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Alexander Scriabin (Caresse Dansée, Op. 57, 1908, and one of the preludes, both for piano)
George Balanchine
April 1925, Monte Carlo
Ruth Page, Michel Pavloff
Performance Type
Concert Works
See Also
Note
Three brief pieces to Scriabin [50–50.2] and Polka Mélancolique [51], the first works commissioned from Balanchine by an American, were choreographed at the request of the dancer Ruth Page during her brief time as a member of the Diaghilev company. They were given unofficial concert performances and were soon lost, although Page left a written description of the Polka.
Source Notes
John Martin, Ruth Page: An Intimate Biography (New York: Dekker, 1977), p. 61, corroborated by Balanchine, Ruth Page. Additional music information provided by Balanchine. Ruth Page’s letters and notebooks, housed in the Dance Division, mention these pieces and cite her partner, Michel Pavloff. (Although Balanchine recalled that Chester Hale was Page’s partner in these compositions, her collected papers reveal that it was Pavloff and that Hale was Page’s partner when she auditioned for Diaghilev.) Page material in the Dance Division provided by Andrew Wentink.