Hi there.
Thinking 12 month's in advance here (I have to otherwise it will never happen). I am wanting to stage the ballet THE FOUR SEASONS. Please, I need to know - the music - was it a Verdi Score? I can't quite remember and also appears very hard to come by. In the event of not being able to use the Verdi Score (if indeed that is what it is) does anyone out there have any recommendations as to what music I could possibly use? I envisage the following:

Spring Fairy Solo (Senior Girl)
Flower Fairies as the corps

Winter Fairy Solo (Senior Girl)
Snowflakes as the corps

Autumn Fairy Solo (Senior Girl)
Mushrooms/Gnomes/Fairies as the corps

Summer Fairy Solo (Senior Girl)
Bluebirds as the corps

Corps to be junior ballerina's in seperate segments from the soloists.

I would love to hear from anyone/everyone out there with any good advise, thoughts, comments and/or observations. Wishing you ALL A very Merry Christmas and a Year that is Blessed with every bit of joy, love, health and happiness.

Hi Spangles...Vivaldi wrote the Four Seasons. You can try tower.com or amazon.com for recordings. Also, there is Glazunov's Opus 67 "The Seasons". Another suggestion is the fairy solos from Prokofiev's "Cinderella". They actually ARE the "Season's" (Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter). The Cinderella "Midnight Waltz" might be nice for your corps dance. Musically, the fairy solos are complex (which can be tricky for some students), but beautiful. Jerome Robbin's ballet "The Seasons" (I never saw this one) apparently used Verdi music...

<small>[ 19 December 2004, 08:03 PM: Message edited by: GN ]</small>

The Verdi music that Robbins used for his ballet was from the ballet music from "I Vespri Siciliani," and from "I Lombardi" and "Il Trovatore." With some searching, you might find exactly which parts.

So many V's associated with The Four Seasons: Vivaldi, Verdi, Frankie Valli...

I agree with GN about using the seasonal fairies' variation from the first act of "Cinderella." The only time I ever choreographed anything for a school recital, that ballet was my source. The music I used was all from the second act. The music is beautiful, very danceable, and because it's an old-fashioned sort of ballet, it's full of short selections. You can view two very different interpretations of the fairies' variations by watching an old Royal Ballet performance of the ballet with Sibley and Dowell, and an even older Bolshoi Ballet version (1960?) with Struchkova and Lediakh. I know there are other videos out there, but those are the only two I've seen.

<small>[ 19 December 2004, 08:17 PM: Message edited by: djb ]</small>

Thank you very much for your input guys. very much appreciated. Have printed out and now I am off to find my music. Will keep you posted on how I go. In the meantime, God Bless and merry merry christmas and a happy new year. Spangles.