Portrait of Hugh Laing, in Jardin aux Lilas LCCN2004663158

''Jardin aux lilas'' (''Lilac Garden'') is a

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

in one act choreographed by

Antony Tudor Antony Tudor (born William Cook; 4 April 1908 – 19 April 1987) was an English ballet choreographer, teacher and dancer. He founded the London Ballet, and later the Philadelphia Ballet Guild in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., in the mid-1950 ...

to a composition by

Ernest Chausson Amédée-Ernest Chausson (; 20 January 1855 – 10 June 1899) was a French Romantic composer who died just as his career was beginning to flourish. Life Born in Paris into an affluent bourgeois family, Chausson was the sole surviving child of a ...

entitled '' Poème'', Op. 25. With scenery and costumes designed by Hugo Stevenson, it was first presented by

Ballet Rambert Rambert (known as Rambert Dance Company before 2014) is a leading British dance company. Formed at the start of the 20th century as a classical ballet company, it exerted a great deal of influence on the development of dance in the United Kingd ...

at the

Mercury Theatre The Mercury Theatre was an independent repertory theatre company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and producer John Houseman. The company produced theatrical presentations, radio programs and motion pictures. The Mercury also ...

, London, on 26 January 1936. It is considered to be the first of the genre of psychological ballets.

History

The inspiration for Chausson's ''Poème'' came from a novella by the Russian writer

Ivan Turgenev Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (; rus, links=no, Ива́н Серге́евич Турге́невIn Turgenev's day, his name was written ., p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrˈɡʲenʲɪf; 9 November 1818 – 3 September 1883 (Old Style dat ...

, known to him in French as ''Le Chant de l'amour triomphant'' and in English as ''The Song of Triumphant Love'', which concerns a set of intertwined relationships. Tudor tried setting his ballet to other compositions before realizing that ''Poème'' was a perfect fit for the situation he wished to portray. His ballet about unrequited love is as much about the necessity of people of the British upper classes to suppress their emotions and yield to the constraints of social convention. As a psychological study, it is a mirror of the interior monologue of its heroine, Caroline. ''Jardin aux lilas'' is an early example of Tudor's mastery of conveying profound psychological meaning and nuance through ballet vocabulary. Among his earlier works, it is also one of his most beloved. Mounted by numerous companies around the world, including

American Ballet Theatre American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant, it is recognized as one of the world's leading classical ballet companies. Through 2019, it had an annual ei ...

and the

Paris Opera Ballet The Paris Opera Ballet () is a French ballet company that is an integral part of the Paris Opera. It is the oldest national ballet company, and many European and international ballet companies can trace their origins to it. It is still regarded ...

, it continues to be performed today.

Synopsis

The ballet is set at an evening garden party during the

Edwardian era The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

(1901–1910) in England. A young woman, Caroline, who is engaged to marry a man she does not love, has come to say goodbye to her friends and, particularly, Her Lover. She steals brief moments with him during the gathering, while The Man She Must Marry himself privately encounters An Episode in His Past, also present at the party. Attempts at intimacy are constantly interrupted by other guests. Caroline ultimately bids Her Lover a halted farewell as The Man She Must Marry takes her on his arm and leads her away in their betrothal of convenience. Her Lover, having secretly given Caroline a gift of lilacs at the last possible moment, is left alone as the curtain closes.

Original cast

''Jardin aux lilas'' is ideally suited to performance in a small theater, where the audience has a clear view of the subtle, emotionally wrought exchanges among the four principal characters. The original cast included

Maude Lloyd Maude may refer to: Places *Maude, New South Wales, a village on the lower Murrumbidgee River in Australia *Maude, South Australia, a locality in South Australia *Maude, Victoria, a town in Australia *Cape Maude, a high ice-covered cape forming ...

as Caroline,

Hugh Laing Hugh Laing (6 June 191110 May 1988) was one of the most significant dramatic ballet dancers of the 20th-century. He danced with Marie Rambert's Ballet Club and New York City Ballet. He was the partner of choreographer Antony Tudor. Biography ...

as Her Lover, Tudor himself as The Man She Must Marry, and

Peggy van Praagh Dame Margaret van Praagh (1 September 1910 – 15 January 1990) was a British ballet dancer, choreographer, teacher, repetiteur, producer, advocate and director, who spent much of her later career in Australia. Early life Peggy van Praagh ...

as An Episode in His Past. In January 1940, the American premiere was given by Ballet Theatre during its inaugural season in New York, with Tudor and Laing in their original roles, Viola Essen as Caroline, and Karen Conrad as An Episode in His Past.

Legacy

Two versions of this dance were documented in

Labanotation Labanotation (the grammatically correct form "Labannotation" or "Laban notation" is uncommon) is a system for analyzing and recording human movement. The inventor was Rudolf von Laban (1879-1958), a central figure in European modern dance, who d ...

by the

Dance Notation Bureau The Dance Notation Bureau (DNB) is a non-profit organization founded to preserve choreographic works through notating dance scores in Labanotation and collaborating with dance companies to stage reconstructions of those works. Based in New York C ...

. The first was notated in 1967. The second was notated in 1981.

References

{{reflist Ballets by Antony Tudor Ballets to the music of Ernest Chausson 1936 ballet premieres