The discovery of the shortened score used at Covent Garden prompted Ashton to make his own version of the ballet, set in Paris at the time of the music's composition.

Ashton's version in two acts was premiered on 14 February 1961 at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, with Lynn Seymour and Christopher Gable.

Their relationship is symbolised by their pas de deux at the start in imitation of two pigeons they have been observing, quarrelling with small irritated movements of the head and then coming together to make up.

When a group of gypsies visit their village, Pépio is seduced by the energetic czardas that they dance and flirts with the dusky Djali, eventually leaving his love behind to join in their wanderings.

A troupe of gypsies that he sees through the garret window, misunderstanding a gesture of his, now crowd in and a quarrel develops over possession of the chair between the model and a hot-blooded Carmen with whom the painter is flirting.

Seen together during the first act, while the artist and his lover dance together, the young man's dissatisfaction and temporary desertion of the girl are represented by one pigeon flying alone off stage before the interval.

Premiere cast list:[1] In 1991 at the Brangwyn Hall, Swansea, the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera conducted by Richard Bonynge were recorded by Decca in Messager's 1906 score.