Music TheoryPrint

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Serenade (ballet)

Serenade is a ballet by George Balanchine to Tchaikovsky's 1880 Serenade for Strings in C, Op. 48. Serenade is credited as being George Balanchine's first full-length ballet in America. Using the

Analysis#

The work can be considered a bridge between his two early works for Sergei Diaghilev and his later, less episodic American works. The dance is characterized by two falls, a choreographic allusion to Giselle, but also an element in the Khorumi, a Georgian folk dance which influenced Balanchine. While plotless, Serenade reflected the ups and downs of choreographing a ballet, and made the humanity of the dancers clear when he choreographed their real-life mistakes into the finished product. By achieving this, Balanchine made the ballet very student-friendly: according to City Ballet’s Robert Gottlieb, the ballet was formed in such a way “in order to have something to teach the students with—something they could handle yet would stretch their abilities,”. While the piece was first choreographed with students in mind, the American Ballet is the first ballet company credited with performing it. Starting in 1935 the company performed Serenade, first for two weeks in New York City and then moving on with a fourteen-week tour of the United States. While their early performances were not highly successful, many interpreted this “lack of enthusiasm as an indication of the company’s immaturity,” and ballet’s general premature introduction to the United States.

Original cast#

  • Leda Anchutina
  • Holly Howard
  • Elise Reiman
  • Elena de Rivas
  • Sylvia Giselle (Gisella Caccialanza)
  • Helen Leitch
  • Annabelle Lyon
  • Kathryn Mullowny
  • Heidi Vosseler
  • Ruthanna Boris
  • Charles Laskey

General references#

  • Playbill, NYCB, Friday, February 22, 2008
  • Repertory Week, NYCB, Winter season, 2008 repertory, week 7

Articles#

  • Sunday NY Times, June 10, 1934
  • NY Times, June 11, 1934
  • NY Times, February 10, 1936
  • Sunday NY Times by John Martin, July 27, 1941
  • NY Times by John Martin, June 24, 1942
  • Sunday NY Times by Anna Kisselgoff, September 25, 1983
  • NY Times by Roberta Heshenson April 11, 2004

Obituaries#

*NY Times of Marie-Jeanne by Jack Anderson, January 3, 2008

Reviews#

  • NY Times by John Martin, October 18, 1940
  • NY Times by John Martin, December 21, 1956
  • NY Times by John Martin, August 29, 1959
  • Ballet Magazine, by Eric Taub, February–March 2004
  • NY Times by Jennifer Dunning, February 18, 2008
  • Serenade on the website of the Balanchine Trust
Composer
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky