Beethoven: stream

Grosse Fuge

HANS VAN MANEN

A burst of energy

Immediately after the premiere of Van Manen's Grosse Fuge, set to Beethoven's string quartet of the same name, this sublime choreography was proclaimed 'the most important European ballet of the decade'. To this day, the thrilling double quartet has not lost any of its popularity: Grosse Fuge is one of the most performed Van Manen ballets worldwide. 'Brilliant and eye-catching', 'a burst of energy', is what the press has called recent performances.

The choreography for four men and four women consists of two very different parts, which nevertheless form a harmonious whole. In the fugue, the tensions are complex and charged; in the cavatina, they are lyrically handled and resolved. In the first part of the work, the men wear black skirts designed by Van Manen himself, which make their movements even fiercer and more aggressive, while the women look as if they have just stepped out of their evening gowns.

Prometheus

WUBKJE KUINDERSMA, ERNST MEISNER AND REMI WÖRTMEYER 

Divine fire

The only ballet composition Beethoven has ever written is the allegorical trade ballet Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus, which he composed in 1801 at the request of the Viennese Imperial Court. The music of this ballet was a great success, but from the choreography only a short synopsis - about Prometheus who steals fire from the gods to give it to two human figures - has survived. In Beethoven, Wubkje Kuindersma, Ernst Meisner and Remi Wörtmeyer, three renowned young choreographers, present the world premiere of their new, more abstract translation of Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus. Following in the footsteps of the three 'Van's' who jointly created Collective Symphony in 1975, they each take on a part of Beethoven's ballet.