277. La Valse 1951 | The George Balanchine Foundation

277. La Valse 1951

Maurice Ravel (Valses Nobles et Sentimentales, 1911, orchestrated 1912; La Valse, 1920, commissioned by Serge Diaghilev)

George Balanchine

Costumes by Karinska. Lighting by Jean Rosenthal

February 20, 1951, New York City Ballet, City Center of Music and Drama, New York. Conductor: Leon Barzin

VALSES NOBLES ET SENTIMENTALES: FIRST WALTZ, Overture (not danced); SECOND WALTZ: Vida Brown, Edwina Fontaine, Jillana; THIRD WALTZ: Patricia Wilde, Frank Hobi; FOURTH WALTZ: Yvonne Mounsey, Michael Maule; FIFTH WALTZ: Diana Adams, Herbert Bliss; SIXTH WALTZ: Adams; SEVENTH WALTZ: Bliss, Brown, Fontaine, Jillana; EIGHTH WALTZ: Tanaquil Le Clercq, Nicholas Magallanes; LA VALSE: Le Clercq, Magallanes, Francisco Moncion, 16 women, 9 men

Performance Type

Ballet

See Also

Note

The eight Valses Nobles et Sentimentales establish a mood of disturbed gaiety and impending catastrophe. In La Valse the stage becomes a ballroom of waltzing couples. The figure of Death, in black, enters; a girl in white dances with him. Waltzing ever faster, unable to resist him, she dies.

Additional Productions

Revisions

Stagings

1965   Stuttgart Ballet
1966   Royal Swedish Ballet
1967   Ballett der Hamburgischen Staatsoper (Hamburg, Germany)
1967   Dutch National Ballet
1969   English National Ballet (London Festival)
1969   Geneva Ballet (Grand Theatre de Geneve [Ballet])
1971   Dutch National Ballet
1975   Paris Opera Ballet
1976   Stuttgart Ballet
1977   Ballett der Stadtischen Buhnen (Frankfurt)
1977   Ballett der Deutschen Oper (Berlin)
1978   Ballett der Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna)
1978   Zurich Ballet (Ballett des Opernhauses Zurich)
1980   Pacific Northwest Ballet
1981   Dutch National Ballet
1982   Ballett der Bayerischen Staatsoper (Munich)
1985   Dutch National Ballet
1987   Central Ballet
1987   Louisville Ballet
1988   Houston Ballet
1990   Ballett der Deutschen Staatsoper (Berlin)
1992   Ballett der Deutschen Oper (Berlin)
1993   Pacific Northwest Ballet
1994   Dutch National Ballet
1994   Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo
1995   Ballett der Bayerischen Staatsoper (Munich)
1996   Houston Ballet
1996   Pacific Northwest Ballet
1996   Texas Ballet (formerly Fort Worth Dallas Ballet)
1997   Ballett der Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna)
1999   Israel Ballet
2000   Pacific Northwest Ballet
2003   Teatro alla Scala (Milan)
2003   Teatro Nacional de San Carlo
2004   Croatian National Ballet
2004   Dutch National Ballet
2004   Houston Ballet
2004   Kirov Ballet
2005   Miami City Ballet
2005   Suzanne Farrell Ballet
2006   Pacific Northwest Ballet
2007   Boston Ballet
2007   Shanghai Ballet
2008   Suzanne Farrell Ballet
2009   Ballet Arizona
2013   Los Angeles Ballet
2013   Miami City Ballet
2017   Paris Opera Ballet

Recorded Performances

Videos/DVD

2004, Kultur, Balanchine (SECOND WALTZ)

Film

1973, RM Productions

Television

1951 excerpts (CBS, first commercial color telecast)
1973 (RM Productions)
1984 (PBS, Dance in America,”Balanchine”)