La boîte à joujoux When the painter/illustrator André Hellé approached the composer Claude Debussy with the idea of doing a children’s ballet about a box of toys, the composer was most enthusiastic, especially because he had a seven-year old daughter. Debussy’s original vision was that children themselves would be the dancers—or marionettes; but in any […]
16. Romeos and Juliets
Shakespeare’s Play Romeo and Juliet, the first romantic tragedy written by William Shakespeare (1546-1616) is believed to have been written in 1595, but the story had already existed. Apparently his major source was a poem, The Tragical History of Romeo and Juliet, published in 1562 by the English translator Arthur Brooke, who in turn based […]
15. Apollo to Agon
The Young God Grows Up In 1928 when Diaghilev furiously said he felt like not renewing George Balanchine’s contract as choreographer for the Ballets Russes (even after the success of the Stravinsky/Balanchine ballet Apollon Musagète) he could not have foreseen what a long-lived ballet that would become—or that Balanchine would become, in the line of […]
14. Evocations of Spain
Boléro Rightly or wrongly, it is an old saying that some of the best “Spanish” music was written by French composers. Think of Georges Bizet’s well-known 1875 opera Carmen. And to generations of listeners, Boléro does not sound French, but certainly evokes the Spanish soul. the commissioning dancer Ida Rubinstein (1885-1960) commissioned Boléro from the […]
13. Diaghilev’s Modish Moderns
The Impresario Sergei Diaghilev (1872-1929) was raised in Perm, a city near the Ural mountains of Russia. His family was one of landed gentry, with their fortune based on vodka. From 1870 to 1890, the family lived on their sizable estate near Perm in the summers, and in a large mansion in Perm itself during […]
12. Stravinsky’s Russian Stories
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) was one of the most cosmopolitan composers of the 20th century, yet he drew heavily from Russian traditions. Born near St. Petersburg, where he was educated, he later lived in Switzerland, Paris, Los Angeles and New York, and is widely recognized as the most outstanding composer for ballet in his time, especially […]