Stravinsky and Balanchine count to 12

Synopsis

On today’s date in 1957, the New York City Ballet staged a new collaboration between the great Russian-born composer Igor Stravinsky and the great Russian-born choreographer Georges Balanchine.

The New York City company had been asking Stravinsky for nearly a decade to write a third ballet on a classical subject to make up a trilogy of works that would include his two earlier dance works on Greek mythology, “Apollo” from 1928 and “Orpheus” from 1948.

Just as they were about to despair that Stravinsky would ever write another big ballet, he unexpectedly obliged—if not with a Greek myth, at least with a Greek WORD: He titled his new ballet for Balanchine “Agon,” the Greek word for contest or struggle.

A 17th century French dance manual provided Stravinsky with a visual image of two trumpeters accompanying a dance, and that prompted one of the Ballet’s movements, entitled “bransle simple,” which prominently features those instruments. On a more modern note, by the 1950s, as Stravinsky’s assistant Robert Craft recalled, “Something called twelve-tone music was in the air, and ‘Agon’ is about 12 dancers and 12 tones.”

“Agon” is also set in 12 scenes, and some of its movements were consciously laid out in multiples of 12 bars. Balanchine himself said in working on the ballet, “Stravinsky and I constructed every possibility of dividing 12”—which in dance terms, meant abstract solos, duets, trios and quartets to match the abstract, if eminently danceable, nature of Stravinsky’s score.

Music Played in Today's Program

Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) Agon Ballet Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra; Michael Stern, cond. Denon 78972

On This Day

Births

• 1709 - German composer Franz Xaver Richter, probably in Holleschau, Moravia;

• 1823 - French opera composer Ernest (Louise-Etienne-Ernest) Reyer, in Marseilles; An ardent admirer of Wagner, Ernest Reyer added a Germanic "-er" to his real last name "Rey"; His most famous opera is "Sigurd"(1884), a retelling of the Siegfried story familiar from Wagner's "Ring" cycle, but set in the style of a French grand opera;

• 1847 - Norwegian composer and pianist Agathe Backer-Grondahl, in Holmestrand;

Deaths

• 1707 - British composer and organist Jeremiah Clarke, age c. 33, commits suicide in London, supposedly after an unhappy love affair; This date is according to the Julian "Old Style" calendar still in use in England that year (Gregorian date: Dec. 12);

• 1950 - Anglo-Irish composer Ernest John Moeran, age 55, near Kenmare, Ireland;

Premieres

• 1832 - Mendelssohn: Overture, "Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage," in Berlin;

• 1902 - Nielsen: Symphony No. 2 ("The Four Temperaments") in Copenhagen;

• 1924 - Gershwin: musical "Lady, Be Good," at the Liberty Theater in New York City; This show featured Fred and Adele Astaire and included the classic Gershwin songs "Fascinating Rhythm," "Oh, Lady Be Good," and "The Half of It, Dearie, Blues";

• 1934 - Ravel: "Don Quichotte à Dulcinée," his last work, in Paris at a Colonne Concert;

• 1935 - Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2, by the Madrid Symphony, with the Spanish conductor Enrique Fernández Arbós and the French violinist Robert Soëtens;

• 1937 - Vaughan Williams: one-act opera "Riders to the Sea," in London;

• 1944 - Bartók: "Concerto for Orchestra," by the Boston Symphony, Serge Koussevitzky conducting; Bartók composed a revised and more dramatic ending for this work this work soon after the Boston premiere (The original ending heard at the premiere was judged too perfunctory and abrupt);

• 1944 - Gruenberg: Violin Concerto, Op. 47, by violinist Jascha Heifetz, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting;

• 1951 - Britten: opera, "Billy Budd" (libretto by E.M. Forester, after Hermann Melville), in London, at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, with the composer conducting;

• 1956 - Bernstein: musical "Candide" (original version) at Martin Beck Theater in New York City; A trial run opened at the Colonial Theater in Boston on October 29, 1956; Bernstein revised the work in 1973 (Chelsea Theater version), 1982 (New York City Opera version), 1988 ("opera house" version), and 1989 ("concert version" with narrator);

• 1957 - Stravinsky: ballet "Agon," at the New York City Ballet, choreographed by Georges Balanchine; The first concert performance of Stravinsky's ballet score occurred on June 17, 1957, at a 75th birthday concert for Stravinsky in Los Angeles conducted by Robert Craft;

• 1977 - Lukas Foss: "American Cantata," in New York City;

Others

• 1736 - J.S. Bach gives an organ recital at the Frauenkirche in Dresden;

• 1822 - The 11 year-old pianist Franz Liszt performs for the first time in Vienna at that city's town hall; His first public appearance ever had occurred in October of 1820, in Oedenberg, when he was 9 years old;

• 1859 - The French Opera House opens in New Orleans with Rossini's "William Tell";

• 1886 - Wagner's opera "Tristan und Isolde" receives its American premiere at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, with Wagner's protégé, Anton Seidl, conducting;