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The Four Seasons | |||
| Composer | Giuseppe Verdi | ||
| Music | "Il Ballo delle Quattro Stagioni" from "I Vespri Siciliani"; "Scherzando" and "Valse" from "Jérusalem" (the French version of "I Lombardi alla Prima Crociata" and the only production in which the ballet music was used); and "Echo de la Bohèmienne" from "Il Trovatore". | ||
| Dancers | Joseph Duell, Heather Watts, Peter Frame, Kyra Nichols, Daniel Duell, Stephanie Saland, Bart Cook, Patricia McBride, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Jean-Pierre Frohlich | ||
| Scenery | Santo Loquasto | ||
| Costumes | Santo Loquasto | ||
| Lighting | Jennifer Tipton | ||
| Genre | BALLET | ||
| Premiere | January 18, 1979, New York State Theater, New York City Ballet | ||
| Casting Reqs | 31 Dancers: Janus - 1 man
WINTER Allegory: 1 man, Principals: 1 woman, 2 men, Corps: 8 women SPRING Allegory: 1 woman, Principals: 1 woman, 1 man, Corps: 4 men SUMMER Allegory: 1 woman, Principals: 1 woman, 1 man, Corps: 6 women FALL Allegory: 1 man, Principals: 1 woman, 2 men, Corps: 8 women + 2 for finale, 8 men + 1 for finale | ||
| Requirements | orchestra | ||
| Running Time | 36′ | ||
| Notes | When opera was presented in Paris in the late Nineteenth Century, the composer was obliged to include a ballet at the beginning of the third act whether or not it had anything to do with the plot of the opera. Usually it didn′t but it gave the Jockey Club, a group of wealthy subscribers, a chance to look over their favorite beautiful ladies of the ballet at a convenient time of the evening and these patrons were attentively in their seats for the ballet, if not for the rest of the opera. The tradition of the third act divertissement was so firmly established that when Wagner put his ″Venusberg″ ballet at the very beginning of Act I of ″Tannhäuser″, there were such forcible protests by the Jockey Club that the whole opera was nearly withdrawn.
Fortunately for us, Verdi was less revolutionary about Parisian conventions and composed many third Act opera ballets. Although seldom included in today′s productions, they contain some of the most delightful dance music of the period. For ″I Vespri Siciliani″, he devised a ballet called ″The Four Seasons″. His libretto called for Janus, the God of New Year, to inaugurate a series of dances by each of the seasons in turn. Verdi′s notes suggest such notions as ballerinas warming themselves in Winter by dancing, Spring bringing on warm breezes, indolent Summer ladies being surprised by an Autumnal faun, etc.. The present ballet follows his general plan. The original score is augmented by a few selections of his ballet music from ″I Lombardi″ and ″Il Trovatore″. | ||