pathétique
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pathétique
Divertimento No. 15 George Balanchine Summerspace Merce Cunningham Pathétique World Premiere Martin Schläpfer
Premiere 9 April 2025 – Vienna State Opera
about tonight’s performance Pathétique is the title Martin Schläpfer has given to the final premiere under his direction at the Vienna State Opera – and once again it carries his signature as both Chief Choreographer and as curator and Ballet Director. Spanning the joys of summer and intense passions, the programme combines two icons of New York’s Modernisms with a world premiere. Divertimento No. 15 from the year 1956 is one of George Balanchine’s airiest ballets – and a congenial exploration of the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Merce Cunningham also remains in touch with the air in the joyous leaps of Summerspace. In the design by Robert Rauschenberg and to the piano sounds of Morton Feldman, the dancers fly across the stage like birds. This work – originally premiered in 1958 – is the first choreography by this important American artist to be seen at the Vienna State Opera. By contrast, Martin Schläpfer has taken his inspiration from the emotional highs and deep lows of Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky’s 6th Symphony. Past and present, light and shade appear in a labyrinth of allusions, reinterpretations and interruptions. With an untamed strength, Pathétique tells of the transience of dreams and life’s burning questions – and with a Handel aria it transports us beyond Tchaikovsky’s score into a state of sublime exhilaration. Balanchine – Cunningham – Schläpfer – and with them, three ways of thinking about dance: Balanchine’s neoclassical music-making in space, born from the spirit of the music; Cunningham’s independent presentation of movement, music and painting as – in the words of John Cage – “an activity of interpenetrations in time and space, not counterpoints, nor controlled relationships, but flexibilities;” and Schläpfer’s resonant spaces where dance meets music without surrendering to it: worlds of movement in which the texture of classical ballet that shines through at all times is overlaid by a “text” of its own that bursts forth from the dancers in response to some inner necessity, not attacking the vocabulary of danse d’école, but transforming it in a unique manner.
ABOUT TONIGHT’S PERFORMANCE
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Pathétique – Masayu Kimoto & Elena Bottaro
Divertimento Nr. 15 – Hyo-Jung Kang
divertimento no. 15 Music Divertimento No. 15 in B-flat major, K. 287 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Choreography George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust Musical Direction Christoph Altstaedt / Jean-Michaël Lavoie Costumes Karinska Staging Sandra Jennings Lighting Supervision Robert Eisenstein Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera
WORLD PREMIERE 31 MAY 1956 NEW YORK CITY BALLET AT THE AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE THEATRE’S MOZART FESTIVAL, STRATFORD, CONNECTICUT PREMIERE BALLET OF THE VIENNA STATE OPERA 26 MAY 1969, THEATER AN DER WIEN
Divertimento No. 15 – Davide Dato
Summerspace – François-Eloi Lavignac
Summerspace – Sveva Gargiulo
summer space Music Ixion for two pianos by Morton Feldman Choreography Merce Cunningham © Merce Cunningham Trust Stage, Costumes & Light Robert Rauschenberg Staging Ashley Chen Cheryl Therrien Lighting Supervision Davison Scandrett Piano Johannes Piirto & Milica Zakić
WORLD PREMIERE 17 AUGUST 1958 CUNNINGHAM DANCE COMPANY CAROLYN BROWN, REMY CHARLIP, MERCE CUNNINGHAM, VIOLA FARBER, CYNTHIA STONE, MARILYN WOOD AT THE AMERICAN DANCE FESTIVAL, CONNECTICUT COLLEGE, NEW LONDON, CT
Pathétique – Rashaen Arts & Javier González Cabrera
pathétique World Premiere For Anne do Paço & Annalena
Music Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74 (“Pathétique”) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky »Süße Stille« HWV 205 from Neun deutsche Arien by George Frideric Handel Choreography Martin Schläpfer Musical Direction Christoph Altstaedt / Jean-Michaël Lavoie Stage Thomas Mika Costumes Catherine Voeffray Light Robert Eisenstein Soprano Florina Ilie / Ileana Tonca Violin Luka Kusztrich / Cristian Ruscior Harpsichord Stephen Hopkins Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera
imprint Pathétique George Balanchine / Merce Cunningham / Martin Schläpfer Season 2024/25 PUBLISHER Vienna State Opera GmbH, Opernring 2, 1010 Vienna General Director: Dr. Bogdan Roščić Administrative Director: Dr. Petra Bohuslav Director & Chief Choreographer Vienna State Ballet: Martin Schläpfer Managing Director Vienna State Ballet: Mag. Simone Wohinz Editorial Team: Mag. Anne do Paço, Nastasja Fischer MA Design & Concept: Fons Hickmann M23, Berlin Image Concept Cover: Martin Conrads Layout & Type Setting: Miwa Meusburger Producer: Print Alliance HAV Produktions GmbH, Bad Vöslau PERFORMING RIGHTS For the choreographies: Divertimento No. 15 © The George Balanchine Trust, New York. The Ballet is presented by arrangement with The George Balanchine Trust and has been produced in accordance with the Balanchine Style® and Balanchine Technique® service standards established and provided by the Trust. Summerspace © Merce Cunningham Trust, New York Pathétique © Martin Schläpfer For the music: Ixion for two pianos © C.F. Peters GmbH & Co. KG, Leipzig TEXT REFERENCES About today’s performance by Anne do Paço (English translation: David Tushingham), The meeting of two worlds in New York in the 1950s by Marina Harss, Elegance & verve by Nastasja Fischer (English translation: David Tushingham), Nastasja Fischer’s interview with Sandra Jennings Musicality was key, Placing oneself in unfamiliar territory and A polyphonic world by Anne do Paço (English translation: David Tushingham) are original contributions to this programme booklet. Reproduction only with the permission of the Vienna State Ballet/Dramaturgy. P. 12: Nancy Reynolds as cited in www.miamicityballet.org/ discover/ballet-repertory/divertimento-no-15 / p. 38: Roger Copeland: Merce Cunningham and the Politics of Perception. In: Merce Cunningham. Ed. by Germano Celant. Milano 2000 / p. 31: John Cage: A Movement, a Sound, a Change of Light. In: Merce Cunningham & Dance Company. Ed. by The Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts (excerpt), New York 1963 /
p. 34: Martin Schläpfer: Musik, Tanz, Choreographie. In: Musik & Ästhetik. Ed. by Tobias Janz, Richard Klein, Claus Steffen Mahnkopf & Johannes Menke. 24th year, issue 25, July 2020 / p. 40: Barthold Heinrich Brockes: “O sweet silence”. George Frideric Handel: Nine German Arias. HWV 202–210. English version by Richard Stokes as cited in: oxfordsong.org. PHOTO CREDITS Cover: Sascha Weidner: Code II (2011) © The Estate of Artist Sascha Weidner / All scene photos were taken by © Ashley Taylor at the stage rehearsal on 1 April 2025 / p. 13, 26 & 43: © Martha Swope/The New York Public Library Digital Collections / p. 25: © Florian Moshammer / p. 44: © Annie Leibovitz / p. 45: © Andreas Jakwerth. Right Owners who could not be reached are requested to contact the editorial team for the purpose of subsequent legal reconciliation.
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The Vienna State Ballet is part of the Vienna State Opera and Vienna Volksoper