398.  The Steadfast Tin Soldier 1975
Georges Bizet (from Jeux d’Enfants, Opp. 22-26, 1871: no. 6, TROMPETTE ET TAMBOUR; no. 3, LA POUPÉE; no. 11, PETIT MARI, PETITE FEMME; no. 12, LE BAL)
George Balanchine
Scenery and costumes by David Mitchell. Lighting by Ronald Bates
July 30, 1975, New York City Ballet, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, New York. Conductor: Robert Irving. (First New York State Theater performance January 22, 1976.)
Patricia McBride, Peter Schaufuss
MARCHE; BERCEUSE; DUO; GALOP
Performance Type
Ballet
See Also
Note
Balanchine transformed the Hans Christian Andersen story into a pas de deux recounting the courtship and love between the tin soldier and the paper-doll ballerina. The soldier gives the ballerina his tin heart, but a draft pulls her into the fire in the fireplace and she is consumed. All that remains is the heart, which the soldier, weeping, rescues. The production was commissioned by the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

1981   Municipal Theatre of Berne
1981   Zurich Ballet (Ballett des Opernhauses Zurich)
1986   Pennsylvania Ballet
1987   Louisville Ballet
1987   Miami City Ballet
1987   Stamford City Ballet
1988   Ballet Chicago
1988   Louisville Ballet
1989   Pennsylvania Ballet
1989   Tulsa Ballet Theatre
1990   Ballet Chicago
1991   Pennsylvania Ballet
1992   Miami City Ballet
1994   Louisville Ballet
1995   Pennsylvania Ballet
1998   Carolina Ballet
1998   Louisville Ballet
1998   Miami City Ballet
2000   Allegheny Ballet Company
2000   Copenhagen International Ballet
2001   Nashville City Ballet
2004   San Francisco Ballet
2006   Carolina Ballet
2013   Carolina Ballet
2013   Miami City Ballet

Recorded Performances
Videos/DVD
1998, Nonesuch, The Balanchine Library: Choreography by Balanchine [1979]

1979 (PBS, Dance in America)