Jewels (ballet)

Jewels (ballet)
Name	Jewels
Choreographer	George Balanchine
Composer	Gabriel Fauré; Igor Stravinsky; Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Premiered	April 13, 1967
Place	New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, New York City
Ballet company	New York City Ballet
Genre	Neoclassical ballet
Designer	Karinska

Jewels (ballet) is a three-act, plotless ballet created by George Balanchine for the New York City Ballet in 1967. Conceived as an abstract triptych, it interrelates choreography, score, costume, and stagecraft to evoke the distinct atmospheres of emeralds, rubies, and diamonds through music by Gabriel Fauré, Igor Stravinsky, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The premiere at the New York State Theater during the era of Lincoln Center marked a major institutional moment for Balanchine, the School of American Ballet, and postwar American ballet.

Background and Commission

Balanchine conceived the work amid collaborations with the New York City Ballet leadership: co-founder Lincoln Kirstein, company directors, and patrons of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts era. Commissioned to celebrate the expanding repertory of the company at the New York State Theater, Balanchine drew on relationships with designers such as Barbara Karinska and with composers via the Tchaikovsky Influence through orchestration choices. The project coincided with international tours involving the Paris Opera Ballet, Royal Ballet, and the Bolshoi Ballet exchanges that heightened interest in creating an evocative, jewel-themed triptych appealing to subscribers, donors, and critics associated with institutions like the Metropolitan Opera and philanthropic families active in Lincoln Center development.

Structure and Choreography

Jewels comprises three contiguous sections—commonly titled as evocations of emeralds, rubies, and diamonds—each with its own principal dancers, corps, and choreographic idiom. Balanchine’s choreography synthesizes influences from Marius Petipa, Vaslav Nijinsky, and Michel Fokine while adopting neoclassical vocabulary aligned with his peers at the School of American Ballet and the ongoing legacy of Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. The Emeralds section features lyrical adagio phrases and off-balance épaulement recalling themes associated with the Paris Opera Ballet repertoire, the Rubies section emphasizes jazzy syncopation and fleet-footed allegro influenced by settings akin to the American Ballet Theatre and Balanchine’s collaborations with jazz musicians, and the Diamonds section displays heroic, poised lines nodding to the grand Russian tradition incarnated by the Mariinsky Theatre and the Vaganova Academy.

Music and Score

Balanchine selected existing orchestral and chamber music: music by Gabriel Fauré for Emeralds (extracts from the Pelléas et Mélisande and Cantique de Jean Racine legacies), excerpts from Igor Stravinsky’s neoclassical scores for Rubies (connecting to works like Apollo (Stravinsky) in spirit), and scenes from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s symphonies and suites arranged for Diamonds, reflecting ties to the Imperial Russian Ballet tradition. Orchestral arrangements were shaped for the New York City Ballet Orchestra under conductors affiliated with the company and guest maestros who bridged repertory between the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra. The score choices create contrasting timbral palettes—French lyricism, Stravinskian wit, and Tchaikovskian grandeur—that inform Balanchine’s tempi, phrasing, and ensemble textures.

Premieres and Performance History

The premiere cast at the New York State Theater included leading dancers of the New York City Ballet and soloists who later became artistic leaders at companies such as the Royal Swedish Ballet and Dutch National Ballet. Following the 1967 premiere, Jewels toured through North American seasons, appeared at festivals including the Spoleto Festival USA and exchanges with the Paris Opera Ballet and the Kirov Ballet (later the Mariinsky Ballet), and entered the repertories of the Royal Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, National Ballet of Canada, San Francisco Ballet, and companies across Europe and Asia. Revivals have been staged by directors like Peter Martins, Alexei Ratmansky, and artistic teams from the Bolshoi Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet.

Critical Reception and Legacy

At its debut, critics from outlets such as the New York Times, The Guardian, and Le Monde debated Balanchine’s melding of concert dance with high-society aesthetics, with commentary from reviewers aligned with institutions like the Metropolitan Opera and cultural critics connected to the Kennedy Center. Jewels influenced subsequent choreographers and shaped perceptions of abstract full-evening ballets, informing programming at academies including the Royal Academy of Dance, the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet, and the School of American Ballet. Its legacy includes impact on staging conventions, commissioning practices at major houses, and cross-cultural repertory exchanges among companies such as the Stuttgart Ballet, Het Nationale Ballet, and the Australian Ballet.

Notable Productions and Recordings

Notable productions have featured principals who became prominent figures: dancers who moved into directorships at the Royal Ballet of Flanders, the Dutch National Ballet, and the Norwegian National Ballet. Filmed and recorded versions include televised broadcasts for PBS and audio recordings with orchestras linked to the New York Philharmonic and ensembles that toured with the New York City Ballet Orchestra. Major archival recordings reside in institutions such as the Lincoln Center Archives, the Library of Congress, and the collections of the Royal Opera House. Restagings by guest repetiteurs from the Balanchine Trust and documentation in monographs from publishers associated with the American Academy of Arts and Letters continue to support scholarship and performance worldwide.

Category:Ballets by George Balanchine Category:1967 ballet premieres