The Haunted Ballroom | In The Spotlight
Music & Libretto: Geoffrey Toye
Choreography: Dame Ninette de Valois
Design: Motley Theatre Design Group
Premiere: 3rd April 1934, Sadler's Wells Theatre, London
The Haunted Ballroom is a ballet that has always fascinated me and one I have definitely drawn inspiration from over the years. I originally discovered it when I unearthed a vintage copy of the piano score for its Concert Waltz in a local Oxfam bookshop in my first year at music college. Playing it through, I adored its elegant yet thematic melodies, with the slightly detuned harmonies for that added haunted atmosphere. And after researching its origins, I fell in love with its simple yet effective libretto, which was actually crafted by the composer, Geoffrey Toye. This may seem like a small detail, but being a composer who has always found seen stories as the core of their compositional methodology, it is heartening to find other examples of ballet composers who have also contributed the stories to the ballets that they have created.
Although I have longed to see this ballet performed live on stage, it seems I might not ever have the opportunity since it is no longer part of the Royal Ballet’s working repertoire and hasn’t been since the year 1957. Tragically, in the decades following, much of the choreography has been lost. Our only hope is that some lovely choreographer may rediscover it for themselves and revitalise it with new choreography, allowing it to grace our stages again. For now, we must remain content that the music still remains.
Synopsis:
The Haunted Ballroom tells the mysterious tale of the Treginnis family who are under a fatal curse wherein their dancing with ghostly partners in their haunted ballroom leads to their untimely deaths. While hosting a separate ball in a different part of the Treginnis household, three guests persuade the young heir of Treginnis to show them the haunted ballroom. Conceding, he takes them to see it, and in their fascination, they want to dance. However, the heir’s father, the Master of Treginnis catches them in there and orders them to stop at once. Startled, the three guests and the young heir exit the ballroom, leaving the Master of Treginnis alone, vulnerable to the bewitchment of the otherworldly apparitions that have yet to show their presence. Slowly but surely shapes appear, diaphanous figures, led by a thinly cloaked spectre. The ghosts resemble three young women who had strayed into the ballroom, but unfortunately had never left. The Master of Treginnis attempts to dance with them, but Death intervenes, and instead the Master befalls the curse’s tragic end and is claimed as its subsequent victim. The ballet closes with the Master’s young son, the heir of Treginnis, realising that the same fate was predestined in his own shortened, foredoomed life.
Inspirations:
Described as a Gothic melodrama, this one-act ballet has a total of three scenes and an interlude. Although it was Geoffrey Toye who created the libretto for this ballet, it is said he based it upon a story written by Edgar Allen Poe. It is unclear exactly which story he took the inspiration from, however, it is not too difficult to trace the evidence.
It could either be the Edgar’s story titled ‘The Masque of the Red Death’ (1842), in which a Prince holds a masquerade ball for the 1,000 nobles who have taken refuge in his abbey, to escape the clutches of a plague, known as the Red Death, that had swept the land. The ball is held in six brightly colourful rooms, with the seventh room being a rich scarlet red and home to a clock whose chimes with each passing hour become increasingly ominous. At the chime of midnight, a dark figure in a blood-splattered funeral shroud and a mask resembling the face of a corpse, akin to the Red Death, appears. Offended by this costume, the Prince draws his dagger and demands that the individual reveals himself. Alas, when the figure turns to face him, the Prince lets out an agonising cry and falls down dead. Terrified, the guests forcibly remove the costume, only to find that there is no-one underneath. Soon it becomes evident that the figure had been the Red Death itself, sneaking into the abbey and causing them all to succumb to the deadly disease and die.
Alternatively, Geoffrey Toye’s inspiration could have been taken from Edgar’s poem ‘The Haunted Palace’, which I will share in full down below. Or, perhaps it was a combination of both the story and the poem…
In the greenest of our valleys
By good angels tenanted,
Once a fair and stately palace—
Radiant palace—reared its head.
In the monarch Thought’s dominion,
It stood there!
Never seraph spread a pinion
Over fabric half so fair!
Banners yellow, glorious, golden,
On its roof did float and flow
(This—all this—was in the olden
Time long ago)
And every gentle air that dallied,
In that sweet day,
Along the ramparts plumed and pallid,
A wingèd odor went away.
Wanderers in that happy valley,
Through two luminous windows, saw
Spirits moving musically
To a lute’s well-tunèd law,
Round about a throne where, sitting,
Porphyrogene!
In state his glory well befitting,
The ruler of the realm was seen.
And all with pearl and ruby glowing
Was the fair palace door,
Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing
And sparkling evermore,
A troop of Echoes, whose sweet duty
Was but to sing,
In voices of surpassing beauty,
The wit and wisdom of their king.
But evil things, in robes of sorrow,
Assailed the monarch’s high estate;
(Ah, let us mourn!—for never morrow
Shall dawn upon him, desolate!)
And round about his home the glory
That blushed and bloomed
Is but a dim-remembered story
Of the old time entombed.
And travellers, now, within that valley,
Through the red-litten windows see
Vast forms that move fantastically
To a discordant melody;
While, like a ghastly rapid river,
Through the pale door
A hideous throng rush out forever,
And laugh—but smile no more.
Premiere:
Premiered on the 3rd of April, 1934 by the Vic-Wells Ballet (now The Royal Ballet), at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre, the principal cast of The Haunted Ballroom included:
Leader of the Ghosts: Alicia Markova
Master of Treginnis: Robert Helpmann
Stranger Player: William Chappell
Heir of Treginnis: Margot Fonteyn (only 15 years old)
The set and costume designs were completed by the Motley Theatre Design Group. This was a theatre design firm established by two sisters: Margaret ‘Percy’ Frances Harri & Audrey Sophia ‘Sophie’ Harris, and their friend Elizabeth Alice Marjorie Montgomery. They were well known for their work Shakespeare Memorial Theatre. In the course of their career, they were nominated for nine Tony Awards for their costume design, winning two.
Listen to the Concert Waltz here:
