''Chaconne'' is a ballet made by

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company' ...

co-founder and ballet master George Balanchine to ballet music from Gluck's '' Orfeo ed Euridice'' (Vienna, 1762; Paris, 1774). The premiere took place Wednesday, 22 January 1976 at the New York State Theater,

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 milli ...

, with lighting by

Ronald Bates Ronald Bates (July 14, 1932 - August 25, 1986) was an American ballet lighting designer, particularly for the New York City Ballet. Early life and career Bates was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1932. He studied scenic design at Los Angeles City ...

; Robert Irving conducted. ''Chaconne'' was danced in practice clothes at its premiere; Karinska's costumes were added in the spring season. The finale to ''Orfeo ed Euridice'' is a ''

chaconne A chaconne (; ; es, chacona, links=no; it, ciaccona, links=no, ; earlier English: ''chacony'') is a type of musical composition often used as a vehicle for variation on a repeated short harmonic progression, often involving a fairly short rep ...

'', a dance form built on a short bass phrase and often used by 17th and 18th century opera composers to achieve a festive mood at the end. The choreography was first performed at the Hamburgische Staatsoper in their 1963 production of '' Orpheus und Eurydike'' and somewhat altered in ''Chaconne'', especially that for the principal dancers. Balanchine added the ''pas de deux'' for Suzanne Farrell and Peter Martins to the 1976 ballet and the opening ensemble (to the 1774 '' Dance of the Blessed Spirits'') for the Spring season. Balanchine's first ''

Orpheus and Eurydice The ancient legend of Orpheus and Eurydice (, ''Orpheus, Eurydikē'') concerns the fateful love of Orpheus of Thrace for the beautiful Eurydice. Orpheus was the son of Apollo and the muse Calliope. It may be a late addition to the Orpheus myths ...

'' was made on the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is oper ...

in 1936; his approach, the singers remaining in the pit while the action was danced on stage, was ''not'' well received; the production had only two performances. He choreographed '' Orphée et Eurydice'' for the Théâtre National de l'Opéra, Paris in 1973 and '' Orfeo ed Euridice'' for the Chicago Lyric Opera in 1975 as well.

Original cast

: ''Pas de trois'' * Renee Estopinal * Wilhelmina Frankfurt * Jay Jolley : ''Pas de deux'' *

Susan Hendl Susan Coxe Hendl (September 18, 1947 – October 12, 2020) was an American ballet dancer and '' répétiteur''. She danced with the New York City Ballet between 1963 and 1983, then staged and coached works by George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins ...

* Jean-Pierre Frohlich : ''Pas de cinq'' * Elise Flagg * Bonita Borne * Elyse Borne * Laura Flagg * Nichol Hlinka : ''Pas de deux'' *

Suzanne Farrell Suzanne Farrell (born August 16, 1945) is an American ballerina and the founder of the Suzanne Farrell Ballet at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Farrell began her ballet training at the age of eight. In 1960, she received a scholarship ...

Peter Martins Peter Martins (born 27 October 1946) is a Danish ballet dancer and choreographer. Martins was a principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet and with the New York City Ballet, where he joined George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and John Taras as ...

: Chaconne'' *

Susan Pilarre The School of American Ballet (SAB) is the most renowned ballet school in the United States. School of American Ballet is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New ...

* Marjorie Spohn * Tracy Bennett :''and corps de ballet'' *

* Gerard Ebitz

Filmography

*1978 TFC, ''Peter Martins: A Dancer'', ''pas de deux''*

Videography / DVD

*1995 Nonesuch, ''The Balanchine Library: Choreography by Balanchine'', excerpts (1978) *2001 Kultur, ''Peter Martins: A Dancer'', ''pas de deux'' *2004 Kultur, ''Balanchine'', excerpts

Television

*1978

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

, ''Dance in America'', excerpts *1978 CBC, Montreal *1983

, ''Gala of Stars'', excerpt *1984 TF1, ''

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroa ...

Articles

Sunday NY Times
by

Clive Barnes Clive Alexander Barnes (13 May 1927 – 19 November 2008) was an English writer and critic. From 1965 to 1977, he was the dance and theater critic for ''The New York Times'', and, from 1978 until his death, '' The New York Post.'' Barnes had sig ...

, February 1, 1976
Sunday NY Times
by Elizabeth Kendall, February 8, 1976

by Anna Kisselgoff, February 16, 1976

by Daniel J. Wakin, October 23, 2010

Reviews

, January 24, 1976
NY Times review
by

, February 9, 1976
NY Times review
by

Anna Kisselgoff Anna Kisselgoff (born 12 January 1938) is a dance critic and cultural news reporter for ''The New York Times''. She began at the ''Times'' as a dance critic and cultural news reporter in 1968, and became its Chief Dance Critic in 1977, a role she h ...

, January 31, 1982
NY Times review
by

, May 28, 1987
NY Times review
by Jack Anderson, February 8, 1994
NY Times review
by Jack Anderson, June 30, 2001
NY Times review
by Jack Anderson, May 3, 2003
NY Times review
by

Alastair Macaulay Alastair Macaulay is an English writer and dance critic. He was the chief dance critic for '' The New York Times'' from 2007 until he retired in 2018. He was previously chief dance critic at '' The Times'' and Literary Supplement and chief theater ...

, November 27, 2007

film

NY Times review of ''Dance in America''

External links

Chaconne
on the website of the Balanchine Trust {{DEFAULTSORT:Chaconne (Ballet) Ballets by George Balanchine Ballets to the music of Christoph Willibald Gluck 1976 ballet premieres Ballets designed by Barbara Karinska Ballets designed by Ronald Bates New York City Ballet repertory