Mercury

Music: Franz Joseph Haydn (from Symphony No. 39 in G minor, Symphony No. 58 in F major, Symphony No. 51 in B flat, Symphony No. 38 in C major)
Choreography: Lynn Taylor-Corbett
Costume Design: Holly Hynes
Lighting Design: Mark Stanley
Duration: 26 minutes
Premiere: 1992; New York City Ballet (Diamond Project)
Pacific Northwest Ballet Premiere: February 1995

Stacy Loweberg and Oleg Gorboulev in
Mercury. Photo © Angela Sterling

Mercury was the second work by Lynne Taylor-Corbett to be added to PNB’s repertory. A departure from her more characteristic activity as “a maker of events,” Mercury is an abstract ballet in five movements, created for New York City Ballet’s 1992 Diamond Project.

The music is drawn from five symphonies by Franz Joseph Haydn (No. 39 in G minor, No. 58 in F major, No. 51 in B flat, and No. 38 in C major). All written during the period when Haydn was Kappelmeister for the Esterhazy family, these symphonies share qualities with the contemporaneous literary movement called “Sturm und Drang.” Indeed, according to PNB Conductor Allan Dameron, “Lynne could not have made a better selection to illustrate Haydn’s mercurial musical temperament. The first movement, with its abrupt silences and fiery outbursts, seems to portray a passionate soul in turmoil, searching for something. The slow movement (here, as tradition decrees, a pas de deux) exhibits a tender lyricism made more intimate by the use of muted violins. We find in the other three sections those characteristics for which Haydn was famous: a pulsating verve, quirky rhythms, and witty and surprising turns of phrase.”

Of this, her most classical piece to date, Taylor-Corbett comments: “Mercury is more than a formal essay. It was inspired, in part, by the death of a friend. And just as Haydn’s music has a bright side and a dark, down side, so I want my choreography to reflect this duality.”

Notes by Jeanie Thomas; edited by Doug Fullington, 2009.