Jardin aux lilas

Jardin aux lilas (Lilac Garden) is a ballet in one act choreographed by Antony Tudor to a composition by Ernest Chausson entitled Poème, Op.

[1] The inspiration for Chausson's Poème came from a novella by the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev, known to him in French as Le Chant de l'amour triomphant and in English as The Song of Triumphant Love, which concerns a set of intertwined relationships.

[4] Jardin aux lilas is ideally suited to performance in a small theater, where the audience has a clear view of the subtle, emotionally wrought exchanges among the four principal characters.

The original cast included Maude Lloyd as Caroline, Hugh Laing as Her Lover, Tudor himself as The Man She Must Marry, and Peggy van Praagh as An Episode in His Past.

In January 1940, the American premiere was given by Ballet Theatre during its inaugural season in New York, with Tudor and Laing in their original roles, Viola Essen as Caroline, and Karen Conrad as An Episode in His Past.