Ondine (ballet)

The three-act ballet of Ondine was commissioned and produced for The Royal Ballet in 1958 by the choreographer Sir Frederick Ashton. The resulting ballet was a collaboration between Ashton and the German composer Hans Werner Henze, who was commissioned to write the score. It is the only full length ballet that Ashton choreographed to original music, and the score is regarded as a rarity by musicians, as it is a "20th century full-length ballet score that has the depth of a masterwork".[2]

The ballet was originally intended as a vehicle for The Royal Ballet's then prima ballerina, Margot Fonteyn and the title role of Ondine was choreographed specially for her and led one critic to describe the ballet as "a concerto for Fonteyn". From its première in 1958 until the work was removed from the repertoire in 1966, nearly every performance of Ondine saw Fonteyn cast in the lead role, with the only occasional exceptions seeing Nadia Nerina and Svetlana Beriosova dancing the role. Maria Almeida became the first ballerina to dance the role of Ondine in a revival, with Anthony Dowell dancing the role of Palemon. Staged in 1988 and conducted by Isaiah Jackson, the revival was a success and the ballet has been regularly performed ever since.

After its première in 1958 it was greeted with mixed, half-hearted reviews,[6] although the first night reviews of Ondine were unanimous about one thing: Fonteyn's triumph in the title role. A.V.Coton spoke of "the supernormal sensitivity of feeling, interaction and mutual understanding which exists between Ashton and his heroine", and Cyril Beaumont saw the ballet as Ashton's "greatest gift" to his ballerina. Nothing else about the piece pleased everybody, though most reviewers liked Lila de Nobili's designs and praised the contribution of the supporting cast – Beaumont called Alexander Grant's Tirrenio "of Miltonic stature, magnificently danced and mimed."[7] Edwin Denby dismissed Ondine: after praising Fonteyn he said "But the ballet is foolish, and everyone noticed".[5] Most critics disliked the music and Mary Clarke was in the minority when she called it "rich and romantic and superbly rhythmical". Fernau Hall thought Henze showed "little understanding of the needs of classical dancing", and that Ondine would establish itself firmly in the repertoire "if it were not for Henze's music".[7]

In 1958 the ballet was widely seen as having choreography and décor in harmony with each other but fighting with the music; now it's the choreography and the music which seem to speak the same language, while the sets look not only backward but to the north.[5] Even when it was revived in 1988, it was hailed neither as a disaster nor as a lost masterpiece.[6] Henze's modern music is also perceived as a reason for the few performances of this ballet before its revival in the 1990s.

Ondine bears a resemblance to The Little Mermaid. The story derives from Fouqué's novella Undine, the tale of a water-nymph who marries a mortal. Similar to other 19th century fairy tales, the plot is based on man (Palemon) encountering the supernatural (the water nymph Ondine), but the outcome is rather different from many of the 19th century classics: here, it is the man that dies, and the female character survives.[8] Ondine makes her first entrance from a fountain, shivering in the cold air as we would in water, and dances with her shadow, which she has never seen before. She meets the hero, Palemon, and is astonished when she feels his heartbeat as she doesn't possess a heart. Palemon deserts Berta, whom he has been courting, and decides to marry Ondine. During a particularly strong storm while at sea, Ondine is lost overboard. Palemon survives the shipwreck created by the angry Ondines and, believing Ondine is lost, ends up marrying Berta. Ondine returns, however, and is heartbroken when she discovers Palemon's unfaithfulness. When she kisses him, he dies and she brings his body back into the sea with her forever.

In the published score, as with the title of the ballet, Henze also retained the original spellings of the character names. The London ballet production was given as Ondine, but the score was titled Undine, and names the lead character as Undine. Henze also uses the original name Beatrice rather than Berta.

Since the original 1958 production of the ballet, the score has been published as a standalone work, and has been used for other dance productions, which have also used the title Undine.

The score is constructed with the certainty of technical accomplishment and inlaid with a lyricism that emanated from his experience of Italian life and Mediterranean colour. The score combines various genres, including the Neoclassicism from his early years. This combination of the genres of early German Romanticism and the neoclassicism of Stravinsky gives the score a 'modern' sound "automatically made it anathema to the avant-garde of the 1950s".[9] Therefore, the music was often seen as revolutionary and not suited to ballet.

Dame Margot Fonteyn as Ondine in bronze by Nathan David, 1974

The consensus on Ashton's Ondine is that it has some very good things in it – and this is true; as is the implication that it is otherwise unsuccessful, not least because the music (which greatly disappointed Ashton himself) largely fails, except in the storm of Act II and the divertissements of Act III.[10] According to many critics, the music did not suit Ashton "who had been hoping for music as "radiant" as the Mediterranean from which its heroine was born".[6] Yet the music does seem to fit its watery theme well: there are some beautiful passages to Ondine's Act 3 "swimming" solo where the music seems thin and transparent as watercolour, and entirely suited to this sketch of the sea.[8] The ballet is also a mixture of both the 19th and the 20th century, for the plot is quintessentially romantic while the music and choreography are more modern. Although it bore all the marks of Ashton's familiarly gentle, classically oriented manner, it discarded the classical ballet conventions that appear in such Ashton successes as Cinderella and Sylvia. What he was trying to suggest, says Ashton, was "the ebb and flow of the sea: I aimed at an unbroken continuity of dance, which would remove the distinction between aria and recitative." As a result, Ondine offered few pyrotechnics, gained its effects instead through sinuous mass movements in which the undulation of arm and body suggested forests of sea plants stirring to unseen tides. The sense of submarine fantasy was reinforced by Stage Designer Lila de Nobili's fine scenery: a castle of mist and fruitfulness, shadowy crags and waterfalls, aqueous skies streaked pink and green.[11]

Ondine is not a classical construction with great set pieces (except for the wedding divertissement in the third act) or grand formal pas de deux, but a continuous, flowing narrative. However, this narrative is itself not very strong and there is no real explanation of why the lovers are on a ship in Act 2, or what exactly has passed between Acts 2 and 3 to convince Palemon to return to his mortal lover, Beatrice (Berta).[8] The work uses classical ballet vocabulary, but the form varies a great deal from the 19th century classics. Unlike them, is through-composed: there are no breaks for bows to the audience built in and (at least until the third-act divertissement) no bravura variations to self-consciously elicit the audience's response.[8] Henze's glittering music is the dominating force, although it is a difficult score to dance to, with the pulse well hidden within its general sheen, but it is atmospheric and often exciting, bringing the close of Act I to a climax.[12]

Although the narrative is not strong, the setting is and displays a "most convincing feel of the sea" and the "shimmer of water" which is very effective in this ballet which is filled with images of water and particularly of the sea.[8] The first act of the ballet takes place in the courtyard of the castle of Palemon where Ondine is seen dancing in the waterfall. Other settings include a scene with Tirrenio and the ondines while another is on a ship during wild storm at sea where the sensation of motion while being on board ship is strong enough to make the audience seasick.[8] The third act takes place in the Castle of Palemon located near the sea. The final tableau is not only exquisitely beautiful, with Ondine grieving over the body of her lover, but the surrounding ondines, their arms drifting like seaweed in the dim green light, uncannily evoke the shifting currents under the sea.[8]

When Fonteyn danced the lead, the ballet was about her and her performance; however good today's interpreters may be, none has the mystique to reduce everyone else to the background, and so the supporting roles are now much more visible and need to be much more strongly depicted.[5] It is generally accepted that Tirrenio was originally the most completely worked out role, inherited from Alexander Grant's lack of awe for Fonteyn; however the role has become difficult to cast as it was created to showcase Grant's unique mixture of gifts – classical virtuosity and flair for characterisation.[13]

Although it was much lauded at the time, Ashton's Ondine disappeared from the repertory of The Royal Ballet for twenty years or so before Sir Anthony Dowell persuaded Ashton to let him revive it in 1988.[8] It has become more entrenched in The Royal Ballet's repertoire and thus gives the audience a chance to evaluate this work without the aura that Fonteyn brought to it. Maria Almeida was chosen to revive the lead role in 1990 and Viviana Durante has subsequently continued in the tradition of Fonteyn. The role of Palemon was revived by Anthony Dowell and has subsequently been danced by Jonathon Cope. It was revived again for the 2008/2009 season at the Royal Opera House with Tamara Rojo and Edward Watson.

Ashton's choreography has so far had only one full production outside The Royal Ballet, by the Ballet of the Teatro alla Scala, Milan on 21 April 2000.[7] Some commentators have noted that this is perhaps a consequence of its length (around 100 minutes) which does not compare with other twentieth century ballets.[9] The ballet has also been staged at Sadler's Wells, London and the Metropolitan Opera House, New York.

Following the original staging by The Royal Ballet, the Ashton/Henze production was later restaged in New York in 1960, and then again at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan on 21 April 2000, a performance conducted by Patrick Fournillier.

Other choreographers have used Henze's music, including Youri Vámos for the ballet of the Deutsche Oper Berlin (1987)[14] and Torsten Händler in Chemnitz[15] and the Semperoper Ballett in Dresden, Germany has staged it regularly from 1989 as part of its repertoire using modern design. It was performed at the Volkstheater in Rostock in March 2009.

Undine was first recorded commercially in 1996: it was nominated for the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance.

Henze: Undine – London Sinfonietta

• Conductor: Oliver Knussen
• Piano: Peter Donohoe
• Recording date: 1996
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon – 453467 (CD)

• Sunday NY Times review, 7 December 1958
• NY Times review by John Martin, 22 September 1960
• NY Times obituary of Brian Shaw, 23 April 1992
• NY Times review by Anna Kisselgoff, 15 July 2004
• NY Times review by Roslyn Sulcas, 5 December 2008

• Ondine, ou La naïade – a ballet based on the same novella and produced in 1843 by Cesare Pugni and Jules Perrot
• Undine (Hoffmann) – an opera based on the same novel, with music by E.T.A. Hoffmann, produced in 1814
• Undine (Lortzing) – an opera based on the same novel, with music by Albert Lortzing, produced in 1845
• Undine – the novel by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, on which the story of Ondine is based
• Undina (Tchaikovsky) – an opera based on the same novel, with music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, produced in 1869

• Henze, Hans Werner (1959). Undine. Tagebuch eines Balletts. R. Piper & Co. Verlag, Munich

• Kennedy, Michael (1989). Portrait of Walton. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-816705-9.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ondine (Ashton).

• Guardian review by Luke Jennings, 7 December 2008. Retrieved on 3 June 2009.
• Financial Times review by Clement Crisp, 1 June 2009. Retrieved on 2 June 2009.
• Independent review by Zoë Anderson (London), 3 June 2009. Retrieved on 3 June 2009.
• NY Times review by Anna Kisselgoff, 15 July 2004
• NY Times review by John Martin, 22 September 1960
• Schott Music Publishers page for Undine, accessed 1 June 2009
• Sunday NY Times review, 7 December 1958
• Frederick Ashton and his ballets: 1958 by David Vaughan, 2004