Elite Syncopations (ballet)

Last updated
Elite Syncopations
Choreographer Kenneth MacMillan
Music Scott Joplin
Based onMusic by Scott Joplin
Premiere7 October 1974
The Royal Opera House
Original ballet company The Royal Ballet
Genre Neoclassical ballet
Typecomic ballet

Elite Syncopations is a one-act ballet created in 1974 by Kenneth MacMillan for The Royal Ballet. [1]

Contents

Background and productions

The piece was premiered by The Royal Ballet on 7 October 1974 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, with costume designs by Ian Spurling, lighting designs by John B. Read and staging by Julie Lincoln. The ballet is for 12 dancers. It is described as having an up-beat, hip swinging aura of spontaneity, with 'easygoing rhythms'. The band, also 12-strong, sit casually at the back of the stage playing while the dancers perform in front of them, adding to the 1920s party-like atmosphere. [1]

A BBC film of Elite Syncopations was also made in 1975 and danced by The Royal Ballet's original cast, in Battersea's Big Top. [1] The piece entered the repertory of Birmingham Royal Ballet on 10 February 1978 at Sadler's Wells Theatre. [2]

Music

The 'Classic' ragtime composers represented in the production are: Scott Joplin, Scott Hayden, Joseph F. Lamb, James Scott and Robert Hampton. The centrepiece was composed by Scott Joplin. [3] Joplin also wrote a ballet called The Ragtime Dance (performed in 1899) as well as two operas, only one of which survived, called 'Treemonisha' (1902).

MacMillan added some additional ragtime tunes to complete his ballet: Paul Pratt's Hot-house Rag and James Scott's Calliope Rag for piano; Joseph Francis Lamb's Ragtime Nightingale orchestra and Alaskan Rag for piano; Max Morath's The Golden Hours for piano; Donald Ashwander's Friday Night and Robert Hampton's Cataract Rag for orchestra.

The full score list is:

Original cast

The ballet was premiered in Covent Garden on 7 October 1974: The principal roles were danced by:

Reception

Initial reception was mixed. The reviewers in The Times and The Observer found the piece vulgar and unstylish, [4] but Dance and Dancers thought it "cheerfully diverting" with "some of the Royal Ballet’s best and most distinctive principals displaying new facets of their artistry in the choreography MacMillan devised for them." [1] When the piece was presented in New York in 1976, The New York Times gave it enthusiastic praise, [1] and it has remained popular with audiences. [5] In 2003 DanceView commented, "Elite's humor is broad and the choreography simple minded. However, the work offered opportunities for dancers to let loose". [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ragtime</span> Music genre

Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott Joplin, James Scott and Joseph Lamb. Ragtime pieces are typically composed for and performed on piano, though the genre has been adapted for a variety of instruments and styles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Joplin</span> American composer, music teacher, and pianist (1868–1917)

Scott Joplin was an American composer and pianist. Dubbed the "King of Ragtime", he composed more than 40 ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first and most popular pieces, the "Maple Leaf Rag", became the genre's first and most influential hit, later being recognized as the quintessential rag. Joplin considered ragtime to be a form of classical music meant to be played in concert halls and largely disdained the performance of ragtime as honky tonk music most common in saloons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Lamb (composer)</span> American composer of ragtime music

Joseph Francis Lamb was an American composer of ragtime music. Lamb, of Irish descent, was the only non-African American of the "Big Three" composers of classical ragtime, the other two being Scott Joplin and James Scott. The ragtime of Joseph Lamb ranges from standard popular fare to complex and highly engaging. His use of long phrases was influenced by classical works he had learned from his sister and others while growing up, but his sense of structure was potentially derived from his study of Joplin's piano rags. By the time he added some polish to his later works in the 1950s, Lamb had mastered the classic rag genre in a way that almost no other composer was able to approach at that time, and continued to play it passably as well, as evidenced by at least two separate recordings done in his home, as well as a few recorded interviews.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maple Leaf Rag</span> Ragtime composition for piano by Scott Joplin

The "Maple Leaf Rag" is an early ragtime musical composition for piano composed by Scott Joplin. It was one of Joplin's early works, becoming the model for ragtime compositions by subsequent composers. It is one of the most famous of all ragtime pieces. Its success led to Joplin being dubbed the "King of Ragtime" by his contemporaries. The piece gave Joplin a steady if unspectacular income for the rest of his life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Entertainer (rag)</span> Piano rag by Scott Joplin

"The Entertainer" is a 1902 classic piano rag written by Scott Joplin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monica Mason</span> British ballet dancer and teacher

Dame Monica Margaret Mason is a former ballet dancer, teacher, and director of The Royal Ballet. In more than a half-century with the company, she established a reputation as a versatile performer, a skilled rehearsal director, and a capable administrator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenneth MacMillan</span> British ballet dancer and choreographer (1929–1992)

Sir Kenneth MacMillan was a British ballet dancer and choreographer who was artistic director of the Royal Ballet in London between 1970 and 1977, and its principal choreographer from 1977 until his death. Earlier he had served as director of ballet for the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. He was also associate director of the American Ballet Theatre from 1984 to 1989, and artistic associate of the Houston Ballet from 1989 to 1992.

Wayne Eagling is a Canadian ballet dancer, now retired. After more than twenty years as a popular member of The Royal Ballet in London, he became well known as an international choreographer and company director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bethena</span> 1905 waltz by Scott Joplin

"Bethena, A Concert Waltz" is a composition by Scott Joplin. It was the first Joplin work since his wife Freddie's death on September 10, 1904, of pneumonia, ten weeks after their wedding. At the time the composer had significant financial problems; the work did not sell successfully at the time of publication and was soon neglected and forgotten. It was rediscovered as a result of the Joplin revival in the 1970s and has received acclaim from Joplin's biographers and other critics. The piece combines two different styles of music, the classical waltz and the rag, and has been seen as demonstrating Joplin's excellence as a classical composer. The work has been described as "an enchantingly beautiful piece that is among the greatest of Ragtime Waltzes", a "masterpiece", and "Joplin's finest waltz".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Ragtime Dance</span> 1902 composition by Scott Joplin

"The Ragtime Dance" is a piece of ragtime music by Scott Joplin, first published in 1902.

Trebor Jay Tichenor was a recognized authority on Scott Joplin and the ragtime era. He collected and published others' ragtime piano compositions and composed his own. He authored books about ragtime, and both on his own and as a member of The St. Louis Ragtimers, became a widely known ragtime pianist.

<i>Scott Joplin: Piano Rags</i> 1970 studio album by Joshua Rifkin

Piano Rags by Scott Joplin is an album by Joshua Rifkin consisting of ragtime compositions by Scott Joplin, released by Nonesuch Records in 1970. The spine of the original album and various compact disc reissues render the title as Scott Joplin: Piano Rags.

Max Edward Morath was an American ragtime pianist, composer, actor, and author. He was best known for his piano playing and is referred to as "Mr. Ragtime". He was a touring performer as well as being variously a composer, recording artist, actor, playwright, and radio and television presenter. Rudi Blesh billed Morath as a "one-man ragtime army".

The New England Ragtime Ensemble was a Boston chamber orchestra dedicated to the music of Scott Joplin and other ragtime composers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elite Syncopations</span>

"Elite Syncopations" is a 1902 ragtime piano composition by American composer Scott Joplin, originally published in 1903 by John Stark & Son. The cover of the original sheet music prominently features a well-dressed man and lady sitting on a treble staff, looking down upon a cherub clutching a cymbal in each hand, which reflects plainly the title of the piece. In 1974, the British Royal Ballet, under director Kenneth MacMillan, created the ballet Elite Syncopations based on tunes by Joplin and other composers of the era.

<i>This Is Ragtime Now!</i> 1964 studio album by Hank Jones

This Is Ragtime Now! is an album by American jazz pianist Hank Jones featuring interpretations ragtime tunes recorded in 1964 for the ABC-Paramount label.

<i>They All Played Ragtime</i> 1950 book by journalist Rudi Blesh

They All Played Ragtime is a non-fiction book by journalist Rudi Blesh and author Harriet Janis, originally published by Grove Press in 1950. It was subsequently reissued in 1959, 1966, and 1971 by Oak Publications, and in 2007 by Nelson Press. According to the Preface to the Fourth Edition, by Rudi Blesh, the book was conceived and researched largely by Harriet Janis, who died in 1963. It is generally recognized as the pioneering and first serious book to document the history and major composers of ragtime in America, and has been referred to as The Bible of Ragtime.

Glenn Jenks was an American ragtime pianist, composer and music historian.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Elite Syncopations" Archived 2012-05-05 at the Wayback Machine , Kenneth McMillan website, retrieved 22 March 2015
  2. "Elite Syncopations" Archived 2006-03-19 at the Wayback Machine , Birmingham Royal Ballet, retrieved 22 March 2015
  3. "Elite Syncopations" Archived 2012-04-02 at the Wayback Machine , Royal Opera House retrieved 22 March 2015
  4. Percival, John. "Great Scott! Another Joplin ballet", The Times, 8 October 1974, p. 13
  5. 1 2 Felciano, Rita. "San Francisco Ballet", DanceView 20.4 (Autumn 2003), pp. 29–33