''Triadisches Ballett'' (Triadic Ballet) 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 ...

developed by

Oskar Schlemmer Oskar Schlemmer (4 September 1888 – 13 April 1943) was a German painter, sculptor, designer and choreographer associated with the Bauhaus school. In 1923, he was hired as Master of Form at the Bauhaus theatre workshop, after working at the w ...

. The ballet became the most widely performed avant-garde artistic dance and while Schlemmer was at the

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 20 ...

from 1921 to 1929, the ballet toured, helping to spread the ethos of the Bauhaus.

History

The Triadisches Ballett was conceived in 1912 in Stuttgart in a cooperation between the dance troupe of Albert Burger (1884–1970) and his wife Elsa Hötzel (1886–1966) and Oskar Schlemmer. Parts of the ballet were performed in 1915, but though Burger asked Arnold Schönberg to write the score ("Your music, which I know from the local concert, seemed to me to be the only one suitable for my ideas") he had no success so Schlemmer and the Burgers performed to music by Enrico Bossi. It premiered in the Stuttgart landestheater on 30 September 1922, with music composed by

Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ' ...

. It was also performed in 1923 during the Bauhaus Week at the Nationaltheater, Weimar, and at the Annual Exhibition of German Crafts, Dresden.

Synopsis

Inspired in part by Schoenberg's ''

Pierrot Lunaire ''Dreimal sieben Gedichte aus Albert Girauds "Pierrot lunaire"'' ("Three times Seven Poems from Albert Giraud's 'Pierrot lunaire), commonly known simply as ''Pierrot lunaire'', Op. 21 ("Moonstruck Pierrot" or "Pierrot in the Moonlight"), is a m ...

'' and his observations and experiences during the First World War, Oskar Schlemmer began to conceive of the human body as a new artistic medium. He saw ballet and pantomime as free from the historical baggage of theatre and opera and thus able to present his ideas of choreographed geometry, man as dancer, transformed by costume, moving in space. The idea of the ballet was based on the principle of the trinity. It has 3 acts, 3 participants (2 male, 1 female), 12 dances and 18 costumes. Each act had a different colour and mood. The first three scenes, against a lemon yellow background to affect a cheerful, burlesque mood; the two middle scenes, on a pink stage, festive and solemn and the final three scenes, on black, were intended to be mystical and fantastic. He saw the movement of puppets and marionettes as aesthetically superior to that of humans, as it emphasised that the medium of every art is artificial. This artifice could be expressed through stylised movements and the abstraction of the human body. His consideration of the human form (the abstract geometry of the body e.g. a cylinder for the neck, a circle for head and eyes) led to the all important costume design, to create what he called his ‘figurine'. The music followed and finally the dance movements were decided. Schlemmer saw the modern world driven by two main currents, the mechanised (man as machine and the body as a mechanism) and the primordial impulses (the depths of creative urges). He claimed that the choreographed geometry of dance offered a synthesis, the

Dionysian The Apollonian and the Dionysian are philosophical and literary concepts represented by a duality between the figures of Apollo and Dionysus from Greek mythology. Its popularization is widely attributed to the work ''The Birth of Tragedy'' by Fr ...

and emotional origins of dance, becomes strict and Apollonian in its final form.

Exhibitions

With the help and contribution of Schlemmer's friend

Alf Bayrle Alf Bayrle (15 December 1900 – 11 September 1982), also known as Alf Singer-Bayrle, was a German painter, printmaker and sculptor. Life Bayrle was born in Biberach an der Riss. After his military service and participation in the First Worl ...

the 'figurines' were also shown at a 1930 exhibition at the Societe des Arts Decoratifs in Paris, and again in 1938 at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

exhibition in New York. The figurines were exhibited in stasis, without their choreography. Much later, Schlemmer's figurines appeared in the V & A's 2006

Modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

exhibition accompanied by video recordings of their movement. Some of Schlemmer's original costumes were preserved and can be seen at the

Neue Staatsgalerie The Neue Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart, Germany, was designed by the British firm James Stirling, Michael Wilford and Associates, although largely accredited solely to partner James Stirling. It was constructed between 1979 and 1984. The buildi ...

in Stuttgart,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Related works

Oskar Schlemmer made many similar performance pieces, including his "Figural Cabinet" (1923), described as a ‘mechanical cabaret'; the Bauhaus “Fun Department” parties and festivals; Gesture dance, Hoop dance, Rod dance, Metal and Glass dances, and the futuristic "Men in Space."

Film

Under the title ''Das triadische Ballett,'' the work was produced as a 30-minute color film in 1970 by Bavaria Atelier GmbH, with live-action dancers and new music by Erich Ferstl.

References

{{Paul Hindemith Bauhaus Compositions by Paul Hindemith Ballets by Paul Hindemith Ballets designed by Oskar Schlemmer 1922 compositions 1922 ballet premieres