''Concerto Barocco'' is a neoclassical ballet made for students at the

School of American Ballet 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 ...

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze; ka, გიორგი მელიტონის ძე ბალანჩივაძე; January 22, 1904 (O. S. January 9) – April 30, 1983) was ...

, subsequently ballet master and co-founder of

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 ...

, to

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

's Concerto in D minor for Two Violins,

BWV The (BWV; ; ) is a catalogue of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was first published in 1950, edited by Wolfgang Schmieder. The catalogue's second edition appeared in 1990. An abbreviated version of that second edition, known as BWV2 ...

1043. After an open dress rehearsal on May 29, 1941, in the Little Theatre of

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admin ...

, New York, the official premiere took place June 27, 1941, at Teatro Municipal in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

as part of American Ballet Caravan's South American tour. ''Concerto Barocco'' subsequently entered the repertory of the

Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo The company Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo (with a plural name) was formed in 1932 after the death of Sergei Diaghilev and the demise of Ballets Russes. Its director was Wassily de Basil (usually referred to as Colonel W. de Basil), and its a ...

, premiering on September 9, 1945, at

New York City Center New York City Center (previously known as the Mecca Temple, City Center of Music and Drama,. The name "City Center for Music and Drama Inc." is the organizational parent of the New York City Ballet and, until 2011, the New York City Opera. and t ...

.Martin, John
"THE DANCE: BALLET RUSSE: Monte Carlo Company to Present New Works in City Center Season,"
''New York Times'' (August 26, 1945). The

premiere was October 11, 1948, as one of three ballets on the program of its first performance at

. Three years later, in 1951, Balanchine replaced the original costumes with leotards and tights, in what has come to be regarded as signature costumes for his contemporary works. He said that in the first movement of ''Concerto Barocco'' the two ballerinas personify the violins, and that, "If the dance designer sees in the development of classical dancing a counterpart in the development of music, and has studied them both, he will derive continual inspiration from great scores."

Original cast

Marie-Jeanne Marie-Jeanne Godwin (née Pelus, August 12, 1920 – December 27, 2007) was an American ballet dancer. She was one of the first students of George Balanchine's School of American Ballet. Her dance career started at the Ballet Caravan in 1937, fo ...

* Mary Jane Shea *

William Dollar William Dollar (April 20, 1907 – February 28, 1986) was an American dancer, ballet master, choreographer, and teacher. As one of the first American ''danseurs nobles'', he performed with numerous companies, including the Philadelphia Opera Ballet ...

Footnotes

Reviews

Sunday NY Times
by John Martin, July 27, 1941
Sunday NY Times
by John Martin, November 7, 1943
Sunday NY Times
by John Martin, August 26, 1945
NY Times
by John Martin, September 10, 1945
NY Times
by John Martin, September 14, 1951
NY Times
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 ...

, April 29, 2009

External links

Concerto Barocco
on the Balanchine Trust website {{Balanchine ballets Ballets by George Balanchine Ballets to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach 1941 ballet premieres Ballets Russes productions New York City Ballet repertory