29 replies to this topic

[kfw]

Did anyone see the performance of Balanchine's À la Françaix, danced last weekend by the Eglevsky Ballet? Does anyone remember seeing it when it was new in 1951? In his review Alastair Macaulay asks

Quote

How many ballets by George Balanchine have you seen? My own tally — counting both items as short as the “Tschaikovsky pas de deux” and as long as the three-part “Jewels” as one each — is over 60. And though I began watching them in his lifetime, I have also seen all but one of them since his death. Surely no choreographer now dead has left so large a store of work in repertory.

After reading that I just had to make my own tally, and with Kirstein's Thirty Years and Nancy Reynolds' Repertory in Review as supplemental memory aids, I counted 62, including only works I've seen in the theater and in full, and counting Jewels as one ballet and Ballet Imperial and Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto # 2 as one ballet. My count includes a number of rarities revived by Suzanne Farrell for her company, but I have never seen Le Tombeau de Couperin, Coppelia, Harlequinade, or (in the theater) Allegro Brilliante. I'm kicking myself for passing up a chance to see Pavanne on a Saturday afternoon in New York, but then I'd seen four NYCB performances in a row and had two more to go, and New York has other charms.

Since this is the silly season on Ballet Talk, when most companies are on vacation or touring, and a ballet starved brain turns to . . . well, making lists in my case, if anyone else is feeling obsessive-compulsive, I'd love to see your own totals. I'll bet there are people here whose counts easily reach into the 80's. For a list of all Balanchine ballets -- at least according to wikipedia -- go here.

[Rosa]

*The Nutcracker
*Raymonda Variations
*Theme and Variations
*Tschaikovsky pas de deux
*Symphony in C
*Sylvia pas de deux
*La Sonnambula
*Jewels

[cubanmiamiboy]

Live: 31

In Cuba:

Theme and Variations
Waltz Academy
Apollo
Sylvia PDD
Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux
Ballo della Regina

In US

Serenade
Symphony in C
The Nutcracker
Swan Lake
Pas de Dix
Bourree Fantasque
Who Cares?
Square Dance
Symphony in Three Movements
Monumentum pro Gesualdo
Movements for Piano and Orchestra
Mozartiana
-Emeralds-(Jewels)
-Rubies-(Jewels)
-Diamonds-(Jewels)
Divertimento # 15
Valse Fantaisie-(1953)
Slaughter in 10th Ave.
Allegro Brillante
Concerto Barocco
Ballet Imperial
The Four Temperaments
Sonatine
Tarantella
La Valse

[Juliet]

75.
Being truthful.
Nor counting Harlequinade pd2 and Harlequinade separately.
Using Wikipedia as too lazy to get my books to reference dates.

[California]

kfw, on 22 August 2010 - 06:26 PM, said:

For a list of all Balanchine ballets -- at least according to wikipedia -- go here.

Please don't rely on Wikipedia when other, much more reliable sources are available. (Some colleges now ban the use of Wikipedia as a research reference, as it is so unreliable.)

Better options:

The George Balanchine Trust:
http://www.balanchin...nt/site/ballets

I'd also suggest the NYCB site listing all repertory (although Balanchine is mixed in with everybody else, it does include works no longer performed, even the "legendary" PAMTGG, which is omitted from the Trust site, interestingly):
http://www.nycballet...ompany/rep.html

[kfw]

Thanks for the better links, California. And thanks for the totals, Rosa, cubanmiamiboy, and Juliet. Juliet, I'm envious! cubanmiamiboy, it's interesting that you saw Waltz Academy in Cuba, since the ballet is such a rarity it isn't even listed by the Balanchine Trust. I see that it was made for Ballet Theatre.

[Mme. Hermine]

46

Counting Jewels as 3 pieces.

Midsummer Night's Dream
Agon
Allegro Brillante
Apollo
Ballet Imperial
Ballo della Regina
Bourree Fantasque
Brahms Schoenberg Quartet
Chaconne
Concerto Barocco
Coppelia
Cortege Hongrois
Davidsbundlertanze
Diamonds
Emeralds
Rubies
Divertimento No. 15
Duo Concertant
The Nutcracker
Harlequinade
La Sonnambula
La Valse
La Source
Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme
Liebeslieder Walzer
Mozartiana
Prodigal Son
Pulcinella
Scotch Symphony
Serenade
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue
Square Dance
Stars and Stripes
Sylvia Pas de Deux
Symphony in C
Tarantella
The Four Temperaments
The Steadfast Tin Soldier
Theme and Variations
Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux
Tzigane
Valse Fantaisie
Vienna Waltzes
Western Symphony
Who Cares?
and Persephone, which isn't on the trust's list.

[Helene]

Live:  63, counting each of Emeralds/Diamonds/Rubies, Le Palais de Cristal/Symphony in C, Tchaikovsky Suite No. 3/Theme and Variations, and Ballet Imperial/Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2 as "1".

[bart]

Thank you so much, kfw, for this topic.  I'm sure I am not alone in being grateful for this opportunity actually to ADD UP all our Balanchine ballets.  

My rough estimate:  71.  

This counts one Noah and the Flood (made for tv) and Princess Zenobia, which I've only seen in the film "On Your Toes."  My NYCB experience ran from 1956 to shortly after Balanchine's death.  I've followed Miami since 2001.   It helped to use Rep. in Review for reminders.  Some ballets -- Tricolore, for example -- I had completely forgotten until I read the brief description. (Edited to add:  I've deleted Tricolore at Jack Reed's suggestion.  But I added Glinka Pas de Trois, by MCB.  So the total remains the same.  )  Others -- occasional pieces -- I've forgotten entirely.

Agon
Allegro Brillante
Apollo (long and short versions)
Ballet Imperial
Ballo della Regina
le Bourgeois Gentilhomme
Brahms-Schoenberg
Bugaku
Chaconne
Concerto Barocco
Coppelia
Divertimento No. 15
Donizetti Variations
Don Quixote
Elegie
l'Enfant et les Sortileges
Episodes (with and without the Graham section)
Figure in the Carpet
Firebird
Four Temperaments
Glinka Pas de Trois (Added later; reminded by Jack's list.)
Glinkiana
Harliquinade
Ivesiana
Jeu de Cartes
Jewels
Liebeslieder Walzer
Matastaseis & Pithoprakta
Midsummer Night's Dream
Monumentum pro Guesualdo
Mozartiana
Noah and the Flood (tv)
Nutcracker
Orpheus
PAMTGG
Persephone
Princess Zenobia Ballet from "On Your Toes"
Prodigal Son
Pulcinella
Raymonda Variations (and Cortege Hongrois)
Ragtime
Requiem Canticles
Scherzo a la Russe
Scotch Symphony
Serenade
Seven Deadly Sins
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue
Sonatine
La Sonnambula
Square Dance
Stars and Stripes
Stravinsky Violin Concerto
Steadfast Tin Soldier
Swan Lake Act II
Sylvia Pas de Deux
Symphony in C
Symphony in Three MOvements
Symphony of Psalms
Tarantella
Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux
Tchaikovsky Suite No. 3
Theme and Variations
Tombeau de Couperin
Tricolore  
Union Jack
La Valse
Valse Fantaisie (both versions)
Vienna Waltzes
Walpurgisnacht
Western Symphony
Who Cares?

[Quiggin]

About 47 of them. Would trade a dozen or so to have seen the six ballets of Les Ballets 1933, including the first version of Mozartiana -- also Cotillion of 1932.

[Juliet]

I'd love to see Cotillon, also Figure in the Carpet!

[Helene]

Quiggin, on 23 August 2010 - 10:42 AM, said:

About 47 of them. Would trade a dozen or so to have seen the six ballets of Les Ballets 1933, including the first version of Mozartiana -- also Cotillion of 1932.

And I know which ones I'd trade in a heartbeat: "Steadfast Tin Soldier", "Western Symphony", Variations pour une porte et un soupir", "Kammermusik Nr. 2", "Gounod Symphony", "Meditation", "Tzigane", "Pavane", "Variations for Orchestra", "Scherzo a la Russe", "Tchaikovsky Suite No. 3" (if we get to keep "Theme and Variations").  Without Stanley Williams around to coach the young 'uns, "Bournonville Divertissement" would be my 12th.

Juliet, on 23 August 2010 - 10:49 AM, said:

I'd love to see Cotillon, also Figure in the Carpet!

From the clips of Diana Adams in the Balanchine bio "Figure in the Carpet" is at the top of my list, too.

[Quiggin]

Helene:

Quote

And I know which ones I'd trade in a heartbeat

I'd go along with that trade-in list, maybe along with Walpurgisnacht, and part four only of Brahms-Schoenberg, which is always too rich. I usually feel guilty about not liking the first parts of Suite no. 3, but all its gauziness does make T&V even more brilliant.

I'm also always astonished by the "needlepoint work" in Figure in the Carpet whenever I see the Diana Adams clips.

[DanceActress]

Wow! What wonderful totals! Mine is small in comparison, 22, but I'm working on it:
Agon
Allegro Brillante
Apollo
Ballet Imperial
Ballo della Regina
Chaconne
Concerto Barocco
Cortege Hongrois
Donizetti Variations
Jewels
La Sonnambula
Liebeslieder Walzer
Mozartiana
The Nutcracker
Prodigal Son
Serenade
Slaughter on 10th Avenue
Square Dance
Stravinsky Violin Concerto
Symphony in C
Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux
Theme and Variations

Companies: New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Pennsylvania Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Kirov/Maryinsky Ballet, Hamburg Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet

Along with listing the ballets individually, I'm curious about the other ballet companies who dance Balanchine's works. Besides the American companies run by former Balanchine dancers, like Pacific Northwest and Miami City Ballet, what have companies outside of the Balanchine tradition brought to his work?

[bart]

I agree that Cotillon, based on everything I've read, is definitely one I'd love to see.

As to Figure in the Carpet, I wish I had paid more attention and watched more intently.  I saw this on a weekend home from school.  All I remember was that everyone was in it and that it was a big, colorful cornucopia of a production, on a much larger scale (and more elaborately decorated) than anything I had seen NYCB do up to then.  I was surprised at the use of Handel, quite different from the music I was used to at NYCB.  

As someone who idealized ballets like Agon, I confess that I was overwhelmed and confused by the profligacy of it all.  Is it possible to have TOO much creativity?  Too much invention?   Too much visual stimulation?  Emperor Josef's "Too many notes" comment to Mozart comes to mind.  

I think  I missed most of the dance details.  Of the individuals, I remember only Villella in a bravura, jumping variation, and Arthur Mitchell (one of my NYCB heroes)  as an African prince dancing with a beautiful black partner.