Research Catalog

Interview with Fernau Hall.

Title
Interview with Fernau Hall. April 13, 1988, 1988.
Author
Hall, Fernau
Publication
1988.

Details

Additional Authors
Chazin-Bennahum, Judith
Description
5 compact discs (approximately 4 hours and 25 minutes) : digital; 4 3/4 in.
Summary
  • Disc 1 (approximately one hour). Fernau Hall speaks with Judith Chazin-Bennahum about the current state of ballet in Russia [the former Soviet Union] including Vladimir Vasiliev's ballet Anyuta; Hall's background including his education in British Columbia; his parents; learning about art from his great-uncle in Antwerp; moving to London in 1933; Antony Tudor and Massine's ballets [gap]; the Ballet Club [at the Mercury Club] including its finances; Mim [Marie Rambert] as a company director; Tudor's break with Rambert; Peggy van Praagh as a dancer; Rambert's inability to understand Tudor's work; Tudor's recognition that Aggie [Agnes de Mille] was right for his work; Tudor's and Hugh Laing's efforts to raise money [for a new company]; the gallery at Covent Garden; the start of Tudor's and Hall's friendship; an anecdote about Tudor's reaction to a review by Hall of Tudor's dancing; Hall's perspective as to why Ninette de Valois did not use Tudor's work; his work Cross-gartered and what made it different from the ballets being made at that time [ends abruptly].
  • Disc 2 (approximately one hour). Fernau Hall continues to speak with Judith Chazin-Bennahum about Antony Tudor including how much Tudor learned from Mim [Marie Rambert]; briefly, his ballet Lysistrata; briefly, his ballet Atalanta of the East; modern dance in England in the 1930s; Kurt Jooss including his talent as a lighting designer; possible sources of influence on Tudor; the challenges of writing about Tudor; Tudor's work Divine horsemen; Peggy van Praagh as a company director; Hall's experiences during World War II including his wartime service in connection with radar engineering [gap]; brief discussion of Frederick Ashton; Merle Park; Ninette de Valois; Ashton's Symphonic variations; Hall's thoughts on Jerome Robbins; Tudor's visit to London in connection with his creation of Shadowplay for the Royal Ballet [ends abruptly].
  • Disc 3 (approximately 57 minutes). Fernau Hall continues to speak with Judith Chazin-Bennahum about the Royal Ballet including his perspective on Kenneth Macmillan as its director and choreographer; Antony Tudor's lack of fame in England; the existing notation score for Tudor's ballet Shadowplay [from 1:30 - 4:40 on track 2 interview is interrupted while Hall speaks on the telephone]; Tudor's The leaves are fading; his works Atalanta of the East and The planets including Hugh Laing as Mars and Kyra Nijinsky as Neptune in the latter; Tudor's work The descent of Hebe; more on The planets; Tudor and abstract ballets; more on The descent of Hebe, in particular the final section; Tudor's work and television; his work Le jardin aux lilas including the story on which it was based; possible reasons Alicia Alonso never staged his work in Cuba; Hall's comments on his [Hall's] short career as a dancer; Tudor as a character dancer.
  • Disc 4 (approximately 57 minutes). Fernau Hall continues to speak with Judith Chazin-Bennahum about Antony Tudor including his work Dark elegies and the filming of it for television; briefly, his work Gala performance and Mim's [Marie Rambert's] declining to produce it; Ninette de Valois, including Hall's opinion that she was lacking in musicality; her work Checkmate; briefly, the Swedish production of Dark elegies; Tudor's financial arrangements with Ballet Theatre [later American Ballet Theatre]; Tudor's critical success with Pillar of fire including an anecdote about Tudor and Arnold Haskell; Tudor's work Undertow including its critical reception and Nora Kaye's performance; Alicia Alonso's comments on Undertow; Tudor's work Shadow of the wind; briefly, Dale Wasserman; more on Shadow of the wind, in particular the poems in the libretto and John Martin's review [ends abruptly].
  • Disc 5 (approximately 31 minutes). Fernau Hall speaks with Judith Chazin-Bennahum about Lucia Chase; Dianne Richards and Antony Tudor [an unidentified person who appears to be Hall's guest, briefly joins the conversation]; the passing over of Tudor for Mikhail Baryshnikov as artistic director of American Ballet Theatre; Hall's illness [ends abruptly].
Alternative Title
Judith Chazin-Bennahum collection of Antony Tudor audio material.
Subjects
Note
  • Interview with Fernau Hall conducted by Judith Chazin-Bennahum in London, England, at Hall's home, on April 13, 1988. This interview was conducted as part of Chazin-Bennahum's research for her book The ballets of Antony Tudor: studies in psyche and satire (1994).
  • Sound quality ranges from good to poor. At times Fernau Hall's voice is soft and difficult to understand. There are occasional short gaps and extraneous noise.
  • Title supplied by cataloger based on handwritten note on original container.
Source (note)
  • Gift;
Call Number
*MGZTL 4-2930
OCLC
829855626
Author
Hall, Fernau, interviewee.
Title
Interview with Fernau Hall. April 13, 1988, 1988.
Production
1988.
Type of Content
spoken word
Type of Medium
audio
Type of Carrier
audio disc
Event
Recorded by Judith Chazin-Bennahum 1998 April 13 at the home of Fernau Hall in London, England.
Original Version
Original format : 3 microcassettes (approximately 4 hours and 25 minutes; 0.46875 in. per sec. ; half-track). Originally recorded in 1988.
Local Note
Archival original: *MGZTCO 2-2930
Added Author
Chazin-Bennahum, Judith, interviewer.
Judith Chazin-Bennahum, donor
Added Title
Judith Chazin-Bennahum collection of Antony Tudor audio material.
Research Call Number
*MGZTL 4-2930
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