Question re 1976 NYCB broadcast

[Phaedra392]

I have a blurry recollection that in early 1976, there was a PBS broadcast of the New York City Ballet performing a large work, in light-colored practice clothes, with Peter Martins as the male lead. I believe it was Symphony in Three Movements, but I cannot seem to find any confirmation of this. It may have been a repeat of an earlier broadcast, but I don't think so.

Does anybody else remember this? Details would be appreciated.

[rg]

i can't imagine what this might have been.

the first DANCE IN AMERICA w/ Balanchine's choreography was as follows:

Choreography by Balanchine, Part I

New York, N.Y. : WNET/13, c1977. (60 min.) : sd., col.

Telecast on the Dance in America series on December 14, 1977 by WNET/13, New York.

Music director, Robert Irving ; lighting, Ralph Holmes ; writer, Arlene Croce.

Introduced by Edward Villella.

Danced by the New York City Ballet.

Conductor: Robert Irving.

Tzigane / music, Ravel ; costumes, Joe Eula ; danced by Suzanne Farrell, Peter Martins, and ensemble.

Divertimento no. 15 (4th movement) / music, Mozart ; costumes, Karinska ; danced by Merrill Ashley, Maria Calegari, Susan Pilarre, Stephanie Saland, Marjorie Spohn, Tracy Bennett, Victor Castelli, and Robert Weiss.

The four temperaments / music, Hindemith ; danced by Marjorie Spohn and Stephen Caras (Theme 1); Renée Estópinal and David Richardson (Theme 2); Heather Watts and Kipling Houston (Theme 3); Bart Cook (1st variation: Melancholic); Merrill Ashley and Daniel Duell (2nd variation: Sanguinic); Adam Luders (3rd variation: Phlegmatic); and Colleen Neary and ensemble (4th variation: Choleric)

to the best of my knowledge Martins didn't dance SYMPHONY IN THREE MOVEMENTS at any point in his career, certainly not this early.

Martins was filmed in Violin Concerto but that doesn't fit the recollection posted here, unless the dates are misremembered. VIOLIN CONCERTO was telecast as part of CHOREOGRAPHY BY BALANCHINE II:

Choreography by Balanchine, Part II / WNET/13 ; directed by Merrill Brockway ; choreographed and reconceived for television by George Balanchine. New York, N.Y. : WNET/13, c1977. (90 min.) : sd., col. Telecast on the Dance in America series on December 21, 1977 by WNET/13, New York.

Art direction, William Mickley ; lighting, Ralph Holmes ; writer, Arlene Croce.

Introduced by Edward Villella.

Danced by members of the New York City Ballet.

Selections from Jewels: Emeralds / music, Gabriel Fauré ; danced by Merrill Ashley and Gerard Ebitz, Bonita Borne, Heather Watts, and Daniel Duell, Karin von Aroldingen and Sean Lavery, and ensemble -- Rubies pas de deux / music, Igor Stravinsky ; danced by Patricia McBride and Robert Weiss -- Diamonds pas de deux / music, Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky ; danced by Suzanne Farrell and Peter Martins.

Stravinsky violin concerto / danced by Karin von Aroldingen and Bart Cook, Kay Mazzo and Peter Martins, and ensemble.

[Phaedra392]

Thanks for the info.

I am as certain as I can be about the date, because I had returned from my first trip abroad about a week before and I had just received my trip photographs the same day of the broadcast. I am also just as certain it was Peter Martins, so I'm at a loss.

From what you say, though, I have to concede the possibility that I may in fact be misremembering.

Rats.

[4mrdncr]

Unless it was a "Live from Lincoln Center" broadcast, not Dance in America, which did air programs prior to 1977, so your date may be correct after all. The two programs are often confused by viewers searching for program airdates, or other information.

[rg]

it's possible the much maligned films of NYCB repertory made in Berlin, in '73, might have been telecast on PBS at this time, but Martins would only have been featured in DUO CONCERTANTE, VIOLIN CONCERTO, LIEBESLIEDER WALZER, & (maybe?) CONCERTO BAROCCO. SYMPHONY IN THREE MOVEMENTS was oddly not filmed in this series. (none of the ballets listed here is a large ensemble work and none would have been performed in light colored practice wear.)

NYCB did, so far as i can recall, only one Live From Lincoln Center: COPPELIA w/ mcbride and tomasson in '78, after the first Dance in America program(s) on PBS. This was followed by no more during Balanchine's era, since Balanchine was said to have been so unsatisfied w/ the result; no more such telecasts were given again until after his death .

[emilienne]

Sorry, just wanted to add that Martins is definitely in the Concerto Barocco, in all its dizzying cinematographic glory.

it's possible the much maligned films of NYCB repertory made in Berlin, in '73, might have been telecast on PBS at this time, but Martins would only have been featured in DUO CONCERTANTE, VIOLIN CONCERTO, LIEBESLIEDER WALZER, & (maybe?) CONCERTO BAROCCO. SYMPHONY IN THREE MOVEMENTS was oddly not filmed in this series. (none of the ballets listed here is a large ensemble work and none would have been performed in light colored practice wear.)

NYCB did, so far as i can recall, only one Live From Lincoln Center: COPPELIA w/ mcbride and tomasson in '78, after the first Dance in America program(s) on PBS. This was followed by no more during Balanchine's era, since Balanchine was said to have been so unsatisfied w/ the result; no more such telecasts were given again until after his death .