Maratona

World premiere 24. September 1957

Berliner Festwochen

Städtische Oper Berlin
Production Luchino Visconti
Choreography Dick Sanders
Stage design Renzo Vespignani
Conductor Richard Kraus

Visconti and I drafted this piece for Jean Babilée and his Parisian company “Les Ballets Jean Babilée” after Horace McCoy’s often filmed novel “They shoot horses, don’t they?” in 1956, but due to various organizational problems the world première did not take place until a year later in Berlin. This work is an attempt at neo-realistic dance and musical theatre using also rock ’n’ roll music, Latin American dance and Italian pop music, whereas a pointedly classical tonality oriented towards the baroque prevail in the orchestra. The “modern” dance music on stage – partly live, partly from tapes or records – can and should be freely varied by the respective groups on the basis of the melodic and harmonic material, and be adapted to the dance style of the time, following Harald Banter’s model prestented in the score.

Hans Werner Henze

Banda jazz (può essere variata a piacere)