Research Catalog

Title

Interview with Vittorio Rieti. October 22, 1975, 1975.

Author

Rieti, Vittorio, 1898-1994

Publication

1975

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Gruen, John

Description

2 sound discs (approximately one hour and 38 minutes): digital; 4 3/4 in.

Summary

• Disc 1 (approximately 50 minutes). John Gruen speaks about the composer Vittorio Rieti's background and names some of the dances choreographed to his music; Rieti speaks with Gruen about his association with Serge Diaghilev and the Ballets russes including how he first came to work with him; his composition Barabou and George Balanchine's choreographing of it; Diaghilev as a person and as an artist; more on Barabou including the set designer [Maurice] Utrillo and the cast; the four-piano orchestration [of Igor Stravinsky's music] for [Bronislava Nijinska's] ballet Les noces; more on Diaghilev including an anecdote about Diaghilev, Marie Laurencin, and [Vera] Nemchinova's costume in [Nijinska's ballet] Les biches; Serge Lifar as a person and as a choreographer including Rieti's experience working with him; [Igor] Stravinsky including his relationship with Diaghilev; the orchestras [employed by the Ballets russes]; Nijinska's misinterpretation of Poulenc's music for Les biches; [Rieti begins speaking about Leonide Massine; recording ends abruptly but continues on disc 2].
• Disc 2 (approximately 48 minutes). Vittorio Rieti continues to speak about Leonide Massine and his relationship with Serge Diaghilev; Massine's rechoreographing of Rieti's music for Le bal for a production in the United States; [Gruen describes Rieti's physical appearance]; his friendship and collaborations with George Balanchine including Waltz academy and Night shadow (also known as La sonambula); the process by which Rieti created the story for Night shadow including why he prefers that title to La sonambula; the poor critical reception in the United States of Balanchine's Night shadow; more on Balanchine, as a person; Tamara Geva, in particular how she changed over the years; Bacchanalia [The triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne], his third collaboration in the United States with Balanchine; his final collaboration with Balanchine, namely Native dancers, which Balanchine choreographed to Rieti's Symphony no. 5,; the process of its creation including Jerome Robbins' involvement at one point; working with the Harkness Ballet, in particular the difficulties and frustrations he encountered; [Rebekah] Harkness, including an example of her fiscal extravagance; composing for ballet; his division of ballet into three major styles: dramatic ballets like Giselle; ballets choreographed to existing music, like the kind Balanchine frequently created; and music composed to fit a plot, as for example in the Antonia Cobos ballet The mute wife; his thoughts on the ballets of the Ballets russes, in particular the uniqueness of the collaborations that produced them and the excitement they evoked; briefly [Tamara] Karsavina.

Alternative Title

• Dance Oral History Project
• Dance Audio Archive

Subjects

• Rieti, Vittorio, 1898-1994
• Rieti, Vittorio, 1898-1994 > Barabau Suite
• Ballets russes
• Night shadow (Choreographic work : Balanchine)
• Music and dance
• Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne (Choreographic work : Balanchine)
• Barabau (Choreographic work : Balanchine)
• Rieti, Vittorio, 1898-1994 > Night shadow
• Harkness Ballet
• Diaghilev, Serge, 1872-1929
• Lifar, Serge, 1905-1986
• Rieti, Vittorio, 1898-1994 > Symphonies, no. 5
• Audiotapes > Rieti, V
• Native dancers (Choreographic work : Balanchine)
• Mute wife (Choreographic work : Cobos)
• Massine, Leonide, 1896-1979

Note

• Interview with Vittorio Rieti conducted by John Gruen on October 22, 1975 at Gruen's home in New York City as part of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Jerome Robbins Dance Division's Oral History Project.
• Title supplied by cataloger.
• Sound quality is good overall. The recording is marred by extraneous noise including "tape hiss" and occasional short gaps. However, the speakers' voices are easily intelligible.

Funding (note)

• The conservation and cataloging of this recording was made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. The support of the National Endowment for the Arts is also gratefully acknowledged.

Call Number

*MGZTL 4-385

OCLC

84226395

Author

Rieti, Vittorio, 1898-1994, interviewee.

Title

Interview with Vittorio Rieti. October 22, 1975, 1975.

Production

1975

Type of Content

spoken word

Type of Medium

audio

Type of Carrier

audio disc

Event

Recorded by John Gruen 1975, October 22 New York (N.Y.)

Funding

The conservation and cataloging of this recording was made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. The support of the National Endowment for the Arts is also gratefully acknowledged.

Original Version

Original format: one sound reel (approximately one hour and 38 minutes); 5 inches; polyester, half-track; 1 7/8 ips., based on a handwritten note on the original container of the archival original sound reel, the sound reel may have benn recorded from a sound cassette recorded on October 22, 1975; transferred to wav file and compact disc formats in 2013.

Local Note

For transcript of interview: see *MGZMT 5-385

Former classmark: *MGZT 5-385

Added Author

Gruen, John, interviewer.

Research Call Number

*MGZTL 4-385