The Unanswered Question (ballet)
Encyclopedia
The Unanswered Question: Some Intimations of the American Composer Charles Ives is a ballet made by Eliot Feld
to Charles Ives
' The Unanswered Question
, Calcium Light Night
, Fugue in Four Keys, Mists, From the Housatonic at Stockbridge, Sonata No. 2 for Piano and Violin (In the Barn), Remembrance and An Old Song Deranged. The premiere took place April 30, 1988, at the New York State Theater, Lincoln Center
, as part of New York City Ballet
's American Music Festival with lighting by the Feld Ballet's Allen Lee Hughes and Willa Kim
's costumes. Other works to the music of Ives in the City Ballet repertory include Peter Martins
' Calcium Light Night, Jerome Robbins
' Ives, Songs
and George Balanchine
's Ivesiana
.
Eliot Feld
Eliot Feld is an American modern ballet choreographer, performer and director.-Life and career:Feld was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Alice , a travel agent, and Benjamin Noah Feld, an attorney...
to Charles Ives
Charles Ives
Charles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown, though Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives came to be regarded as an "American Original"...
' The Unanswered Question
The Unanswered Question
The Unanswered Question is a work by American composer Charles Ives. It was originally the first of "Two Contemplations" composed in 1906, paired with another piece called Central Park in the Dark. As with many of Ives' works, it was largely unknown until much later in his life, being first...
, Calcium Light Night
Calcium Light Night
Calcium Light Night is a piece of music by American composer Charles Ives. It is one of his Cartoons or Take-Offs and is scored for piccolo, clarinet, cornet, trombone, bass drum, and two pianos...
, Fugue in Four Keys, Mists, From the Housatonic at Stockbridge, Sonata No. 2 for Piano and Violin (In the Barn), Remembrance and An Old Song Deranged. The premiere took place April 30, 1988, at the New York State Theater, Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of New York City's Upper West Side. Reynold Levy has been its president since 2002.-History and facilities:...
, as part of New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Leon Barzin was the company's first music director. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company...
's American Music Festival with lighting by the Feld Ballet's Allen Lee Hughes and Willa Kim
Willa Kim
Willa Kim is an American costume designer for stage, dance, and film.Kim was born in Los Angeles, California and is a 1935 graduate of Belmont High School where she excelled in art and was an art editor for the 1935 Campanile...
's costumes. Other works to the music of Ives in the City Ballet repertory include Peter Martins
Peter Martins
Peter Martins is a Danish ballet dancer and choreographer. Martins was named man of the year by Danish American Society, 1980...
' Calcium Light Night, Jerome Robbins
Jerome Robbins
Jerome Robbins was an American theater producer, director, and choreographer known primarily for Broadway Theater and Ballet/Dance, but who also occasionally directed films and directed/produced for television. His work has included everything from classical ballet to contemporary musical theater...
' Ives, Songs
Ives, Songs
Ives, Songs is a ballet made by New York City Ballet balletmaster Jerome Robbins to songs of Charles Ives: *The Children's Hour*Memories, Part A: Very Pleasant*Waltz*The Cage*The See'r*Two Little Flowers*At the River and Serenity*He is There...
and George Balanchine
George Balanchine
George Balanchine , born Giorgi Balanchivadze in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to a Georgian father and a Russian mother, was one of the 20th century's most famous choreographers, a developer of ballet in the United States, co-founder and balletmaster of New York City Ballet...
's Ivesiana
Ivesiana
Ivesiana is a ballet made by New York City Ballet co-founder and balletmaster George Balanchine to Charles Ives' Central Park in the Dark , The Unanswered Question , In the Inn , and In the Night shortly after the composer's death. The premiere took place September 14, 1954, at the City Center of...
.
Original cast
- Valentina Cozlova
- Buffy Miller
- Leslie Roy
- Damian WoetzelDamian WoetzelDamian Woetzel, former ballet star, is a producer and director of dance and music performances. Among his recent projects was directing the first performance of the White House Dance Series in September 2010, which took place in the East Room of the White House and was hosted by First Lady Michelle...
- Albert EvansAlbert EvansAlbert Evans , was a British Labour Party politician.A master engraver, Evans became involved in the Labour movement in the the 1920s, and was elected to Islington Borough Council in 1936...
- Jeppe Mydtskov
- James SewellJames Sewell BalletThe James Sewell Ballet is a Minneapolis, Minnesota-based ballet company of eight dancers founded in 1990 by James Sewell and Sally Rousse.-History:James Sewell Ballet was founded in 1990 by James Sewell and Sally Rousse in New York City...
Reviews
- http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DEFD7113DF934A35752C0A96F948260NY Times review by Jennifer DunningJennifer DunningJennifer Dunning is a writer and critic for the New York Times on the subjects of dance and ballet. She is the author of the 1985 But First a School: The First Fifty Years of the School of American Ballet, the 1996 Alvin Ailey, a Life in Dance and the 1997 Great Performances: A...
, January 7, 1989] - http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F03EFDF113FF932A35756C0A9609C8B63NY Times review by Jennifer DunningJennifer DunningJennifer Dunning is a writer and critic for the New York Times on the subjects of dance and ballet. She is the author of the 1985 But First a School: The First Fifty Years of the School of American Ballet, the 1996 Alvin Ailey, a Life in Dance and the 1997 Great Performances: A...
, May 1, 2006]