as the body that grows back onto the tail (the coda): they spin, romp, and reel, caught in a dynamic discussion of positions and perspectives, ideas and dreams, until they finally sweep the whole orchestra along with them. As the culminating point, I paraphrase the final scene of my opera Adam und Eva: a proclamation of individual freedom, responsibility, and creativity, with the mantra “love, beauty, serenity, novelty, mischief, and mirth,” akin to a wild, unbridled dance. My working title, Eve and Adam’s dance fight at 288 beats per minute, points to the central importance of pulse as the driving force of this intense twelve-minute orchestral ballet. Flowing from an amplified double bass positioned at the center of the orchestral landscape, the omnipresent 288 bpm becomes the focal point of our rhythmic journey across the dance floor. Pas de deux is an interplay of two forces: Adam and Eve, you and I, them and us – back and forth, swaying and turning, pushing and pulling. It traces social interaction in its most fundamental and at the same time most joyful form: as dance, celebrated in all cultures throughout the world. The audience is invited to dance along – or, like a dancer stepping briefly out of the festivity, to let their gaze wander: sometimes focusing on individual couples, sometimes widening to the crowd, and thus experiencing the event as a large-scale sonic tableau. – Mike Svoboda, January 2026

Instrumentation

Instrumentation
2 Flutes
2 Oboes
2 Clarinets in Bb
2 Bassoons
2 Horns in F
2 Trumpets in C
Percussion (one Clave, Vibraphone, Hi-hat, Kick-Drum)

Strings 6.5.4.3.2 (the 2nd with amplification and live-electronics)

Performance notes
The four sections — Entrée, Adagio, Variations, and Coda — are to be performed attacca, proceeding from one to the next without pause and without any change of underlying pulse.

All tempi are derived from a common unit of 288 beats per minute, heard throughout Pas de deux (most often in the solo double bass). The relationship is as follows: Tempo 58 has 5 impulses, 72 (4), 96 (3), and 144 (2).

Trumpets
The trumpets should play from behind the orchestra, positioned left and right to maximize the stereo effect.

Solo double bass
The solo double bass is positioned centrally behind the orchestra and amplified locally, so that the sound remains clearly localized there for the audience. In Variations, a delay patch is required. Otherwise, effects may be used moderately to enrich the sound, while keeping the sound of the double bass as clear as possible. The amplification and live electronics (effects) should be simple enough for the player to control independently.