Australia Dancing - Symphonie fantastique

Symphonie fantastique

Hanson, Kenneth J.: Scene from the third movement of 'Symphonie fantastique', Ballets Russes Australian tours, between 1938 and 1940

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Leonide Massine's ballet Symphonie fantastique was first performed at Covent Garden, London, on 24 July 1936 by Colonel de Basil's Ballets Russes. Massine danced the role of the Young Musician and Tamara Toumanova that of the Beloved. The ballet was set to the symphonic work composed by Hector Berlioz in 1830 and featured designs by Christian Berard.

Berlioz's composition told the story of a lovelorn young musician driven by despair to an overdose of opium. It consisted of five movements, each representing a distinct hallucination ranging from a pastoral scene to a witches' sabbath. The work was an example of program music, that is, music composed with the intention of representing a particular theme or narrative.

The pre-defined narrative of Symphonie fantastique distinguished it from Massine's earlier symphonic ballets, Les Presages and Choreartium, and in his autobiography Massine remarked on the challenge of integrating abstract choreographic passages with a melodramatic plot. He utilised the music's romantic symbolism in his choreography, particularly in the first movement where dancers appeared as allegorical representations of different phases in the Young Musician's hallucination - melancholy, reverie, gaiety and passion. The recurring melody, or idee fixe, representing the Young Musician's romantic obsession, accompanied each entrance of the Beloved, providing a sense of continuity throughout the ballet.

Symphonie fantastique was first performed in Australia by de Basil's Covent Garden Russian Ballet at His Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne, on 1 October 1938. Yurek Shabelevsky appeared as the Young Musician and Irina Baronova as the Beloved. Shortly after the opening, Shabelevsky left for America suddenly (for personal reasons) and Anton Dolin danced the role of the Young Musician at later dates on the tour. The ballet was received with acclaim, with The Age reporting it to be a 'tremendous choreographic conception'. Ballet critic, Geoffrey Hutton, wrote:

'A company armed at all points is needed to do justice to the Symphonie fantastique, in which Massine has set himself the Herculean task of translating into movement, line and colour the teeming images which crowd the most romantic of symphonies ... the imaginative daring of the work may detract attention from its remarkable qualities as ballet'.

The success and popularity of Symphonie fantastique with audiences was clear after it was chosen by public ballot to be among the ballets in the final performance of the Melbourne season. The work was seen again on the Original Ballet Russe tour to Australia, premiering in Sydney on February 23 1940, with Tamara Toumanova reprising her role as the Beloved and Paul Petroff appearing as the Young Musician.

Symphonie fantastique was restaged in Australia in 1954-56 by Kiril Vassilkovsky for the Borovansky Ballet with designs by William Constable. Yurek Shabelevsky returned to Australia as a guest artist for the 1956 season and again performed the role of the Young Musician.

The Australian Ballet commissioned Polish choreographer Krzysztof Pastor to create a new Symphonie fantastique in 2007. Using the Berlioz score and with design by Tanyana van Walsum, this premiered in Melbourne on August 30, 2007 with Robert Curran as the Artist and Kirsty Martin as the Idee Fix. This work was presented within the 'Destiny' programme, a tribute to Massine reflecting the Australian Ballet's involvement in the project Ballets Russes in Australia: Our cultural revolution.

Bibliography:

Kathrine Sorley Walker, De Basil's Ballets Russes (London: Hutchinson, 1982) ; Edward H. Pask, Enter the colonies dancing: a history of dance in Australia 1835-1940 (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1979) ; Vicente Garcia-Marquez, The Ballets Russes: Colonel de Basil's Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo 1932-1952 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990) ; Geoffrey Hutton, 'Great Symphonic Ballet', The Argus, 3 October 1938, p. 10 ; Leonide Massine, My Life in Ballet (London: Macmillian, 1968)

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