"Concerto Barocco", "Prodigal Son", "Symphony in C"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
October 7, evening 2023
by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2023 by Mary Cargill
The works danced on this program are some of the oldest in the company’s repertoire—Balanchine choreographed the youngest one, “Symphony in C”, in 1947. They were also all originally created for other companies; “Concerto Barocco”, 1941 for American Ballet Caravan, an early Balanchine company, “Prodigal Son”, 1929, for the Diaghilev company, and “Symphony in C”, with the poetic title “Le Palais de Cristal”, for the Paris Opera Ballet. Only “Prodigal Son” is danced with the original designs, and the heavy, odd choreography seems wedded to Georges Rouault’s Futurist designs. “Concerto Barocco” too originally had elaborate sets and costumes (designed by Eugene Berman) but these were later dropped for practice clothes. (This was not an esthetic decision, more a lucky accident, since Berman didn’t think the sets were constructed properly and withdrew his permission.) Each movement of “Le Palais de Cristal” originally it own jewel color, and idea which obviously Balanchine reused, but when he set “Symphony in C” on his American company, there weren’t enough dancers, and everyone was in white so the corps could appear in different sections, so the white explosion of the finale that we see today is due to earlier staffing shortages.