| Billy the Kid | |
|---|---|
| Choreographer | Eugene Loring |
| Music | Aaron Copland |
| Based on | the story of Billy the Kid |
| Premiere | 16 October 1938 Civic Opera House (Chicago) |
| Original ballet company | Ballet Caravan Company |
| Setting | Wild West |
Billy the Kid is a 1938 ballet written by the American composer Aaron Copland on commission from Lincoln Kirstein. It was choreographed by Eugene Loring for Ballet Caravan. Along with Rodeo and Appalachian Spring , it is one of Copland's most popular and widely performed pieces. It is most famous for its incorporation of several cowboy tunes and American folk songs and, although built around the figure and the exploits of Billy the Kid, is not so much a biography of a notorious but peculiarly appealing desperado as it is a perception of the "Wild West", in which a figure such as Billy played a vivid role. [1]
It premiered on 16 October 1938 [2] in Chicago by the Ballet Caravan Company, with pianists Arthur Gold and Walter Hendl performing a two-piano version of the score. The first performance in New York City occurred on 24 May 1939, with an orchestra conducted by Fritz Kitzinger.
Setting: New Mexico and Arizona, 1870s and 1880s
The story follows the life of the infamous outlaw Billy the Kid. It begins with "The Open Prairie" and shows many pioneers trekking westward. The action shifts to a small frontier town, in which a young Billy and his mother are present. His mother is killed by a stray bullet during a gunfight and he stabs her killer, then goes on the run.
The next scene shows episodes in Billy's later life. He is living in the desert, is hunted and captured by a posse (in which the ensuing gun battle features prominent percussive effects) and taken to jail. He manages to escape after stealing a gun from the warden during a game of cards and returns to his hideout, where he thinks he is safe, but sheriff Pat Garrett catches up and shoots him to death. The ballet ends with "The Open Prairie" theme and pioneers once again travelling west.
Cowboy and folk tunes were heavily used, for instance: [3]
It also includes the Mexican Jarabe dance, played in 5
8 by a solo trumpet, just before "Goodbye Old Paint". [3]
The eight movements of the ballet make up the first seven tracks of jazz guitarist Bill Frisell's album "Have a Little Faith".
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| Incidental and film music | |
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Aaron Copland was an American composer, critic, writer, teacher, pianist and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as the "Dean of American Composers". The open, slowly changing harmonies in much of his music are typical of what many people consider to be the sound of American music, evoking the vast American landscape and pioneer spirit. He is best known for the works he wrote in the 1930s and 1940s in a deliberately accessible style often referred to as "populist" and which the composer labeled his "vernacular" style. Works in this vein include the ballets Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid and Rodeo, his Fanfare for the Common Man and Third Symphony. In addition to his ballets and orchestral works, he produced music in many other genres, including chamber music, vocal works, opera and film scores.
Appalachian Spring is an American ballet created by the composer Aaron Copland and the choreographer Martha Graham, later arranged as an orchestral work. Commissioned by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, Copland composed the ballet for Graham; the original choreography was by Graham, with costumes by Edythe Gilfond and sets by Isamu Noguchi. The music was well-received at the 1944 premiere, earning Copland the Pulitzer Prize for Music after the ballet's 1945 United States tour. The orchestral suite composed in 1945 was played that year by many symphony orchestras; the suite is among Copland's best-known works, and the ballet remains essential in the Martha Graham Dance Company repertoire.
Charles Robert Starrett was an American actor, best known for his starring role in the Durango Kid westerns. Starrett still holds the record for starring in the longest series of theatrical features: 131 westerns, all produced by Columbia Pictures.
Eugene Loring was an American dancer, choreographer, teacher, and administrator.
John Kriza was an American ballet dancer and teacher whose long career as a principal with American Ballet Theatre made him one of the best known and most admired male dancers in the country.
Oath of Vengeance is a 1944 American Western film directed by Sam Newfield. Shot at Corriganville Movie Ranch, the film was released by Producers Releasing Corporation as one of the studio's Billy the Kid film series.
Richard Theodore Adams was an American film actor who appeared in nearly 200 films between 1926 and 1952.
Charles Orbie "Slim" Whitaker was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 340 films between 1914 and 1949. He was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and died in Los Angeles, California, from a heart attack.
Have a Little Faith is a 1992 album by American guitarist Bill Frisell, his seventh album overall and fourth for Elektra Nonesuch. Musicians include Frisell, clarinetist Don Byron, bassist Kermit Driscoll, accordion player Guy Klucevsek and drummer Joey Baron. The album covers a range of American classical and popular music. The album was widely acclaimed as one of Frisell's best and as an outstanding jazz albums of the 1990s.
Western Cyclone is a 1943 American Producers Releasing Corporation Western film of the "Billy the Kid" series directed by Sam Newfield. The film is also known as Frontier Fighters.
Cattle Stampede is a 1943 American Producers Releasing Corporation Western film of the "Billy the Kid" series directed by Sam Newfield.
El Salón México is a symphonic composition in one movement by Aaron Copland, which uses Mexican folk music extensively. Copland began the work in 1932 and completed it in 1936, following several visits to Mexico. The four melodies of the piece are based on sheet music he purchased during his visits.
Rodeo is a ballet composed by Aaron Copland and choreographed by Agnes de Mille, which premiered in 1942. Subtitled "The Courting at Burnt Ranch", the ballet consists of five sections: "Buckaroo Holiday", "Corral Nocturne", "Ranch House Party", "Saturday Night Waltz", and "Hoe-Down". The symphonic version omits "Ranch House Party", leaving the other sections relatively intact.
Budd Leland Buster, usually credited as Budd Buster, was an American actor known for B western films. He sometimes was credited as George Selk in his later work.
Dance Panels is a ballet composed by Aaron Copland in 1959 for a planned collaboration with choreographer Jerome Robbins. After Copland had written the score, Robbins reneged on his commitment and the performance did not take place. Three years later, Copland revised the score for a ballet by the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Germany, where it premiered on 3 December 1963. The ballet was performed by the New York City Ballet in 1965 and the concert version received its first performance at the Ojai Music Festival the following year. According to Copland biographer Howard Pollack, Dance Panels has proven from a musical standpoint one of the composer's more accessible late scores. While some of its more dissonant moments sound similar to Copland's twelve-tone compositions, other parts recall his earlier stage and screen music. It is also the only one of Copland's six ballets not written to a specific program.
The legend of Billy the Kid has acquired iconic status in American folklore, yet the outlaw himself, also known as William Bonney, had minimal impact on historical events in New Mexico Territory of the late 1800s. More has been written about Billy the Kid than any other gunslinger in the history of the American West, while hundreds of books, motion pictures, radio and television programs and even a ballet have been inspired by his legend.
Buzz Barton (1913–1980) was an American film actor. He is predominantly known for his roles as a child actor in a number of silent westerns made by the FBO studios during the 1920s. Following the introduction of sound, he mainly played supporting roles.
Luther Palmer was an American film and television actor. Born in Xenia, Ohio. He appeared in over 300 films and television programs between 1929 and 1962. Palmer died in March 1982 of an illness, at the age of 77. He was buried in Eternal Valley Memorial Park.
