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Collection Martha Graham at the Library of Congress

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From "Adagio" to "Arabesque No. 1 (1927)" (10 works)

Adagio
1927

Performed to music by George Frederic Handel, Adagio was later retitled Madonna. The work premiered on October 16, 1927, at New York's Little Theatre. The solo work was danced by Graham. Dance Magazine (December 1927) commented, "To Handel's music Martha Graham was an earthly creature unearthly—a pale, white Madonna whom ever the angels in Heaven might envy."

Adolescence (Prelude and Song)
1929

Performed to music by Paul Hindemith, Adolescence (Prelude and Song) premiered on March 2, 1929, at New York's Booth Theatre. The solo work was danced by Martha Graham. The New York Times (March 4, 1929) noted, "The dancer has achieved an exquisite result. Simple and stark in design, it is at the same time warm and tender in mood, childishly frank and yet deft and penetrating. It is the happiest use Miss Graham has yet made of her economy of movement, and perhaps the least inclined in the direction of ugliness."

Allegro Barbaro
1926

Performed to music by Béla Bartók, Allegro Barbaro premiered on November 28, 1926, at New York's Klaw Theatre. The solo work was performed by Martha Graham.

Alt-Wein
1926

Performed to music by Leopold Godowsky and arranged by Louis Horst, Alt-Wein premiered on November 28, 1926, at New York's Klaw Theatre. The original cast list included Evelyn Sabin and Betty Macdonald. Dance Magazine (December 1927) noted, "Evelyn and Betty did the beloved German waltz arranged for them by Mr. Horst and were as peasant-like in their feeling as two well-bred American children could possibly be."

American Document
1938

Performed to music by Ray Green, American Document premiered on August 6, 1938, at the Vermont State Armory, Bennington, Vermont. The costumes were designed by Edythe Gilfond and the stage design was created by Arch Lauterer. Graham wrote the text and the work often was performed in separate sections. American Document was revised by Graham in 1989. This choreography marked the debut of Erick Hawkins, who appeared courtesy of Ballet Caravan. Hawkins was the first male dancer to enter Graham's ensemble. Joining Graham and Hawkins for the first performance of American Document were May O'Donnell, Jane Dudley, and Sophie Maslow, members of Graham's Group.

Journalist Marcia Minor interviewed Graham for New York's Daily Worker (October 7, 1938). Commenting on American Document, Graham said, "I want the audience to feel no obscurity or doubt at any time about what is happening on the stage. This dance is supposed to bring back to its full meaning what has largely become meaningless in America through familiarity. I refer to such a word as democracy that reminds us of rights we have but may not avail ourselves of. As the line goes in the script of the dance, 'We forget too much.'"

American Lyric
1937

The December 26, 1937, premier of American Lyric was performed by Graham's Group at New York's Guild Theatre. The music was composed by Alex North and the costumes were designed by Edythe Gilfond. On some programs, the work included the following statement, "This dance has as its theme the basic American right—freedom of assembly."

American Provincials: Act of Piety
1934

Performed to music by Louis Horst, American Provincials: Act of Piety premiered on November 11, 1934, at New York's Guild Theatre. The work also was performed under a variety of titles, including American Provincials; American Provincials: "Act of Piety," "Act of Judgment"; and Act of Piety from suite "American Provincials." The dance was performed by Martha Graham and Dance Group. The New York Daily Worker (November 13, 1935) wrote of a later performance that American Provincials "unsentimentally portrays the religion-frenzied Puritan and the mockery of her Philistine neighbors."

Appalachian Spring
1944

Performed to music by Aaron Copland and commissioned by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, the minimalist sets for Appalachian Spring were designed by Isamu Noguchi, costumes by Edithe Gilfond, and lighting by Jean Rosenthal. The work premiered on 30 October 1944 in the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. The cast included Martha Graham (The Bride), Erick Hawkins (The Husbandman), Merce Cunningham (The Revivalist), May O'Donnell (The Pioneering Woman), Nina Fonaroff, Pearl Lang, Marjorie Mazia, and Yuriko (The Followers).

Copland's music for Appalachian Spring is scored for a small, thirteen-member chamber ensemble and, the composition received the 1945 Pulitzer Prize for Music. Originally, Copland called his work Ballet for Martha; however, just before the premier, Graham suggested Appalachian Spring, a title that was inspired by Hart Crane's poem, "The Bridge."

One of Graham's most iconic and enduring choreographies, the story is based on a wedding and is a celebration of the American pioneers of the early nineteenth century. Noguchi's sparse set, designed to represent the new couple's farmhouse, included a platform with a slim rocking chair, a bench, a section of fence, and a tree stump that The Revivalist uses as a pulpit. The music and dance were perfect companions, reflecting youthful desires symbolized in Romanticized notions of the open prairies of America's frontier--a stark contrast to the world events of 1944. Robert Sabin, writing for Dance Observer (December 1944) noted "Appalachian Spring works outward into the basic experiences of people living together, love, religious belief, marriage, children, work and human society." Critic John Martin in The New York Times (5 November 1944) observed that the tone was "shining and joyous. On its surface it fits obviously into the category of early Americana, but underneath it belongs to a much broader and a dateless category. It is, indeed, a kind of testimony to the simple fineness of the human spirit."

The concert included two other works, also commissioned by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge: Mirror Before Me (later called Herodiade, to music by Paul Hindemith) and Imagined Wing (to music by Darius Milhaud).

Arabesque No. 1
1926

Performed to music by Claude Debussy, Arabesque No. 1 premiered on April 18, 1926, at New York's 48th Street Theater, and was Graham's first independent concert. The original cast included Thelma Biracree, Evelyn Sabin, and Betty Macdonald. Dance Magazine (July 1926) noted, "The three soft childish figures nude and silhouetted whitely against the black drop curtain made charming cameos while Louis Horst played Debussy." A revised version was performed on August 1, 1927, at the Anderson-Milton School in New York. Graham did not dance in the 1927 program, which featured Louise Gotto, Ray Moses, Ethel Rudy, Sylvia Heller, Mary Rivoire, and Benice Michaelson--all students from the school.

Arabesque No. 1
1927

Performed to music by Claude Debussy, this piece is a reworking of Arabesque No. 1, a trio, which premiered on April 18, 1926. The revised version was performed on August 1, 1927, at the Anderson-Milton School in New York. Graham did not dance in this program that featured Louise Gotto, Ray Moses, Ethel Rudy, Sylvia Heller, Mary Rivoire, and Benice Michaelson--students from the school.