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Home , Boris Kochno, Concerto Barocco, Ivesiana, Jewels (ballet), John Taras, La source (Balanchine)

Arc de Triomphe From the Diaghilev company went to Monte Carlo, dancing in opera~ and , and readying new works for the spring season. In the years that fol­ lowed Balanchinewould choreograph dozens Lynn Garafola of opera- numbers, in new works as well as old. The Monte Carlo repertory was inter­ France occupied a special place in the life national, butwith a definite French flavor. For and work of . It was where Balanchine this meantan intense engagement he spent nearly a decade after leaving with French music. in 1924; where he created his oldest extant In the winter of 1925 alone he set ballet, , in 1928; where he founded his to Bizet (Carmen), Massenet (Thai's , Manon , first Western company, ; and and Herodiade), Gounod (Faust), and Berlioz where he choreographed one of his greatest (La Damnation de Faust). Later seasons added ballets, Le Palais de Cristal, in 1947. Delibes (Lakme) , Offenbach (The Tales ofHojJ­ Balanchine loved French perfume and mann), and Saint-Saens (Samson et Dalila) as French wine, French cuisine and French cou­ well as additional works by Gounod (Romeo et ture. Many of his closest collaborators, in­ Juliette,Jeanne dl1rc , and Mireille). cluding Stravinsky, the painter Pavel Tcheli­ Balanchine did not treat these jobs as mere tchew, and the costume designer Karinska, hack work. "He charged these dreary experi­ were Russian emigres who came to America ences with a new life and interest, and no de­ only after an extended sojourn in France. Af­ mands on him could curb his imaginative ter Russians, he liked French composers best facility," Ninette de Valois would later remi­ - Faure, Bizet, Delibes, and above all Ravel. nisce. "How refreshing was his originality!"S Balanchine first saw Paris in November Not all these works belonged to the histori­ 1924, with the small, if grandly named Rus­ cal repertory. But barely three months after sian State Ballet that had sailed with him joining the , he choreographed from Petro grad, toured the German Rhine­ L'Enfant et les Sorti/eges, a brand new work by land, and spent October in London at the France's leading composer, Maurice Ravel, to Empire Theatre, dancing on a music-hall bill. a text by Colette. "How could I ever forget How Diaghilev first heard of them is un­ th[ose] rehearsals," he marveled to a French known. Perhaps it was the ballerina Lydia Lo­ interviewer forty years later, "when the man pokova who alerted him (she had invited them atmyside .. . was Ravel himself?,,6In theyears to Bloomsbury for tea with Nicolas Legat)/ or to come Balanchine would revive this lyric Arnold HaskelVor someone connected to The fantasy, not once but three times, as if to res­ 3 Dancing Times . urrect those happy days. 7 An audition was hastily arranged at the Between 1925 and 1929, when he served as Paris apartment of Misia Sert. Diaghilev, Diaghilev's in-house choreographer, Balan­ saying they would hear from him, swept off chine worked with many eminent French art­ to London, where his company was about ists. His first major assignment, Le Chant du to open. Meanwhile, Balanchine's group ran Rossignol (1925) , introduced him to Matisse, out of money, and he sold his best suit so Jack in the Box (1926) to Derain, and they could eat. 4 Finally, a telegram arrived (1929) to Rouault. La Pastorale (1926) had a with money and a contract to join the Ballets score by Auric, La Chatte (1927) by Sauguet. De­ Russes in England. rain, in particular, struck a sympathetic chord First presented in slightly different form as a lec­ in the young choreographer, who commis­ ture at The New York Public Library for the Per­ sioned designs for several ballets from him in forming Arts at Lincoln Center. 1932 and 1933.8 Both were interested in film,

© 2007 Lynn Garafola 73 Olga Spessivtseva and in La Chatte (1927), music by .

72 and according to Balanchine, speaking to In 1929 when Diaghilev died and the Bal­ Arnold Haskell in 1934, he had "worked out lets Russes collapsed, Balanchine's destiny many ideas" with Derain that he hoped to use seemed to lie in France. Jacques Rouche, the now that he was in the "land of films.,,9 Auric, director of the , invited him to too, kept reappearing in Balanchine's life, stage Beethoven's Les Creatures de Promethie both as composer 10 and as an administrator: for the Opera's ballet troupe, with Serge Lifar on Derain's watch as director of the Paris as guest artist. Lifar was the deco god of the Opera from 1962 to 1968, the Opera Ballet late Ballets Russes, Balanchine's first Apollo mounted its first all-Balanchine program.ll and Prodigal Son, a charismatic performer, Another collaborator of Balanchine' s early with a ferocious capacity for hard work and years in France was , who wrote an ego to match. However, Balanchine had the libretti for La Chatte, Prodigal Son, and most developed tuberculosis. He went to a Swiss of Balanchine's other Diaghilev ballets. Like sanatorium to recover, while Lifar completed Balanchine, Kochno was an emigre; an aspir­ the ballet. When Balanchine returned, he ing poet, he had joined Diaghilev's entourage found himself "barred from the office" and in the early 1920S and become his trusted lieu­ Lifar installed as . 13 This was not · tenant, taking the pulse of the younger gen­ the last time their paths would cross. eration. In 1946 Balanchine reached an agreement By the earlyl930s, Kochno had largely aban­ with Georges Hirsch to spend six months the doned the emigre ghetto, creatively as well as following year at the Paris Opera staging culturally. In his libretti for Balanchine, one ballets. Lifar, who had directed the troupe encounters something akin to surrealism - its during the 1930S and the German occupation inexplicable happenings and strange encoun­ that followed, was accused of collaboration ters with fate - without the theories and pro­ and "purged." Balanchine was excited about Soviet politics of the Surrealists themselves. returning to the Opera; his old friend Roger Kochno teamed Balanchine with composers Desormiere would be conducting the orches­ like Chabrier, Sauguet, and Milhaud, and tra, and both his old flame, Tamara Toumano­ with visual artists like Derain, Christian Be­ va, and his new wife, , were rard, and Tchelitchew, who had now settled in engaged as guest artists. Paris - nearly all of whom contributed to Les In a letter to Desormiere, Balanchine wrote Ballets 1933. By then Balanchine, no less than about staging Apollo, Symphonie Concert ante, a Kochno, had become a citizen of the French new production of Firebird, and even The Sleep­ artistic polity. The New York Times critic, John ing Beauty, while in the press there was talk of Martin, was not so far from the mark in 1935 a ballet to Vittorio Rieti.14 of these projects when he called Balanchine's first American only Apollo materialized. Instead, Balanchine company "Les Ballets Americains.,,12 presented a mini-retrospective of his work, Every spring, beginning in 1925, Balan­ beginning with Apollo, followed by chine presented new work in Paris. Occasion­ and Le Baiser de IiI Fie, both choreographed in ally, there was a second season in December, the United States in the 1930S, and culminat­ but it paled beside the annual rite of spring, ing in a brand-new masterpiece, Le Palais de when the Ballets Russes left its winter head­ Crista!' quarters in Monte Carlo and entrained for The French press followed his work with in­ Paris. Here was the fickle, sophisticated, and terest. World War II had put an end to trans­ cosmopolitan audience that Diaghilev had so atlantic touring and interrupted the flow of assiduously cultivated, the coterie public that news, except for military bulletins. Although applauded the first performances ofApollo and Balanchine had no company of his own for Prodigal Son and later the debut of Les Ballets most of the 1940s, these were intensely cre­ 1933 · ative years. In 1941 he choreographed Concerto

74 BALLET REVIEW and Roger Ritz in Le Palais de Cristal (1947), music by Georges Bizet. Barocco and Ballet Imperial, plotless works that dancers. For the "prestige of Paris," as one made peace with the nineteenth-century Rus­ reporter wrote, Balanchine had taken a sub­ sian tradition of Petipa, and Balustrade, the stantial pay cut, leaving a "situation of $2,500 first of several important works in the 1940S a week" in New York for" 80,000 francs [some that Balanchine would stage to Stravinsky. In $666] a month" at the Opera.15 1946 alone he choreographed The Night Shad­ Balanchine was no stranger to Paris, nor ow (La Sonnambula), an abbreviated version of was Toumanova. At a party not long after they Raymonda (with Alexandra Danilova), a revival arrived, they were feted by old acquaintainces of L'Enfant et les Sortileges (as The Spellbound - Sauguet, Auric, Poulenc, Rouche - as well as Child), and The , eventually critics and journalists.16 the first of the stripped-down "" bal­ Nineteen years had elapsed since the pre­ lets of the 1950S. miere ofApollo, and to some atleast, it showed Amazingly, he did all this without the re­ its age. Veteran critic Leandre Vaillat wrote, sources of a major company. No wonder the "Apollon Musagete is not a novelty for the men offer from Paris was so tantalizing. Here was of my generation, who applauded it ... dur­ a company schooled in a magnificent tradi­ ing the last era of the Diaghilev company.... tion, with all the resources of a generously Every neoclassical experiment is in this work: funded opera house, and more than a hundred a drawing shorn of superficial ornament,

SUMMER 2007 75 lines stretched to the extreme, audacious dis­ help ofany literature, withoutthe intervention placement of the center of gravity, . . . an in­ of an argument.... One can easily imagine to genious way of linking and unlinking the what admirable use he would put a fugue or hands or arms, of joining figures into a single chorale of Bach.,,20 figure with several arms or heads that seems The climax of the season was the premiere to have escaped from some Hindu heaven.,,17 of Le Palais de Crista!' A grand ballet to Bizet's Many recalled the original Apollo. ReneDu­ Major, it had a "sumptuous and mesnil wrote, "More than twenty years have fantastic" set by the Argentine painter Leonor passed since June 12, 1928, when Diaghilev Fini in the style of rococo architecture and a unveiledApollon Musagete at the Theatre Sarah­ castof forty-eight dancers. "The theme is sim­ Bernhardt, and Serge Lifar, handsome as a ple," Rene Dumesnil wrote in Le Monde. "The young god, found one of his first successes. crystal palace is a palace of gems." There were Today, Michel Renault is Apollo, and if he four movements, each the color of a dazzling cannot make us completely forget his pre­ jewel - rubies in the first, followed by sap­ cursor, he demonstrated at least . .. out­ phires, emeralds, and finally diamonds. 21 The standing technique. M. Balanchine's chore­ was as dazzling as the jewel­ ography faithfully translates the intentions of encrusted costumes. the composer through his pared down neo­ An "inspired ballet" Pierre Michaut, anoth­ classicism, the predominance of rhythmic er veteran critic, called it. "One admires the movements that often prevail over the dance, abundance of ideas, the richness of forms, the reduced at times to ports de bras.,,18 variety of combinations .... The movement of greater critical interest was the Ameri­ renews itself with inexhaustable fantasy and can-made Serenade. Here was a ballet that was invention, and the variety in the construction "pure dance," and for many itwas a revelation. of the plastic figures . .. gives to the choreog­ Among them was Rene Jouglet, who reviewed raphy an abundance and striking richness, en­ the ballet for Les Nouvelles Litteraires: chanting the eye and the imagination." "Serenade ... is a masterstroke. From themo­ Nearly everyone mentioned the adagio, ment the curtain rises, one is transported and which Balanchine had made for Toumanova, amazed . .. [by the] motionless ensemble, of "that virtuoso of balance," as Michaut called incredible purity ofline .. . [and] absolute lack her, whose dancing was "a veritable lyric of ornamentation . .. . chant, a corporeal cantilena.,,22 Vaillatwas re­ "Then the group comes to life ... to flow­ minded of black diamonds. Toumanova, he ing, bounding, stirring, soaring life in all its wrote, "shines with a sombre and mysterious diversity and multiplicity, the fruit of an archi­ brilliance in a skirt of black tulle studded with tecture continually composed, decomposed, mauve sequins.,,23 and recomposed, of thought perpetually the Pierre Tugal, writing in The Dancing Times, master of wit, . .. the whole resting on a clas­ could not contain his excitement: "After a few sical basis. Suddenly one perceives that it is minutes I completely lost touch with the mu­ unnecessary to resort to inventions more or sic and the decors. I was conscious only of the less preposterous, to arts more or less related, magnificent movements produced on stage, that the richest and most moving choreogra­ and of the profound novelty of these move­ phy lies [in itself] .... It is a great lesson.,,19 ments. One inspiration followed another, and Other critics analyzed the relationship of if the music was a symphony, certainly the the choreography and music. "Music offers dance was also a symphony. By means of this the framework," wrote one, "But it would be symphony I arrived at that highly desirable inexact to say that it acts as the pretext. On the point, for those who review dance, where I contrary, music here is the text that dictates to saw only the movement, ever changing in the choreographer his inspiration without the space, and always moving - in the highest

BALLET REVIEW sense of the word. I lost all sense of details where the classical system was born ... [and] and I could not analyze The Crystal Palace . I developed, . . . has dominated the kingdom of found myself in harmony with the move­ and taught her beautiful secrets ments on stage, particularly those of Tamara to all of Europe." 29 Toumanova.... Her magnificent interpreta­ With Lifar back, the Balanchine repertory tion was gracious and langorous, passionate went, except for Le Palais de Crista!' The com­ and dreamy. And the entire audience felt Tou­ pany brought it to New York for its ill-fated manova's perfection.,,24 1948 season, butthelocal critics, who had seen Balanchine had only praise for the Opera's the ballet as Symphony in C only six months dancers: "There are remarkable elements earlier, tended to agree with John Martin that here," he told Dumesnil, "not only among the its performance by Balanchine's own fledg­ principal dancers and soloists, but also ling company, , was "very much among the young people, the coryphees and better,,3o and with Walter Terry that the . The company is full of ardor ballet's "inherent sparkle ... and sweeping and a desire to do well: it loves its art. And choreographic line were not often in evi­ this is what enabled me .. . to mount four bal- dence.,,31 Still, after the last performance by lets in so short a time ... . I leave with regret, the visiting troupe, Balanchine, joined by delighted with my stay, happy at the perfect Lifar, took an unexpected curtain call. 32 Nine spirit of cooperation that I have experienced days later Ballet Society, newly renamed the among you, and I have the strongest desire to Ballet, would make its debut on return soon.,, 25 the same stage with , , The English journal Ballet added more de­ and Symphony in C.33 tails: "Balanchine himself has expressed his Although Balanchine never returned to the willingness to return in 1948 and desires es­ Paris Opera as ballet master, New York City pecially to produce a complete version of La Ballet enjoyed a special relationship with the Belle au Bois Dormant which has never been giv­ house. It performed there in 1952, under the en at the Opera in its entirety.,, 26 auspices of the Congress of Cultural Free­ Balanchine did not return. Only months dom, in the Cold War arts festival, "Master­ after he left, Lifar, his political sins expiated, pieces of the Twentieth Century," organized was reinstated. Even when barred from the by the composer Nicholas Nabokov (who Opera, he had never lacked for support. Ac­ would later write the music for Balanchine's cording to Tallchief, "within days of [Balan­ ) and covertly funded by the CIA.34 chine's] arrival, a militant anti-Balanchine NYCB returned to Paris (although not to the faction supporting ... Ufar began blaring its Opera) in 1955 as part of the Salute to France, objections." 27 An unsigned article published again in 1956, then after nearly a decade in in Dance News in June 1947 asserting that in a 1965, and after more than a decade in 1976 for matter of weeks Balanchine had "succeeded the International Festival of Dance. Its last in raising the artistic and technical standards Paris appearance during Balanchine's life­ of the company to a height it has not known time was in 1980. in more than a century" 28 caused a tempest in In no other European city did NYCB per­ Paris dance circles. form as often as Paris; in no other city was it "Nothing can deny," responded one out­ so warmly received. On opening night in 1965 raged critic, "that the ballet of the Opera has dozens of dance-world celebrities, including been . . . for quite some time . . . the first in the the choreographers Flemming Flindt, Janine world . .. . Let me add that it owes the mainte- Charrat, and a wildly enthusiastic Maurice nance of this glorious tradition to M. Aveline, Bejart, welcomed the company with a stand­ the Opera's ballet master, and MIle Carlotta ing ovation. 35 Zambelli . . .. For ... 250 years or more Paris, Touring tells only part of the story. Begin-

SUMMER 2007 77 ning in 1958, when Lifar retired and George chine. "[He] was my inspiration," she told Skibine became the Opera's ballet master, Gretchen Ward Warren.39 the company's relationship with Balanchine Jacqueline Rayet was only thirteen in 1947 warmed. In 1959 Gounod Symphony entered the when Balanchine cast her in Serenade, the snow repertory, only a year after it had premiered scene of Le Baiser de la Fee, and the adagio of in New York. Balanchine himself came to re­ Le Palais de Crista!' She encountered him with hearse the dancers, and hedidso again in 1963 Gounod Symphony. for an all-Balanchine program. Una Kai had "One Saturday when we finished rehears­ gone ahead to teach four ballets - Bourree Fan­ ing, he said, 'What are we doing tomorrow?' tasque, Scotch Symphony, Concerto Barocco, and Astonishment. Rehearse on Sunday wasn't a - which represented habit of the house .... One after another my different facets of Balanchine's artistic iden­ comrades declined, and when my turn came, tity, although not his most recent work. Inter­ red as a tomato, I said that I would like to re­ estingly, Balanchine had demanded that hearse .... Ann Hutchinson notate his work, assisted by "The next day, Sunday, he was there. He Jacqueline Hass, who taught Labanotation made me rehearse the role for an hour, lift­ at the Ecole Superieure d'Etudes Choregra­ ing me and turning me for the adagio parts. phiques.36 The next hour was devoted to ballets in the Beginning again in the late 1960s Balan­ repertory. I was euphoric and tireless, execut­ chine's influence grew. In 1969 left ing without difficulty steps I didn't always City Ballet to become director of the Opera do so well. When we got to the 's role troupe. Among his goals, he told Anna Kissel­ in the first movement of Le Palais de Cristal, he goff, was "to restore some of the nine Balan­ was astonished to find there were fouettes, chine ballets that are in the Paris repertory but and I explained that the etoiles danced it like rarely performed."37 In 1973 Prodigal Son was that. ... added; the following year, for an all-Stravin­ "Before leaving, Balanchine said to me sky program, Orpheus, , and Rubies; then, gravely, 'Never become an etoile. Remain a stu­ in 1975, several ballets from NYCB's Ravel dent as you are now.... ' I promised. He added, Festival, including Sonatine, Le Tombeau de Cou­ 'If you don't like it here, telephone my agent, perin, and Tzigane as well as . Suzanne Leonidoff; he will give me the message.' I re­ J Farrell, , Jean- Pierre Bonnefous, member that day as if it were yesterday, and and went to Paris to dance, in­ even now itis one of my dearestmemories.,,4o \ itiating an exchange program that brought Balanchine's presence in Paris generated G hislaine Thesmar to New York the following not simply publicity buta body of serious crit­ year. 38 In 1977 Verdy, a French-born ballerina icism. The reviews alone, above all the earlier and one of 's most popu­ ones, reveal a critical brotherhood with long lardancers, was invited to direct the Paris com­ viewing memories and a willingness to accept pany. In short order three more ballets entered Balanchine's brand of music-based abstrac­ the repertory - Divertimento No. 15 in 1978, Le tion. In May 1952 the Revue Choregraphique de Bourgeois Gentilhomme in 1979, and Tschaikovsky Paris devoted an entire issue to Balanchine, in­ in 1980. cluding excerpts from a long forgotten inter­ Balanchine left a deep mark on certain view published in 1931 in The Dance Journal, a Opera dancers. Christiane Vaussard, who periodical edited by Cyril Beaumont. 41 danced one of the leads in the 1947 Serenade In February 1957 the prestigious film jour­ and later took over Toumanova's role in Le nal Cahiers du Cinema published an article by Palais de Cristal, attributes the emphasis in her Louis Marcorelles in which Balanchine con­ teaching on speedy footwork, turnout, artic­ fessed, "Film fascinates me. Unfortunately, ulation of the feet, and musicality to Balan- nobody wants to make the necessary financial

BALLET REVIEW Tanaquil Le Clercq in La Valse (1951) , music by Maurice Ravel. (Photo: WaIter E. Owen, NYCB)

SUMMER 2007 79 effort to enable me to work on the screen. Pro­ With Danilova, Balanchine staged Coppilia ducers are only interested in filmed musicals. in 1974; he choreographed the virtuoso . . . I would very much like to work with pas de deux in 1950 and , which in­ the new wide screen - Cinemas cope or ... cluded music from yet another Delibes ballet, Cinerama." 42 Nana, in 1968. Verdy, who danced the lead, de­ Although City Balletdancers made frequent scribed his La Source as "a moment of incred­ appearances on American television, itwas in ibly refined French dancing - ornamented, Paris in 1956 that was filmed very detailed, with a lot of subtle nuances of (in colorno less) with most of its original cast. charm, femininity, coquetry."49 Clive Barnes And the richest cache of kinescopes of New spoke of "love in the afternoon, ... autumnal York City Ballet in the 1950S and early 1960s love full of soft and fading falls" and described comes from a French-Canadian source - the the ballet as a "piece in the French manner, CBC's L' Heure du Concert, where one can some­ very fluffy, very sophisticated, and verychic.,,5o times hear Balanchine chatting in French.43 In 1967, twenty years after the premiere of Clearly, he was gratified by the respect that Le Palais de Cristal, Balanchine choreographed high art - and his own art in particular - en­ . Here, again, he used a gem motif and, joyed within the larger French community. except for the sapphires, which he dropped, Over the years, as director of New York City the jewels were the same. The new ballet Ballet, Balanchine kept a place in his reper­ opened with Emeralds, dreamy, with a "silky tory-and in his heart- for France. Not unex­ score" by Faure that evoked, in Robert Garis' pectedly, given the importance of music to words, "a mondaine and elegant paradise," a his work, the identity of a ballet began with "gleaming shadowless ... world" of order its composer. In addition to Bizet, he set bal­ and beauty. 51 lets to Chabrier, Ravel, Gounod, Delibes, and Verdy, who created one of the two ballerina Faure as well as to Jean Fran9aix and the avant­ roles, has said that the "Frenchness" of Emer­ gardist Pierre Henry. alds lies in its atmosphere of "noble resigna­ With its sylvan scenery, pastel costumes, tion," its "sense of proportion," "elegance," and "delicate air of gaiety,,,44 Gounod Sympho­ "restraint," and "gracefulness.,,52 Balanchine ny evoked the of Degas' himself in 101 Stories of the Great Ballets wrote time. Although Verdy did not originate the that if Emeralds "can be said to represent any­ ballerina role, she gave it the French coloring thing . .. , itis perhaps an evocation of France, it needed both in style and mood. "The ballet the France of elegance, comfort, dress, per­ is like the gardens of Versailles," she once fume." 53 said. "It has everything we admire there-reg­ Another ballerina who brought a French ularity, invention, diversity, perspectives.,,45 perfume to New York City Ballet was Tanaquil John Martin spoke of the ballet's "touches of Le Clercq. She was half-French and born in vivacious fancy, . . . hints of feathery wit, and Paris, but raised in the cosmopolitan atmos­ many flashes of Balanchinian comment on phere of New York. She had the chic and wil­ period style." 46 lowy body of a fashion model, and in 1951 Delibes was an even greater Balanchine Balanchine choreographed La Valse for her. favorite, especially his music for Sylvia and Amazingly, this was Balanchine's first ballet La Source, nineteenth-century ballet treasure to Ravel. (L'Enfant et les Sortileges was a "lyric troves into which Balanchine dipped again fantasy.") In La Valse Balanchine returned to and again. Indeed, Balanchine ranked Delibes a vein of neoromantic feeling that he had ex­ with Tschaikovsky and Stravinsky as "one of plored in Cotillon and other ballets of the 1930S the three great musicians of the dance.,,47 They and later abandoned. were the only ones, he said, who made musique Le Clercq enjoyed a great personal triumph dansante, "music for the body to dance with." 48 as the girl in white danced to death by a mys-

80 BALLET REVIEW terious figure in black. Edwin Denby long fails to mention that "patriotic critics" were remembered the thrill of her climax in the not the only ones who questioned the politics ballet - "throwing her head back as she of a CIA-sponsored Paris festival that favored plunge[d] her hand into the black glove."s41t anti-Soviet emigres from the United States was "a kind of immolation, you felt, like div­ over French artists affiliated with the left. At ing to destruction."ss Richard Buckle called the same time. Kirstein ignores the consider­ the ballet "essentially French," even though able evidence that Balanchine's relationship it had no specific period. "By some marvel of with French culture was multilayered and intuition," he wrote, "the choreographer, who complex. Was it that Kirstein never really for­ never went out in society because it tired and gave Balanchine for deserting Ballet Society bored him, saw into the heart of sophisticat­ for the Paris Opera in 1947, for creating one of ed Paris."s6 his very greatest works inspired by its classi­ In his history of New York City Ballet, Lin­ cal traditions and the presence of a lost balle­ coln Kirstein, the patron extraordinaire who rina love, for desiring what Kirstein, for all his brought Balanchine to the United States and generosity, could not give him - a fully subsi­ did more than anyone to create the institu­ dized national theater? tional context for the development of his ma­ Imaginatively, France was Balanchine's ture talent, largely ignores the choreograph­ third country. It was the second stage of his er's relationship with France. He passes over diasporic journey, and, unlike Russia, a place the 1947 season entirely, and when discussing to which he could freely return. It was the the 1952 season at the Theatre des Champs­ country, moreover, whose culture defined Elysees under the auspices of the Congress of him as a European. Despite the bolo ties and Cultural Freedom, dismisses French critics Native-American belts that he liked to wear, who, "like others in years to come, would ... Balanchine never abjured his Old World iden­ [lament] our lack of soul, or iirne frigidaire."S7 tity or the Gallic sensibility that expressed it Kirstein gives no names and conveniently with wit, elegance, and sophistication.

NOTES

1. On Sunday, October 12, she wrote to her future ing Times, reacted with little enthusiasm to Balan­ husband, John Maynard Keynes, "I had my Rus­ chine's "troupe of Russians ... at the 'Empire''': sians for tea, I extra man who is with them, and "On the afternoon on which I saw them they pre­ Legat (his wife could not come): they were sweet sented a programme of '.' The first and simple, and how much they would like to cling item was a pas de deux from the ballet 'Don Qui­ to any possibility to stay here or anywhere without xote,' danced by Alexandra Danilova and Nicolai communism: the work they said was better there, Efimoff. It was very technical, and there was little but hunger and miserable salaries especially since feeling. The man had an absence of 'baIlon' which the N.E.P. [New Economic Policy] had its end and considerably marred the display. Far more inter­ also since Lenin's death. They praised my brother, estingwas the 'Egyptian Dance,' to music by Aren­ but he is so poor what can I do for him .... Tea sky, danced by Tamara Sheversheief [Gevergeva], lasted 4 hours, I had thousands of muffins that they whose straight feet would have gladdened the heart made an approved comment on, and itwas very nice of members of the 'Greek Association.' A 'Jester's to gossip" (Lydia and Maynard: The Letters of Lydia Dance,' by Efimoff, introduced typical Russian Lopokova and John Maynard Keynes, ed. Polly Hill and steps, and a futuristic Indian dance closed the pro­ Richard Keynes [London: Andre Deutsch, 1989] , ceedings. The company were unfortunate in ap­ P·234)· pearing at the same time as [Mikhail] Mordkin's 2. Arnold Haskell, Balletomania: The Story of An company, as one could not help comparing the Obsession (London: Gollancz, 1934), p. 153. two, to the great disadvantage of the dancers at the 3. P. J. S. Richardson, in his column in The Danc- 'Empire.'" "The Sitter Out," The Dancing Times, Nov.

SUMMER 2007 81 1924, p. 116. According to Misia Sert's biographers, Carrifour, 3 June 1947, p. 9· Arthur Gold and Robert Fizdale, Diaghilev's assis­ 18. Rene Dumesnil, "Opera: 'Apollon Musa­ tant, Boris Kochno, "was sent [to London] to look gete,''' Le Monde, 29 May 1947, p. 6. them over!' He then "wired Diaghilev, who sent for 19. Rene Jouglet, "La Danse," Les Nouvelles Lit­ them" (Misia :TheLifeojMisiaSert [New York: Knopf, teraires, 22 May 1947, p. 8. 1980],p.248). - 20. "Interim," "Balanchineal'Opera," Spectateur, 4. Richard Buckle, with John Taras, George Balan­ n. d. Dossier d'artiste (Balan chine) , BN-Opera. chine, Ballet Master: A Biography (New York: Random 21. Rene Dumesnil, "Opera: 'Le Palais de Cris­ House, 1988), p. 29. tal,'" Le Monde, I Aug. 1947, p. 6; Lionel Bradley, 5. Ninette de Valois, Come Dance With Me: A Mem­ "News from Abroad," Ballet, Sept. 1947, p. 58. Each oir 1898-1956 (Cleveland/NewYork: World Publish­ movement had six corps women, two demi-solo ing, 1957), p. 84· couples, and, as Bradley put it, an "Etoile and her 6. Leo Survage, "George Balanchine: trente-sept partner." The principal dancers were Lycette Dar­ valses . . . pour Paris," Figaro, 20 June 1965. Dossier sonval and Alexandre Kalioujny (First Movement), d'artiste (Balanchine), BN-Opera. All translations Tamara Toumanova and Roger Ritz (Second Move­ mme. ment) , Micheline Bardin and Michel Renault (Third 7. Balanchine revived the work (as The Spellbound Movement), and Madeleine Lafon and Max Boz­ Child) in 1946 for the debut performance of Ballet zoni (Fourth Movement). Society (when it shared the bill with The Four Tem­ 22. Pierre Michaut, "Danse: LePalais de Cristal," peraments), in 1975 for the Ravel Festival, and in 1981 n.d. Clippings File (Le Palais de Crista/), DC-NYPL. for the PBS television series Dance in America . 23. Leandre Vaillat, "Le Palais de Cristal," Car­ 8. Derain designed La Concurrence (1932), Les rifour, I2 Aug. 1947, p. 9. Songes (1933), and Fastes (1933). The costumes for 24. Pierre Tugal, "Paris Notes," The Dancing Times , Les Songes were 'used in the pro­ Sept. 1947, p. 644. For a more recent article about duction of the work (as Dreams) in 1935 andinAmer­ the original production, see John Taras, "Balan­ ican Ballet Caravan's Divertimento in 1941. chine's Bizet," Ballet Review, vol. 26, no. I (Spring 9. Haskell, Balletomania , p. 154· 1998), pp. 74-81. 10. Auric composed La Concurrence (1932) and Tri­ 25 . R[ene] D[umesnil], "Impressions d'Opera," colore (1978), a salute to France in music and dance Le Monde, 26 July 1947, p. 6. that was conceived and supervised by Balanchine 26. Bradley, "News from Abroad," p. 59. Ac­ but choreographed by Peter Martins, Jean-Pierre cording to an account published in the June-August Bonnefoux, and . issue of Dance News, Balanchine had been asked to II. The program consisted of Bourree Fantasque, return the following season, but had yet to make Scotch Symphony, Concerto Barocco, and The Four Tem­ up his mind ("Much Snafu Accompanies Touma­ peraments. nova's Paris Season," Dance News , June-Aug. 1947, 12. JohnMartin, "The Dance: The Ballet," The New P·3)· York Times (hereafter NYD, 10 Mar. 1935, sec. 10, 27. Maria Tallchief, with Larry Kaplan, Maria P·9· Tallchiif, America's Prima Ballerina (New York: Holt, 13. Buckle, George Balanchine, p. 55. 1997), p. 64· 14. Ibid., p. 163; Leandre Vaillat, "Balanchine et 28. "Much Snafu," p. 3. Toumanova," Carrifour, 26 Mar. 1947. Dossier d'ar­ 29. "Interim," "M. Balanchine et Mme Touma­ tiste (Balanchine), BN-Opera. nova," Spectateur, 22 July 1947. Dossier d'artiste 15. Rene Miquel, "Pour remplacer Serge Lifar (Balan chine) , BN-Opera. a l'Opera Balanchine a laisse aux U.S.A. une situa­ 30. John Martin, "Paris Opera Gives Ballet by Li­ tion de 2.500 dollars," France-Soir, 22 Mar. 1947. far," NYT, 24 Sept. 1948, p. 30. Dossier d'artiste (Balanchine), BN-Opera. 31. Walter Terry: The Ballet," New York Herald Tri­ 16. P. M., "Avant de danser des ballets russes bune, 24 Sept. 1948, p. 20. Balanchine et la Toumanova re~oivent dans un 32. Anthony Fay, "The Paris Opera Ballet - New decor iberique," Quatre etTrois, 3 Apr. 1947. Dossier York, 1948," Ballet Review, vol. 21 , no. 2 (Summer d'artiste (Balanchine), BN-Opera. 1993), p. 91. 17. Leandre Vaillat, "Danse: Vingt ans apres," 33. John Martin, "City Ballet Group in First Pro-

BALLET REVIEW gram," NYT, 12 Oct. 1948, p. 33. versions), Orpheus, Agon, The Four Temperaments, 34. David Caute, The Dancer Difects: The Struggle for , , Movements for Piano and Or­ Cultural Supremacy During the Cold War (New York: Ox­ chestra, Glinkiana: Divertimento Brillante, and Who ford University Press, 2003), p. 552. For an account Cares? of the festival, see Frances Stonor Saunders, The 44. Walter Terry, quoted in Nancy Reynolds, Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World ofArts and Let­ Repertory in Review: Forty Years of the New York City ters (New York: New Press, 1999), chap. 8 ("Cette Ballet, introd. Lincoln Kirstein (New York: Dial Fete Americaine"). Press, 1977), p. 187. 35. "Georges Balanchine etle New York City Bal­ 45. Violette Verdy, quoted ibid., p. 186. leta.I'Opera de Paris," fEspoir (Nice), 19 June 1965. 46. John Martin, "Ballet: Balanchine's Work," Dossier compagnie (NYCB), BN-Opera. NYT, 9 Jan. 1958, p. 40. 36. Y. K. , [unidentified column], Scenes et Pistes, 47. George Balanchine and Francis Mason, Bal­ Dec. 1963. Dossier d'artiste (Balan chine) , BN­ anchine's Complete Stories of the Great Ballets, rev. ed. Opera. (Garden City: Doubleday, 1977), p. 608. 37. Anna Kisselgoff, "John Taras to Reorganize 48. George Balanchine, "The Occasion," in Nan­ Paris Ballet," NYT, 22 Aug. 1969, p. 41. cyGoldner, The Stravinsky Festival ofthe New York City 38. The list is culled from the "Balanchine­ Ballet (New York: Eakins Press, 1973), pp. 13-14. Robbins" and "Hommage a George Balanchine" This "article" is actually a transcription of Balan­ souvenir programs (BN-Opera) and the repertory chine's remarks at a press conference on March 6, list in Ivor Guest's Le Ballet de ['Opera de Paris 1972, announcing the Stravinsky Festival. (Paris: Opera de ParistFlammarion, 1976). For the 49. Verdy, quoted in Reynolds, Repertory in Re­ exchange program, see "U. S. Debut for Ghislaine view, p. 256. Thesmar," NYT, II June 1976, p. 64; Anna Kissel­ 50. Clive Barnes, "Ballet: Another Balanchine goff, "Dance: Thesmar Visits," NYT, 13 June 1976, Premiere," NYT, 25 Nov. 1968, p. 57. p. 61; Clive Barnes, "Dance: French Ballerina," NYT, 51. RobertGaris, "The New York City Ballet," Par­ 22 June 1976, p. 32. tisan Review, Fall 1968, p. 581. 39. Quoted in Gretchen Ward Warren, The Art 52. She spoke about this at the symposium of Teaching Ballet: Ten Twentieth-Century Masters "From the Mariinsky to Manhattan: George Bal­ (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1996), anchine and the Transformation of American P·243· Dance," University of Michigan, I Nov. 2003. See 40. Jacqueline Rayet, "Une Danseuse fran~aise also Reynolds, Repertory in Review, p. 250. se souvient," Les Saisons de laDanse, 10 June 1983, pp. 53. George Balanchine and Francis Mason, 101 14-15. This was partofthe magazine's "Hommage Stories of the Great Ballets (New York: Doubleday, aBalanchine." 1975), p. 23 2. 41. George Balanchine, "Creation d'un ballet," 54. Edwin Denby, Dance Writings, ed. Robert Revue chorigraphique de Paris, May 1952, p. 9. The Cornfield and William McKay (New York: Knopf, original article, "How I Arrange my Ballets and 1986), p. 575· Dances,"was published in TheDanceJournal, vol. III, 55. "Conversation with Edwin Denby - I," Ballet nos. 10-11 (Aug.tOct. 1931), pp. 464-66. The Dance Review, vol. 2, no. 5 (1969), p. 3. An editorial note Journal was the official organ of the Imperial Soci­ explained that "Mr. Denby was interviewed on dif­ ety of Teachers of Dancing. ferent occasions by Arlene Croce, Don McDonagh 42. Louis Marcorelles, "Georges Balanchine etle and George Dorris" early in 1969. The opening part ballet cinematographique," Cahiers du Cinema, Feb. of the conversation, in which Denby reminiscences 1957, pp. 34, 35· about La Valse, was conducted by McDonagh. 43. Among the works recorded by the CBC were 56. Buckle, George Balanchine, p. 187. Concerto Barocco (two versions), Pas de Dix, Serenade, 57. Lincoln Kirstein, Thirty Years: The New York Divertimento No . 15, Liebeslieder Walzer, Apollo (two City Ballet (New York: Knopf, 1978), p. 127.

SUMMER 2007