Cat 350 Archives - The George Balanchine Foundation

Balanchine Catalogue Archive

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Léo Delibes (Coppélia, ou la Fille aux Yeux d’Émail, produced 1870, with excerpts from Sylvia, ou la Nymphe de Diane, produced 1876, and La Source [Naïla], 1866). Book by Charles Nuitter, after E. T. A. Hoffmann’s Der Sandmann (1815)

Choreography by Alexandra Danilova and George Balanchine after Marius Petipa (1884; revised 1894 by Lev Ivanov and Enrico Cecchetti), with additional choreography by George Balanchine

Scenery and costumes by Rouben Ter-Arutunian. Costumes executed by Karinska and Barbara Matera, Ltd. Lighting by Ronald Bates

July 17, 1974, New York City Ballet, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, New York. Conductor: Robert Irving. (First New York State Theater performance, with children from the School of American Ballet, November 20.)

Swanilda/Coppélia, Patricia McBride; Frantz, Helgi Tomasson; Dr. Coppélius, Shaun O’Brien.
ACT I: The Doll Coppélia; Villagers, 8 couples; Mayor, Michael Arshansky; Swanilda’s Friends, 8 women.
ACT II: Swanilda and Her Friends; The Automatons: Astrologer, Juggler, Acrobat, Chinaman.
ACT III: Burgomaster; Villagers, Brides, Grooms, and Friends, 8 women, 6 men;
DEDICATION OF THE BELLS: WALTZ OF THE GOLDEN HOURS: Marnee Morris, 24 children; Dawn, Merrill Ashley; Prayer, Christine Redpath; Spinner, Susan Hendl; Jesterettes, 4 women;
DISCORD AND WAR: Colleen Neary, Robert Weiss, 8 couples;
PEACE (pas de deux): McBride, Tomasson;
FINALE
Act I. A Village Square in Galicia
Act II. Dr. Coppélius’s Secret Workshop
Act III. A Village Wedding and Festival of Bells

Performance Type

Ballet

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Note

Balanchine and Danilova collaborated to reproduce parts of Petipa’s choreography for Coppélia, which they had learned while students at the Imperial Ballet School; Danilova had later become a leading interpreter of the role of Swanilda. Balanchine created entirely new choreography for Act III, and for the mazurka and czardas in Act I, and made slight revisions in other dances in Act I. Using music from Sylvia, Balanchine created a male variation for Act I and a complete pas de deux for Act III, in which the male variation is taken from his Sylvia: Pas de Deux [273]. The production was partially commissioned by the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

Additional Productions

Revisions

1974, New York City Ballet: Act III costumes altered before first New York performance and new children’s costumes designed by Karinska; coda added to Act III PEACE pas de deux.

Stagings

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1977   Geneva Ballet (Grand Theatre de Geneve [Ballet])
2010   Boston Ballet
2010   Pacific Northwest Ballet
2011   Dresden SemperOper Ballett
2011   San Francisco Ballet
2016   Pacific Northwest Ballet
2019   Boston Ballet

Recorded Performances

Television

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1978 (PBS, Live from Lincoln Center)

Source Notes

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Additional music information provided by Gordon Boelzner, Robert Irving; additional revisions information provided by Betty Cage, Arlene Croce, Nancy Goldner

(briefly called PAS DE DEUX: LA SOURCE)

Léo Delibes (excerpts from La Source [Naïla], 1866)

George Balanchine

Costumes by Karinska. Lighting by Ronald Bates

November 23, 1968, New York City Ballet, New York State Theater. Conductor: Robert Irving

Violette Verdy, John Prinz

Performance Type

Ballet

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Note

Varying the conventional structure of a pas de deux, La Source begins with solos for the man and woman rather than a supported adagio.

Additional Productions

Revisions

1969, New York City Ballet: Expanded to include ALLEGRO VIVACE for female soloist and ensemble of 8 women, and VALSE DES FLEURS from Pas de Deux and Divertissement [350].

Stagings

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1971   Geneva Ballet (Grand Theatre de Geneve [Ballet])
1971   San Francisco Ballet
1982   Los Angeles Ballet
1988   Miami City Ballet
1994   Miami City Ballet
2000   Repertory Dance Theatre
2004   Alabama Dance Theatre
2005   Oregon Ballet Theatre
2005   Suzanne Farrell Ballet
2006   Miami City Ballet
2008   Boca Ballet Theater
2009   City Ballet of San Diego
2010   Suzanne Farrell Ballet
2012   Sofia National Ballet
2016   Miami City Ballet
2017   Pacific Northwest Ballet

Léo Delibes (from Sylvia, ou la Nymphe de Diane, produced 1876 [Act I VALSE LENTE and Act III pas de deux])

George Balanchine

Costumes by Karinska

December 1, 1950, New York City Ballet, City Center of Music and Drama, New York. Conductor: Leon Barzin

Maria Tallchief, Nicholas Magallanes

Performance Type

Ballet

See Also

Video Archives Recording

George Balanchine Foundation Interpreters Archive (ballerina solo), 1997

Note

A grand pas de deux in the French style, with entrée, adagio, two solos, and coda. In 1965, incorporated (with minor changes) into Pas de Deux and Divertissement [350], choreographed for the New York City Ballet. The male variation is reproduced in the Balanchine-Danilova Coppélia [387], Act III (PEACE pas de deux).

Additional Productions

Stagings

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1958   Eglevsky Ballet Company
1963   National Ballet (Washington, D.C. 1963-74)
1965   American Ballet Theatre
1967   Den Norske Opera [Ballet] (Norway)
1968   Harkness Ballet (1964-70)
1979   Royal Winnipeg Ballet
1980   Pennsylvania Ballet
1981   Matsuyama Ballet Company (Japan)
1987   Pacific Northwest Ballet
1988   Miami City Ballet

Recorded Performances

Videos/DVD

1999, Kultur, American Ballet Theatre at the Met [1984]

Television

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1950 (CBS)
1955 (CBS, Ed Sullivan Show)
1959 excerpts (PBS, “Classical Ballet”)
1960 (ABC)
1963 (CBC [Montreal])
1965 (NBC, Bell Telephone Hour)
1984 (PBS, “American Ballet Theatre at the Met”)
1984 (Japanese television,”American Ballet Theatre on Tour”)

Source Notes

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Arlene Croce, David Vaughan

NUMBERS IV, VI, VII, VIII, IX, XI, XII

As given below

George Balanchine (eight of thirteen dances), Todd Bolender, Frank Hobi, and Francisco Moncion

Presented by the National Orchestral Society, Leon Barzin, Musical Director. Artistic Director: George Balanchine. Lighting Director: Jean Rosenthal

February 10, 1951, Carnegie Hall, New York. Danced by members of the New York City Ballet and students of the School of American Ballet. Conductor: Leon Barzin

IV. SARABANDE from Louis XIV Suite (François Couperin, orchestrated by Wood-Hill): 4 women;
VI. MINUET from Symphony No. 39, K. 543 (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart): Doris Breckenridge, Robert Barnett;
VII. GAVOTTE from Ladies of the Ballet (Alfred Edward Moffat): 2 couples;
VIII. BOURRÉE from Concerto for String Orchestra (Jean-Baptiste Lully): 2 couples;
IX. RIGAUDON from the Lully Concerto: 4 couples;
XI. WALTZ from Naïla (La Source, Léo Delibes): Maria Tallchief, 11 women;
XII. TANGO from Le Carnaval d’Aix (Darius Milhaud): Tanaquil Le Clercq

Performance Type

Concert Works

See Also

Note

Each musical selection was played by the orchestra alone and then repeated with dances. Mazurka from ‘A Life for the Tsar’ [272] was performed as Number XIII, closing the program.

Source Notes

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Information from a suggestion of Melissa Hayden

Léo Delibes (from Sylvia, ou la Nymphe de Diane, produced 1876)

George Balanchine

February 1925 (before February 21), the Royal Palace, Monte Carlo

Alicia Markova

Performance Type

Concert Works

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Note

First performed at a party given by the Princesse Héréditaire. Earliest program found (February 21, 1925, matinee) lists the work, then entitled Variation, as part of the ‘Suite de Danses’ under the general title Le Festin, in the series of concert performances by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes given in the Nouvelle Salle de Musique (Salle Ganne) of the Monte Carlo Casino. Other works performed at the concert included Balanchine’s staging of the Grand Pas Hongrois from Petipa’s Raymonda and his own appearance with Tamara Geva in Enigma [25].

Source Notes

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Grigoriev, The Diaghilev Ballet, p. 209, amplified by Balanchine, Alicia Markova, Anton Dolin.