Apollon-Musagète

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
Apollon-Musagète
Composers autograph score, 1928
Music Division
Gift of the composer, 1963 (167.1)

The Library's vanguard involvement with the creation and performance of dance dates back seventy years to a program of four ballets. On April 27, 1928, the Library premiered Apollon-Musagète (Apollo, Chief of the Muses). The score, by Igor Stravinsky, was commissioned by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, and the choreography was developed and directed by Russian Adolph Blom,who also danced in the title role. Apollon-Musagète established a precedent for Mrs. Coolidge's interest in not only abstract chamber music but for the possibility of dance as a chamber form.