The Four Temperaments
Initially, they both conceived of a ballet based on the paintings of Pieter Brueghel the Elder, a score which the composer was projecting to being akin to a "Flemish peasant Persephone."
On April 26, 1940, Hindemith wrote to his publisher, Willy Strecker of B. Schott's Söhne, that he had "broken off" his partnership with Massine, but that work on the score was continuing on schedule.
"[5] Balanchine first commissioned the score from Hindemith for his own amusement, as a way to spend his income from working on Broadway and Hollywood, hoping he could enjoy listening to and play it on the piano.
[6]: 208 The piece, "Theme with Four Variations (According to the Four Temperaments), for string orchestra and piano",[7] had its first hearing at Balanchine's apartment in 52 Street, Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, conducted by Edvard Fendler, Nicholas Kopeikine on the piano, and the orchestra consisted of Balanchine's friends including Nathan Milstein, Samuel Dushkin, Léon Barzin and Raya Garbousova.
The piece would be titled The Cave of Sleep, and Pavel Tchelitchew was brought in to design, but the project was abandoned due to its cost and Hindemith's objection.
The ballet features a theme and four variations that are based on the theory of four temperaments, including Melancholic, Sanguinic, Phlegmatic and Choleric.
In the book The Faber Pocket Guide to Ballet, dance critic Luke Jennings and former Royal Ballet principal dancer Deborah Bull described, "The mood is pensive; several physical motifs are carefully developed, and by the third pas de deux the music’s speed is gathering.
[13] The third variation, "Phlematic," also starts with a male solo, which Jennings and Bull called "considerable articulacy, but his elaborate designs come to nothing in consequence of his intense inward focus.
"[7] The fourth and final variation, "Choleric," begin with a female solo, which Croce called an "angry goddess," then joined by the entire cast.
"[8] It influenced other ballets with similar style choreographed by Balanchine, including Ivesiana, Agon, Movements for Piano and Orchestra, Stravinsky Violin Concerto and Kammermusik No.
[15] Due to the company's subscription-only policy, the press was not invited, but reviewers nevertheless were able to attend the performance by either purchasing a subscription themselves, or as Bernard Taper wrote, "sneaking into the auditorium.
[29] In 1977, Balanchine, who had long been interested in filming ballets, placed The Four Temperaments as his first choice for PBS' Dance in America broadcast.
[8] Dancers who appeared in this broadcast include Bart Cook, Merrill Ashley, Daniel Duell, Adam Lüders and Colleen Neary.
