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Balanchine Catalogue
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Opera in Five Acts by Jules Massenet
Jules Massenet
George Balanchine
January 10, 1936, Metropolitan Opera, New York. Conductor: Louis Hasselmans
Performance Type
Ballet for Opera
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Note
Although choreographer and ballet cast are omitted from the printed program, reference in a review to ‘a blithe ballet divertissement’ indicates choreography by Balanchine for the American Ballet Ensemble. It may have occurred in Act III, Scene 1, COURS LA REINE.
Opera in Four Acts by Jules Massenet ACT III BALLET
Jules Massenet
George Balanchine
February 28, 1932, Opéra de Monte-Carlo. Danced by Ballets [Russes] de Monte-Carlo. Conductor: Gabriel Grovlez
Valentina Blinova, Léon Woizikowsky, 6 couples
Performance Type
Ballet for Opera
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Source Notes

Choreography acknowledged by Balanchine

Opera in Four Acts by Georges Bizet ACT II SEGUIDILLA
Georges Bizet
George Balanchine
January 25, 1925, Opéra de Monte-Carlo. Danced by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes
4 couples
Performance Type
Ballet for Opera
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Note
Diaghilev’s dancers were employed between ballet seasons as the resident company of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, and his first assignments to Balanchine were opera divertissements. Balanchine has said that all choreography for operas in Monte Carlo during his tenure with Diaghilev was newly created by him; programs occasionally include no credits for choreography, and it may be that some dances by Nijinska, resident choreographer with Diaghilev at Monte Carlo in 1923 and 1924, remained during Balanchine’s early years. When choreography credits appear in the opera programs between 1925 and 1929, they are variously given as ‘Maître de ballet: Georges Balanchine,’ ‘Chorégraphie de Georges Balanchine,’ or ‘Ballet reglé par Georges Balanchine’; the significance of these differences is unknown.
Source Notes

Balanchine