''Requiem Canticles'' is a ballet made by

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's fir ...

co-founder and balletmaster

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze;, Romanization of Georgian, : April 30, 1983) was a Georgian-American ballet choreographer, recognized as one of the most influential choreographers ...

to eponymous music from 1966 by

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

''in memoriam'' Martin Luther King, Jr.NY Times review, ''Balanchine Presents His New Ballet as Tribute to Dr. King'', May 3, 1968
/ref> It received a single performance on May 2, 1968, at the

New York State Theater The David H. Koch Theater is a theater for ballet and dance at Lincoln Center in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Originally named the New York State Theater, the venue has been home to the New York City Ballet sinc ...

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 ...

, conducted by Robert Irving with

Margaret Wilson Margaret Anne Wilson (born 20 May 1947) is a New Zealand lawyer, academic and former Labour Party politician. She served as Attorney-General from 1999 to 2005 and Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2005 to 2008, during the Fifth ...

, contralto, and John Ostendorf, bass. Costumes and candelabra were by

Rouben Ter-Arutunian Rouben Ter-Arutunian (Ռուբէն Տէր-Յարութիւնեան) (July 24, 1920 – October 17, 1992) was an American-Armenian costume and scenic designer for dance, opera, theater and television. Anderson, JackRouben Ter-Arutunian, 72, Die ...

and lighting by Ronald Bates, the corps de ballet in long white robes bearing a three-branched

candelabra A candelabrum (plural candelabra but also used as the singular form) is a candle holder with multiple arms. "Candelabra" can be used to describe a variety of candle holders including chandeliers. However, candelabra can also be distinguished as b ...

. A lone woman searches among them and at the end a figure in purple representing Martin Luther King, Jr., is raised aloft.

Original cast

Suzanne Farrell Suzanne Farrell (born August 16, 1945) is a former American ballerina and the founder of the Suzanne Farrell Ballet at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Farrell began her ballet training as a child in Cincinnati. In 1960, she received a ...

:''corps de ballet'' * Arthur Mitchell

Notes

{{Balanchine ballets New York City Ballet repertory Ballets by George Balanchine Ballets to the music of Igor Stravinsky Ballets designed by Rouben Ter-Arutunian Ballets designed by Ronald Bates 1968 ballets