“Four Saints in Three Acts”,1934: Black History in Dance, 2021
12; 13; 14; 15; 16; 17; 18; 19; 20; 21; 22. As part of Black History Month, let’s remember the all-African American cast of the original production of the avant-garde opera “Four Saints in Three Acts”. The words were by Gertrude Stein, music by Virgil Thomson, designs by Florine Stettheimer, and choreography by Frederick Ashton: officially the direction was by John Houseman, but most aspects of staging and movement were by Ashton. It was unprecedented in many ways, not least its depiction of multiple European saints by this all-African American cast.
The production had its world premiere at the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, in February 1934. An immediate hit despite its avant-garde concept, language, music, designs, it soon transferred to Broadway, where it was seen by audiences that included George Gershwin, Dorothy Parker, and Arturo Toscanini, with many returning to see it more than once. (One woman saw it sixteen times.)
It was Virgil Thomson in particular who championed the idea of all-black high-art stage productions and other productions addressing race in America. Lincoln Kirstein’s diaries mention that Thomson spoke of an all African American production of Mozart’s then little-known “Idomeneo” in the mid-1930s; and they record multiple stages of an unrealised project of a ballet of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, with music by Thomson and choreography by George Balanchine.
Ashton came to America fresh from having choreographed another triumph, the Sadler’s Wells Ballet premiere of “Les Rendezvous” (1933), a ballet that remains in repertory today. Pictures 16-22 - stills from live film fragments showing the original “Four Saints” production - show that in this American production Ashton recycled a choreographic idea from a “Rendezvous” ensemble adagio, with one woman being swung by two men as if in a hammock.
The cast loved Ashton. Whereas they spoke of “Miss Stein” (who only saw the production when it went on tour) and “Mr Thomson”, they knew Ashton as “Freddie”.
Wednesday 3 February
“Four Saints in Three Acts”, 1934
“Four Saints in Three Acts”, 1934
“Four Saints in Three Acts”, 1934
“Four Saints in Three Acts”, 1934
“Four Saints in Three Acts”, 1934
“Four Saints in Three Acts”, 1934
“Four Saints in Three Acts”, 1934
“Four Saints in Three Acts”, 1934
“Four Saints in Three Acts”, 1934
“Four Saints in Three Acts”, 1934
Photograph by George Platt Lynes of choreographer Frederick Ashton with three members of the cast of “Four Saints in Three Acts”, 1934