Apollon musagète
Apollon musagète (French Apollon, leader of the muses ) is a ballet in 2 pictures, which was composed by Igor Stravinsky between 1927 and 1928.
history
George Balanchine wrote the accompanying choreography in 1928 based on Stravinsky's libretto . The work is a frequently performed example of the neoclassical style founded by Balanchine in ballet.
Stravinsky's composition Apollon musagète was commissioned by the US patron Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge for a festival of contemporary music at the Washington Library of Congress . The world premiere took place in Washington, DC on April 27, 1928 in the choreography of Adolph Bolm (Heinrich Lindlar: Lübbes Strawinsky Lexikon , Gustav Lübbe Verlag, Bergisch Gladbach, 1982, page 28). In Europe, the work in Balanchine's version was first performed on June 28, 1928 in the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt in Paris by the Ballets Russes . The stage design came from André Bauchant , the main role was played by Serge Lifar .
action
The action of the ballet refers to characters from ancient Greek mythology. Apollon , god of music, dances with three muses and leads them to the Parnassus Mountains at the end . The muses are: Calliope , muse of poetry, Polyhymnia , muse of hymn poetry and Terpsichore , muse of dance.
- First picture
- Prologue: The Birth of Apollo
- Second picture
- Variation of Apollon
- Scene: Apollo and the muses
- Variation of the calliope
- Variation of the Polyhymnia
- Variation of the Terpsichore
- Second variation of Apollon
- pas de deux
- Coda
- apotheosis
