Dark Elegies

Music: Gustav Mahler (Kindertotenlieder [Songs on the Death of Children], 1901–1904)
Choreography: Antony Tudor
Staging: Sallie Wilson
Scenic Design: Norman Lundin
Costume Design: Raymond Sovey
Lighting Design: Randall G. Chiarelli
Duration: 28 minutes
Premiere: February 19, 1937; Ballet Rambert (London, England)
Pacific Northwest Ballet Premiere: March 25, 1987

The set of dances that make up Antony Tudor’s Dark Elegies are accompanied by Gustav Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder, a song cycle for baritone and orchestra. The choreography reflects the themes of the songs: the death of children, the anguish of bereavement, and the ultimate acceptance of loss in the knowledge that life will go on.

Notes edited by Doug Fullington, 2009.