Job: A Masque for Dancing
| Job: A Masque for Dancing | |
|---|---|
| Choreographer | Ninette de Valois |
| Music | Ralph Vaughan Williams |
| Libretto | Geoffrey Keynes |
| Based on | Book of Job, illustrated by William Blake |
| Premiere | 5 July 1931 Cambridge Theatre, London |
| Original ballet company | Vic-Wells Ballet (Royal Ballet) |
| Design | Gwendolen Raverat |
| Setting | Geoffrey Keynes |
Job: A Masque for Dancing is a one act ballet produced for the Vic-Wells Ballet in 1931. Regarded as a crucial work in the development of British ballet, Job was the first ballet to be produced by an entirely British creative team. The original concept and libretto for the ballet was proposed by the scholar Geoffrey Keynes, with choreography by Ninette de Valois, music by Ralph Vaughan Williams, orchestrations by Constant Lambert and designs by Gwendolen Raverat. The ballet is based on the Book of Job from the Hebrew Bible and was inspired by the illustrated edition by William Blake, published in 1826. Job had its world premiere on 5 July 1931, and was performed for members of the Camargo Society at the Cambridge Theatre, London. The first public performance of the ballet took place on 22 September 1931 at the Old Vic Theatre.
The concept for a ballet based on the Book of Job was first proposed by the scholar Geoffrey Keynes, who was a respected authority on the work of William Blake.
The music for the ballet, titled Job: A Masque for Dancing, was written by the British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. Vaughan Williams called it a "masque" because he disliked the word "ballet", but the work has no connection with the genre of masque. He began writing the score after the idea for the ballet was initially proposed to the Russian ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev, who rejected it. As a result, the music was first written for a larger orchestra than could be accommodated in a conventional theatre pit and had its premiere in concert form in October 1930 at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival, with Vaughan Williams conducting. When the ballet was eventually produced, the music was orchestrated for a small orchestra by Constant Lambert.
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