emilienne

Trying to go. Failing at present. Gr.

Oh boy, Symphony in C. What a can of worms. I've quoted some previous posts below. Please keep in mind that almost all of my research is archival and piecemeal. Would you believe that I've never even seen the ballet live?

Then I remembered an essay entitled 'Balanchine's Bizet' by John Taras in Ballet Review, Spring 1998. In it Mr. Taras says this:

'What remains of the original choreography in Paris is anybody's guess. In an unauthorized version staged by Jean Sarelli of the Paris Opera for the Tokyo Ballet, there were several marvelous patterns apparently not remembered by Balanchine. '

POB seems to have faithfully (pedantically?) preserved the choreography. Youtube hosted a 1980s film featuring the company with choreography identical to the recent theater transmission. Going further back in time, Balanchine in Paris presents Ghislaine Thesmar coaching the second movement; this coaching segment features a B&W film of Thesmar and her cavalier (1960s? 70s?) with identical pas de deux choreography from the second movement. Further back, Soviet news features (probably before or near the same time as the first NYCB visit in 1962) showed that sections of the second and fourth movements are identical. The Dutch National Ballet staged Palais in the same year, though it was billed as Symphony in C. Confusingly enough, their Symphony (which was filmed for B&W transmission) featured choreography identical to the POB Palais. Nothing in it suggests Symphony to me at all.

The Balanchine Catalogue does report a 1963 CBS program (Lincoln Center Day) that featured the second and fourth movements of Symphony/Palais. However, as I have not seen this (it's at NYPL, go see it!), I can only speculate that the European and American chains of transmission may have been broken at that point, as excerpts from various biographies seems to suggest that Kent was already performing different choreography than her European counterpart.

My film chain ends there, but I'll speculate that the POB has done a marvelous job in retaining the original choreography. Otherwise, any distortion that occurred in the choreography occurred between 1948 and when people began to film this ballet in the 1960s.

I remember reading somewhere that Taras was given the rights to Symphony in C by GB, and that during Taras' lifetime he determined what changes could and could not be made to it. Someone with a better memory than mine may know more about this.

and also

Taras mentions in his article that the rights first went to Betty Cage in 1962 who then gave Taras the rights to it in 1992. But aren't all Balanchine Ballets governed by the Trust? I know Suzanne Farrell owns a couple of Balanchine's ballets, can the Trust assert authority over them?

also:

The rights to the ballet now belong to the School of American Ballet, so I was a little suprised when the Paris Opera Ballet's broadcast of Palais was accompanied by the usual blurb about the Trust signing off on style and technique. If anyone has seen Symphony in C performed recently, do you remember that note being included in the program?

Betty Cage gave Symphony to Taras, who insisted on companies performing only one version of it. If I recall correctly, the POB actually stopped performing Palais for a number of years (90s?) due to a copyright conflict. In another instance Francia Russell and Kent Stowell had to apply for special permission so that they could stage Russell's version for their retirement from PNB in 2005. I wonder how Mr Taras took Mariinsky's decision to stage what is patently Symphony with jewel-toned costumes in the 1990s.

It's unclear what was given to Taras. I did some research for the board a few years back on the disposition of Balanchine's ballets after his death (My 2009 BA! series of three posts here), and the will named only Symphony. You'll have to see my post for more details about ownership, but von Aroldingen and Barbara Horgan shared all rights to all ballets not named in the will (the will named ~85).

Here's where the weirdness comes in: is Palais a different ballet? Balanchine did name both versions of Valse Fantaisie and Theme and Variations in his will, but Palais was not, so it is possible that von Aroldingen and Horgan own it instead. However, this 2006 NYT article seems to think that Symphony and Palais are one entity (calling it just "Bizet") and belonged to Taras. In any case, he left Symphony to SAB (which originally had received nothing from Balanchine's will), and the SAB seems to have deposited said ballet(s) with the Balanchine Trust (which requires the staging blurb).

Anyway, quoting from my original posts, "Taper notes that '[o]nce [the ballets were deposited in the Trust], the action was irrevocable'".

CBS This Morning did a follow-up interview with McBride, featuring maddeningly short clips of her and Villella in Diana and Acteon (poss from the same Ed Sullivan program as the Corsaire clip) and her and Conrad Ludlow in a B&W Stars and Stripes.

(Currently kicking herself for thinking that the broadcast was today instead of yesterday. Agh!)

Bell Telephone Hour always seemed to have outrageous sets, which makes me suspect (facetiously) that the set designer had frustrated ambitions. The Art of Maria Tallchief featured a Don Q grand pas de deux with Erik Bruhn that featured the couple trying to dance around large lacy fans that opened and closed.

Okay, if they're going to include things not from Montréal, why not also the 1966 BBC Apollo with d'Amboise/Farrell/Govrin/Neary? Grr.

From your lips, as they say. A few clips of that Concerto Barocco have appeared in documentaries, most recently in Afternoon of a Faun. The clip there may last no more than 5 seconds, but when I saw it, I actually groaned out loud with longing.

The Barocco in Afternoon with Adams and Le Clercq (black leotards, six women corp) is on Volume 2 in the series. I don't recall Afternoon excerpting from the Barocco that I had mentioned, which features Conrad Ludlow, Suzanne Farrell and Marnee Morris with white leotards and a proper eight women corp.

Balanchine Foundation notes that it has been broadcast twice: once on PBS Dance in America (possibly the Dance Theatre in Harlem version, and I have a vague memory of seeing this one) and once on CBC. NYPL lists the following 1978 cast:

Patricia McBride, Jean-Pierre Bonnefous, Bonita Borne, Elyse Borne, Elise Flagg, Delia Peters, John Bass, Richard Dryden, Laurence Matthews, and Richard Tanner.

(and for something slightly different)

What I find very odd is that VAI has not seen fit to release the complete L'Heure du concert of the 1960s Apollo/Concerto Barocco/Divertimento Brilliante program. It's a complete, self-enclosed hour of programming, and I'm pretty sure that there is a color source. At least, the Balanchine biography excerpted a color segment of young Farrell and not-yet-majestically-maned Martins in Apollo from this broadcast.

Seeing Ivesiana makes me wonder if there is a video out there of the Schoenberg Op.34, also choreographed in 1954?

Looks like not. Balanchine Foundation's catalogue entry lists no other companies that have staged this work, nor any recordings of it by the company. Jennifer Dunning's NYT article for the Balanchine Celebration (dated 1992) notes that it was lost without any motions at revival. Barbara Millberg's recent biography talks about it in some detail (which makes me wonder if she still remembers the choreography), but as of now there is no video record of it.

I wonder if the Bizet playing in the background was on the original tape or if that was added later. And I love seeing Kirstein sitting at that little table with the interviewer, arms folded, watching everything like a proud father. Did Kirstein understand Russian or was he just beaming with pride at the thought of bringing Balanchine home for the first time?

This is Soviet newsreel film footage from Balanchine and NYCB's first visit in 1962. The Bizet was dubbed in much later, probably just for this program. The original occasionally had synchronized sound and very Soviet announcers educating us on these fascinating Americanski. I know that newsreel footage exists for performances of Fanfare, Prodigal Son (Edited correction, Russian had it as "child"), Agon, and Symphony in C.

From Matthew Renko's post performance talk after his PNB Rubies debut on friday:

"I mean, halfway through the pas de deux, I'm dying, but then I look at my partner...Jahna (he gestures to her and everyone laughs), and I think, 'Yeah, I can rhumba some more!'"

More later.

That's very nice!!!!! Love to see more of it ...

Apparently the entire film is on the Internet Archive! Downloadable for your private viewing pleasure in indifferent resolution.

The original story has been modernized a bit for this production: https://archive.org/details/Brigadoon1966

I don't know whether this is more or less orthodox than Villella's Corsaire pdd. This television production of Brigadoon has never been released on video.

Just getting started, schedule is available at the OBT website: http://www.obt.org/season_nutcracker.html

OBT coupon for the Nutcracker was in one of the Portland metro advertisement bundles. Discount is 40% and redeemable through Ticketmaster, via phone, or in person at the box office. Officer expires 10 October.

Valid for seating areas 1-5 for the following dates. Purchase is limited to four tickets.

Thursday, December 18, 7:30 PM

Friday, December 19, 2 PM & 7:30 PM

Tuesday, December 23, 2 PM & 7:30 PM

Friday, December 26, 7: 30 PM

Saturday, December 27, 2 PM & 7:30 PM

Music will be prerecorded at all of the performances listed above.

Nice. Seeing early versions of Ivesiana and The 4 T's will definitely be exciting.

Liebeslieder may still appear in a Vol. 5. I myself wish there had been a broadcast of Episodes...

I updated my list today. Aside from Liebeslieder, there is still an unreleased color program (Apollo/Concerto Barocco/Glinkiana) plus a bunch of smaller things over the years, including a Chaconne and a Who Cares? with the original cast. Based on stuff people have mentioned over the years with regard to other Balanchine recordings, I'm wondering whether the more recent recordings may be held up as VAI negotiate with the performers still living for its inclusion.

Overall, CBC seems to have been better about retaining its tapes than the BBC, but who knows what they still have left. Then again, someone did find a uncut copy of The Passion of Joan Arc in an insane asylum, so we can hope...

PS: There is a German recording of Episodes. Movements 3 (w Kent) and 4 (w Estopinal) was up on Youtube for a while, but the camera angles made it as unwatchable as I remembered.

Awesomeness. Probably all in black and white? When was color introduced?

I didn't see this question earlier, but to answer it (general knowledge supplemented with wikipedia), color transmission was introduced in the early 50s (1953). However, most American networks continued to broadcast in black and white, switching over gradually until general consolidation into color transmission in the early 1970s.

In Canada, the CBC first shot in color in 1963, but it wasn't until 1966 that they began to transmit in color and full color service didn't begin until 1974.

Unfortunately, this is where the bottleneck comes in. If CBC has the original tapes, then a substantial number of what I listed will be in color. Sadly, Liebeslieder will not be one of them, being shot in 1961.

Likewise, thanks, though this is, as emilienne says, a partial list, I'm still grateful for anyone navigating the NYPL catalog, which seems to be beyond me.

But, who is the choreographer of #7 in emilienne's list? Another item I'm not finding in some of the usual places. (A movement of a symphony suggests Massine to me, rather than Balanchine, but if his company could dance Butler to Menotti, it could dance Massine - or some other choreographer - to Schubert, I suppose.)

Jack, for the fastest and most relevant (criteria to be debated), I looked for Balanchine choreography. Unfortunately in this case I didn't parse the lines correctly. It's a ballet sandwiched between two pieces of music. Here is the original entry http://catalog.nypl.org/record=b15071345~S99. The music for the pas de deux is actually by Tchaikovsky, sandwiched between a performance of a Schubert and a Liszt piano concerto, but no further information on what it is. I'll go back and edit my list.

The problem with relying on the NYPL is that my research is limited to whatever they have in their collections. As shown by the Coppélia, sometimes they simply don't have it. In this case, a quick look through the Balanchine biography shows that the Farrell/Morris/von Aroldingen/Martins Apollon (which I had noted as being B&W in the library collection) was filmed in color (which most plausibly also applies to the other pieces from that same L'heure du concert, including Farrell/Morris/Ludlow Concerto Barocco and a McBride/Villella Divertimento Brilliante). Oh, my kingdom for some source films...

The studio presentations are now on their website as well, with tickets set at 25 USD.

Given that I can probably only go to one of these presentations, which one would you recommend?

(I hear brains exploding at the dilemma already.)

The opening Sleeping Beauty waltz [that was a correction, sleep deprivation...] was done by Moylan and Tupine, but according to the titles, the Bluebird pas de deux is actually performed by Melissa Hayden (Oh Millie!) and Michael Lland.

Moylan's way of moving makes me wonder what she would have made of Agon.

It seems to be geo-blocked for me (in Toronto).

I use Incognito Mode in Google Chrome. No need to clear caches or masquerade as a Parisian (best I can do is Belgian). Popped up and started streaming immediately.

EDIT: I'm a dope (and should not answer questions after eight hours of hiking). The broadcast is available in the US, so the Incognito workaround only applies when you want to hide your web browsing habits from the server (e.g. volcanohunter's problem). People experiencing geoblocks (that is, being blocked by country or by IP address) would need to find a good VPN service from France or from the US (where it is not blocked) to stream the video.

All right everyone, get into crash positions!

Recently published archival footage with Villella when his autobiography was published.

If only to be more confusing, there is a 1963 b&w recording of the Dutch National Ballet performing Le palais de cristal choreography to the title Symphony in C, complete with colored costumes (I checked, the choreography was identical). Makes me wonder when the
"new version" finally settled down enough to be recognizably modern. This was on Youtube but has since been deleted. However, you may be able to find Ghislaine Themar coaching the Movement 2 pas de deux to Ciaravola-Moreau.

The other iconic moment, that of tiny stamping motions en pointe by the ballerinas in the last movement, is completely absent. There is something similar as the dancers promenade forward on a series of dégagés off the music.

In general, the choreography felt more "courtly", especially in the partnered sections, as well as there being more à terre steps — perhaps also a by product of the POB's general legginess — than in the modern version.

[Edit: well, oops, this is a duplicate and was posted in a thread about Smirnova. Can someone delete this?]

Apologies if this is a duplicate:

http://aeon.co/film/prodigy-a-short-film-about-a-star-of-the-bolshoi-ballet/

Olga Smirnova lives to dance. A leading soloist and star of the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow, she works from dawn until dusk, barely pausing to rest or eat a quick meal. Even when she isn’t dancing, she is constantly thinking of ballet: she says the music never stops playing in her mind, invading even her dreams. As Smirnova leaps and spins, she works with her teacher Marina Kondratieva to control each detail of her performance, down to the way the spotlight catches her face as she moves. The Prodigy is a rich account of the trials and rewards of professional dance, and a portrait of one young woman’s intense dedication to her art.

there's some question as to the cast - the 3rd woman, i.e. not Fonteyn or Shearer, Gillian Lynne thinks it shows her and not the originator of that role, Pamela May.

That's very good to know! I emailed the Huntley archive about the Coq d'Or footage and asked about the Symphonic Variations film. Apparently the SI film came in with no notes about anything, so the casting is guesswork on their part and open to correction.

Judicious zooming suggests that the third dancer definitely not Pamela May, as the hair is too dark and the eyebrows too prominent to be May. By the photographic evidence, the third dancer could be Lynne, but it's hard to tell without higher resolution images from the film.

Edit: I took some captures from the high-resolution BFI video. Anyone want to play spot-the-dancer?

http://imgur.com/a/w9Ssc

rg, I'm not sure of the provenance of the clips themselves, but the Huntley Archive website indicates that they "represent" footage collections and provide clips to broadcasters and the like. There are a great number of home videos in the mix, and this may well have been one of them.

(I have corrected the choreographer's identity on Rake's Progress.)

As with the Balanchine clip in "Hamburg", identification is not perfect. For example, there is this charming but creakily projected home video of what they think is Firebird. I think it's more likely that this is footage of Coq d'Or.