''Elegy'' is a composition by

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

for solo

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

composed in 1944. It was dedicated to the memory of Alphonse Onnou, the founder of the

Pro Arte Quartet The Pro Arte String Quartet is a string quartet founded in Belgium, which became affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1941. History Origins 1912-1941 The Pro Arte String Quartet was founded by Alphonse Onnou in Brussels in 1912 ...

. The score bears no

time signature A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates th ...

, but the

metronome A metronome () is a device that produces an audible click or other sound at a uniform interval that can be set by the user, typically in beats per minute (BPM). Metronomes may also include synchronized visual motion, such as a swinging pendulum ...

marking sets the tempo at = 56. The opening section is in the style of a

chant A chant (from French ', from Latin ', "to sing") is the iterative speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two main pitches called reciting tones. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of no ...

above a rippling accompaniment. The middle section contains elements of a

fugue In classical music, a fugue (, from Latin ''fuga'', meaning "flight" or "escape""Fugue, ''n''." ''The Concise Oxford English Dictionary'', eleventh edition, revised, ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson (Oxford and New York: Oxford Universit ...

, though there are never more than two independent voices. After its climax, the ''Elegy'' closes with a recapitulation of its opening. The viola is directed to play with mute throughout. The piece can alternately be played by a solo

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

pitched a fifth higher.

Choreography

''Elegy'' was later choreographed as a

neoclassical ballet Neoclassical ballet is the style of 20th-century classical ballet exemplified by the works of George Balanchine. The term "neoclassical ballet" appears in the 1920s with Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, in response to the excesses of romanti ...

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze;, Romanization of Georgian, : April 30, 1983) was a Georgian-American ballet choreographer, recognized as one of the most influential choreographers ...

. He made three versions of the ballet, which premiered in 1948, 1966, and 1982 respectively. The first version, a

pas de deux In ballet, a ( French, literally "step of two") is a dance duet in which two dancers, typically a male and a female, perform ballet steps together. The ''pas de deux'' is characteristic of classical ballet and can be found in many well-known ...

, premiered on April 28, 1948 at the City Center of Music and Drama, during a

Ballet Society Ballet Society is a non-profit educational institution founded in 1946 by Lincoln Kirstein and George Balanchine. At its founding, Balanchine was the Artistic Director and Kirstein served as the Secretary. The president of Ballet Society is Nan ...

performance, with dancers

Tanaquil Le Clercq Tanaquil Le Clercq ( ; October 2, 1929 – December 31, 2000) was an American ballet dancer, born in Paris, France, who became a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet at the age of nineteen. Her dancing career ended abruptly when she ...

and Pat McBride, and violist

Emanuel Vardi Emanuel Vardi (21 April 1915 – 29 January 2011), an American violist, was considered to have been one of the great viola players of the 20th century. Early life Emanuel Vardi was born April 21, 1915, in Jerusalem. His mother, Anna Joffa Va ...

. Stravinsky described this version as a preview of a pas de deux from the ballet ''

Orpheus In Greek mythology, Orpheus (; , classical pronunciation: ) was a Thracians, Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet. He was also a renowned Ancient Greek poetry, poet and, according to legend, travelled with Jason and the Argonauts in se ...

''. The second version is a solo premiered on July 15, 1966 at the Philharmonic Hall, performed by dancer

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

and violist Jesse Levine, in a program about Stravinsky directed by

Lukas Foss Lukas Foss (August 15, 1922 – February 1, 2009) was a German-American composer, pianist, and conductor. Career Born Lukas Fuchs in Berlin, Germany in 1922, Foss was soon recognized as a child prodigy. He began piano and theory lessons with J ...

. The

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's fir ...

premiered it later that month with the same cast. The last version, again with Farrell, premiered on June 13, 1982 at the

New York State Theater The David H. Koch Theater is a theater for ballet and dance at Lincoln Center in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Originally named the New York State Theater, the venue has been home to the New York City Ballet sinc ...

, as part of NYCB's Stravinsky Centennial Celebration, with Warren Laffredo playing the viola on stage. Balanchine died the following year. It was not revived until 2012 at the Vail Dance Festival, danced by

Pacific Northwest Ballet Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) is an American ballet company based in Seattle, Washington. It is said to have the highest per capita attendance in the United States, with 11,000 subscribers in 2004. The company consists of 49 dancers and hosts ...

Carla Körbes Carla Körbes is a Brazilian ballet dancer who performed as a principal dancer with the Pacific Northwest Ballet, then became the associate artistic director of L.A Dance Project. She is now an associate professor at Indiana University Jacobs ...

. Artistic director of the festival

Damian Woetzel Damian Woetzel (born May 17, 1967) is an American choreographer. Woetzel was a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, where he performed from 1985 until 2008. He also frequently performed with companies like the Kirov Ballet and Amer ...

learned the choreography via tapes of Farrell, then taught it to Körbes. In 2020, due to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the festival streamed video of the 2012 performance online.

References

Cited source

External links

''Élégie''
on the website of the Balanchine Trust Ballets by George Balanchine Ballets to the music of Igor Stravinsky 1982 ballets New York City Ballet repertory New York City Ballet Stravinsky Centennial Celebration Compositions by Igor Stravinsky Instrumental solo pieces Compositions for viola {{ballet-stub