- Chaconne (ballet)
-
Chaconne is a ballet made by New York City Ballet co-founder and balletmaster George Balanchine to ballet music from Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice (Vienna, 1762; Paris, 1774). The premiere took place Wednesday, January 22nd, 1976, at the New York State Theater, Lincoln Center with lighting by Ronald Bates; Robert Irving conducted. Chaconne was danced in practice clothes at its premiere; Karinska's costumes were added in the Spring season.
The finale to Orfeo ed Euridice is a chaconne, a dance form built on a short bass phrase and often used by 17th and 18th century opera composers to achieve a festive mood at the end. The choreography was first performed at the Hamburgische Staatsoper in their 1963 production of Orpheus und Eurydike and somewhat altered in Chaconne, especially that for the principal dancers. Balanchine added the pas de deux for Suzanne Farrell and Peter Martins to the 1976 ballet and the opening ensemble (to the 1774 Dance of the Blessed Spirits) for the Spring season.
Balanchine's first Orpheus and Eurydice was made on the Metropolitan Opera in 1936; his approach, the singers remaining in the pit while the action was danced on stage, was not well received; the production had only two performances. He choreographed Orphée et Eurydice for the Théâtre National de l'Opéra, Paris, in 1973 and Orfeo ed Euridice for the Chicago Lyric Opera in 1975 as well.
In 1773 Gluck wrote, "Always as simple and natural as I can make it, my music strives toward the utmost expressiveness and seeks to reinforce the meaning of the underlying poetry. It is for this reason that I do not use those trills, coloraturas, and cadences that Italians employ so abundantly."[1]
Contents
Casts
Original
- Pas de trois
- Renee Estopinal
- Wilhelmina Frankfurt
- Jay Jolley
- Pas de deux
- Susan Hendl
- Jean-Pierre Frohlich
- Pas de cinq
- Elise Flagg
- Bonita Borne
- Elyse Borne
- Laura Flagg
- Nichol Hlinka
- Pas de deux
- Chaconne
- Suzanne Farrell
- Susan Pilarre
- Marjorie Spohn
- Tracy Bennett
- and corps de ballet
- Peter Martins
- Gerard Ebitz
NYCB revivals
2009 Winter
2009 Winter tour
2009 Spring
2010 Spring
2010 Fall
first cast
- Wendy Whelan
- Erica Pereira
- Sébastien Marcovici
- Adam Hendrickson
- Gwyneth Muller
- Ellen Bar
- Ask la Cour
- Stephanie Zungre
- Faye Arthurs
- Amanda Hankes
- Daniel Applebaum
- Allen Peiffer
second cast[2]
- Maria Kowroski
- Erica Pereira
- Tyler Angle[3]
- Antonio Carmena
- Gwyneth Muller
- Ellen Ostrom[3]
- Andrew Scordato
- Lauren King[3]
- Faye Arthurs
- Amanda Hankes
- Daniel Applebaum
- Allen Peiffer
Footnotes
Filmography
- 1978 TFC, Peter Martins: A Dancer, pas de deux*
Videography / DVD
- 1995 Nonesuch, The Balanchine Library: Choreography by Balanchine, excerpts (1978)
- 2001 Kultur, Peter Martins: A Dancer, pas de deux
- 2004 Kultur, Balanchine, excerpts
Television
- 1978 PBS, Dance in America, excerpts
- 1978 CBC, Montreal
- 1983 PBS, Gala of Stars, excerpt
- 1984 TF1, Faust
Notes
See also
Articles
- Sunday NY Times article by Clive Barnes, February 1, 1976
Reviews
- NY Times review by Clive Barnes, January 24, 1976
- NY Times review by Clive Barnes, February 9, 1976
- NY Times review by Anna Kisselgoff, January 31, 1982
- NY Times review by Anna Kisselgoff, May 28, 1987
- NY Times review by Jack Anderson, February 8, 1994
- NY Times review by Jack Anderson, June 30, 2001
- NY Times review by Jack Anderson, May 3, 2003
- NY Times review by Alastair Macaulay, November 27, 2007
film
External links
Ballets by George Balanchine A La Françaix · A Midsummer Night's Dream · Agon · Allegro Brillante · Apollo (stagings) · Le baiser de la fée · Le Bal · Ballade · Ballo della Regina · Bayou · Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme · Bourrée fantasque · Brahms–Schoenberg Quartet · Bugaku · Chaconne (stagings) · Le chant du rossignol · Circus Polka · Clarinade · Concertino · Concerto Barocco · Coppélia · Cortège Hongrois · Divertimento Brillante · Divertimento from “Le Baiser De La Fée” · Divertimento No. 15 · Don Quixote · Donizetti Variations · Duo Concertant · Élégie · L'enfant et les sortilèges · Episodes (stagings) · Etude for Piano · The Firebird · The Flood · The Four Temperaments (stagings) · Garland Dance · Gounod Symphony · Haieff Divertimento · Harlequinade · Hungarian Gypsy Airs · Ivesiana · Jeu de cartes · Jewels (stagings) · Kammermusik No. 2 · Liebeslieder Walzer (stagings) · Meditation · Metamorphoses · Metastaseis and Pithoprakta · Monumentum pro Gesualdo (stagings) · Movements for Piano and Orchestra · Mozartiana · Noah and the Flood · The Nutcracker · Orpheus · Pas de Dix · Pas de Trois (Glinka) · Pas de Trois (Minkus) · Pavane · The Prodigal Son · Pulcinella · Ragtime I · Ragtime II · Raymonda Variations · Requiem Canticles · Robert Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze · Scherzo à la Russe · Scotch Symphony · Serenade · The Seven Deadly Sins · Slaughter on Tenth Avenue · La Sonnambula · Sonatine · La source · Square Dance · Stars and Stripes · The Steadfast Tin Soldier · Stravinsky Violin Concerto · Swan Lake · Sylvia Pas de Deux · Symphonie Concertante · Symphony in C · Symphony in Three Movements · Tango · Tarantella (stagings) · Theme and Variations · Le tombeau de Couperin · Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux · Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2 · Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3 · Tzigane · Union Jack · La valse · Valse-Fantaisie · Variations · Variations for Orchestra · Variations Pour une Porte et un Soupir · Vienna Waltzes · Walpurgisnacht Ballet · Western Symphony (stagings) · Who Cares? (stagings) · Zenobia
Categories:- Ballets to the music of Christoph Willibald Gluck
- 1976 ballet premieres
- Ballets designed by Barbara Karinska
- Ballets designed by Ronald Bates
- Ballets by George Balanchine
- New York City Ballet repertory
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