Night Pieces: Three Ballets by John Neumeier: Festspielhaus Baden‐Baden

About the Event

After the brilliant scandal of the premiere of The Rite of Spring (brilliant in the sense of lucrative), dancer and choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky and ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev decided to have a rest with friends in Baden‐Baden. While he was here, Nijinsky planned a Bach ballet. And these plans – which, had they been realized, would have resulted in the world’s first ballet to music by the Baroque master – inspired John Neumeier in his turn to create the Nijinsky choreography Vaslav. This ballet is one of three that will be presented this evening. What they all have in common is a certain intimacy of expression in keeping with the theme of “night,” to which two of the ballets on the program are directly devoted: Nocturnes to music by Chopin and Um Mitternacht (At Midnight), a testimony to the choreographer’s long involvement with the music of Gustav Mahler.