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SHADOW OF THE WIND
Nana Gollner - 1948, Photo by Carl van Vechten
Photo Courtesy of Judith Chasin-Bennahum
Synopsis:
Shadow of the Wind is based on Gustav Mahler’s score for Das Lied von der Erde (Song of the Earth),
a symphony for contralto and tenor. Mahler chose six poems based on ancient Chinese texts that interpret various
theories of human existence. Tudor explained that “his ballet symbolizes the impermanence of existence, the Chinese
philosophy of accepting the mutations of life land bowing before them. Like the seasons, human experience is cyclical
and has no sudden beginning or end.” (Balanchine & Mason).
Mahler’s six poems are titled in English:
I. The Drinking Song of Earth’s Sorrow (for Tudor’s “Six Idlers of the Bamboo Valley”);
II. Autumn Loneliness (for Tudor’s “The Abandoned Wife”);
III. Youth (for Tudor’s My Lord Summons Me”);
IV. Beauty (for Tudor’s “The Lotus Gatherers’’);
V. …Wine in Spring (for Tudor’s “Conversation with Winepot and Bird”);
VI. The Farewell (for Tudor’s “Poem of the Guitar”).
Shadow of the Wind was Tudor’s first ballet with an Eastern theme since Atalanta of the East, his light foray into
Orientalia, in 1933.
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| Choreography |
| Antony Tudor |
| Music / Composer |
Gustav Mahler
Das Lied von der Erde |
| First Peformance |
New York
Metropolitan Opera House
April 14, 1948
Ballet Theatre |
| Costumes |
| Jo Mielziner, designed by Hugh Laing |
| Scenery |
| Jo Mielziner |
| Cast - First Performance |
| Igor Youskevitch, Hugh Laing, Dimitri Romanoff, Alicia Alonso, John Kriza, Mary Burr, Ruth Ann
Koesun, Crandall Diehl, Diana Adams, Zachary Solov, Dimitri Romanoff, Barbara Fallis, Muriel Bentley, Nana Gollner |
| Notated |
1976 by Murial Topaz
(Labanotation) |
| Number of Dancers |
| NA |
| Average Length |
| NA |
| Costumes / Scenery |
| NA |
| Licensing Information |
| NA |
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