Research Catalog

Title

Interview with Edwin Denby [and] Conversation with Edwin Denby and Don McDonagh, Arlene Croce, George Dorris, and Jack Anderson [sound recording].

Author

Denby, Edwin, 1903-1983.

Publication

1969.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Croce, Arlene.
• McDonagh, Don.
• Dorris, George E.
• Anderson, Jack, 1935-
• Joseph and Ida Liskin Foundation. fnd

Description

5 sound discs (ca. 292 min.): digital; 4 3/4 in.

Summary

• Interview with Edwin Denby, disc 1, 01/07?/1969 (ca. 63 min.). Edwin Denby speaks with Don McDonagh and Arlene Croce about dance gesture as compared with mime gesture, including their respective relationships with the passage of [musical] time; the difficulty of conveying meaning while maintaining the pure quality of dance technique, including an anecdote about Paul Taylor; the fallacy in assuming that what one sees on stage is necessarily an expression of the choreographer's or dancer's intent; Chase Robinson, including as a dancer with Merce Cunningham's company [short gap]; Paul Mejia; John Clifford; classic dancers as compared to character dancers, for example, Lawrence Rhodes and the New York City Ballet dancers Francisco Moncion, Nicholas Magallanes, and Edward Villella; André Eglevsky, including his influence on Jacques d'Amboise; the use of dramatic gestures in George Balanchine's work La valse, in particular Tanaquil Le Clercq's putting on of the glove; Le Clercq's facility for appropriate dramatic gestures [ends abruptly].
• Interview with Edwin Denby, disc 2, 01/07?/1969 (ca. 64 min.). Edwin Denby speaks with Don McDonagh and Arlene Croce about Michel Fokine's ballet Le spectre de la rose and Waslaw Nijinsky's Afternoon of a faun; more on classic dancers compared with character dancers; an anecdote about Marie Taglioni; subjectivity in the perception of dance; audience response in the U.S. to Alexandra Danilova; ballet audiences and applause, including at New York City Ballet performances; manipulating audience response, including an anecdote about the soliciting of applause at a performance by Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn of Romeo and Juliet; George Balanchine's ballet Jewels [short gap]; Balanchine's ballet Prodigal son, including changes over the years; a performance of the guedra dance Denby saw in a brothel in southern Morocco; the sociological context of the Siren [in Prodigal son]; the ability of Martha Graham and Alexandra Danilova to project a certain concept of space; his view that ballet dancers should be radiant; Suzanne Farrell's exaggerated projection; Maya Plisetskaya [Plise︠t︡ska︠i︡a]; [ends abruptly].
• Interview with Edwin Denby, disc 5, 01/07?/1969 (ca. 38 min.) Edwin Denby continues to speak with Don McDonagh and Arlene Croce about Plise︠t︡ska︠i︡a; ballets that have box office appeal, e.g., Balanchine's ballet Jewels and Swan lake; the style of the Kirov Ballet, including extent it has changed over the years; more on New York City Ballet audiences [from ca. 3 min. into track 6 is an unrelated recording of questions and answers regarding an advertisement for Crest toothpaste].
• Conversation with Edwin Denby, disc 4, May or June 1969 (ca. 64 min.). Edwin Denby speaks with Don McDonagh, Arlene Croce, George Dorris, and Jack Anderson about Igor Stravinsky and George Balanchine; Balanchine's ballet Night shadow, in particular, as performed by Alexandra Danilova in the role of the sleepwalker and by Frederic Franklin and Nicholas Magallanes in the role of the poet, including Danilova's use of a rigid back and her carrying of the poet's body; Jerome Robbins' work Dances at a gathering, including the circumstances of its creation; the Chopin score and use of a solo piano; Frederick Ashton's work Enigma variations, including as compared with Balanchine's work Liebeslieder Walzer; the Edward Elgar score; more on Dances at a gathering [ends abruptly].
• Conversation with Edwin Denby, disc 3, May or June 1969 (ca. 63 min.). Edwin Denby speaks with Don McDonagh, Arlene Croce, George Dorris, and Jack Anderson about the corps de ballet of New York City Ballet; the inevitability of changes in a work over time, with reference to Balanchine's ballets Ballet imperial and La sonnambula [Night shadow] and Graham's revival of Hérodiade as examples; the Royal Ballet, in particular its New York performance of [Frederick Ashton's and Peter Wright's new production of ] The sleeping beauty, including the fairies' variations and Lila De Nobili's costumes; Emanuel Young's conducting; the dancers' unusual phrasing; Monica Mason in the ballet Raymonda; fluency as contrasted with accuracy; the use of repose in the Royal Ballet's dancing of La bayadère and Ashton's ballets such as Monotones [at ca. 50 sec. into track 7, there is a short gap following which the venue changes to a restaurant]; Peter Martins, as an exemplary dancer; Nureyev, including his interest in joining New York City Ballet; discussion of virtuoso pas de deux, for example in Le corsaire; brief discussion of composers Ludwig Minkus and Ricardo Drigo; more on New York City Ballet's corps de ballet; the large number of different ballets performed in repertory [ends abruptly].

Donor/Sponsor

Oral history archive.

Subjects

• Denby, Edwin, 1903-1983
• Royal Ballet
• Sleeping beauty (Choreographic work : Ashton and Wright, Peter after Petipa, M)
• Dances at a gathering (Choreographic work : Robbins)
• Dance critics
• Clifford, John, 1947-
• Prodigal son (Choreographic work : Balanchine)
• Night shadow (Choreographic work : Balanchine)
• Audiotapes > Denby, E
• New York City Ballet
• Arts audiences

Note

• Open as of August 22, 2012.
• Sound quality ranges from good to poor. The voice of Edwin Denby is so soft as to be unintelligible at times, and the recording is marred by extraneous noise, especially in disc 5 and the latter half of disc 3 which was recorded in a restaurant.
• Interview with Edwin Denby conducted by Don McDonagh and Arlene Croce in January 1969, in New York City (discs 1, 2, and 5) and conversation with Edwin Denby and Don McDonagh, Arlene Croce, George Dorris and Jack Anderson, in May or June 1969, in New York City (discs 3 and 4). The recording is not in sequence. The proper order in which to listen to the discs is: Interview with Edwin Denby: discs 1, 2, and 5; and Conversation with Edwin Denby: discs 4 and 3.

Funding (note)

• Preservation was funded by a gift from the Joseph and Ida Liskin Foundation.

Source (note)

• Don McDonagh.

Call Number

*MGZTL 4-2516

OCLC

302271629

Author

Denby, Edwin, 1903-1983. Interviewee

Title

Interview with Edwin Denby [and] Conversation with Edwin Denby and Don McDonagh, Arlene Croce, George Dorris, and Jack Anderson [sound recording].

Imprint

1969.

Funding

Preservation was funded by a gift from the Joseph and Ida Liskin Foundation.

Local Note

The recordings were made by Don McDonagh and form in part the basis of an article entitled A conversation with Edwin Denby: parts 1 and 2 in Ballet review, v. 2, no 5, 1969, p. 3-19 and v. 2 no 6, 1969, p. 32-45. Related recordings are cataloged as *MGZTL 4-2517 nos. 1-2.

Dubbing master: *MGZTD 4-2516 nos. 1-5

Archive original: *MGZTCO 3-2516 nos. 1-5

Source

Gift; Don McDonagh. 2007. NN-PD

Local Subject

Audiotapes -- Denby, E.

Added Author

Croce, Arlene. Interviewer

McDonagh, Don. Interviewer

Dorris, George E. Speaker

Anderson, Jack, 1935- Speaker

McDonagh, Don. Donor

Joseph and Ida Liskin Foundation. Funder

Research Call Number

*MGZTL 4-2516 [sound disc]