Igor Stravinsky: Orpheus (1947)

Stravinsky composed Orpheus for George Balanchine at the New York City Ballet. Balanchine, like Stravinsky, had been trained in Russia, emigrated to Western Europe (Balanchine in 1924), worked for Sergei Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, and finally emigrated to America (Balanchine in 1933). Balanchine created ballets for many of Stravinsky’s scores, among them, Song of the Nightingale (1925), Jeu de Cartes (1937), Violin Concerto (1941), and Movements for piano and orchestra (1963). He and Stravinsky collaborated on four original ballets: Apollo (1928), Circus polka (1941), Orpheus (1948), and Agon (1957).

Balanchine shared the anti-romantic, neo-classical aesthetic that Stravinsky came to in the 1920s in which the art work – a piece of music or a dance – stood on its own and did not express emotions or convey meanings. "We must first realize,” said Balanchine, “that dancing is an absolutely independent art, not merely a secondary accompanying one.. . . . The important thing in ballet is the movement itself. A ballet may contain a story, but the visual spectacle . . . is the essential element."

Orpheus tells a story, but it is a very familiar story, told many times in poetry and music. Orpheus, the master musician, loses his beloved Eurydice, who is bitten by a snake and dies. Unwilling to resign himself to life without her, Orpheus goes to the Underworld, where he sings so beautifully, accompanying himself on his lyre, that the ruler of the Underworld restores Eurydice to him and allows the couple to return to the world of the living. There’s only one catch: Orpheus must not look at Eurydice until they have left the Underworld. As he leads Eurydice on the journey back, Orpheus cannot resist: he takes a peek back at Eurydice, and she is gone forever. Distraught, Orpheus wanders all over the world looking for his beloved, until he encounters a gang of drunken Thracian women, who tear him limb from limb. Because the sotyr is so familiar music and dance don’t hav to narrate. Instead they represent or enact the episodes of the story for the audience.

Stravinsky and Balanchine worked together extremely closely on Orpheus, creating a scenario from the Orpheus story in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, deciding on what each scene would represent, what the tempo would be, how it would be danced, and how many minutes of music would be needed. Sets and costumes were created by the Japanese-American sculptor and furniture designer, Isamu Noguchi.

Here is the scenario as worked out by Stravinsky and Balanchine:

Scene 1. Lento sostenuto – Orpheus grieves for Eurydice

Air de Danse (Andante con moto) – More of the same

Dance of the Angel of Death

Interlude – The Angel of Death leads Orpheus to the Underworld

Scene 2. Dance of the Furies, who try to prevent Orpheus from entering the Underworld

Air de Danse – Orpheus plays and sings

Interlude – The tortured souls beg Orpheus to continue his song

Air de Danse – recapitulation

Pas d’action – Tantalus, ruler of the Underworld, frees Eurydice. The Furies blindfold Orpheus and set the couple on the path back home

Pas de Deux – Orpheus and Eurydice, Orpheus looks back

Interlude – Eurydice dies all over again, Orpheus is alone

Pas d’action – Orpheus is shredded by the Thracian women

Scene 3. Apotheosis. Apollo appears, takes Orpheus’s lyre and bears it off to heaven, where it becomes the constellation lyra