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Collection Martha Graham at the Library of Congress

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From "Panorama" to "Punch and the Judy" (12 works)

Panorama
1935

Performed to music by Norman Lloyd, Panorama was divided into three parts, "Theme of Dedication," "Imperial Theme," and "Popular Theme." Mobiles for this work were designed by Alexander Calder and the set was created by Arch Lauterer. Panorama premiered on August 14, 1935, in Bennington, Vermont. The work was danced by Martha Graham and Group, with student dancers.

NOTE: There is no information in the collections pertaining to this work.

Peasant sketches
1927

Performed in three sections, the music for the first section, "Dance," was composed by Vladimir Rebikoff; the second section, "Berceuse," was composed by Alexander Tansman, and the third section, "In the Church," was composed by Petr Ilich Tchaikovsky. Peasant Sketches premiered on February 27, 1927, at New York's Guild Theatre. The solo work was performed by Martha Graham.

Perspectives: Frontier and Marching Song
1935

Performed to music by Louis Horst (Frontier) and Lehman Engle (Marching Song), Perspectives: Frontier and Marching Song also was known as Frontiers (Perspective No. 1) and Frontier, which became a solo with a set designed by Isamu Noguchi. The work premiered on April 28, 1935, at New York's Guild Theatre. The original production was danced by Martha Graham and Group; in its solo version, the work was performed by Graham. The New York Times (November 11, 1936) remarked on a later performance, "Frontier is deeply felt and simply projected…. Here, one believes, Miss Graham has touched the finest note of her career…"

Phantasy: Prelude, Musette, Gavotte
year

Performed to music by Arnold Schönberg, Phantasy: Prelude, Musette, Gavotte premiered on February 18, 1934, at New York's Guild Theatre. The solo work was danced by Martha Graham.

NOTE: There is no information in the collections pertaining to this work.

Poems of 1917
1928

Performed to music by Leo Ornstein, Poems of 1917 was divided into two sections, "Song behind the Lines" and "The Dance of Death." It premiered on April 22, 1928, at New York's Little Theatre. The solo work was danced by Martha Graham. The New York Times (April 23, 1928) said that the work is "likely to provide much subject for discussion. Highly provocative in conception, [the movements] produce a striking dramatic effect, whether they are to be classified as dancing or not." Dance Magazine (July 1928) noted that Poems of 1917 was "one of the most dramatic pieces of work that Miss Graham ever interpreted."

Portrait—After Beltran-Masses
1926

Performed to music by Manuel de Falla, Portrait--After Beltran-Masses premiered on April 18, 1926, at New York's 48th Street Theater. The solo work was performed by Martha Graham and was part of a program for her first independent concert. (The work was later retitled Gypsy Portrait.) Dance Magazine (July 1926) described the visual experience of seeing Graham, "Clad in a heavy gold kimon[o], making patterns with her body against a screen of brilliant lacquer—a romantic twelfth century tapestry in bold colorings, a gold crown on her head—a modern portrait after Beltran-Masses, lithe and tigerish in her crisp silk gown of black and orange strips, and red poppies in her sleek black hair—Martha Graham presents a series of pictures that fire the imagination and make a hundred stories for every gesture."

Praeludium
1935

Performed to music by Paul Nordoff, Praeludium, which also was called Praeludium (No. 1) and occasionally subtitled, "Dance of Greeting," premiered on February 10, 1935, at New York's Guild Theatre. The original costumes were designed by Martha Graham; new costumes were created by Edythe Gilfond in 1938. The work was danced by Graham.

Prelude (Salutation)
1932

Performed to music by Carlos Chávez, Prelude premiered on November 20, 1932, in New York's Guild Theatre. According a program from a performance at the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina (November 21, 1932), Graham retitled the work Salutation. The solo work was danced by Martha Graham. A November 30, 1932, review in the New York Herald Tribune also refers to the work as Salutation, noting that it "had its premier ten days ago at the Guild Theatre, and which, in repetition is increasingly effective."

Prelude to a Dance, a work set to music by Arthur Honegger, which premiered in 1930, also was renamed Salutation. Another work, titled Salutation, appears in the Graham repertory in 1936. It also was a solo, danced to music by Lehman Engle. See Salutation, 1936.

Prelude to a Dance
1930

Performed to music by Arthur Honegger, the work premiered on January 8, 1930, at New York's Maxine Elliott's Theatre. The dance was performed by Graham's Group in a concert given by the Dance Repertory Theatre. Graham joined dancer/choreographers Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman, and [Helen] Tamiris to form the Dance Repertory Theatre. The goal was "to give annually a season of continuous dance programs which will be representative of the art of dance in American and will give native artists an outlet for their creative work."

Dance historians have noted that the work was retitled Salutation. According to a review in the New York Herald Tribune, the new title was used as early as the end of November 1932; however, Carlos Chávez is listed as the composer. A work by the name Salutation appears again in the Graham repertory in 1936, performed on April 7, 1936, in Los Angeles—to music by Lehman Engel.

Primitive Mysteries
1931

Performed to music by Louis Horst, Primitive Mysteries was divided into three sections: "Hymn to the Virgin," "Crucifixus," and "Hosannah." The work premiered on February 2, 1931, at New York's Craig Theatre and was danced by Martha Graham and Group. The New York Telegraph (November 22, 1932) commented on a later performance, noting that Graham's dance group of sixteen "girls appeared with her--'Hymn to the Virgin,' 'Crucifixus' and 'Hosannah.' These, especially the first and second were definitely dramatic, moving and beautiful."

Project in Movement for a Divine Comedy
1930

Performed without music, Project in Movement for a Divine Comedy, (also known as Chorus Movement for a Dance Drama), premiered on January 11, 1930, at New York's Maxine Elliott's Theatre. (The work, with music by Carl Ruggles, was a substitution for Portals. It was performed on January 8 and was not listed on the program.) The work was performed by Martha Graham and Group in a concert of the Dance Repertory Theatre. Graham joined dancer/choreographers Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman, and [Helen] Tamiris to form the Dance Repertory Theatre. The goal was "to give annually a season of continuous dance programs which will be representative of the art of dance in American and will give native artists an outlet for their creative work." The New York Herald Tribune (January 9, 1930) declared the work to be "a fine, spiritually conceived suggested design which we shall hope to see often and study at greater length."

Dance historians have noted that the work was retitled Salutation. According to a review in the New York Herald Tribune, the new title was used as early as the end of November 1932; however, Carlos Chávez is listed as the composer. A work by the name Salutation appears again in the Graham repertory in 1936, performed on April 7, 1936, in Los Angeles—to music by Lehman Engel.

Punch and the Judy
1941

Performed to music by Robert McBride, Punch and the Judy premiered on August 10, 1941, at the Bennington College Theatre, Bennington, Vermont. The costumes were designed by Charlotte Trowbridge, the set by Arch Lauterer, and the text by Edward Gordon Craig. The original cast included Martha Graham, Erick Hawkins, and members of the Martha Graham Dance Company. During the summer of 1941, the name of Graham's ensemble changed to the Martha Graham Dance Company. The New York Times critic John Martin (December 29, 1941) said, "The performance is exemplary. Miss Graham is as adept a comedian and as great a master of timing as you are likely to find anywhere around, and the movement she has created for herself is convulsingly eloquent." Dance Observer (January 1942) noted that Graham "is past master of the incomplete gesture, the nuance which in its very indecision is comic."