| First performed in 1976 by The Royal Ballet, A Month in the Country was one of Ashton’s final works for the company. Long inspired by Turgenev’s play, he distilled it into a one-act ballet, focussing on the web of domestic entanglements between its central characters. At its heart is Natalia Petrovna (originally the superlative dance actress Lynn Seymour), trapped in a stifling marriage and disarmed by the arrival of Beliaev, a young tutor. Choreographed to an arrangement of early Chopin by John Lanchbery, the narrative unfolds primarily through a series of intimate pas de deux. Ashton’s choreography is remarkably nuanced and restrained, using fleeting touch, suspended motion and spatial proximity (or often its absence) to evoke the characters’ inner emotional worlds. He dedicated the piece to Sophie Fedorovitch and Bronislava Nijinska—‘Chopin’s compatriots and my mentors.’ |
MUSIC
Frédéric Chopin, arranged by John Lanchbery (Variations on “Là ci darem” from Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Opus 2; Fantasy on Polish airs, Opus 13; Andante spianato and Grande polonaise in E flat major, Opus 22)
SCENERY & COSTUMES
Julia Trevelyan Oman
DANCERS
Natalia Petrovna: Lynn Seymour; Yslaev, her husband: Alexander Grant; Kolia, their son: Wayne Sleep; Vera, Natalia’s ward: Denise Nunn; Rakitin, Natalia’s admirer: Derek Rencher; Katia, a maid: Marguerite Porter; Matvei, a footman: Anthony Conway; Beliaev, Kolia’s tutor: Anthony Dowell
FIRST PERFORMANCE
Royal Ballet, Royal Opera House, London, 12 February 1976
New Stagings / Productions
National Ballet of Canada, 1995
STAGING
National Ballet of Canada
REPRODUCED BY
Anthony Dowell
DANCERS
Natalia Petrovna: Karen Kain; Yslaev: Hazaros Surmeyan; Kolia: Johan Persson; Vera: Jaimie Tapper; Rakitin: Graeme Mears; Katia: Sally-Anne Hickin; Matvei: Brenda Matthews; Beliaev: Robert Conn
FIRST PERFORMANCE
O’Keefe Centre, Toronto, Canada, 3 May 1995
Copyright © 2004 by David Vaughan. ‘Work note’ © Frederick Ashton Foundation.
This listing is part of a chronology that was originally published in Vaughan’s Frederick Ashton and His Ballets (Alfred E Knopf 1976; 2nd ed., London: Dance Books, 1999) and includes new productions added since then, and up until 2007