Vivian Fine

 

Compositions

***

 

They Too Are Exiles
Ballet for Hanya Holm


year

1939


duration

15 minutes


instrumentation

Piano duet


première

January 7, 1940, Adelphi Theatre, New York City. Hanya Holm and Dance Company. Vivian Fine, piano (other pianist unknown)


program notes

The first of the two works I wrote for Hanya Holm, “Tragic Exodus,” was a single movement, about ten minutes in length. “They Too Are Exiles” was longer, in a number of movements. Both dealt with “social” themes, but the strong emotional drive in these works made musical identification comparatively easy….”They Too Are Exiles” had sections with a strong ethnic flavor, which presented the problem of creating of homogeneous musical fabric. This large work really needed orchestral support, but in 1940 two pianists at one piano were the principal musical resource of dancer and composer.

–Vivian Fine, Dance Perspectives, v. 16, 1963