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"His ballet Parade (1917; choreographed by Léonide Massine, scenario by Jean Cocteau, stage design and costumes by Pablo Picasso) was scored for typewriters, sirens, airplane propellers, ticker tape, and a lottery wheel" (here). In his Program Notes to the original production of Parade (1917) Guillaume Apollinaire: "The Ancients, in whose lives music played such an important role,
were totally unaware of harmony, which constitutes the very basis of
modern music. This new alliance - I say new, because until now scenery
and costumes were linked only by factitious bonds - has given rise, in
Parade, to a kind of surrealism, which I consider to be the point of
departure for a whole series of Manifestations of the New Spirit that is
making itself felt today and that will certainly appeal to our best
minds." (Text and translation credit here).
That, one might suspect, has been the inspiration for the 21st century version of the "New Spirit" that is the arrangements for the rationalization of a world order between the U.S. and China, and then somehow used to manage their respective unruly partners (prior essays here). That descent (or ascent) into the surreal that is the Parade to which a global audience has been treated in the form of the relentless, and excruciatingly linear vaudeville, is one that is meant to drag us along a route in which the performers lurch toward the transformation of hierarchically arranged territorial empire into nice virtual imperial spaces, also arranged hierarchically, but which depend, for its performance on the rationalization of virtual boundaries and forms of win-win structural coupling managed by the forward thinking vanguards with stewardship of the apex imperial machinery that have emerged since the collapse of globalization between 2001 and 2010. It also depends on key "actor" types to provide the necessary variety and movement, key elements of global political vaudeville (The "Merchant" (商), the "Bureaucrat" (士) and the "Tariff War"--The Cognitive Cages of the New Apex Post-Global and the Condition of the U.S. and China in their Folie à Deux).
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Apollinaire wrote what might be transposed as the best analysis of the Parade along the path of which the Joint Statement appears:
The cubist painter Picasso and the most daring of today's choreographers, Léonide Massine, have here consummately achieved, for the first time, that alliance between painting and dance, between the plastic and mimetic arts, that is a herald of the more comprehensive art to come. * * * The fantastic constructions representing the gigantic and surprising features of The Managers, far from presenting an obstacle to Massine's imagination, have, one might say, served to give it a liberating impetus. All in all, Parade will change the ideas of a great many spectators. They will be surprised, that is certain; but in a most agreeable way, and charmed as well; Parade will reveal to them all the gracefulness of the Modern movements, a gracefulness they never suspected. A magnificent vaudeville Chinaman will make their imaginations soar; the American Girl cranking up her imaginary car will express the magic of their daily lives, whose wordless rites are celebrated with exquisite and astonishing agility by the acrobatin blue and white tights." (Text and translation credit here)
The end of the performance of the surreal ought to merit a march, as the parties lumber off into their life-worlds now enveloping to just themselves but those of us forced to stand along the parade route and cheer on those who, by marching, both manifest its route and the character of the march itself. One might be tempted, of course, to use something stately, perhaps like an Elgar Coronation March. I would think that the march embedded in Figaro's Aria, Non piu andrai, farfallone amoroso (Ruggiero Raimondi) closing the 1st Act of Mozart Nozze di Figaro far more appropriate.
Non più andrai, farfallone amoroso, Notte e giorno d'intorno girando, Delle belle turbando il riposo, Narcisetto, Adoncino d'amor. * * * Fra guerrieri, poffar Bacco! Gran mustacchi, stretto sacco, Schioppo in spalla, sciabla al fianco, Collo dritto, muso franco, Un gran casco, o un gran turbante, Molto onor, poco contante. Poco contante Poco contante; Ed in vece del fandango Una marcia per il fango. Per montagne, per valloni, Con le nevi, e i solioni, Al concerto di tromboni, Di bombarde, di cannoni, Che le palle in tutti i tuoni, All'orecchio fan fischiar. * * * Cherubino, alla vittoria! Alla gloria militar!
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You won't go any more, amorous butterfly, Fluttering around inside night and day, Disturbing the sleep of beauties, A little Narcissus and Adonis of love. * * * Among soldiers, by Bacchus! A huge moustache, a little knapsack, Gun on your back, sword at your side, Your neck straight, your nose exposed, A big helmet, or a big turban, A lot of honour, very little pay. And in place of the Fandango, A march through the mud. Over mountains, through valleys, With snow, and heat-stroke, To the music of trumpets, Of bombards, and of cannons, Which, at every boom, Will make bullets whistle past your ear. Cherubino, go to victory! To military glory! (translation credit here)
Thus the march for the parade, the route of which is meant to take us toward the rationalization of imperial domains foe which we serve, not as stage props, but as the cast of thousands of Cherubino dragged along in its wake. To that end both the parade and its march ought to be performed well--Cherubino, alla vittoria! Alla gloria militar!
The point, of course, ought to be obvious. It is not the march that ought to be of interest, but rather the staging, costumes, acting, and singing, "that alliance between painting and dance, between the plastic and mimetic arts" that define the surreal elements of the post-global, the transformations of which are unavoidable.
Guillaume Apollinaire's Program notes follows below.
The Government of the United States of America (the “United States”) and the Government of the People’s Republic of China (“China”),
Recalling the Joint Statement on U.S.-China Economic and Trade Meeting in Geneva on May 12, 2025 (“Geneva Joint Statement”); and
Reflecting on their meetings in London on June 9 and 10, 2025, and in Stockholm on July 28 and 29, 2025;
The Parties recall the commitments under the Geneva Joint Statement and agree to take the following actions by August 12, 2025:
- The United States will continue to modify the application of the additional ad valorem rate of duty on articles of China (including articles of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Macau Special Administrative Region) set forth in Executive Order 14257 of April 2, 2025, by suspending 24 percentage points of that rate for an additional period of 90 days, starting on August 12, 2025, while retaining the remaining ad valorem rate of 10 percent on those articles pursuant to the terms of said Order.
- China will continue to (1) modify the application of the additional ad valorem rate of duty on articles of the United States set forth in the Announcement of the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council No. 4 of 2025, by suspending 24 percentage points of that rate for an additional period of 90 days, starting on August 12, 2025, while retaining the remaining additional ad valorem rate of 10 percent on those articles, and (2) adopt or maintain all necessary administrative measures to suspend or remove the non-tariff countermeasures taken against the United States as agreed in the Geneva Joint Statement.
This Joint Statement is based on the discussions that took place during the U.S.-China Economic and Trade Meeting in Stockholm, which was held under the mechanism established by the Geneva Joint Statement. The representative from the Chinese side for this meeting was He Lifeng, Vice Premier of the State Council, and the representatives from the U.S. side were Scott Bessent, Secretary of Treasury, and Jamieson Greer, United States Trade Representative.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF APOLLINAIRE'S PROGRAMME NOTES TO "PARADE":
"Definitions of Parade are blossoming everywhere, like the lilac bushes of this tardy spring...
It
is a scenic poem transposed by the innovative musician Erik Satie into
astonishingly expressive music, so clear and simple that it seems to
reflect the marvelously lucid spirit of France. The cubist painter
Picasso and the most daring of today's choreographers, Léonide Massine,
have here consummately achieved, for the first time, that alliance
between painting and dance, between the plastic and mimetic arts, that
is a herald of the more comprehensive art to come.
There is nothing
paradoxical about this. The Ancients, in whose lives music played such
an important role, were totally unaware of harmony, which constitutes
the very basis of modern music. This new alliance - I say new, because
until now scenery and costumes were linked only by factitious bonds -
has given rise, in Parade, to a kind of surrealism, which I consider to
be the point of departure for a whole series of Manifestations of the
New Spirit that is making itself felt today and that will certainly
appeal to our best minds. We may expect it to bring about profound
changes in our arts and manners through universal joyfulness, for it is
only natural, after all, that they keep pace with scientific and
industrial progress.
Having broken with the choreographic tradition
cherished by those who used to be known, in Russia, under the strange
name 'balletomanes', Massine has been careful not to yield to the
temptation of pantomime. He has produced something totally new-a
marvelously appealing kind of dance, so true, so lyrical, so human, and
so joyful that it would even be capable (if it were worth the trouble)
of illuminating the terrible black sun of Dürer's Melancholy. Jean
Cocteau has called this a realistic ballet. Picasso's cubist costumes
and scenery bear witness to the realism of his art.
This realism -
or this cubism, if you will - is the influence that has most stirred the
arts over the past ten years. The costumes and scenery in Parade show
clearly that its chief aim has been to draw the greatest possible amount
of aesthetic emotion from objects. Attempts have often been made to
return painting to its barest elements. In most of the Dutch painters,
in Chardin, in the impressionists, one finds hardly anything but
painting. Picasso goes further than any of them. This is clearly evident
in Parade, a work in which one's initial astonishment is soon replaced
by admiration. Here the aim is, above all, to express reality. However,
the motif is not reproduced but represented-more precisely, it is not
represented but rather suggested by means of an analytic synthesis that
embraces all the visible elements of an object and, if possible,
something else as well: an integral schematization that aims to
reconcile contradictions by deliberately renouncing any attempt to
render the immediate appearance of an object. Massine has Adapted
himself astonishingly well to the discipline of Picasso's art. He has
identified himself with it, and his art has become enriched with
delightful inventions, such as the realistic steps of the horse in
Parade, Formed by two dancers, one of whom does the steps of the
forelegs and the other those of the hind legs.
The fantastic
constructions representing the gigantic and surprising features of The
Managers, far from presenting an obstacle to Massine's imagination,
have, one might say, served to give it a liberating impetus.
All in
all, Parade will change the ideas of a great many spectators. They will
be surprised, that is certain; but in a most agreeable way, and charmed
as well; Parade will reveal to them all the gracefulness of the Modern
movements, a gracefulness they never suspected.
A magnificent
vaudeville Chinaman will make their imaginations soar; the American Girl
cranking up her imaginary car will express the magic of their daily
lives, whose wordless rites are celebrated with exquisite and
astonishing agility by the acrobatin blue and white tights."
Order-nr.: 60103
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