Music by Igor Stravinsky Choreography by George Balanchine
(1928) Libretto by Igor Stravinsky Staging by Francia Russell Original
lighting design by Ronald Bates Lighting: Vladimir Lukasevich
World
premiere: 12 June 1928, Les Ballets Russes de Serge de Diaghilev, Thйвtre Sarah
Bernhart, Paris Premiere at the Mariinsky Theatre: 26 January
1992 Premiere of last revived version at the Mariinsky Theatre: 30 April
1998
Running time 35 minutes
Apollo, the son of Zeus and Leto,
achieves stunning levels of brilliance in dance and citherplaying. He is
followed in his sequence of dance by his ever-present companions the three muses
– Calliope (the muse of epic poetry), Polyhymnia (the muse of sacred hymns) and
Terpsichore (the muse of dance). When Apollo, accompanied by his muses, appears
on Mount Olympus everything around him falls silent in adoration of his divine
art.
“I regard Apollo as a turning point in my life. In terms of discipline,
restraint, the perpetual unison of sound and mood this score was a revelation
for me. It seemed to be telling me that I didn’t have to use it all, that I
could leave something out. In Apollo and all of the composer’s subsequent music
it is impossible to imagine any one given extract to be an extract from another
score. Each of them is unique, nothing can be replaced. I examined my own work
in the light of that lesson. It was when studying Apollo that I first
understood that the gestures, like tones in music and shades in painting, find
certain ‘native ties’ between themselves. Like any group they are subject to
their own special laws. And the more solid the artist the more clearly he will
understand and consider these laws. Starting with Apollo I developed my
choreography along these lines, dictated by these mutual ties. “Apollo has
sometimes been criticised for its ‘lack of theatricality.’ It may be true that
there is no vividly expressed story there (although there is a plotline that
runs throughout). But its technique is that of classical ballet which in every
sense is theatrical, and it is here that we see the start of the literal
transformation of sound into visual movement.”
George Balanchine. The Dance Element in Stravinsky’s
Music
Prodigal Son
CREDITS
Music by Sergei Prokofiev Choreography by George Balanchine
(1929) Libretto by Boris Kochno (after the biblical parable) Scenery and
costumes: Georges Rouault Scenery executed by Prince A.
Schervashidze Costumes executed by Vera Soudeikina Staging: Karin von
Aroldingen and Paul Boos Original lighting design: Ronald Bates Lighting:
Vladimir Lukasevich
Premiere: 21 May 1929, Les Ballets Russes de Serge de Diaghilev, Thйвtre
Sarah-Bernhardt, Paris Premiere at the Mariinsky Theatre: 14 December 2001
Running time: 40 minutes
Prodigal Son was the last work Balanchine made for Diaghilev’s Ballets russes
in 1929 with Serge Lifar in the role of the Prodigal Son; it was revived in 1950
by the New York City Ballet with Jerome Robbins in the title role. Its music by
Prokofiev was written for the ballet, and its costumes and dйcor were created by
Rouault, making it a perfect example of the collaborative efforts among artists
that produced some of the best works of the Diaghilev era. New for a Diaghilev
ballet was the Biblical theme and the religious spirit. In seeking eternal
themes and turning to past artistic devices, western artists were trying to
avoid the complete intellectual and artistic degeneration towards which their
rootless experimentation was leading. Prodigal Son anticipated the trend toward
religion of the 1930s and 40s. It was Diaghilev’s fate that he would always be
ahead of fashion, even when he believed he had turned his back on vogue. The
return of Prodigal Son to St Petersburg is of great significance. For the first
time, a ballet of the most radical, late period of Diaghilev’s Saisons russes
has returned to the stage of the Mariinsky Theatre. That period of Russian and
world ballet has come home, which until recently was under artistic (avant-garde
aesthetics of the late Diaghilev era) and ideological (use of religious motifs)
censorship. With the return of Prodigal Son, the Mariinsky Theatre and its
generation of young dancers have begun to restore an objective picture of the
development of ballet in the 20th century.
The
Firebird
Music by Igor Stravinsky Libretto by Michel Fokine Choreography by
Michel Fokine (1910) Reconstruction: Isabelle Fokine, Andris Liepa Set and
costume design: Anna and Anatoly Nezhny after original sketches: Alexander
Golovin, Lйon Bakst and Michel Fokine Lighting Designer: Vladimir
Lukasevich
World premiere: 25 June 1910, Les Ballets Russes de Serge de Diaghilev,
Thйвtre de lґOpйra, Paris Premiere at the Mariinsky Theatre: 26 May
1994