''Monotones'' is a one-act ballet in two parts choreographed by

Frederick Ashton Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton (17 September 190418 August 1988) was a British ballet dancer and choreographer. He also worked as a director and choreographer in opera, film and revue. Determined to be a dancer despite the oppositio ...

to music by

Erik Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (born 17 May 18661 July 1925), better known as Erik Satie, was a French composer and pianist. The son of a French father and a British mother, he studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, Paris Conservatoire but was an undi ...

. ''Monotones II'' was created first as a gala piece for a gala performance in aid of the Royal Ballet Benevolent Fund in 1965. Ashton had long been inspired by the '' Gymnopedies'' by Erik Satie of 1888 and took orchestrations by

Claude Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

and Roland-Manuel as the basis of a '' pas de trois'' for two men and one woman. The premiere was on 24 March 1965 with Vyvyan Lorrayne,

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 tr ...

, and Robert Mead. The piece was a great success – so much so that in 1966 Ashton enlarged the piece so that it would be long enough to be performed in the normal repertory, by the addition of ''Monotones I'', which formed an overture to the earlier work. This piece in many ways forms a mirror image of ''Monotones II''. Based on Satie's '' Gnossiennes'', it is another ''pas de trois'', but in this case for two women and one man; the premiere was given by

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 re ...

, Georgina Parkinson, and Brian Shaw. Ashton took his cues in choreographing the ballet from the form, structure and inspiration of Satie's music. The ternary structure of the ''Gymnopedies'' and ''Gnossiennes'' supports what has been referred to as a "trinitarian obsession" of Ashton's. The two sections of the work also represent a contrast between the earthiness of the ''Gnossiennes'' in ''Monotones I'' – where the characters wear green costumes, engage in weighty and accented lunges, and shield their eyes from the sun – and the celestial, infinite and seamless qualities of the ''Gymnopedies'' in ''Monotones II'', where the dancers are white-costumed, lit from above, and perform suspended arabesques, the men lifting the woman to "walk on air." The work uses classical language in its choreography and, like his '' Symphonic Variations'', represents a pinnacle of Ashton's own classicism.Cohen, p.156 On his death, Ashton's will left the ballet to the care of Tony Dyson, now chairman of the Frederick Ashton Foundation.

References

Sources

* Cohen, Selma Jeanne. International Encyclopedia of Dance, Vol 1. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2004. * * * {{Frederick Ashton Ballets by Frederick Ashton 1965 ballets Ballets created for The Royal Ballet Ballets to the music of Erik Satie