Serenade 90th Anniversary No. 4

Nicholas Magallanes, Jillana (back), Mimi Paul (floor)

Below is the program note that accompanied Serenade at its second performance in December, 1934 performance in Hartford, CT:

“Without an implicit subject, the music and its thematic development indicate the tragic form of this primarily feminine ballet. Its lyricism is the large, fluent sentiment of Tchaikovsky shifting from the fresh swiftness of Sonatina, the buoyant accumulating passage of the Waltz, through the sustained adagio of the Elegy. The classic dance has been used here in conjunction with free gesture, development logical for the whole body’s use. The corps de ballet, as such, scarcely exists. Each member is inseparable from the schematic design in personal individual meaning. The soloists crown the action alone, their tragedy prepared by the from of the previous dances.”

(top left) Suzy Pilarre is in the front row, center of the picture

(top right) Linda Merrill and Gail Kachadurian

(bottom left) Nicholas Magallanes, Violette Verdy, Mimi Paul (running)

(bottom right) Delia Peters (front) & Suzy Pilarre

Photos by Matha Swope, 1965.

New York Public Library