Portrait of Hugh Laing and Nora Kaye, in Pillar of Fire LCCN2004663169

''Pillar of Fire'' is a 30-minute dramatic ballet 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 ...

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...

's ''

Verklärte Nacht ''Verklärte Nacht'' (''Transfigured Night''), Op. 4, is a string sextet in one movement composed by Arnold Schoenberg in 1899. Composed in just three weeks, it is considered his earliest important work. It was inspired by Richard Dehmel's poe ...

'' (''Transfigured Night''), Op. 4.

Performance history

The work was first produced by Ballet Theatre (now the

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 ...

) at the Metropolitan Opera House on 8 April 1942. The opening-night cast included

Nora Kaye Nora Kaye-Ross (January 17, 1920 – February 28, 1987) was an American prima-ballerina known for her ability to perform dramatic roles. Called the ''Duse of Dance'' after the acclaimed actress Eleonora Duse, she also worked in films as a chor ...

as Hagar,

as the Young man,

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 the Man in the house across the way, Lucia Chase as the Eldest Sister, Annabelle Lyon as the Youngest Sister, Maria Karnilova, Charles Dickson, Jan Davidson, John Kriza, Virginia Wilcox, Wallace Seibert, Jean Hunt, Barbara Fallis, Sono Osato, Rosella Hightower, Muriel Bentley,

Jerome Robbins Jerome Robbins (born Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz; October 11, 1918 – July 29, 1998) was an American dancer, choreographer, film director, theatre director and producer who worked in classical ballet, on stage, film, and television. Among his nu ...

, Donald Saddler, Frank Hobi, Balina Razoumova, and Roszika Sabo.

Synopsis

American Ballet Theatre describes it in full extensive detail in its archives. The setting is a small country town in 1900 (perhaps in Schoenberg's Austria). Hagar, the middle of three sisters, whose elder sister is a spinster, foresees the same fate for herself. Hagar is surrounded on the one side by the prude and judging neighboring women of the small town, and on the other by licentious men and their hedonistic women. The man she unrequitedly loves seems to show preference for her flirtatious younger sister. Hagar in desperation gives herself sexually to one of the licentious men, whom she definitely does not love, and who then immediately leaves her abandoned. Afterwards she is shunned by the prude and judging women and is totally distraught by what she has done. This resulting crisis, however, unites her with the one she really loves - the man she loves comes to her, and they dance together rapturously. The ballet is set in the period around 1900 because it was then that Schoenberg composed its music ''

'' ("Transfigured Night"). The story plot is based on several traditional text versions - in some versions Hagar becomes pregnant before her true love finally comes to her.

An actual performance

An actual American Ballet Theatre performance, together with spoken brief remarks by Anthony Tudor, is available on YouTube.

Legacy

This ballet was 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 ...

in 1982.

References

Notes Sources * Naughtin, Matthew (2014). ''Ballet Music''. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. Ballets by Antony Tudor Ballets to the music of Arnold Schoenberg 1942 ballet premieres {{Ballet-stub