Balanchine Catalogue Archive
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376. Divertimento from 'Le Baiser de la Fée' 1972
- Music
Igor Stravinsky (excerpts from the full-length ballet, Le Baiser de la Fée, 1928)
- Choreography
George Balanchine
- Production
Costumes by Eugene Berman (from Roma [306]). Lighting by Ronald Bates
- Premiere
June 21, 1972, New York City Ballet, New York State Theater. Conductor: Robert Irving
- Cast
Patricia McBride, Helgi Tomasson; Bettijane Sills, Carol Sumner, 10 women
Performance Type
Ballet
See Also
-
133.7. La Prédiction,
*178. Le Baiser de la Fée,
271. The Fairy's Kiss (Le Baiser de la Fée)
Video Archives Recording
George Balanchine Foundation Interpreters Archive (male solo), forthcoming
Note
Included in the Stravinsky Festival. Unlike Balanchine’s earlier staging of Le Baiser de la Fée as a narrative ballet, the Divertimento tells no story, although certain sections suggest quest and foreboding. Despite the ballet’s title, it appears that Stravinsky’s Divertimento concert suite of 1934 did not figure in Balanchine’s musical selections, which he drew (and edited extensively) from the full ballet score of 1928. (Some but not all of the same musical material occurs in the Divertimento.) (See FESTIVALS DIRECTED BY BALANCHINE.)
Additional Productions
Revisions
1974, New York City Ballet: New pas de deux (with ensemble) added; two principal dancers bid farewell in elegiac conclusion to music from the score of Le Baiser de la Fée that incorporates Tchaikovsky’s ‘None But the Lonely Heart’; some years later the ending of the male solo was modified to include deeper knee bends.
Stagings
2001 Chautauqua Institution (New York)
2022 City Ballet of San Diego
Recorded Performances
Videos/DVD
2002, George Balanchine Foundation, Music Dances: Balanchine Choreographs Stravinsky (male solo)
Film
1973, RM Productions
Television
1973 (RM Productions)
Source Notes
Additional music information provided by Gordon Boelzner, Stephanie Jordan; additional revisions information provided by Nancy Goldner, Patricia McBride, Helgi Tomasson
178. Le Baiser de la Fée 1937
(also called THE FAIRY’S KISS) Ballet-Allegory in Four Scenes
- Music
Igor Stravinsky (1928, commissioned by Ida Rubinstein, dedicated to Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky). Based on a tale by Hans Christian Andersen (The Ice Maiden)
- Choreography
George Balanchine
- Production
Scenery and costumes by Alice Halicka. Scenery painted by Joseph Novak; costumes executed by Theatrical Costume Company and American Ballet Studio: Eudoxia Mironova, Marie Striga
- Premiere
April 27, 1937, American Ballet, Metropolitan Opera, New York. Conductor: Igor Stravinsky
- Cast
The Fairy, Kathryn Mullowny; The Bride, Gisella Caccialanza; Her Friend, Leda Anchutina; The Bridegroom, William Dollar; His Mother, Annabelle Lyon. FIRST TABLEAU, PROLOGUE: Mother; 2 Winds; Snowflakes, Anchutina, 21 women; Fairy; Her Shadow, Rabana Hasburgh; 8 Mountaineers. SECOND TABLEAU, THE VILLAGE FESTIVAL: Peasant Boys and Girls; Bridegroom; Bride; Bridesmaids, Anchutina, 7 women; A Gypsy (Disguised Fairy). THIRD TABLEAU, INSIDE THE MILL: DANCE OF THE PEASANT GIRLS: Anchutina, 16 women; PAS DE DEUX; BRIDE’S VARIATION; CODA (Bride, Bridegroom, Friend, corps de ballet); SCENE: Fairy, Bridegroom. FOURTH TABLEAU, EPILOGUE (BERCEUSE DE DEMEURES ETERNELLES): Fairy, Bridegroom
Performance Type
Ballet
See Also
-
133.7. La Prédiction,
176. Apollon Musagète,
271. The Fairy's Kiss (Le Baiser de la Fée),
376. Divertimento from 'Le Baiser de la Fée'
Video Archives Recording
George Balanchine Foundation Archive of Lost Choreography (Bride and Bridegroom pas de deux; Bride’s solo), 1998; (Gypsy pas de deux), 1998.
Note
Stravinsky used the story of The Ice Maiden, with its theme of the muse’s fatal kiss, to compose an homage to Tchaikovsky. The Fairy implants her magic kiss on a child at birth. When the child has grown to young manhood and good fortune, the Fairy reappears at his wedding fête; repeating the kiss, she leads the young man (the artist in allegory) to abandon his bride and dwell with her forever.
The score was first choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska in 1928 for Ballets Ida Rubinstein. Balanchine created a new ballet in 1937. In 1972, he choreographed Divertimento from ‘Le Baiser de la Fée’ [376] for the New York City Ballet Stravinsky Festival, using musical selections from the full ballet score. (see FESTIVALS DIRECTED BY BALANCHINE.)
The score was first choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska in 1928 for Ballets Ida Rubinstein. Balanchine created a new ballet in 1937. In 1972, he choreographed Divertimento from ‘Le Baiser de la Fée’ [376] for the New York City Ballet Stravinsky Festival, using musical selections from the full ballet score. (see FESTIVALS DIRECTED BY BALANCHINE.)
Additional Productions
Revisions
1940, Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo: Final scene changed several times.
1947, Paris Opéra: Final scene changed.
1950, New York City Ballet: Dance sequences in entr’actes between the tableaux lengthened; new EPILOGUE (changed several times to better create illusion of Fairy and Bridegroom swimming through space).
1947, Paris Opéra: Final scene changed.
1950, New York City Ballet: Dance sequences in entr’actes between the tableaux lengthened; new EPILOGUE (changed several times to better create illusion of Fairy and Bridegroom swimming through space).
Stagings
1940 – Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo
1947 – Paris Opera Ballet
1950 – New York City Ballet
1953 – Teatro alla Scala (Milan)
2011 – Pacific Northwest Ballet
2011 – Suzanne Farrell Ballet
Source Notes
Maria Tallchief (revisions)
133.7. La Prédiction 1932
- Music
Igor Stravinsky (from Le Baiser de la Fée, 1928)
- Choreography
George Balanchine
- Production
Costume by Christian Bérard
- Premiere
June 29, 1932, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris. Conductor: Roger Désormière. (Earlier in the summer performed in Brussels, for which no program has been found.)
- Cast
Alice Nikitina, Anatole Vilzak
Performance Type
Concert Works
See Also
-
133.1. Caprice,
133.1a. [Dances for Josephine Baker],
*178. Le Baiser de la Fée,
271. The Fairy's Kiss (Le Baiser de la Fée),
376. Divertimento from 'Le Baiser de la Fée'
Note
A young man meets a fairy disguised as a fortune teller. She predicts a sad future. He tries to flee, but suddenly appearing as her true self, the fairy seduces the young man, who dies from her kiss.
Source Notes
This and other numbers in the same concert (133.1-133.9) are described in Nikitina: By Herself, pp. 113-15. Concert program located by Barbara Newman.
