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30-522: Apollo (originally Apollon musagète and variously known as Apollo musagetes , Apolo Musageta , and Apollo, Leader of the Muses ) is a neoclassical ballet in two tableaux composed between 1927 and 1928 by Igor Stravinsky . It was choreographed in 1928 by twenty-four-year-old George Balanchine , with the composer contributing the libretto . The scenery and costumes were designed by André Bauchant , with new costumes by Coco Chanel in 1929. The scenery

60-559: A Gypsy leader, as described in the February 3 New York Globe review. From 1921 to 1923, for example, he was invited by Nellie Cornish to direct the summer intensive program in dance at The Cornish School (now Cornish College of the Arts ) in Seattle . There he produced original works, such as The Gargoyles of Notre Dame in 1922. No fewer than three of his students and dancers headed the program at

90-556: A contemporary situation. It is concerned with the reinvention of tradition, since its inspiration is Baroque , Classical , or even post-baroque/rococo/galant . It is scored for chamber orchestra of 34 string instruments ( 8.8.6.8.4 ). Stravinsky began composing Apollo on 16 July 1927 and completed the score on 9 January 1928. He composed for a refined instrumental force, a string orchestra of 34 instrumentalists: 8 first violins, 8 second violins, 6 violas , 4 first cellos , 4 second cellos and 4 double basses . The commission from

120-594: A part of a known ballet repertoire since then. However, two scenes of The Birthday of the Infanta were performed by The Chicago Opera at Chicago’s Auditorium Theater on January 14, 1922, followed by several performances at the Manhattan Opera House in New York City. [1] In these two scenes, sixteen-year-old ballerina Betty Felsen danced as the Infanta, Serge Oukrainsky danced as the dwarf, and Andreus Pavley danced as

150-402: A revival with Mikhail Baryshnikov as Apollo in 1979, he also omitted Apollo's first variation and re-choreographed the ballet's ending. This revision concluded not with Apollo's ascent to Mount Parnassus but rather with moving the "peacock" tableau of the Muses in arabesques of ascending height beside Apollo, which originally happened slightly earlier, to the final pose. In the 1980 staging for

180-605: Is a genre of dance that emerged in the 1920s and evolved throughout the 20th century. Artists of many disciplines in the early 1900s began to rebel against the overly dramatized style of the Romantic Period. As a result, art returned to a more simplistic style reminiscent of the Classical Period, except bolder, more assertive and free of distractions. This artistic trend came to be known as Neoclassicism . The ballet choreographer who most exemplified this new, clean aesthetic,

210-498: Is the style of 20th-century classical ballet exemplified by the works of George Balanchine . The term "neoclassical ballet" appears in the 1920s with Sergei Diaghilev 's Ballets Russes, in response to the excesses of romanticism and post-romantic modernism. It draws on the advanced technique of 19th-century Russian Imperial dance, but strips it of its detailed narrative and heavy theatrical setting while retaining many key techniques, such as pointe technique . Neoclassical ballet

240-600: The New York City Ballet , Apollo's first variation was restored. Suzanne Farrell restored the birth scene for her company in 2001, as did Arthur Mitchell for his Dance Theatre of Harlem performance at Symphony Space 's Wall to Wall Balanchine in conjunction with City Ballet's Balanchine centennial and Iain Webb for The Sarasota Ballet 's Tribute to Nureyev performance in February 2015 (staged by Sandra Jennings). The characters are Apollo and three muses: Calliope ,

270-622: The New York Metropolitan Opera . Bolm and dancer Ruth Page appeared together in an experimental dance film Danse Macabre (1922) directed by Dudley Murphy . In 1919 he moved to Chicago , which served as his base from which he taught widely across the country. In 1919, Bolm staged The Birthday of the Infanta, his first large ballet for the Chicago Opera Company, with music by John Alden Carpenter , and danced by Bolm and Ruth Page. Bolm’s complete Infanta ballet has not been

300-528: The Ballets Russes, and set to a score by Stravinsky. Unlike many of his later neoclassical works, this ballet tells a story, which indicates that Balanchine had not yet completely broken free from the Romantic tradition. Moreover, when this ballet first premiered it featured large sets, costumes and props. However, Balanchine continually revised it as his neoclassical style evolved. For example, later versions of

330-747: The British Frederick Ashton and Kenneth MacMillan were also great neoclassical choreographers. Adolph Bolm Bolm graduated from the Russian Imperial Ballet School in Saint Petersburg in 1904 (the teacher was Platon Karsavin ), and that same year he became a dancer with Mariinsky Ballet . In 1908 and 1909 he ran a European tour with Anna Pavlova . He then collaborated with Diaghilev 's Ballets Russes in Paris, along with several other dancers from Mariinsky. In 1917, during

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360-531: The Library of Congress and underwritten by Mrs. Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge paid him $ 1,000 for the piece, which was required to use only six dancers, require a small orchestra, and last no more than half an hour, but allowed him free choice of subject. Stravinsky had been thinking of writing a ballet on an episode in Greek mythology for some time and decided to make Apollo, leader of the muses, its central figure while reducing

390-533: The U.S. performance, and Bolm's choreography is now practically forgotten. He had reserved the European rights to the score for Sergei Diaghilev , whose Ballets Russes production, choreographed by the 24-year-old Balanchine, opened at the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt in Paris on 12 June 1928. Stravinsky conducted the performance. The concertmaster was Marcel Darrieux . In accordance with Stravinsky's wishes,

420-510: The United States, on both his school eventually his own company, the New York City Ballet , which he founded in 1948 and still exists today. Well-known neoclassical ballets like Concerto Barocco , (1941), Four Temperaments , (1946), Agon , (1957), and Episodes , (1959) were all choreographed in New York. Although much of Balanchine's work epitomized the genre, some choreographers like

450-502: The Washington festival, premiered on 27 April 1928 with choreography by Adolph Bolm , who also danced the role of Apollo. Adolph Bolm put together a company of dancers for the premiere in a country which, at that time, lacked a readily available source of classically trained dancers. Ruth Page , Berenice Holmes ( Gene Kelly 's ballet teacher), and Elise Reiman were the three Muses and Hans Kindler conducted. Stravinsky took no interest in

480-437: The ballet utilized white practice leotards and minimal sets and lights. Balanchine even renamed the ballet simply Apollo . The transformation of Apollo exemplifies Balanchine’s transformation as a choreographer. As Balanchine’s neoclassical style matured, he produced more plotless, musically driven ballets. Large sets and traditional tutus gave way to clean stages and plain leotards. This simplified external style allowed for

510-529: The dancers’ movement to become the main artistic medium, which is the hallmark of neoclassical ballet. Balanchine found a home for his neoclassical style in the United States, when Lincoln Kirstein brought him to New York in 1933 to start a ballet company. He famously decided to start a school, where he could train dancers in the style he wanted, and so the School of American Ballet was founded in 1934. Many of his most famous neoclassical ballets were choreographed in

540-399: The forefront of Neoclassicism. Rather than turning away from his classical training, Balanchine built upon the traditional ballet vocabulary. He extended traditional ballet positions, played with speed and freedom of movement, and incorporated new positions not traditionally seen in ballet. Balanchine's first foray into the neoclassical style was Apollon Musegete , choreographed in 1928 for

570-557: The god's mythological role as the leader of the Muses and the divine patron of music and dance. Stravinsky wrote for a homogeneous ensemble of bowed string instruments, substituting contrasts in dynamics for the contrasts in timbre he employed in Pulcinella . The ballet takes its inspiration from the grand tradition of French 17th- and 18th-century music, in particular that of Lully , a source Stravinsky returned to when composing Agon in 1957. The prologue begins with dotted rhythms in

600-532: The muse of poetry; Polyhymnia , the muse of rhetoric ; and Terpsichore , the muse of dance. The theme is: Apollon musagetes instructs the muses in their arts and leads them to Parnassus . The ballet is divided into two tableaux : Balanchine shortened the title to Apollo in the 1950s, which Stravinsky himself came to prefer. Despite the popularly considered Balanchine-Stravinsky Greek link due to Balanchine's later work with Stravinsky scores in Orpheus and Agon ,

630-617: The music for Apollo was commissioned by the Library of Congress . Orpheus may be considered a sequel to Apollo but Agon is a formal plotless ballet whose title in Greek evokes a contest. In light of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the performing arts , New York City Ballet released a recording featuring Taylor Stanley , Tiler Peck , Brittany Pollack, and Indiana Woodward , filmed in 2019. Neoclassical ballet Neoclassical ballet

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660-459: The number of muses from nine to three. They were Terpsichore , personifying the rhythm of poetry and the eloquence of gesture as embodied in the dance; Calliope , combining poetry and rhythm; and Polyhymnia , representing mime. Stravinsky originally titled the work Apollon musagète , the French transliteration of Apollo Musagetes . This is one of the many classical epithets of Apollo and signifies

690-439: The scenario, of any narrative, psychological or expressive intent, was further matched by monochrome costumes for the dancers and the absence of elaborate scenery on stage. Scenery and costumes for Balanchine's production were by French artist André Bauchant . Coco Chanel provided new costumes in 1929. Apollo wore a reworked toga with a diagonal cut, a belt, and laced up sandals. The Muses wore traditional tutus . The decoration

720-748: The school from the 1910s to the 1950s: Mary Ann Wells , Caird Leslie , and Lee Foley . In 1929, Bolm moved to California. In 1933, following the opening of the War Memorial Opera House, the San Francisco Opera established the San Francisco Opera Ballet (SFOB) under Bolm's direction as the ballet master. On June 2, 1933, even before he produces dances for operas, SFOB begins presenting independent, all-dance programs. Bolm continued to work in California and New York through 1947. He

750-530: The second part of a two-part American tour by the Ballets Russes (without Diaghilev, but with Nijinsky ), Bolm was injured during the ballet Thamar . The injury was serious, and he was taken to the hospital for a long time and left the tour to stay in the United States. In 1917 he also provided instruction to the young ballerina Ruth Page . He went on to organize Ballet Intime in New York and choreographed for

780-560: The style of a French overture . The work relies on a basic rhythmic cell , presented at the beginning of the work, which Stravinsky transforms by subdivisions of successive values that become increasingly complex. Stravinsky revised the score slightly in 1947. In 1963, he indicated he intended to make further changes, particularly with respect to double-dotting many of the dotted-rhythm passages in Baroque style. The first ballet version of Stravinsky's Apollon musagète , commissioned especially for

810-437: The style of dancing was essentially classical , and Stravinsky thought of "Apollon musagète" as a ballet blanc , that is, costumed in traditional minimal white. Balanchine later said that when he heard Stravinsky's music all he could see was pristine white. The clarity, calm, even serenity of the music makes it seem infinitely remote from the colorful excitement of Stravinsky's earlier ballets. The avoidance of any conflict in

840-458: Was George Balanchine . As a child, the importance of classicism was imprinted on him when he was a student at the famed Imperial Ballet School, which was (and remains) steadfast in its firm commitment to classical ballet technique. Upon his graduation, Balanchine earned the privilege of choreographing for the Ballets Russes , where he had the opportunity to collaborate with Picasso, Matisse, Chanel, Debussy, Stravinsky and Prokofiev, who were all at

870-510: Was baroque: two large sets, with some rocks and Apollo's chariot. The scenario involved the birth of Apollo, his interactions with the three Muses, Calliope (poetry), Polyhymnia (mime) and Terpsichore (dance and song), and his ascent as a god to Mount Parnassus . The original cast included Serge Lifar as Apollo, Alice Nikitina as Terpsichore (alternating with Alexandra Danilova ), Lubov Tchernicheva as Calliope, Felia Doubrovska as Polyhymnia and Sophie Orlova as Leto , mother of Apollo. For

900-635: Was executed by Alexander Shervashidze , with costumes under the direction of Mme. A. Youkine. The American patron of the arts Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge had commissioned the ballet in 1927 for a festival of contemporary music to be held the following year at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. The story centres on Apollo , the Greek god of music, who is visited by three Muses : Terpsichore , muse of dance and song; Polyhymnia , muse of mime ; and Calliope , muse of poetry. The ballet takes Classical antiquity as its subject, though its plot suggests

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