Which Italian composer did George Balanchine add in 1976?
Square Dance (ballet) George Balanchine to Antonio Vivaldi's "Concerto Grosso in B minor" and the first movement of his "Concerto Grosso in E major", Op. 3, nos. 10 and 12, respectively; in 1976 he added Arcangelo Corelli's "Sarabanda, Badinerie e Giga", second and third movements. The premiere took place on November 21, 1957, at City Center of Music and Drama, New York, with lighting by Mark Stanley. The original version placed the musicians on stage with a square dance caller calling the steps; from its 1976 revival the caller was eliminated, the orchestra placed in the pit, and a solo added for the "premier danseur" to the Corelli "Sarabanda". The Pacific Northwest Ballet restored the caller for one performance at the 2007 Vail International Dance Festival.
The Hero (opera) The Hero is a two-act opera by Italian-American composer Gian Carlo Menotti. Commissioned by the Opera Company of Philadelphia, the work premiered at the Philadelphia Academy of Music on June 1, 1976. At this point of his career, Menotti's style of composition, which rejected the avant-garde, was out of favor with the classical music world. "Time" stated in its review of the opera, "Most of Menotti's music is passable Puccini: melodic, easy to take—and totally beside the point in 1976."