Notes

“Frederick Ashton created this 1978 male solo to the famous passage for solo flute and strings from Christoph Willibald Gluck’s opera Orphée et Euridice (1774). He had, in fact, choreographed two earlier versions (both now lost) of this musical excerpt in the 1950s – for the ballerinas Svetlana Beriosova and Carla Fracci – and made this final setting for Anthony Dowell to perform at an English National Opera gala. The piece is a sublime intermingling of the sorrowful song of Orpheus with the beatitude of the blessed spirit. Yearning and searching for Euridice, but in a state of acceptance and heavenly peace, each gesture flows seamlessly from the last, while the simplest of movements are employed to powerful effect.”

Courtesy of The Frederick Ashton Foundation.