Ondine (ballet) - Ashton's Choreography and Setting

Ashton's Choreography and Setting

The consensus on Ashton's Ondine is that it has some very good things in it – and this is true; as is the implication that it is otherwise unsuccessful, not least because the music (which greatly disappointed Ashton himself) largely fails, except in the storm of Act II and the divertissements of Act III. According to many critics, the music did not suit Ashton "who had been hoping for music as "radiant" as the Mediterranean from which its heroine was born". Yet the music does seem to fit its watery theme well: there are some beautiful passages to Ondine’s Act 3 “swimming” solo where the music seems thin and transparent as watercolour, and entirely suited to this sketch of the sea. The ballet is also a mixture of both the 19th and the 20th century, for the plot is quintessentially romantic while the music and choreography are more modern. Although it bore all the marks of Ashton's familiarly gentle, classically oriented manner, it discarded the classical ballet conventions that appear in such Ashton successes as Cinderella and Sylvia. What he was trying to suggest, says Ashton, was "the ebb and flow of the sea: I aimed at an unbroken continuity of dance, which would remove the distinction between aria and recitative." As a result, Ondine offered few pyrotechnics, gained its effects instead through sinuous mass movements in which the undulation of arm and body suggested forests of sea plants stirring to unseen tides. The sense of submarine fantasy was reinforced by Stage Designer Lila de Nobili's fine scenery: a castle of mist and fruitfulness, shadowy crags and waterfalls, aqueous skies streaked pink and green.

Ondine is not a classical construction with great set pieces (except for the wedding divertissement in the third act) or grand formal pas de deux, but a continuous, flowing narrative. However, this narrative is itself not very strong and there is no real explanation of why the lovers are on a ship in Act 2, or what exactly has passed between Acts 2 and 3 in order to convince Palemon to return to his mortal lover, Beatrice (Berta). The work uses classical ballet vocabulary, but the form varies a great deal from the 19th century classics. Unlike them, is through-composed: there are no breaks for bows to the audience built in and (at least until the 3rd act divertissement) no bravura variations to self consciously elicit the audience's response. Henze's glittering music is the dominating force, although it is a difficult score to dance to, with the pulse well hidden within its general sheen, but it is atmospheric and often exciting, bringing the close of Act I to a climax.

Although the narrative is not strong, the setting is and displays a "most convincing feel of the sea" and the "shimmer of water" which is very effective in this ballet which is filled with images of water and particularly of the sea. The first act of the ballet takes place in the courtyard of the castle of Palemon where Ondine is seen dancing in the waterfall. Other settings include a scene with Tirrenio and the ondines while another is on a ship during wild storm at sea where the sensation of motion while being on board ship is strong enough to make the audience seasick. The third act takes place in the Castle of Palemon located near the sea. The final tableau is not only exquisitely beautiful, with Ondine grieving over the body of her lover, but the surrounding ondines, their arms drifting like seaweed in the dim green light, uncannily evoke the shifting currents under the sea.

When Fonteyn danced the lead, the ballet was about her and her performance; however good today’s interpreters may be, none has the mystique to reduce everyone else to the background, and so the supporting roles are now much more visible and need to be much more strongly depicted. It is generally accepted that Tirrenio was originally the most completely worked out role, inherited from Alexander Grant's lack of awe for Fonteyn; however the role has become difficult to cast as it was created to showcase Grant's unique mixture of gifts – classical virtuosity and flair for characterisation.