Monumentum pro Gesualdo is a 1960 arrangement and recomposition by Igor Stravinsky of three madrigals by Carlo Gesualdo. It was composed to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Gesualdo's birth and was intended to complement Stravinsky's similar Tres Sacrae Cantiones. It was premiered on September 27, 1960, at the Venice Biennale, played by the Orchestra del Teatro la Fenice conducted by Stravinsky.[1]
It was later choreographed by the New York City Ballet (NYCB) co-founder and balletmaster George Balanchine. The premiere took place on Wednesday, November 16, 1960, at City Center of Music and Drama, New York, with scenery and lighting by David Hays (new lighting by Ronald Bates in 1974) and was conducted by Robert Irving.[citation needed]
It was first performed in conjunction with Balanchine's choreographic interpretation of Movements for Piano and Orchestra in 1963 and was regularly performed in this pairing thereafter.[2]
References
edit- ^ White 1979, p. 550.
- ^ White 1979, p. 551.
Cited source
edit- White, Eric Walter (1979). Stravinsky: The Composer and his Works (2nd ed.). University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520039834.
External links
edit- Monumentum Pro Gesualdo on the Balanchine Trust website