Music: Igor Stravinsky (Concerto in D for violin and orchestra, 1931, commissioned by Blair Fairchild).
Choreography: George Balanchine.
Production: Scenery & Costumes by Pavel Tchelitchew. Scenery executed by
Eugene Dunkel; costumes executed by Karinska.
Premiere: on January 22, 1941 by the Original Ballet Russe at the 51st Street Theatre, New York. (Conductor: Igor Stravinsky. Violinist: Samuel Dushkin.)
Dancers at the premiere: 1st movement, tocatta: Tatiana Leskova, Roman Jasinsky, 8 women; 2nd movement, aria: Marina Svetlova, Paul Petroff, Sonia Orlova, Irina Zarova, 8 women; 3rd movement, aria: Tamara Toumanova, Jasinsky, Petroff; 4th movement, capriccio: Tomanova, Leskova, Svetlova, Jasinsky, Petroff, 12 women.
Note: A fantasy of contrasting moods expressed in a series of dialogues of movement, without story. The costumes and setting were surreal; 2 skeletal trees glowed as a blood-red ganglia. The title derives from a low balustrade onstage framing the action. In 1972, for the NYC Ballet Stravinsky Festival, Balanchine choreographed Violin Concerto (since 1973 called Stravinsky Violin Concerto) , an entirely new work to this music performed in practice clothes without scenery. From the book Choreography by George Balanchine: A Catalogue of Works, published by The Eakins Press Foundation in 1983.