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Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky (Suite No. 4, Mozartiana, Op. 61, 1887; based on Mozart’s Gigue in G major [K. 574], Minuet in D major [K. 355], the motet ‘Ave, Verum Corpus’ [K. 618], and Variations on ‘Les Hommes Pieusement’ from Gluck’s comic opera La Rencontre Imprévue [K. 455])
George Balanchine
Costumes by Rouben Ter-Arutunian
June 4, 1981, New York City Ballet with students from the School of American Ballet, New York State Theater. Conductor: Robert Irving. (Annual New York City Ballet Gala Benefit.)
PREGHIERA: Suzanne Farrell, 4 young girls;
GIGUE: Christopher d’Amboise;
MENUET: 4 women;
THÈME ET VARIATIONS: Farrell, Ib Andersen;
FINALE: Entire cast
Performance Type
Ballet
See Also
Note
The choreography is completely different from the work Balanchine created to this music in 1933 [134] and modified thereafter. The order of the first two movements is reversed, beginning with the PREGHIERA (based on the motet ‘Ave, Verum Corpus’), in which the ballerina dances a prayer, attended by four young girls. The 1981 Mozartiana was first presented on the opening night of the Tchaikovsky Festival of the New York City Ballet (see FESTIVALS DIRECTED BY BALANCHINE), which included the premieres of four Balanchine works [417-420]. Throughout the festival and until the end of the New York season on June 28, the scenery was an architectural structure with movable ranks of translucent plastic cylinders by Philip Johnson and John Burgee, in arrangements and with lighting designs by Ronald Bates.
Additional Productions
Stagings

1982   Chicago City Ballet (closed)
1992   John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
1994   Boston Ballet
1994   Pacific Northwest Ballet
1996   Birmingham Royal Ballet/Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet
1997   Pacific Northwest Ballet
1997   Texas Ballet (formerly Fort Worth Dallas Ballet)
1998   National Ballet of Canada
2001   National Ballet of Canada
2003   Boston Ballet
2003   Suzanne Farrell Ballet
2004   American Ballet Theatre
2005   State Ballet of Georgia
2006   Kansas City Ballet
2006   Oper Leipzig
2007   Kansas City Ballet
2008   Richmond Ballet
2009   Tbilisi Ballet
2011   National Ballet of Canada, The
2013   Suzanne Farrell Ballet, The
2016   Pacific Northwest Ballet
2016   Paris Opera Ballet
2017   American Ballet Theatre
2017   Tbilisi Ballet
2021   Tbilisi Ballet

Recorded Performances
Television

1983 (PBS, “A New York City Ballet Tribute to George Balanchine”)
1984 (British television, Channel 4)
1984 (French television, Channel 2, Emmenez-moi au théâtre)

Source Notes

Commentary on choreography provided by Balanchine

Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky (Suite No. 4, Mozartiana, Op. 61, 1887; based on Mozart’s Gigue in G major [K. 574], Minuet in D major [K. 355], the motet ‘Ave, Verum Corpus’ [K. 618], and variations on ‘Les Hommes Pieusement’ from Gluck’s comic opera La Rencontre Imprévue [K. 455])
George Balanchine
Scenery and costumes by Christian Bérard (from the 1933 production). Costumes executed by Karinska.
September 28, 1935, Westchester County Center, White Plains, New York. Conductor: Sandor Harmati. (First performed in America by students of the School of American Ballet, June 9, 1934, at Woodlands, the estate of Felix Warburg, Hartsdale [near White Plains], New York; then by the Producing Company of the School of American Ballet, December 6, 1934, Avery Memorial Theater, Hartford, Connecticut.)
1. GIGUE: Hortense Kahrklin, Joseph Levinoff, Jack Potteiger;
2. MENUET: 8 women;
3. PREGHIERA: Annabelle Lyon;
4. THEME AND VARIATIONS: PAS DE SIX: 6 women; PROMENADE: 5 women, 2 men; SCHERZANDO: Annia Breyman, Elise Reiman; PAS DE QUATRE: 4 women; CLOCHETTES: Gisella Caccialanza, Elena de Rivas, Potteiger; PAS DE DEUX: Holly Howard, Charles Laskey;
5. FINALE: Entire cast
Performance Type
Ballet
See Also
Note
Originally presented by Les Ballets 1933, Paris.