Editing Jacques Ibert (section)

==Music==
Ibert refused to ally himself to any particular musical fashion or school, maintaining that "all systems are valid", a position that has caused many commentators to categorise him as "eclectic".<ref name=opera/> His biographer Alexandra Laederich writes, "His music can be festive and gay … lyrical and inspired, or descriptive and evocative … often tinged with gentle humour … all the elements of his musical language bar that of harmony relate closely to the Classical tradition."<ref name=grove/> The early orchestral works, such as ''Escales'', are in "a lush Impressionist style",<ref name=ocm>Griffiths, Paul and Richard Langham Smith [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t114/e3377 "Ibert, Jacques (François Antoine Marie)."] ''The Oxford Companion to Music'', Oxford Music Online, accessed 18 September 2010 {{subscription required}}</ref> but Ibert is at least as well known for lighthearted, even frivolous, pieces, among which are the ''[[Divertissement (Ibert)|Divertissement]]'' for small orchestra and the Flute Concerto.<ref name=ocm/>

Ibert's stage works similarly embrace a wide variety of styles. His first opera, ''Persée et Andromède'', is a concise, gently satirical piece. ''Angélique'' displays his "eclectic style and his accomplished writing of pastiche set pieces".<ref name=opera/> ''Le roi d'Yvetot'' is written, in part in a simple folklike style. The opéra bouffe ''Gonzague'' is another essay in the old opera bouffe style. ''[[L'Aiglon (opera)|L'Aiglon]]'', composed jointly with Honegger, employs [[commedia dell'arte]] characters and much musical pastiche in a style both accessible and sophisticated.<ref name=grove/> For the farcical ''Les petites Cardinal'' the music is in set pieces in the manner of an operetta. By contrast ''Le chevalier errant'', a choreographic piece incorporating chorus and two reciters, is in an epic style.<ref name=opera/> Ibert's practice of collaborating with other composers extended to his works for the ballet stage. His first work composed expressly for the ballet was a waltz for ''L'éventail de Jeanne'' (1929) to which he was one of ten contributors, others of whom were [[Maurice Ravel|Ravel]] and [[Francis Poulenc|Poulenc]]. He was the sole composer of four further ballets between 1934 and 1954.<ref name=grove/>

For the theatre and cinema, Ibert was a prolific composer of incidental music. His best-known theatre score was music for [[Eugène Marin Labiche|Eugène Labiche]]'s ''Un chapeau de paille d'Italie'', which Ibert later reworked as the suite ''Divertissement''. Other scores ranged from music for farce to that for [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] productions. His cinema scores covered a similarly broad range. He wrote the music for more than a dozen French films, and for American directors he composed a score for [[Orson Welles]]'s 1948 film of  ''[[Macbeth (1948 film)|Macbeth]]'', and the ''Circus'' ballet for [[Gene Kelly]]'s ''[[Invitation to the Dance (film)|Invitation to the Dance]]'' in 1952.<ref name=grove/>