Shepherd's Wooing (from 'The Gods Go A-Begging')

Shepherd's Wooing (Balanchine, 1928/1930): Peggy van Praagh, Hugh Laing, c.1930. Photographer unknown. RDC/PD/01/37/01

Choreographer: George Balanchine

Music arranger: Thomas Beecham

Rambert premiere: 24 Sep 1931, Marie Rambert Dancers, Lyric Hammersmith, London

World premiere: 16 Jul 1928, Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, His Majesty's Theatre, London, United Kingdom

Work note: Guest artist Leon Woizikovsky introduced this pas de deux, re-titled 'Shepherd's Wooing', into the repertoire. (In his appearance with the Marie Rambert Dancers in 1930, Woizikovsky had performed the 'Shepherd's Hornpipe' solo from 'The Gods Go A-Begging'.)

Music title: The full ballet used extracts from compositions written 1707-1739, including 'Rodrigo', 'II Pastor Fido', 'Admeto', 'Alcina', and two concerto grossi from Opus 6 (including the hornpipe from concerto no. 7).

Music details: Live music: piano

Source: Programme and reference file in the Rambert Archive

Archive catalogue: WORK/0037

Performances

Date ↿⇂	Programme ↿⇂	Venue ↿⇂
20 Dec 1930 Evening	Carnaval^* \| Cricket^* \| Rugby \| A Florentine Picture^* \| Le Spectre de la Rose \| Les Sylphides \| Capriol Suite \| Shepherd's Hornpipe \| Fairy Tales from ''The Sleeping Beauty'' \| Mannequin \| Farrucca \| Final Galop	Lyric Hammersmith, London
22 Dec 1930 Evening	Carnaval \| Cricket \| Rugby \| A Florentine Picture \| Le Spectre de la Rose \| Les Sylphides \| Capriol Suite \| Shepherd's Hornpipe \| Fairy Tales from ''The Sleeping Beauty'' \| Mannequin \| Farrucca \| Final Galop	Lyric Hammersmith, London
3 Jan 1931 Evening	Carnaval \| Cricket \| Rugby \| A Florentine Picture \| Le Spectre de la Rose \| Les Sylphides \| Capriol Suite \| Shepherd's Hornpipe \| Fairy Tales from ''The Sleeping Beauty'' \| Mannequin \| Farrucca \| Final Galop	Lyric Hammersmith, London
10 Oct 1931 Evening	Les Sylphides \| Songs (The Moussorgsky Vocal Quartet) \| Le Rugby \| Dances from ''The Three Cornered Hat'' \| Capriol Suite \| La Péri \| Chinese Magician \| Songs (The Moussorgsky Vocal Quartet) \| Mars and Venus \| Russian Boyard Dance \| American Sailor \| Mannequin \| Peasants' Frolic	New Theatre, London
9 Oct 1932 Evening	The Garden \| Prelude in B minor (Rachmaninov) \| Prelude in G major (Rachmaninov) \| L'Après-midi d'un faune \| Foyer de Danse^* \| Le Spectre de la Rose \| American Sailor (from 'Les Matelots')^* \| The Shepherd's Wooing (from 'The Gods go a-begging') \| The Tartans (Danc	Mercury Theatre, London
27 Nov 1932 Evening	''Valse'' from Les Sylphides \| ''Fée Dragée'' from Aurora's Wedding \| The Shepherd's Wooing (from 'The Gods go a-begging') \| ''Pas de Deux'' from Mr Roll's Military Quadrilles \| ''Desperate Blues''^* \| A Florentine Picture \| Le Spectre de la Rose \| ''Russian Peasant'	Mercury Theatre, London
29 Nov 1936 Evening	Passionate Pavane \| The Planets \| La Muse s'Amuse \| The American Sailor \| The Shepherd's Wooing \| Pompette \| Capriol Suite	Mercury Theatre, London
16 Oct 1940 After-lunch	Overture \| Shepherd's Wooing \| Catarina, ou La Fille du Bandit \| Four Variations from ''The Seasons''^* \| Piano Interlude \| Lady into Fox	The Arts Theatre Club, London
7 May 1941 Tea	Overture \| Passionate Pavane \| Panaderos^* \| Shepherd's Wooing \| Prelude \| Valse \| Mazurka \| Pas de Deux \| Interlude \| Death and the Maiden \| Interlude \| Les Masques (ou, Changement de Dames)	The Arts Theatre Club, London
17 May 1941 After-lunch	Overture \| Shepherd's Wooing \| Panaderos \| Circus Wings \| The Two Igors \| Alegrias^* \| Interlude \| Lady into Fox	The Arts Theatre Club, London