Movements for Piano and Orchestra (ballet)

Last updated

Movements for Piano and Orchestra
Choreographer George Balanchine
Music Igor Stravinsky
PremiereApril 9, 1963 (1963-04-09)
City Center of Music and Drama
Original ballet company New York City Ballet
Genre neoclassical ballet

Movements for Piano and Orchestra is a neoclassical ballet choreographed by George Balanchine to Stravinsky's score of the same name. The ballet premiered on April 9, 1963, at City Center of Music and Drama, performed by the New York City Ballet. Though the two lead roles were created for Diana Adams and Jacques d'Amboise, seventeen-year-old Suzanne Farrell danced the female lead at the premiere due to Adams' pregnancy. Starting in 1966, Movements and Monumentum pro Gesualdo (1960) are performed together.

Contents

Choreography

Movements for Piano and Orchestra is set to the composition of the same name by Stravinsky, a friend of Balanchine. [1] [2] Balanchine commented that the score's "complexity and compression are remarkable." [3] However, conductor Hugo Fiorato once said, "Who ... would listen to Movements of Stravinsky by itself? ... I don't think I would. But when you hear Movements and you see Movements through Balanchine's eyes and what he has added to the score, it suddenly becomes an amazingly exciting work." [4]

Movements is performed by a lead couple and a corps de ballet consisting of six women. [5] New York Times critic Allen Hughes noted the two leads "are generally engaged in the kind of Balanchine duets that explores the variety of poses for two. It is, in fact, as if Balanchine had examined all the statuary in the world and has summed up all the pose possibilities in this work. Yet the result is not static." [5] Author Richard Buckle noted the corps "alone moves during the terse intermediate sections connecting the five movements and which backs up the principals in the remainder of the ballet." They are often divided to two trios, and "assume an extraordinary variety of poses, like eccentric modern versions of the Three Graces." [4]

Responding to Balanchine's choreography, Stravinsky wrote:

To see Balanchine's choreography of Movements is to hear the music with one's eyes, and this visual hearing has been a greater revelation to me, I think, than to anyone else. The choreography emphasizes relationships of which I had hardly been aware – in the same way – and the performance was like a tour of a building for which I had drawn the plans but never explored the result. Balanchine approached the music by identifying some of the more familiar marks of my style, and as I heard him fastening on my tiniest repeated rhythm or sustaining group, I knew he had joined the work to the corpus of my music, at the same time probably reducing the time lag of its general acceptability by as much as a decade. I owe him even more for another aspect of the revelation: his dramatic point is a love parable – in which ballet is it not? – but the coda had a suggestion of myth that reminded me of the ending of Apollo . [6] :258–259

Production

Balanchine conceived the idea of Movements for Piano and Orchestra for Diana Adams, one of his muses at the time, and Jacques d'Amboise as the two leads. In his memoir, d'Amboise wrote that Balanchine "didn't want to be bothered with anyone else" whenever he created a new piece for one of his muses, but ballet master John Taras wanted Balanchine to have an understudy for Adams, and suggested 17-year-old Suzanne Farrell. [1] [4] Farrell was discovered by Adams during an audition tour for the School of American Ballet, and joined the New York City Ballet in 1961. [7] :149–150 While Farrell attended rehearsals, she was ignored by Balanchine. [1] However, in Farrell's account, Adams "had no official understudy." [2] Stravinsky attended some rehearsals, and he later wrote that when Balanchine requested the dancers to repeat some steps without the music, "To my amazement they were able to count it by themselves, which is rather better than many orchestras. But are the Movements ballet music? Barbarous locution to a Balanchine! What he needs from me is not a pas de deux but a motor impulse." [6] :259

Two weeks before the premiere, Adams found out she was pregnant. She was ordered by the doctor to be on bed rest, having previously suffered from multiple miscarriages. [1] [2] The news infuriated Balanchine, and he considered having the premiere cancelled. [1] After Taras protested, Balanchine replied, "If you want to do it, do it." [4] According to Farrell's memoir, d'Amboise knew Farrell was a quick learner, and lobbied Balanchine to replace Adams with Farrell. Balanchine initially opposed the idea, but later reluctantly agreed. [2] Less than a week before Movements premiered, d'Amboise brought Farrell to Adams' apartment, where Adams taught Farrell the ballet while lying on the couch. [1] [2] Farrell had never heard the music before, and in that rehearsal, Adams and d'Amboise hummed the music. However, Farrell managed to learn the choreography in two hours. [2] The next day, Farrell, d'Amboise and pianist Gordon Boelzner rehearsed together. That was when Farrell first heard the music. [2] Taras later was able to convince Balanchine to see Farrell in rehearsal. He was impressed by Farrell and provided corrections to both her and d'Amboise. [1] In the days leading up to the premiere, the rehearsals with the corps de ballet were led by Taras. [4] Adams never performed Movements, and eventually left the company. [7] :120 Farrell noted she "had no idea what was going on" at the time, and only learned the full story years later. [2]

At the premiere, the women were dressed in white leotards. Farrell thought black leotards might be more suitable, as she believed they are "more slimming and flattering to the body," and Balanchine approved of this change. However, she "knew it was all wrong" once she saw the corps de ballet on stage. The women's costumes were soon reverted to white leotards. [2] The sole man in the ballet wears a white shirt and black tights. [5]

Performances

Movements for Piano and Orchestra premiered on April 9, 1963, at City Center of Music and Drama, with Robert Irving conducting and the piano played by Gordon Boelzner. [6] :412 [5]

Starting in 1966, Movements and Monumentum pro Gesualdo (1960) are performed together. [4] Balanchine explained, "Both have music by Stravinsky, both are short works, and it has been convenient for our audiences, and for us in the New York City Ballet, to see them combined." [3]

According to Farrell, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy invited the company to perform Movements at the White House. While Balanchine was "pleased", he rejected the request as the orchestra would not be able to perform. [2] Farrell's company, the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, had revived Movements. [8]

Videography

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the New York City Ballet released a 2015 video recording of Movements online, featuring Maria Kowroski and Ask la Cour. [9]

Related Research Articles

George Balanchine Georgian-American choreographer, dancer and ballet master

George Balanchine was an American ballet choreographer who was one of the most influential 20th-century choreographers. Styled as the father of American ballet, he co-founded the New York City Ballet and remained its Artistic Director for more than 35 years. His choreography is characterized by plotless ballets with minimal costume and décor, performed to classical and neoclassical music.

New York City Ballet American ballet company

New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company's first music director. City Ballet grew out of earlier troupes: the Producing Company of the School of American Ballet, 1934; the American Ballet, 1935, and Ballet Caravan, 1936, which merged into American Ballet Caravan, 1941; and directly from the Ballet Society, 1946.

Suzanne Farrell American ballerina

Suzanne Farrell is an American ballerina and the founder of the Suzanne Farrell Ballet at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Darci Kistler is an American ballerina. She is often said to be the last muse for choreographer George Balanchine.

The Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra was written by Igor Stravinsky in Nice between 1926 and 1929. The score was revised in 1949.

Jewels is a three-act ballet created for the New York City Ballet by co-founder and founding choreographer George Balanchine. It premièred on Thursday, 13 April 1967 at the New York State Theater, with sets designed by Peter Harvey and lighting by Ronald Bates.

<i>Apollo</i> (ballet)

Apollo is a neoclassical ballet in two tableaux composed between 1927 and 1928 by Igor Stravinsky. It was choreographed in 1928 by twenty-four-year-old George Balanchine, with the composer contributing the libretto. The scenery and costumes were designed by André Bauchant, with new costumes by Coco Chanel in 1929. The scenery was executed by Alexander Shervashidze, with costumes under the direction of Mme. A. Youkine. The American patron of the arts Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge had commissioned the ballet in 1927 for a festival of contemporary music to be held the following year at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

Nicholas Magallanes

Nicholas Magallanes was a principal dancer and charter member of the New York City Ballet. Along with Francisco Moncion, Maria Tallchief, and Tanaquil Le Clercq, Magallanes was among the core group of dancers with which George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein formed Ballet Society, the immediate predecessor of the New York City Ballet.

The Suzanne Farrell Ballet is a ballet company housed at the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C., and founded in 2000 by Suzanne Farrell, one of George Balanchine's most celebrated ballerinas, and a former New York City Ballet principal dancer. Until 2017, the Suzanne Farrell Ballet was a full-fledged company produced by the Kennedy Center and had performed there since 1999 in addition to presenting extensive national and international tours. In September 2016, the Center announced that the company would be disbanding at the end of 2017, citing "possibilities of new expansion" and indicating that Farrell would likely return to "full-time teaching."

Circus Polka: For a Young Elephant was written by Igor Stravinsky in 1942. He composed it for a ballet production that the choreographer George Balanchine did for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The ballet was performed by fifty elephants and fifty ballerinas. In 1944, Stravinsky published an orchestration of the piece, which is now part of the repertoire of many orchestras.

Symphony in Three Movements is a neoclassical ballet choreographed by George Balanchine to the music of the same name by Stravinsky. The ballet was made for the New York City Ballet Stravinsky Festival in 1972, a tribute to the composer following his death. The ballet premiered on June 18, 1972, at the New York State Theater.

Brahms–Schoenberg Quartet is a one-act ballet by George Balanchine, to Johannes Brahms's Piano Quartet No. 1, orchestrated by Arnold Schoenberg. The ballet premiered on April 21, 1966 at the New York State Theater, performed by the New York City Ballet.

Élégie is a neoclassical ballet by George Balanchine, to Élégie-Elegy for solo viola by Igor Stravinsky. Balanchine had made three versions of the ballet, premiered in 1948, 1966 and 1982 respectively.

<i>The Four Temperaments</i> Ballet

The Four Temperaments or Theme and Four Variations is an orchestral work and ballet by Paul Hindemith. Although it was originally conceived as a ballet for Léonide Massine, the score was ultimately completed as a commission for George Balanchine, who subsequently choreographed it as a neoclassical ballet based on the theory of the four temperaments.

Vienna Waltzes is a ballet choreographed by George Balanchine to music by Johann Strauss II, Franz Lehár and Richard Strauss, made as a tribute to Austria. It premiered on June 23, 1977 at the New York State Theater, performed by the New York City Ballet, and was an immediate success among the public.

Diana Adams was a principal dancer for the New York City Ballet from 1950 to 1963 and favorite of George Balanchine, later becoming a teacher at — and dean of — the School of American Ballet.

Monumentum pro Gesualdo is a ballet by the New York City Ballet (NYCB) co-founder and balletmaster George Balanchine to music by Igor Stravinsky composed in honor of the 400th birthday of the composer Carlo Gesualdo and consisting of Stravinsky's orchestrations of Gesualdo's madrigals. The premiere took place on Wednesday, November 16, 1960, at City Center of Music and Drama, New York, with scenery and lighting by David Hays and was conducted by Robert Irving. The composer conducted the score's orchestral premiere on Tuesday, September 27, 1960, for the XXIII Venice Music Festival at La Fenice.

In Creases is a ballet choreographed by Justin Peck, his first for the New York City Ballet, to Philip Glass' "Four Movements for Two Pianos". The ballet premiered on July 14, 2012, at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, during the company's annual season there, and had its New York City premiere on May 29, 2013.

Duo Concertant is a ballet choreographed by George Balanchine to Stravinsky's score of the same name. The ballet was created for New York City Ballet's Stravinsky Festival, a tribute to the composer a year after his death, and premiered on June 22, 1972, at the New York State Theater, danced by Kay Mazzo and Peter Martins.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 d'Amboise, Jacques (2011). I Was a Dancer. pp. 280–281. ISBN   9780307595232.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Farrell, Suzanne; Bentley, Toni (1990). Holding on to the Air: An Autobiography. pp. 76–83. ISBN   9780671682224.
  3. 1 2 Sutton, Madelyn (January 10, 2020). "Balanchine's Monumentum pro Gesualdo and Movements for Piano and Orchestra". New York City Ballet.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Buckle, Richard (1988). George Balanchine: Ballet Master : a Biography. pp. 228–230. ISBN   9780241121801.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Hughes, Allen (April 10, 1963). "Ballet: Great New Balanchine Work; Movements for Piano and Orchestra' Given". New York Times.
  6. 1 2 3 Taper, Bernard (1987). Balanchine: A Biography. ISBN   9780520060593.
  7. 1 2 Tracy, Robert; DeLano, Sharon (1983). Balanchine's Ballerinas: Conversations with the Muses. ISBN   9780671461461.
  8. ↑ Khadanina, Oksana (December 6, 2014). "Suzanne Farrell Ballet – Swan Lake, Monumentum Pro Gesualdo, Movements for Piano and Orchestra, Allegro Brillante, The Concert – Washington". DanceTabs.
  9. ↑ "New York City Ballet Announces Casting for Weeks One and Two of Their Digital Season". BroadwayWorld. September 21, 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.