About the work
Igor Stravinsky and George Balanchine's „Apollon musagète" was premiered by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in Paris in 1928 — a key work of neoclassicism and the beginning of the lifelong collaboration between Stravinsky and Balanchine that shaped the history of dance. Later versions simplified Balanchine's choreography; the piece is today usually given in the revised 1979 version.
Plot
From Mount Olympus the young god Apollo descends, newly born, to the shore. He receives the lyre from his mother Leto and begins to interact with three muses — Calliope (poetry), Polyhymnia (mime) and Terpsichore (dance). Each muse presents him with her gift in a solo: Calliope her writing tablet, Polyhymnia her mask, Terpsichore her lyre. Apollo chooses Terpsichore — dance — as the highest of the arts. In a famous pas de deux Apollo and Terpsichore unite. In the final image the three muses follow Apollo up Mount Olympus in the iconic „sunburst" pose — the four forming a spoke-like figure.
Cultural significance
Apollon musagète is Balanchine's first close collaboration with Stravinsky and one of the founding texts of neoclassicism. Stravinsky's strings-only score (without winds, archaically austere) and Balanchine's cool, geometric choreography established the aesthetic of „abstract ballet". The sunburst pose of the final image became an iconic image of the twentieth century. Famous Apollos include Serge Lifar (premiere), Edward Villella, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Peter Boal and Roberto Bolle.