Brandenburg

Brandenburg is a ballet choreographed by Jerome Robbins to compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. Danced by a cast of twenty, the plotless ballet is set to Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, as well as individual movements from Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 1, 2 and 6. The ballet premiered on January 22, 1997, at the New York State Theater, danced by the New York City Ballet. Brandenburg is Robbins' last work. Choreography Brandenburg is set to excerpts of Brandenburg Concertos, including the entirety of No. 3, and the second movement of No. 2, fourth movement of No. 1 and the third movement of No. 6. The ballet is danced by four principal dancers and a corps de ballet of sixteen. Jean-Pierre Frohlich, Robbins' ballet master, described the ballet as "a plotless piece in which the steps create the mood." In his biography of Robbins, Greg Lawrence described, "the ballet began with a festive folk dance, and from there the dancing alternated between duets for the principals and group formations for the rest of the communal gathering. The configurations were often quite intricate and marked by lightning-fast transformations." Dance critics Anna Kisselgoff and Deborah Jowitt both compared the patterns in the ballet to a kaleidoscope. Author Terry Teachout commented, "A large-scale ensemble piece structured along classical lines, it contains no implied relationships, and the dancers are not individually characterized. But a closer look reveals that it is also merely the latest in Robbins's long series of dances about dancers specifically, a corps of Robbins-style dancers performing a "neoclassical" ballet which incorporates all the choreographer's signature moves." Dance critics noticed the ballet echoes Robbins' earlier works, including Dances at a Gathering, The Goldberg Variations, Glass Pieces, Fanfare, Interplay and Fancy Free.