Ballet

Afternoon of a Faun

Afternoon of a Faun is a ballet to music by Claude Debussy, first performed in 1953. Afternoon of a Faun is a neoclassical ballet choreographed by Jerome Robbins to Claude Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi…

Afternoon of a Faun
Image: Yaakov Saar · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Choreography
—
Music
Claude Debussy
Premiere
1953
First performed at
New York City Center

About the work

Afternoon of a Faun is a neoclassical ballet choreographed by Jerome Robbins to Claude Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune. The ballet features two young dancers meeting at a rehearsal studio. Robbins was influenced by Stéphane Mallarmé's poem L'après-midi d'un faune, the inspiration for Debussy's score, as well as Vaslav Nijinsky's 1912 ballet to the same score, and his own observation of dancers.

The ballet was made for the New York City Ballet, and premiered on May 14, 1953, at the City Center of Music and Drama, with the two roles of the ballet originated by Tanaquil Le Clercq and Francisco Moncion. Afternoon of a Faun has since been performed by various other ballet companies.

From the Wikipedia article “Afternoon of a Faun (Robbins)”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

More ballets by the composer

All ballets by Claude Debussy (16) →

Credits from Wikidata (Q4690789), CC0.