''Symphonic Variations'' is a one-act ballet by Frederick Ashton set to the eponymous music (M. 46) of

César Franck César-Auguste Jean-Guillaume Hubert Franck (; 10 December 1822 – 8 November 1890) was a French Romantic composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher born in modern-day Belgium. He was born in Liège (which at the time of his birth was pa ...

. The premiere, performed by the

Sadler's Wells Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded i ...

, took place at the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Ope ...

, Covent Garden, on 24 April 1946 in a triple bill; the other works were Ashton's '' Les Patineurs'' and

Robert Helpmann Sir Robert Murray Helpmann CBE ( Helpman, 9 April 1909 – 28 September 1986) was an Australian ballet dancer, actor, director, and choreographer. After early work in Australia he moved to Britain in 1932, where he joined the Vic-Wells Ballet ( ...

's ''

Adam Zero ''Adam Zero'' is a ballet with music composed by Arthur Bliss and choreographed by Robert Helpmann in 1946. Background After World War I, Bliss developed an interest in ballet after seeing the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev in London. Blis ...

''. The ballet was conducted by

Constant Lambert Leonard Constant Lambert (23 August 190521 August 1951) was a British composer, conductor, and author. He was the founder and music director of the Royal Ballet, and (alongside Ninette de Valois and Frederick Ashton) he was a major figure in th ...

and the set designed by

Sophie Fedorovitch Sophie Fedorovitch ( be, Сафія Федаровіч; 3 December 1893 – 25 January 1953) was a Russian-born theatrical designer who worked with ballet choreographer Sir Frederick Ashton from his first choreographed ballet in 1926 until her a ...

Background

During the Second World War, Ashton listened to Franck's '' Symphonic Variations'' a great deal and he decided to develop an elaborate scenario to be set to the music. Constant Lambert, music director for the Sadler's Wells Ballet, at first objected to the use of Franck's music for a ballet; Ashton dropped his original scenario and created an abstract ballet. During the war, the repertory had become increasingly literary, and Ashton's purpose was to counteract this. It was not his intention to display ingenuity of invention but to construct a more abstract piece, setting three men and three women dancing on the vast expanse of the Opera House stage uncluttered with scenery and effect.

Description

The critic A V Coton described the ballet:

Casts

In the opening season the cast was *

Margot Fonteyn Dame Margaret Evelyn de Arias DBE (''née'' Hookham; 18 May 191921 February 1991), known by the stage name Margot Fonteyn, was an English ballerina. She spent her entire career as a dancer with the Royal Ballet (formerly the Sadler's Wells ...

Moira Shearer Moira Shearer King, Lady Kennedy (17 January 1926 – 31 January 2006), was an internationally renowned Scottish ballet dancer and actress. She was famous for her performances in Powell and Pressburger's '' The Red Shoes'' (1948) and '' The Ta ...

Pamela May Pamela May OBE (30 May 1917 – 6 June 2005) was a Trinidad-born British dancer and teacher of classical ballet. Most noted as one of the earliest members of The Royal Ballet, she was regarded as a versatile dancer; dancing all the established ...

Michael Somes Michael George Somes CBE (28 September 191718 November 1994), was an English ballet dancer. He was a principal dancer of The Royal Ballet, London, and the frequent partner of Margot Fonteyn. Early years Somes was born in Horsley, Gloucestersh ...

Brian Shaw Brian Keith Shaw (born March 22, 1966) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He could play both guard positions, but wa ...

Henry Danton Henry Danton (born Henry David Boileau Down; 30 March 1919 – 9 February 2022) was a British dancer, teacher, and stager of classical ballet. Life and career Born Henry David Boileau Down to a family with French and Scottish ancestry, Henr ...

In the following season Shaw and Danton were replaced by John Hart and Alexander Grant. In the first production and early revivals the work was regarded as making such demands on the dancers that they took no part in any other ballet on the same evening's bill. Margaret Dale in conversation with David Vaughan commented, "Even though ''Symphonic Variations'' more than any other ballet creates a feeling of serenity, for the dancers, in the beginning it was an 'absolute marathon', and made demands on them that had never been made before. ... It was a test of sheer stamina that very few British dancers could stand at that time."Vaughan, p. 204

Critical reception

From the premiere onwards the work has been highly regarded by critics. ''

The Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' called the choreography "rare, brave and stimulating", with the reservation that the prominence of the concertante piano part in the score was not mirrored in a similarly prominent part for the prima ballerina. ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'' thought the piece "charming and exciting". ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' said: Later critics have regarded the work similarly highly. A V Coton of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' asserted in 1967 that ''Symphonic Variations'' "remains shton'sabsolute and indisputable masterpiece – a perfect fusion of ideas about stylised dance, light, space, romantic-lyric music and heroic costume – which creates a spectacle that calls into question the value of almost every other ballet in the modern repertoire". John Percival of ''The Times'' remarked of the same production, "Fittingly, the centrepiece of this programme was a revival of ''Symphonic Variations'' … as many of us think the best work ever created for this company". In 2004, Cristina Franchi described it as "A pure classical dance work of great beauty and simplicity."Franchi, p. 50

Revivals

In November 1967, the Royal Ballet staged a revival of three works by Ashton: ''Symphonic Variations'' was part of that triple bill with ''Les Patineurs'' and ''

Persephone In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Persephone ( ; gr, Περσεφόνη, Persephónē), also called Kore or Cora ( ; gr, Κόρη, Kórē, the maiden), is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the underworld after ...

''. The dancers in ''Symphonic Variations'' were: *

Merle Park Dame Merle Park (born 8 October 1937) is a British ballet dancer and teacher, now retired. As a prima ballerina with the Royal Ballet during the 1960s and 1970s, she was known for "brilliance of execution and virtuoso technique" as well as for h ...

* Ann Jenner * Jennifer Penny * Donald MacLeary * Graham Usher * Michael Coleman The work has been toured by the Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet companies, with productions in 1970, with

Antoinette Sibley Dame Antoinette Sibley (born 27 February 1939) is a British prima ballerina. She joined the Royal Ballet from the Royal Ballet School in 1956 and became a soloist in 1960. She was celebrated for her partnership with Anthony Dowell. After her ...

and

Anthony Dowell Sir Anthony James Dowell (born 16 February 1943) is a retired British ballet dancer and a former artistic director of the Royal Ballet. He is widely recognized as one of the great ''danseurs nobles'' of the twentieth century. Early life and tra ...

in the cast, and 1992, under the direction of Michael Somes.Vaughan, Davis
"1946 Ballets"
Frederick Ashton and his Ballets, accessed 23 June 2013 Other companies have staged the work, including the

Dutch National Ballet The Dutch National Ballet (Dutch: Het Nationale Ballet) is the official and largest ballet company in the Netherlands. History The Dutch National Ballet was formed in 1961 when the Amsterdam Ballet and the Nederlands Ballet merged. The company h ...

(1989); American Ballet Theatre (1992); the

National Ballet of Canada The National Ballet of Canada is a Canadian ballet company that was founded in 1951 in Toronto, Ontario, with Celia Franca as the first artistic director. A company of 70 dancers with its own orchestra, the National Ballet has been led since 2022 ...

(1996); and

San Francisco Ballet San Francisco Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the United States, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Fra ...

(2004).This piece has also been performed by the

University of North Carolina School of the Arts The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) is an arts school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It grants high school, undergraduate, and graduate degrees. Founded in 1963 as the North Carolina School of the Arts by then-Governo ...

(2018), being the only school to have ever performed the work

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Symphonic Variations (ballet) 1946 ballet premieres Ballets by Frederick Ashton Ballets created for The Royal Ballet Ballets designed by Sophie Fedorovitch Ballets to the music of César Franck