Concerto Barocco

Choreography#

Concerto Barocco is plotless, and is danced by two principal women, a principal man, and a corps de ballet of eight women. Each of the principal woman dances to one of the violin lines, while the corps dances to the orchestra. The only preparation possible for this ballet is a knowledge of its music, for Concerto Barocco has no “subject matter” beyond the score which it is danced and the particular dancers who execute it. Set to Bach’s Concerto in D minor for Two Violins, the ballet tries to interest the audience only by its dancing, its treatment of the ballet, just as Baroque art and architecture interested people not because of their subject but because of the decorative treatment that embellished those subjects. In the original choreography, Balanchine incorporated elements of jazz dance. Marie-Jeanne, the lead ballerina in the original cast, wrote in 1991, " Balanchine changed Barocco musically, making it fit the beat. Today’s dancers do it slower; they do two beats what we did on one beat. So it’s much easier today. It doesn’t have the sharpness, and it doesn’t have the flow of the adagio." The jazziness in the original choreography was also gone. Taras commented: “Barocco has become rather a tepid, bland classical work now … And now it’s rather romantic, and lyrical. It became diluted.”

Development#

Balanchine had listened to Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins for some years, often a recording by Orchestre symphonique de Paris, conductor Pierre Monteux and violinists Yehudi Menuhin and George Enescu. According to Nathan Milstein, a violinist and friend of Balanchine, the choreographer was interested in Bach for “the mathematical precision of his music and, at the same time, its pure emotional and unfeigned staining for God.” In 1936, impresario Lincoln Kirstein urged Balanchine to choreograph a ballet using the concerto for Paul Draper, a tap dancer and son of his friend Muriel Draper. The project did not materialise but gave Balanchine the idea of incorporating American jazz and tap dance techniques and rhythm into the Bach score. In spring 1941, Balanchine began choreographing Concerto Barocco as an exercise for “stage practice”, a course Balanchine taught to advanced students at the School of American Ballet. Kirstein and Balanchine then hurriedly formed the American Ballet Caravan, with dancers from their two previous troupes, American Ballet and Ballet Caravan, most of whom had trained at the School of American Ballet under Balanchine. Concerto Barocco was thus set to premiere at the South American tour. The original costumes and sets were designed by Eugene Berman, with a backdrop featuring arches and water and costumes with rubberised fabric, leaves and netting. Beginning in 1951, the Berman designs were again dropped from the ballet and replaced by black practice clothes. In 1996, Marie-Jeanne took part in a videotaped session in which she coached students of the School of American Ballet to dance Concerto Barocco in its original form. Other participants of the session include former dancer and teacher Suki Schorer, dancer Merrill Ashley, ballet master John Taras and dance historian Nancy Reynolds.

Performances#

Concerto Barocco had a preview performance on May 29, 1941, at the Little Theater of Hunter College, New York. The ballet then officially premiered on June 27, 1941, at Teatro Municipal, Rio de Janeiro. American Ballet Caravan performed in nine countries, and the tour ended in October, after which the troupe disbanded. Concerto Barocco was performed in New York in 1943 by the American Concert Ballet, a short-lived troupe consisted of Balanchine dancers, led by Dollar, Shea and Todd Bolender. In 1945, Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo, where Balanchine served as resident choreographer, performed the ballet. In 1948, the ballet was performed at the first performance by the New York City Ballet, co-founded by Balanchine and Kirstein, with a cast led by Marie-Jeanne, Ruth Gilbert and Francisco Moncion. National Ballet of Canada, Washington Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Philadelphia Ballet, Ballet West, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Cincinnati Ballet, Los Angeles Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, Cape Town City Ballet, and New Jersey Ballet.

External links#

• Concerto Barocco on the New York City Ballet website
• Concerto Barocco on the Balanchine Trust website