Igor Stravinsky
Apollon Musagète
First tableau
Prologue: Naissance d'Apollon / The Birth of Apollo 00:00
Second tableau
Variation d'Apollon (Apollon et les Muses) / Variation of Apollo 04:55
Pas d'action (Apollon et les trois Muses) / Pas d'action (Apollo and the Three Muses) 08:16
Variation de Calliope (l'Alexandrin) / Variation of Calliope (the Alexandrine) 13:44
Variation de Polymnie / Variation of Polyhymnia 15:18
Variation de Terpsichore / Variation of Terpsichore 16:35
Variation d'Apollon / Second Variation of Apollo 18:47
Pas de Deux (Apollon et Terpsichore) / Pas de deux 21:35
Coda (Apollon et les Muses) / Coda 26:14
Apotheose / Apotheosis 29:39

Orchestra Stradivari
Daniele Gatti, conductor

Picture: Scene from Apollon Musagète, Paris, 1928. Dancers: Lifar, Danilova, Chernysheva, Dubrovska

Apollon Musagète [Apollo Leader of the Muses] is a ballet in two tableaux composed between 1927 and 1928. It was choreographed in 1928 by twenty-four-year-old George Balanchine, with the composer contributing the libretto. [...]
The story centres on Apollo, the Greek god of music, who is visited by three Muses: Terpsichore, muse of dance and song; Polyhymnia, muse of mime; and Calliope, muse of poetry. The ballet takes Classical antiquity as its subject, though its plot suggests a contemporary situation. It is concerned with the reinvention of tradition, since its inspiration is "classique" or even post-baroque. [...]
Stravinsky wrote for a homogeneous ensemble of bowed string instruments. The ballet takes its inspiration from the grand tradition of French 17th- and 18th-century music, in particular that of Lully. The prologue begins with dotted rhythms in the style of a French overture. The work relies on a basic rhythmic cell, presented at the beginning of the work, which Stravinsky transforms by subdivisions of successive values that become increasingly complex.
He reserved the European rights to the score for Sergei Diaghilev, whose Ballets Russes production opened at the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt in Paris on 12 June 1928. Stravinsky conducted the performance.
[…] In accordance with Stravinsky's wishes, the style of dancing was essentially classical, and Stravinsky thought of "Apollon musagète" as a ballet blanc, that is, costumed in traditional minimal white. The clarity, calm, even serenity of the music makes it seem infinitely remote from the colorful excitement of Stravinsky's earlier ballets. The avoidance of any conflict in the scenario, of any narrative, psychological or expressive intent, was further matched by monochrome costumes for the dancers and the absence of elaborate scenery on stage. [...]
The scenario involved the birth of Apollo, his interactions with the three Muses, Terpsichore, Polyhymnia and Calliope, and his ascent as a god to Mount Parnassus. The theme is: Apollon musagetes instructs the muses in their arts and leads them to Parnassus.
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