Ballet made by George Balanchine
Chaconne is a ballet made byNew York City Ballet co-founder and ballet masterGeorge Balanchine to ballet music fromGluck's Orfeo ed Euridice (Vienna, 1762; Paris, 1774). The premiere took place Wednesday, 22 January 1976 at theNew York State Theater ,Lincoln Center , with lighting byRonald Bates ;Robert Irving conducted.Chaconne was danced in practice clothes at its premiere;Karinska's costumes were added in the spring season.
The finale toOrfeo ed Euridice is achaconne , 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 theHamburgische Staatsoper in their 1963 production ofOrpheus und Eurydike and somewhat altered inChaconne , especially that for the principal dancers. Balanchine added thepas de deux for Suzanne Farrell and Peter Martins to the 1976 ballet and the opening ensemble (to the 1774Dance of the Blessed Spirits ) for the Spring season.
Balanchine's firstOrpheus and Eurydice was made on theMetropolitan 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 choreographedOrphée et Eurydice for theThéâtre National de l'Opéra , Paris in 1973 andOrfeo ed Euridice for theChicago Lyric Opera in 1975 as well.
Chaconne and corps de ballet
1978 TFC,Peter Martins: A Dancer ,pas de deux * 1995Nonesuch ,The Balanchine Library: Choreography by Balanchine , excerpts (1978) 2001 Kultur,Peter Martins: A Dancer ,pas de deux 2004 Kultur,Balanchine , excerpts 1978PBS ,Dance in America , excerpts 1978CBC , Montreal 1983PBS ,Gala of Stars , excerpt 1984TF1 ,Faust NY Times review byClive Barnes , January 24, 1976NY Times review byClive Barnes , February 9, 1976NY Times review byAnna Kisselgoff , January 31, 1982NY Times review byAnna Kisselgoff , May 28, 1987NY Times review byJack Anderson , February 8, 1994NY Times review byJack Anderson , June 30, 2001NY Times review byJack Anderson , May 3, 2003NY Times review byAlastair Macaulay , November 27, 2007Chaconne on the website of the Balanchine Trust
Characters Orphean operas Euridice (1600, Peri)Euridice (1602, Caccini)L'Orfeo (1607, Monteverdi)Orfeo dolente (1616, Belli)La morte d'Orfeo (1619, Landi)Orfeo (1647, Rossi)Orfeo (1672, Sartorio)La descente d'Orphée aux enfers (c. 1686, Charpentier)Orpheus (1726, Telemann)Orfeo ed Euridice (1762, Gluck)L'anima del filosofo (1791, Haydn)Orpheus in the Underworld (1858, Offenbach)Orpheus und Eurydike (1921, Krenek)L'Orfeide (1925, Malipiero)Orpheus and Eurydice (1975, Zhurbin, rock opera)The Mask of Orpheus (1986, Birtwistle)The Second Mrs Kong (1994, Birtwistle)The Corridor (2009, Birtwistle)Eurydice (2020, Aucoin)Musicals Plays Films Poetry Novels Art Albums Ballet Video games Related