Homage to the Queen, Op. 42, by Malcolm Arnold was written as the official coronation ballet in 1953, commissioned by the Sadler's Wells Ballet in honour of Queen Elizabeth II, the ballet company's musical adviser Humphrey Searle having recommended Arnold for the job. The original choreography was created by Frederick Ashton. It was first performed by the Sadler's Wells Ballet on Coronation night 2 June 1953 at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, with original scenery and costumes by Oliver Messel. The Orchestra was conducted by Robert Irving.
Amongst the original performers were:
The ballet became part of the Sadler's Wells Ballet's regular repertoire during the mid-1950s. In the 1990s the Queen of the Air segment was revived.
To celebrate the 80th birthday of Queen Elizabeth the ballet was revived in 2006. Apart from the Entree and the Queen of the Air, much of Ashton's original choreography was lost during the years, so new ones were created for three of the sequences based on surviving material.
The composer extracted a 17-minute concert suite, Op. 42a, from the ballet. There are also a version for wind band and a 9-minute solo piano version.
Dame Ninette de Valois was an Irish-born British dancer, teacher, choreographer, and director of classical ballet. Most notably, she danced professionally with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, later establishing the Royal Ballet, one of the foremost ballet companies of the 20th century and one of the leading ballet companies in the world. She also established the Royal Ballet School and the touring company which became the Birmingham Royal Ballet. She is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of ballet and as the "godmother" of English and Irish ballet.
Sir Robert Murray Helpmann CBE was an Australian ballet dancer, actor, director, and choreographer. After early work in Australia he moved to Britain in 1932, where he joined the Vic-Wells Ballet under its creator, Ninette de Valois. He became one of the company's leading men, partnering Alicia Markova and later Margot Fonteyn. When Frederick Ashton, the company's chief choreographer, was called up for military service in the Second World War Helpmann took over from him while continuing as a principal dancer.
Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton was a British ballet dancer and choreographer. He also worked as a director and choreographer in opera, film and revue.
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.
Sir Anthony James Dowell is a retired British ballet dancer and a former artistic director of the Royal Ballet. He is widely recognized as one of the great danseurs nobles of the twentieth century.
Nadia Nerina was a South African dancer who was "one of the most gifted, versatile, and inspiring ballerinas of The Royal Ballet" during the 1950s and 1960s. She was known "for her technical virtuosity, lightness afoot, effortless-seeming jumps, and joyful charm onstage, especially in comedic roles."
David Poole was a South African ballet dancer, choreographer, teacher, and company director. During his thirty-year association with dance companies in Cape Town, he had "a profound effect on ballet in South Africa. He is internationally recognised as a significant figure in the world of dance.
Robert Augustine Irving, DFC*, was a British conductor whose reputation was mainly as a ballet conductor.
Fanfare is a one-act ballet choreographed by Jerome Robbins to Benjamin Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, in celebration of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The ballet premiered on June 2, 1953, the night of the coronation, at the City Center of Music and Drama, danced by the New York City Ballet.
The ballet Sweeney Todd, Op. 68 by Malcolm Arnold was completed in 1959. It is a one-act ballet based on the legend of Sweeney Todd, a villain in The String of Pearls serial. The scenario and original choreography were by John Cranko and the scenery and costumes by Alix Stone in the style of Victorian toy theatres. It was first performed by the Royal Ballet touring company on 10 December 1959, at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, with the Royal Opera House Orchestra conducted by John Lanchbery. The dancers who created the roles in the first production were Donald Britton, Johaar Mosaval (Tobias), Elizabeth Anderton (Johanna), Desmond Doyle, Ian Hamilton.
Les Rendezvous is a plotless one-act ballet created in 1933, with choreography by Frederick Ashton to the music of Daniel Auber arranged by Constant Lambert and with designs by William Chappell. It was the first major ballet created by Ashton for the Vic-Wells company.
Alexander Marshall Grant was a New Zealand ballet dancer, teacher, and company director. After moving to London as a young man, he became known as "the Royal Ballet's most remarkable actor-dancer in its golden period from the 1940s to the 1960s."
Pamela May OBE was a Trinidad-born British dancer and teacher of classical ballet. Most noted as one of the earliest members of The Royal Ballet, she was regarded as a versatile dancer; dancing all the established 19th-century classical repertoire, and creating roles in new ballets by Ninette de Valois and Frederick Ashton. After retiring from professional ballet, she became a teacher at the Royal Ballet School, and also served as vice-president of the Royal Academy of Dance.
This is a summary of 1953 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year.
Derek Rencher was a British ballet dancer. A commanding figure among Royal Ballet character dancers for more than four decades, he was probably the most prolific performer in the company's history.
Harold Turner was an English ballet dancer, teacher, and ballet master. Widely recognized as "modern British ballet's first male virtuoso," he had an illustrious career as a principal dancer, after which he continued to perform in character roles. He is acknowledged as a key figure in British dance history.
Desmond Doyle was a South African ballet dancer who performed in England in the 1950s and 1960s before becoming ballet master of The Royal Ballet.
Alexis Rassine was a South African ballet dancer who enjoyed his greatest success with the Sadler's Wells Ballet in England in the 1940s and early 1950s. He is remembered as a classical dancer who made "a major contribution to British ballet" during wartime and "helped to keep the flag flying when all about was chaos and disaster."
Brian Shaw was a British ballet dancer and teacher. As a leading dancer with the Royal Ballet during the 1950s and 1960s, he was widely regarded as "one of the finest classical male dancers of his generation".
Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan is a ballet solo choreographed by Frederick Ashton to music by Johannes Brahms, inspired by Isadora Duncan and created for Lynn Seymour. The first version, under the title Brahms Waltz, used only Brahms' Op. 39, No. 15, and premiered on 22 June 1975, at the Hamburg State Opera. The expanded version, which featured more Brahms waltzes, premiered on 15 June 1976, during Ballet Rambert's 50th anniversary gala, at the Sadler's Wells Theatre, London, and is dedicated to Marie Rambert.