Mozartiana (ballet)

''Mozartiana'' is a ballet choreographed by George Balanchine to Tchaikovsky's Orchestral Suite No. 4, ''Mozartiana''. The current version of the ballet was made for New York City Ballet's Tchaikovsky Festival, and premiered on June 4, 1981, at the New York State Theater. It is considered Balanchine's last major work.

Balanchine had previously choreographed to the same score in 1933, for his short-lived troupe Les Ballets 1933 in Paris, his first major ballet to music by Tchaikovsky. It had its American premiere the following year, and Balanchine made some changes to the choreography in 1935. This earlier version was performed by several troupes until 1956. This version's choreography and designs are completely different from the 1981 version.

Previous versions

In 1933, George Balanchine and librettist Boris Kochno co-founded Les Ballets 1933, after being dismissed from the Original Ballet Russe. The company was mainly funded by Edward James, and also backed by friends such as composer Cole Porter and fashion designer Coco Chanel. One of the ballets Balanchine choreographed for the company was ''Mozartiana'', to Tchaikovsky's Orchestral Suite No. 4, ''Mozartiana'', which was written as a tribute to Mozart. It was the first time Balanchine created a major ballet to music by Tchaikovsky. The costumes and set were designed by Christian Bérard. The ballet premiered on June 7, 1933, at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris, at Les Ballets 1933's first-ever performance. It starred a fourteen-year-old Tamara Toumanova and Roman Jasinski. The company disbanded after four weeks of performances in Paris and London between June and July.

In 1934, Balanchine co-founded the School of American Ballet in New York. To allow the students to learn his style, Balanchine had the students learn the works he made for Les Ballets 1933, including ''Mozartiana''. In June 1934, the students performed the ballet at the school co-founder Edward Warburg's estate in White Plains, New York, despite Balanchine's reluctance to let the inexperienced students to dance in front of an audience. Among the students in ''Mozartiana'' were Marie-Jeanne. Some of the girls had to perform roles that were meant for men. The students performed the ballet again in December that year, this time at Avery Memorial Theatre, Hartford, Connecticut, at the invitation of Arthur Everett Austin Jr.

In 1935, Balanchine's American Ballet revived ''Mozartiana'', with parts of the choreography revised. It was performed at the company's cross-country tour, starting at Westchester County Center in White Plains, New York. However, the tour was canceled after two weeks. It was performed at least once at the Metropolitan Opera House the following year. In 1945, Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo revived ''Mozartiana'', with a cast led by Alexandra Danilova and Frederic Franklin. In 1956, Danilova's troupe performed ''Mozartiana''. This was the last revival of the original ''Mozartiana'', making it the longest-lived ballet in the Les Ballet 1933 repertory.

Production

In 1981, Balanchine, who had made thirty-seven ballets to music by Tchaikovsky, decided that the New York City Ballet would hold an eleven day-long Tchaikovsky Festival to pay tribute to the composer. For the festival, he decided to rechoreograph ''Mozartiana''.

Balanchine chose Suzanne Farrell to dance the female lead role. According to Farrell's memoir, she thought it was possible that ''Mozartiana'' would be the last time the two work together due to Balanchine's poor health. He asked her who did she want to dance the ballet with, and she suggested Peter Martins, her frequent partner. However, Balanchine suggested Ib Andersen, a new member of the company whom Farrell had never danced with. Despite her initial reservations, Farrell soon realized that Andersen fitted the vision Balanchine had for the ballet. Balanchine was so impressed by Andersen's subtleness and musicality that he once exclaimed "Ib ''is'' Mozart." Victor Castelli was chosen as another soloist in the ballet. Four students at the School of American Ballet, Dara Adler, Lisa Cantor, Amy Fixler and Tamara Aguirre Molina, were all cast in the ballet.

Rehearsals for the new ''Mozartiana'' began in May, three weeks before the ballet premiere, while the company's performance season was ongoing, all other ballet masters were busy working on other ballets, and Balanchine himself was staging other works. Balanchine changed the sequence of the music, with Preghiera moved to the beginning of the ballet, so Farrell could dance in both Preghiera and the Theme and Variations. It took one to three hours for Balanchine to work on each sections of the ballet, with few changes made afterwards. Preghiera was the last section Balanchine worked on, and was choreographed between the matinee and evening performances in one day. Balanchine however was unable to decided how the Theme and Variations should end until the day of the premiere. During one of the last rehearsals for the ballet, Castelli injured himself, and was replaced with Christopher d'Amboise, a new member of the company and son of principal dancer Jacques d'Amboise. Both Farrell and former members of Ballet Russe noted the 1981 ''Mozartiana'' is completely different to the previous versions.

The costumes were designed by Rouben Ter-Arutunian, replacing the Christian Bérard designs for the 1933 version. Farrell recalled that Ter-Arutunian and Balanchine went through multiple versions of the costumes for her. The final product, a knee-length black tutu, was completed on the day of the dress rehearsal and the day before the premiere. Previously, Farrell was usually dressed in white in Balanchine ballets.

Robert Maiorano, a former soloist at the company who went on to become a writer, was allowed to observe the development process for ''Mozartiana''. He and Valerie Brooks then co-authored the book ''Balanchine's Mozartiana: The Making of a Masterpiece'', published in 1985.

''Mozartiana'' was made after Balanchine signed his will. As one of the ballets not specified in his will, the rights to the ballet went to dancer Karin von Aroldingen and his secretary Barbara Horgan, both of whom inherited many of his works, following his death in 1983.

Choreography

''Mozartiana'' is danced by a principal ballerina, two men, a corps de ballet of four tall women, and four young girls. Farrell noted the ballet is challenging for the dancers' stamina, and added, "''Mozartiana'' is a ballet that is big for the eyes and ears, but is danced by a small cast. Though it is contained, it's all over the place. There are some very hard, different things in it. Having a good class beforehand isn't going to make you dance this ballet better. And there's nothing in it that you can relate to other ballets you've done, for security."

The first section of the ballet is Preghiera, or Prayer, is performed by the principal ballerina and the four children. Farrell commented, "Technically, this dance was short and simple, but it required a state of mind beyond anything I had ever attempted before. It was a hymn shared by alanchineand me, an offering that could happen only in movement and music, not in words. Balanchine's biographer Bernard Taper noted that in this section accented the theme of memento mori

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