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From "Tanze" to "Two Variations from Sonatina" (14 works)

Tanze

1926

Performed to music by Franz Schubert, Tanze premiered on April 18, 1926, at New York's 48th Street Theater. The work was performed by Betty Macdonald, Thelma Biracree, and Evelyn Sabin as part of Graham's first independent concert.(The work was also known as Dances.)

Tanzstück

1927

Performed to music by Paul Hindemith, Tanzstück premiered on October 16, 1927, in New York's Little Theatre. The cast list included Evelyn Sabin, Betty Macdonald, and Rosina Savelli. (The work was also known as Dance Piece.) An October 22, 1929, review of the concert in Musical America noted that "Miss Graham, always superb in her lithe delineations, augments her rhythmic accomplishments with a rare understanding and appreciation of the art of color in costumes and the significance of lighting effects."

Three Florentine Verses

1929

Danced to music by Domenico Zipoli, Three Florentine Verses premiered on January 20, 1929, at New York's Booth Theatre. The solo work was danced by Martha Graham. In a review that appeared in the New York Times (March 10, 1929), critic John Martin said of Graham's work, "She does the unforgivable thing for a dancer to do—she makes you think; yet it is thinking of a peculiar character, for it is less of the brain than of some organ absent from anatomical charts, that reads to esthetic stimuli. She leaves you upheaved and disquieted and furnishes after-thoughts not calculated to soothe such a condition."

The Three Gopi Maidens

1926

Performed to music by Cyril Scott, with costumes by Norman Edwards, The Three Gopi Maidens was excerpted from The Flute of Krishna and premiered on April 18, 1926, at New York's 48th Street Theater. The work was performed by Thelma Biracree, Evelyn Sabin, and Betty Macdonald as part of Graham's first independent concert. A review from Dance Magazine (July 1926) noted, "I liked…the three gopis in their lovely draped batik costumes of melting colors and their young faces brightened by the warm flowers in their shining hair."

Three Poems of the East

1926

Performed to music by Louis Horst, the three sections of Three Poems of the East were "On listening to a flute by moonlight," "She like a dancer puts her broidered garments on," and"In measure while the gnats of music whirr the little amber-coloured dancer moves." The work premiered on November 28, 1926, at New York's Klaw Theatre. The original cast includedGraham, Evelyn Sabin, Betty Macdonald, and Rosina Savelli. On March 5, 1927, Musical America noted, "Miss Graham was reminiscent of the agile priestesses of the Orient."

The dance was retitled Two Poems of the East. Concert programs indicate that the piece also was performed as two separate dances--East Indian Poem and Chinese Poem. See the entries for Two Poems of the East, October 16, 1927, and Chinese Poem, February 12, 1928.

Tragic Patterns

1933

Performed to music by Louis Horst, Tragic Patterns was divided into three sections, "Chorus for Supplicants," "Chorus for Maenads," and "Chorus for Furies." ("Chorus for Furies" was first performed as part of the inaugural concert for the opening of Radio City Music Hall in December 1932.) Tragic Patterns premiered on February 20, 1933, in Fuld Hall, Newark, New Jersey. The work was performed by Martha Graham and Group. The February 21, 1933, News (Newark, New Jersey) commented on the evening's performances, "There was something p[rim]itive and something hypnotic in the dancing of Miss Graham in the recital she gave last night…."

Transitions

1934

Performed to music by Lehman Engel, Transitions consisted of four parts: "Prologue," "Sarabande," "Pantomime," and "Epilogue," (which also was called Sarabande from Suite Transitions and, eventually, Sarabande). The work premiered on February 18, 1934, at New York's Guild Theatre. The solo was danced by Graham. Dance Observer (January 1936) noted that "Sarabande" was "brilliantly conceived."

Trois Gnossiennes

1926

Performed to music by Erik Satie, Trois Gnossiennes premiered on April 18, 1926, at New York's 48th Street Theater as part of Graham's first independent concert. The cast included Martha Graham with Evelyn Sabin, Thelma Biracree, and Betty Macdonald. Beginning in 1927, Graham began to perform each of the three sections of this choreography as independent dances: Gnoissienne, Frieze, and Tanagra. Eventually, Tanagra became the most frequently performed of the three. Robert Bell, writing for the Washington Post on March 6, 1927, described Graham's performance, "In Tanagra she dances in a tight skirt that flares at her ankles into a long ruffling train. She does not touch her hands to the train, only her feet control it, yet it dances too. It seems to repeat and give emphasis to the motive of the dance."

Trouvères

1928

Performed to music by Charles Koechlin, Trouvères (also called Trouveres) contained three sections, "The Return of Spring," "Complaint," and "A Song, Frank and Gay." It premiered on April 22, 1928, at New York's Little Theatre. The solo work was performed by Graham. Nickolas Muray reviewed the April 22 concert in Dance Magazine (July 1928) noting, "If all dance recitals were of such quality and standard as Martha Graham's last one of this season, a reviewer's lot would be an easy one. Miss Graham is a singular personality and her dances are, like herself, extraordinary. If her improvement continues, she will be one of the foremost dancers of America."

Tunisia

Performed to music by Eduard Poldini, Tunisia premiered on February 27, 1927, at New York's Guild Theatre. The work variously appears as Tunisia (Sunlight in a Court-yard) and Tunisia a Court-yard.The solo work was performed by Martha Graham. (In August 1927, Ray Moses danced the role.) Writing about the February 27, performance, Musical America noted on March 5, "Some illuminating and novel features in the way of vignetting moods upon the stage were introduced."

Two Chants

1930

Performed to music by Ernst Kÿenek, Two Chants was divided into sections called "Futility" and "Ecstatic Song" and premiered on January 8, 1930, at New York's Maxine Elliott's Theatre. The solo work was performed by Martha Graham 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) noted it was a "successful projection in her standard vein." Dance Magazine (April 1930) cautiously remarked, "the second ["Ecstatic Song" ] was by all means the best, but neither, in form or substance, has as yet arrived among the immortals on her habitual list."

Two Poems of the East

1927

Danced to music by Louis Horst, the two sections of Two Poems of the East included "She like a dancer puts her broidered garments on" and "Little amber-coloured dancers move." Two Poems of the East premiered on October 16, 1927, at New York's Little Theatre. The cast for this performance included Graham with Betty Macdonald and Rosina Savelli. The choreography originated as Three Poems of the East (November 28, 1926). Two Poems of the East was reworked again in 1928 as separate dances--East Indian Poem and Chinese Poem.

A review of Two Poems from the East in Dance Magazine (December 1927) noted, "In the second poem the little girls were Javanese maids doing what seemed an authentic Javanese dance. The patterns they designed with their lovely young arms were as intricate as the rhythms they traced with their gentle-gliding feet. They should do more Oriental things and less of the somber."

Two Primitive Canticles

1931

Performed to music by Hector Villa-Lobos, Two Primitive Canticles was divided into two sections: "Ave" and "Salve." Also called Two Canticles from Primitive Cycle and Primitive Canticles, the work premiered on February 2, 1931, at New York's Craig Theatre. The solo work was danced by Martha Graham. Writing about a November 1932 performance of the work, Russell Rhodes of the New York Telegraph (November 22, 1932) noted that Graham danced in "a striking costume (but all her costumes were striking and seemed exactly right) and a stark simplicity suggesting a primitive wood carving."

Two Variations from Sonatina

1929

Performed to music by Alexander Gretchaninoff, Two Variations from Sonatina (also called Variations on a Gay Theme) contained two sections, "Country Lane" and "City Street." The work premiered on January 20, 1929, at New York's Booth Theatre. The solo work was danced by Martha Graham. Remarking on a later performance of the choreography, the New York Herald Tribune (March 4, 1929) noted that the work was "provocative as when first seen."

Collection Martha Graham at the Library of Congress

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