New York City Ballet

Emeralds

Choreography by: George Balanchine

Music by: Gabriel Fauré

Social Media Buttons

Send to a Friend

Credits

Music: Pelléas et Mélisande (1898) and Shylock (1889)
Premiere: April 13, 1967, New York City Ballet, New York State Theater
Original Cast: Violette Verdy, Mimi Paul, Sara Leland, Suki Schorer, Conrad Ludlow, Francisco Moncion, John Prinz
Length: 31 min.
Costumes by: Karinska
Set by: Peter Harvey (original scenery, 1967), Robin Wagner (1983), Peter Harvey (2004)
Lighting by: Ronald Bates (original production); Mark Stanley (current production)

Emeralds floats at Fauré's mesmerizing pace, evoking an underwater setting with delicate and pliable movement.

The music for Emeralds, the first section of George Balanchine's three-part masterpiece Jewels, is taken from the respective concert suites Gabriel Fauré derived from the incidental music he composed in 1889 for Edmond Haraucourt's Shylock, a French verse adaptation of Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, and in 1898 for Maurice Maeterlinck’s Pelléas et Mélisande. The order of the numbers used and their sources are as follows: "Prélude," "Fileuse," "Sicilienne"; (all from Pelléas et Mélisande), "Entr’acte," "Nocturne," "Epithalame," "Final"; (all from Shylock), and "La Mort de Mélisande" (from Pelléas et Mélisande). Balanchine added the "Nocturne" pas de deux and the final pas de sept in 1976.

{{#data}}
		<section class="explore-multimedia-section">
			<h2><a href="#/category/{{NodeID}}">{{CategoryName}}</a></h2>
			<ul>
				{{#Items}}
					{{#Item}}
						<li class="display-{{DisplayType}}" style="display: none;">
							{{#SlideshowTitle}}
								<a class="trigger-modal-multimedia" href="#" data-nodeID="{{NodeID}}"><img src="{{Thumbnail}}" alt="{{SlideshowTitle}}" /></a>
								<h3><a class="trigger-modal-multimedia" href="#" data-nodeID="{{NodeID}}">{{SlideshowTitle}}</a></h3>
								<p>
									{{{Description}}}
									{{#CallToActionLabel}}{{#CallToActionLink}}
									<br /><strong>See more:</strong> <a href="{{CallToActionLink}}">{{CallToActionLabel}}</a>
									{{/CallToActionLink}}{{/CallToActionLabel}}
								</p>
								{{#Keyword1}}
									<ul class="keyword-list">
										<li><a href="#/keyword/{{Keyword1}}">{{Keyword1}}</a></li>
										{{#Keyword2}}<li><a href="#/keyword/{{Keyword2}}">{{Keyword2}}</a></li>{{/Keyword2}}
										{{#Keyword3}}<li><a href="#/keyword/{{Keyword3}}">{{Keyword3}}</a></li>{{/Keyword3}}
									</ul>
								{{/Keyword1}}
							{{/SlideshowTitle}}
							{{#VideoTitle}}
								<a class="trigger-modal-multimedia" href="#" data-nodeID="{{NodeID}}"><img src="{{Thumbnail}}" alt="{{VideoTitle}}" /></a>
								<h3><a class="trigger-modal-multimedia" href="#" data-nodeID="{{NodeID}}">{{VideoTitle}}</a></h3>
								<p>
									{{{VideoDescription}}}
									{{#CallToActionLabel}}{{#CallToActionLink}}
									<br /><strong>See more:</strong> <a href="{{CallToActionLink}}">{{CallToActionLabel}}</a>
									{{/CallToActionLink}}{{/CallToActionLabel}}
								</p>
								{{#Keyword1}}
									<ul class="keyword-list">
										<li><a href="#/keyword/{{Keyword1}}">{{Keyword1}}</a></li>
										{{#Keyword2}}<li><a href="#/keyword/{{Keyword2}}">{{Keyword2}}</a></li>{{/Keyword2}}
										{{#Keyword3}}<li><a href="#/keyword/{{Keyword3}}">{{Keyword3}}</a></li>{{/Keyword3}}
									</ul>
								{{/Keyword1}}
							{{/VideoTitle}}
							<div class="clear"></div>
						</li>
					{{/Item}}
				{{/Items}}
			</ul>
			<div class="cta">
				<a class="lnk-view-more" href="#/category/{{NodeID}}">More {{CategoryName}}</a>
			</div>
		</section>
	{{/data}}

{{#data}}
		<section class="explore-multimedia-section">
			<h2>{{Name}}</h2>
			<ul>
				{{#Items}}
					{{#Item}}
						<li class="display-{{DisplayType}}" style="display: none;">
							{{#SlideshowTitle}}
								<a class="trigger-modal-multimedia" href="#" data-nodeID="{{NodeID}}"><img src="{{Thumbnail}}" alt="{{SlideshowTitle}}" /></a>
								<h3><a class="trigger-modal-multimedia" href="#" data-nodeID="{{NodeID}}">{{SlideshowTitle}}</a></h3>
								<p>
									{{{Description}}}
									{{#CallToActionLabel}}{{#CallToActionLink}}
									<br /><strong>See more:</strong> <a href="{{CallToActionLink}}">{{CallToActionLabel}}</a>
									{{/CallToActionLink}}{{/CallToActionLabel}}
								</p>
								{{#Keyword1}}
									<ul class="keyword-list">
										<li><a href="#/keyword/{{Keyword1}}">{{Keyword1}}</a></li>
										{{#Keyword2}}<li><a href="#/keyword/{{Keyword2}}">{{Keyword2}}</a></li>{{/Keyword2}}
										{{#Keyword3}}<li><a href="#/keyword/{{Keyword3}}">{{Keyword3}}</a></li>{{/Keyword3}}
									</ul>
								{{/Keyword1}}
							{{/SlideshowTitle}}
							{{#VideoTitle}}
								<a class="trigger-modal-multimedia" href="#" data-nodeID="{{NodeID}}"><img src="{{Thumbnail}}" alt="{{VideoTitle}}" /></a>
								<h3><a class="trigger-modal-multimedia" href="#" data-nodeID="{{NodeID}}">{{VideoTitle}}</a></h3>
								<p>
									{{{VideoDescription}}}
									{{#CallToActionLabel}}{{#CallToActionLink}}
									<br /><strong>See more:</strong> <a href="{{CallToActionLink}}">{{CallToActionLabel}}</a>
									{{/CallToActionLink}}{{/CallToActionLabel}}
								</p>
								{{#Keyword1}}
									<ul class="keyword-list">
										<li><a href="#/keyword/{{Keyword1}}">{{Keyword1}}</a></li>
										{{#Keyword2}}<li><a href="#/keyword/{{Keyword2}}">{{Keyword2}}</a></li>{{/Keyword2}}
										{{#Keyword3}}<li><a href="#/keyword/{{Keyword3}}">{{Keyword3}}</a></li>{{/Keyword3}}
									</ul>
								{{/Keyword1}}
							{{/VideoTitle}}
							<div class="clear"></div>
						</li>
					{{/Item}}
				{{/Items}}
			</ul>
			<div class="cta" style="display: none;">
				<a class="button lnk-view-more-expandable" href="#/category/{{NodeID}}">+ View All</a>
			</div>
		</section>
	{{/data}}

<section class="explore-multimedia-section">
		<h2 class="header">{{KeywordName}}</h2>
		<ul>
			{{#Items}}
				{{#Item}}
					<li class="display-{{DisplayType}}">
						{{#SlideshowTitle}}
							<a class="trigger-modal-multimedia" href="#" data-nodeID="{{NodeID}}"><img src="{{Thumbnail}}" alt="{{SlideshowTitle}}" /></a>
							<h3><a class="trigger-modal-multimedia" href="#" data-nodeID="{{NodeID}}">{{SlideshowTitle}}</a></h3>
							<p>
								{{{Description}}}
								{{#CallToActionLabel}}{{#CallToActionLink}}
								<br /><strong>See more:</strong> <a href="{{CallToActionLink}}">{{CallToActionLabel}}</a>
								{{/CallToActionLink}}{{/CallToActionLabel}}
							</p>
							{{#Keyword1}}
								<ul class="keyword-list">
									<li><a href="#/keyword/{{Keyword1}}">{{Keyword1}}</a></li>
									{{#Keyword2}}<li><a href="#/keyword/{{Keyword2}}">{{Keyword2}}</a></li>{{/Keyword2}}
									{{#Keyword3}}<li><a href="#/keyword/{{Keyword3}}">{{Keyword3}}</a></li>{{/Keyword3}}
								</ul>
							{{/Keyword1}}
						{{/SlideshowTitle}}
						{{#VideoTitle}}
							<a class="trigger-modal-multimedia" href="#" data-nodeID="{{NodeID}}"><img src="{{Thumbnail}}" alt="{{VideoTitle}}" /></a>
							<h3><a class="trigger-modal-multimedia" href="#" data-nodeID="{{NodeID}}">{{VideoTitle}}</a></h3>
							<p>
								{{{VideoDescription}}}
								{{#CallToActionLabel}}{{#CallToActionLink}}
								<br /><strong>See more:</strong> <a href="{{CallToActionLink}}">{{CallToActionLabel}}</a>
								{{/CallToActionLink}}{{/CallToActionLabel}}
							</p>
							{{#Keyword1}}
								<ul class="keyword-list">
									<li><a href="#/keyword/{{Keyword1}}">{{Keyword1}}</a></li>
									{{#Keyword2}}<li><a href="#/keyword/{{Keyword2}}">{{Keyword2}}</a></li>{{/Keyword2}}
									{{#Keyword3}}<li><a href="#/keyword/{{Keyword3}}">{{Keyword3}}</a></li>{{/Keyword3}}
								</ul>
							{{/Keyword1}}
						{{/VideoTitle}}
						<div class="clear"></div>
					</li>
				{{/Item}}
			{{/Items}}
		</ul>
	</section>