Chaconne is a ballet made by New York City Ballet co-founder and ballet master George Balanchine to ballet music from Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice (Vienna, 1762; Paris, 1774). The premiere took place Wednesday, 22 January 1976 at the New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, with lighting by Ronald Bates; Robert Irving conducted. Chaconne was danced in practice clothes at its premiere; Karinska's costumes were added in the spring season.
The finale to Orfeo ed Euridice is a chaconne, a dance form built on a short bass phrase and often used by 17th and 18th century opera composers to achieve a festive mood at the end. The choreography was first performed at the Hamburgische Staatsoper in their 1963 production of Orpheus und Eurydike and somewhat altered in Chaconne, especially that for the principal dancers. Balanchine added the pas de deux for Suzanne Farrell and Peter Martins to the 1976 ballet and the opening ensemble (to the 1774 Dance of the Blessed Spirits) for the Spring season.
Balanchine's first Orpheus and Eurydice was made on the Metropolitan Opera in 1936; his approach, the singers remaining in the pit while the action was danced on stage, was not well received; the production had only two performances. He choreographed Orphée et Eurydice for the Théâtre National de l'Opéra, Paris in 1973 and Orfeo ed Euridice for the Chicago Lyric Opera in 1975 as well.
Original cast
Pas de trois
Renee Estopinal Wilhelmina Frankfurt
Jay Jolley
Pas de deux
Susan Hendl
Jean-Pierre Frohlich
Pas de cinq
Elise Flagg Bonita Borne Elyse Borne Laura Flagg Nichol Hlinka
Pas de deux
Suzanne Farrell
Peter Martins
Chaconne
Suzanne Farrell Susan Pilarre Marjorie Spohn Tracy Bennett and corps de ballet
Peter Martins Gerard Ebitz
Filmography
1978 TFC, Peter Martins: A Dancer, pas de deux*
Videography / DVD
1995 Nonesuch, The Balanchine Library: Choreography by Balanchine, excerpts (1978) 2001 Kultur, Peter Martins: A Dancer, pas de deux 2004 Kultur, Balanchine, excerpts
Television
1978 PBS, Dance in America, excerpts 1978 CBC, Montreal 1983 PBS, Gala of Stars, excerpt 1984 TF1, Faust
Articles
Sunday NY Times by Clive Barnes, February 1, 1976 Sunday NY Times by Elizabeth Kendall, February 8, 1976 NY Times by Anna Kisselgoff, February 16, 1976 NY Times by Daniel J. Wakin, October 23, 2010
Reviews
NY Times review by Clive Barnes, January 24, 1976 NY Times review by Clive Barnes, February 9, 1976 NY Times review by Anna Kisselgoff, January 31, 1982 NY Times review by Anna Kisselgoff, May 28, 1987 NY Times review by Jack Anderson, February 8, 1994 NY Times review by Jack Anderson, June 30, 2001 NY Times review by Jack Anderson, May 3, 2003 NY Times review by Alastair Macaulay, November 27, 2007
film NY Times review of Dance in America
External links Chaconne on the website of the Balanchine Trust