Description
Masterpieces of the British Ballet / CHECKMATE: A Ballet in One Act with Prologue - Music: Sir Arthur Bliss - Dame Ninette de Valois / THE RAKE'S PROGRESS: A Ballet in Six Scenes - Music and Scenario: Gavin Gordon - Choreography: Dame Ninette de Valois / DVD
Format: NTSC
Run time: 87 Minutes
UPC: 089948437994
- Aspect Ratio : 1.33:1
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : Yes
- MPAA rating : Unrated (Not Rated)
- Product Dimensions : 7.75 x 5.25 x 0.5 inches; 3.84 Ounces
- Media Format : Multiple Formats, Classical, Color, NTSC, Closed-captioned
- Run time : 1 hour and 27 minutes
- Release date : September 26, 2006
- Studio : Video Artists Int'L
- ASIN : B000HC2LNA
- Number of discs : 1
CHECKMATE
A Ballet in One Act with Prologue
Music: Sir Arthur Bliss
Choreography: Dame Ninette de Valois
Checkmate, one of the pillars of contemporary British ballet, was created in 1937 by
choreographer Ninette de Valois (1898-2001) in response to an idea by composer Sir
Arthur Bliss (1891-1975). It remained in the repertoire for more than four decades
and is still regularly revived.
The ballet portrays a game of love and death, played according to rules of chess. It
is won by the Black Queen who first captures the Red Queen, then defeats the Red
Knight, and finally delivers the Red King to her warriors.
THE RAKE'S PROGRESS
A Ballet in Six Scenes
Music and Scenario: Gavin Gordon
Choreography: Dame Ninette de Valois
The Rake's Progress, which premiered in 1935, is one of the first classics of the native
English school of ballet. The work's creator, Ninette de Valois, called the ballet her
"Homage to Hogarth," a reference to the brilliant caricaturist whose paintings inspired
her choreography.
The music is by Gavin Gordon (1901-1970), who also wrote the scenario based on
Hogarth's drawings. They portray the swift fall of a young man who squanders his newly
inherited fortune in brothels and gambling dens and is ultimately cast into Bedlam,
London's notorious madhouse, where, wasted by disease and consumed by remorse,
he ends his days.
Dancers of the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet
Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet Orchestra
Barry Wordsworth, conductor
Filmed in 1982 at Sadler's Wells Theater, London
