Mozartiana (ballet)

This article is about Balanchine's 1981 ballet. For the suite of music on which it was created, see Orchestral Suite No. 4 Mozartiana (Tchaikovsky).

Mozartiana is a ballet by New York City Ballet co-founder and balletmaster George Balanchine which opened their Tschaikovsky Festival. It is the choreographer's third homage to Mozart and is set to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Suite No. 4, Mozartiana, Op. 61 (1887), consisting of:

• Preghiera (Prayer)
• Gigue
• Minuet
• Theme and Variations
• Finale

The new version Balanchine made for City Ballet had its premiere on Thursday, June 4, 1981, at the New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, with costumes by Rouben Ter-Arutunian.

The Preghiera is danced by a ballerina, usually a principal dancer, accompanied by four young girls, the Gigue by a male soloist and the Minuet by four women from the corps de ballet. The ballerina returns and is joined by a principal danseur for a pas de deux to the Theme and Variations; the entire cast dances the finale; the Gigue is of sufficient importance that it is not infrequently danced by a second principal danseur.

The choreographer made the original version on his first ballet company, the Paris-based Les Ballets, for its 1933 season at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, which also included The Seven Deadly Sins. It was danced again by the School of American Ballet at its first recital Saturday, June 9, 1934, which was held on the Felix Warburg estate in White Plains, N.Y., where Serenade was danced the following day.

Casts

NYCB premiere

• Suzanne Farrell

• Ib Andersen
• Christopher d'Amboise

NYCB revivals

2008 Winter

• Wendy Whelan

• Benjamin Millepied
• Tom Gold

2008 Spring

• Wendy Whelan

• Philip Neal
• Tom Gold

References

• Playbill, New York City Ballet Friday, June 20, 2008
• Repertory Week, New York City Ballet, Spring Season, 2008 repertory, week 8

Articles

• The Sunday New York Times, June 10, 1934
• The New York Times, June 11, 1934
• The New York Times by Jennifer Dunning, February 10, 1981
• The New York Times by Jennifer Dunning, May 23, 1981
• The Sunday New York Times by John Corry, May 31, 1981

Reviews

• The New York Times by John Martin, March 8, 1945
• The New York Times by John Martin, February 21, 1946
• The New York Times by Anna Kisselgoff, June 5, 1981
• The New York Times by Alastair Macaulay, June 23, 2008

External links

• Balanchine Foundation website
• NYCB website
• Balanchine Trust website
• Birmingham Royal Ballet website