Rhapsody (Ashton)
Rhapsody is a one-act ballet choreographed by Frederick Ashton to Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. The ballet was made for both Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's 80th birthday, and Mikhail Baryshnikov's guest appearance with the Royal Ballet. It premiered on 4 August 1980, at the Royal Opera House, with the two principal roles danced by Baryshnikov and Lesley Collier. The ballet is dedicated to the Queen Mother. Choreography Ashton had stated that his inspiration was "not just from the nineteenth-century classics, but from classicism." He added, "I've worked to develop my classicism so as to enrich and fit in with the repertory of a classical company." The ballet is danced by a principal couple and a corps de ballet of six men and six women. The lead male role resembles the virtuosic Russian ballet style. Some critics interpret this role as the embodiment of the violin. The female principal role is in the British ballet style. She only enters the stage half-way through the ballet. The contrast becomes less obvious when the principal male role is danced by Royal Ballet-trained dancers. The two mostly dance separately, but the moments when they are together have been compared to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. While the two leads are the main focus of the ballet, the ensemble also has its own dances. Production Ashton first choreographed to Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini for Vincente Minnelli and Gottfried Reinhardt's 1953 film The Story of Three Loves. The dance was featured in the story "The Jealous Lover." The scene features the character portrayed by Moira Shearer, dancing what she "supposedly improvised," before the corps de ballet joins her. Ashton had stated that he "hates" the set-up. However, he was still interested in the music years later. Ashton finally choreographed to the same score again in 1980. According to him, Princess Margaret approached him about "doing something" for the 80th birthday of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, with whom Ashton was friendly. Coincidentally, Mikhail Baryshnikov was invited to make guest appearances at the Royal Ballet in July and August 1980. However, he did not want to dance classical ballets, and would only perform with the company if Ashton would choreograph a new ballet for him. Ashton had already wanted to create a ballet for Baryshnikov in 1977, after the latter's performance as Colas in the former's La fille mal gardée with the Royal Ballet. Ashton said, "with a gun held at my head and the Queen Mother's birthday, I pulled out the plugs," and decided to choreograph to Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Lesley Collier was cast as the female lead. She said she was not sure why she was chosen as she believed she was "not an inspiring dancer." She added, "With me [Ashton] has to work and work to find something – he has to start completely from scratch." However, she also said that her speed might be why she was cast. Six men and six women, all younger