Netherlands Dance Theatre

On 14 May 1976, the choreographer Jiří Kylián wrote to Arne Nordheim: ‘I was in Stuttgart recently and saw Greening. The score that you have written is one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard. The entire production is fantastic’. As a result, Kylián and the Netherlands Dance Theatre commissioned from the composer the ballet Ariadne (Tempora noctis), which was premiered in Scheveningen on 18 June 1977.

Ariadne was one of three ballets staged that evening. The other two were Symphony in D major, to music by Haydn, and Sinfonietta, with music byLeoš Janàček. Ariadne was inspired by the frescoes of the Villa dei Misteri in Pompeii. The text and content were based on three poems by Ovid. Kyliáncommissioned from Nordheim another work, entitled End of Time, but he was unable to create a ballet to that music, and consequently the composer produced a concert version in the form of a cantata for soprano, mezzosoprano, orchestra and tape, which was first performed in Stockholm in 1989. (jc)