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Les Noces: the American Premiere

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2014

Lawrence Sullivan
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Extract

More than fifty years have passed since the American premiere of Stravinsky's Les Noces, which opened on April 25, 1929 at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. Generally overshadowed by the Bronislava Nijinska version (Paris, 1923) and by the later Jerome Robbins version (New York, 1965), the 1929 production presented a significantly different interpretation of the Stravinsky piece. The choreographer was Elizaveta Anderson-Ivantzova (1890–1973), former prima ballerina at the Bolshoi, whose life span parallels almost exactly that of Nijinska (1891–1972) and whose career intersects with that of Nijinska by virtue of her choreographing the second version. Of concommitant interest is that the first two versions of Les Noces were choreographed by women in an age when women were less than likely to be engaged as choreographers, a fact not unnoticed in 1929. Yet, little is known of this and other aspects of the production today. An examination, therefore, of the background, the production itself, and the choreography in particular is needed to describe, as clearly as the evidence will allow, what the 1929 production was like and how it differed from the better known version of 1923.

The little attention given to the New York premiere seems to have had less to do with its original performance than with a subsequent indifference to it.

Type
Articles
Information
Dance Research Journal , Volume 14 , Issue 1-2 , 1981 , pp. 3 - 14
Copyright
Copyright © Congress on Research in Dance 1981

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References

NOTES

1. de Mille, Agnes George, “The New Ballerina,” Theatre Arts Monthly, 15, 5 (May 1931): 427 Google Scholar. Martin's, John criticism was specifically cited as an exception, of course, in “The World and the Theatre,” Theatre Arts Monthly, 15, 1 (January 1931): 6 Google Scholar.

2. “The Great Theatre World,” Theatre Arts Monthly, 11, 8 (August 1927): 566–67Google Scholar.

3. The Simon and Schuster Book of Ballet: A Complete Reference, 1581 to the Present (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979), p. 195 Google Scholar, no citation is given under “Les Noces”; The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Ballet [ed.] Koegler, Horst (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977)Google Scholar contains an entry for Mme Anderson and credits her with Les Noces, but under “Les Noces” her name and the League's are omitted; The Encyclopedia of Dance and Ballet, eds. Clarke, Mary and Vaughan, David (New York: G. Putnam and Sons, 1977)Google Scholar does not include the League's production in the listing of “other versions”; Balanchine, George and Mason, Francis, 101 Stories of the Great Ballets (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1975), pp. 272–76Google Scholar includes a full discussion of the Nijinska and Robbins versions, but little specific detail is given to the League's; The Ballet Annual: A Record and Year Book of the Ballet, 1963, Seventeenth Issue, eds. Haskell, Arnold L. and Clarke, Mary (New York: Macmillan, 1963), p. 108 Google Scholar lists the League's performance; “Stravinsky in the Theatre: A Symposium,” Dance Index, 6, nos. 10, 11, 12 (1947)Google Scholar: 307 lists the League's performance; Beaumont, Cyril W., Complete Book of Ballets (Garden City, New York: Garden City Publ., 1941), pp. 657–60Google Scholar omits the League's production in the entry; because of its emphasis on American dance history, an exception to the general treatment is found in Robert, Grace, The Borzoi Book of Ballets (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1952), pp. 201–204 Google Scholar, with a lively discussion of the League's production and that of Nijinska's 1936 presentation in New York.

4. Downes, Olin, “Music,” New York Times, 15 February 1926, p. 16 Google Scholar.

5. Martin, John, “Dance,” New York Times, Sunday, 2 March 1929, sec. 8, p. 8 Google Scholar.

6. Downes, Olin, “Composers League in Unique Program,” New York Times, 26 April 1929, p. 29 Google Scholar.

7. New York Sun, 25 April 1929, p. 30 Google ScholarPubMed.

8. Gilman, Lawrence, “Music,” New York Herald Tribune, 26 April 1929, p. 20 Google Scholar.

9. Horosko, Marian, “In the Shadow of the Russian Tradition,” Dance Magazine, January 1971, p. 37 Google Scholar. In this interview, Mme Anderson spoke of her early life and career in Moscow; some of the dates given in the article, however, are inaccurate – e.g., Les Noces is performed in 1927 – either because Mme Anderson at the age of 80 did not remember things precisely or because the interviewer had misunderstood.

10. Sayler, Oliver M., The Russian Theatre Under the Revolution (Boston: Little Brown, 1920), p. 108 Google Scholar. Sayler claims that she was given “the roles of the second leading dancer.” This would imply the rank of soloist. In the Horosko interview, Mme Anderson states that she started as “a coryphée and little by little became a soloist.” Horosko, , “Russian Tradition,” p. 37 Google Scholar. For the rapidity of her advancement, however, see note 11.

11. MacDonald, Nesta, Diaghilev Observed: By Critics in England and the United States: 1911–1929 (New York: Dance Horizons, 1975)Google Scholar reproduces a facsimile of the program at the Coliseum for May 16, 1910 on p. 16 and p. 21. A brief notice is quoted from The Stage (9 June 1910) on Anderson's pas de deux with Alexis Kosloff on p. 23. By 1910 Anderson may have been a soloist if Oswald Stolls's advertisement for the “Company of 13 Star Dancers from the Imperial Opera Houses, St. Petersburg and Moscow” is to be trusted; it is reproduced in facsimile on p. 25.

12. Sayler, , Russian Theatre, p. 108 Google Scholar. For Anderson's appearances abroad, Sayler gives the dates 1911 and 1912. However, the facsimile of the program cited in note 11 shows Sayler was wrong in claiming that Anderson appeared with Karsavina in 1911; Anderson most likely appeared with Geltzer in The Dream Dance at the Alhambra in 1911.

13. Sayler, , Russian Theatre, p. 108 Google Scholar.

14. Théâtre de Chauve-Souris à Moscou: Programme de deuxième Spectacle de Nikita Balieff au Théâtre Femina. Paris: Commoedia Illustré (février et mars); 1921 Google Scholar. The program contains Sergei Soudeikine's designs for Katinka and Trépak (from Casse-Noisette) and lists Anderson as choreographer and performer. New York Public Library of the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center, Dance Collection, Misc. Mss.

15. A record of Mme Anderson's appearances after leaving Moscow and before arriving in New York is given in a brochure for her ballet school, now at the New York Public Library of the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center, Dance Collection, Misc. Mss.

16. The passport Anderson entered with and other memorabilia are in the possession of Mr. Dan Siretta, choreographer, dancer, and former student of Mme Anderson. I owe this anecdote to Mr. Siretta.

17. Brown, John Mason, New York Evening Post, 7 November 1929 Google Scholar, in a review of two farces by Cervantes, wrote that “they are by far the best thing the Laboratory Theatre has done since two seasons back, it produced ‘The Bridal Veil’” p. 14.

18. Stokowski, Leopold, “Concerning Stravinsky's Les Noces,” Musical Courier, 98, 16 (April 20, 1929): 24 Google Scholar.

19. Stravinsky, Igor and Craft, Robert, Expositions and Developments (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1962), p. 131 Google Scholar.

20. Ibid., p. 130.

21. Ibid., pp. 131–32.

22. Nijinska, Bronislava, “The Creation of Les Noces,” in Crisp, Clement and Clarke, Mary, Making a Ballet (New York: Macmillan, 1975), Appendix D, p. 127 Google Scholar.

23. Ibid., p. 129.

24. Ibid., p. 130.

25. Stravinsky, Igor, Chronicle of My Life (London: Victor Gollancz, 1936), pp. 174–75Google Scholar; MacDonald, , Diaghilev Observed, pp. 287–89Google Scholar; and Buckle, Richard, Diaghilev (New York: Atheneum, 1979), pp. 400–401 and pp. 409–10Google Scholar.

26. Such was the reaction of an English critic writing for the (London) Times, 15 June 1926, p. 15, who is quoted by Martin, John in his column in “The Dance: Stravinsky,” New York Times, Sunday, 21 April 1929, sec. 8, p. 4 Google Scholar.

27. Stravinsky, and Craft, , Expositions, p. 130 Google Scholar.

28. Ibid. Peter Kiereivsky (1808–1856) was an active member of the Slavophile intellectual circle in the early nineteenth century and a collector of songs, ballads, and other material from Russian folklore. See Slonim, Marc, The Epic of Russian Literature from its Origins through Tolstoi (New York: Oxford University Press, 1950), p. 176 Google Scholar.

29. Martin, John, “Revival of Nijinska's ‘Les Noces’,” New York Times, Sunday, 3 May 1936, sec. 10, p. 7 Google Scholar.

30. Watkins, Mary F., “Stravinsky's ‘Les Noces’ Seen in Stage Form,” New York Herald Tribune, 26 April 1929, p. 20 Google Scholar.

31. Downes, , Times, 26 April 1929 Google Scholar.

32. Hammond, Richard, “Visiting Les Noces in 1929,” Modern Music, 6, 3 (1929): 24 Google Scholar.

33. Glassgold, C. Adolphe, “A New Production of ‘Les Noces’,” The Arts, 15, 5 (May 1929): 347 Google Scholar.

34. Martin, , Times, 21 April 1929 Google ScholarPubMed.

35. Jean Palmer Soudeikine, interview held in New York City on 5 June 1981. Mrs. Soudeikine, widow of the scenic designer and the principal singer (Clorinda) in Il Combattimento, said that her husband first had the idea of doing Les Noces and contacted Mme Anderson to work out the music, choreography and staging for a version that was to be completely different from the Nijinska production. The stage director, Victor Andoga, a personal friend of Toscanini at La Scala and of Soudeikine, proposed the idea to the League. For another account, see Reis, Claire R., Composers Conductors and Critics (New York: Oxford University Press, 1955), pp. 86–87 Google Scholar. “Thus, we [Stokowski and Reis] launched into a large scale production, with Stokowski both conducting and directing Les Noces, which called for dancing, pantomime, singing.… Before the rehearsals began, each phase of the work was discussed and agreed upon by Stokowski and me, with the soloists and various departments. Serge Soudeikine, who recently achieved a great success with the decor for Stravinsky's ballet Petrouchka [1925] was delighted to design the sets and costumes for this production” [Emphasis mine]. Whatever the actual genesis of the production, Mme Anderson and Soudeikine worked together on the choreographic and visual aspects of the production.

36. Stokes, Richard L., “Music,” The Evening World (New York), 26 April 1929, p. 29 Google Scholar.

37. Henderson, W.J., “League of Composers' Concert,” New York Sun, 26 April 1929, p. 25 Google Scholar.

38. Bennett, Grena, “Composers' Concert,” New York American, 26 April 1929, p. S–7 Google Scholar.

39. Photographs of Soudeikine's set and costumes appear in Hammond, , “Visiting Les Noces in 1929,” 20–21 and 25 Google Scholar; in Theatre Arts Monthly, 13, 4 (April 1929): 251–52; for a list of Soudeikine's gouaches for Les Noces now at the Museum of Modern Art, see Stravinsky and the Theatre: A Catalogue of Decor and Costume Designs for Stage Productions of His Works, 1910–1962 (New York: The New York Public Library, 1963) p. 27 Google Scholar.

40. Glassgold, , “A New Production,” 347 Google Scholar.

41. Stokowski, , “Stravinsky's Les Noces,” 24 Google Scholar.

42. Hammond, , “Visiting Les Noces in 1929,” 24 Google Scholar.

43. Glassgold, , “A New Production,” 347–48Google Scholar.

44. Ibid., 348.

45. Watkins, , Herald Tribune, 26 April 1929 Google Scholar.

46. Martin, John, “The Dance: A Triumph of Opera Miming,” New York Times, Sunday, 5 May 1929, sec. 9, p. 11 Google Scholar.

47. This problem may have been the result of an unreconciled conflict between Stokowski and Soudeikine on how to light the show. Although the League provided Soudeikine with additional lighting equipment to create the necessary effects, the stage electrician was unable to coordinate the lighting cues with either Stokowski's conducting or, more likely, Stravinsky's music. Apparently, neither Stokowski, who “had been giving thought to every stage detail, especially the synchronization of light with the music,” nor Soudeikine, who also plotted for each different musical moment a different lighting effect, had reached any real agreement on whose artistic views would prevail. See Reis, , Composers Conductors, pp. 90–91 Google Scholar for Stokowski's remarks, and see Sergei Soudeikine's Letter to Claire Reis, January 8, 1929, at the New York Public Library of the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center, Dance Collection, League of Composers, Misc. Mss., for a summary of the enumerated effects accompanied by photographs of the model of the set.

48. Watkins, Mary F., “Dance Events Reviewed,” The Dance Magazine, August 1929, p. 36 Google Scholar.

49. Martin, , Times, 5 May 1929 Google ScholarPubMed.

50. Sanborn, Pitts, “Monteverdi, Stravinsky Are Heard,” New York Telegram, 26 April 1929, p. 10 Google Scholar.

51. Downes, , Times, 26 April 1929 Google Scholar.

52. Watkins, , Dance Magazine, p. 36 Google Scholar; Martin, , Times, 21 April 1929 Google ScholarPubMed.

53. Both the souvenir and the performance programs are collected at the New York Public Library of the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center, Music Division, Uncatalogued Stravinsky programs.

54. Martin, , Times, 5 May 1929 Google ScholarPubMed.

55. Watkins, , Herald Tribune, 26 April 1929 Google Scholar.

56. Watkins, , Dance Magazine, p. 36 Google Scholar.

57. Stokes, , Evening World, 26 April 1929 Google Scholar.

58. Adler, Lawrence, “Music: Epilogue of the Season,” The Nation, 127 (8 May 1929): 568 Google Scholar.

59. Ibid.

60. Downes, , Times, 26 April 1929 Google Scholar.

61. Martin, , Times, 5 May 1929 Google ScholarPubMed.

62. Ibid.

63. Watkins, , Herald Tribune, 26 April 1929 Google Scholar.

64. Martin, John, “The Dance: The End of a Record Season,” New York Times, Sunday, 19 May 1929, sec. 9, p. 22 Google Scholar.

65. Downes, , Times, 26 April 1929 Google Scholar.

66. Watkins, , Dance Magazine, p. 36 Google Scholar.

67. Sayler, , Russian Theatre, p. 17 Google Scholar.