George Balanchine's "Funeral March": Rediscovering the Lost Work of a Master

Abstract

George Balanchine's "Funeral March" was very popular when it debuted, but the choreography has since been lost. This paper describes the early vocabulary of Balanchine, which was examined by reading text and listening to oral accounts of Alexandra Danilova, a soloist in the piece. The information gathered was utilized to reconstruct Funeral March. With the realization of this piece, there is now a much better understanding of Balanchine as a young choreographer and of ballet history in general.