Don Quixote

The post-war years saw the completion of Gerhard's two most significant scores, the ballet Don Quixote and the opera The Duenna. Cervantes's knight errant was a constant companion of the composer through the 1940s, with a small-scale ballet, a chamber orchestra suite, a radio play and a symphonic suite. The final definitive version of Don Quixote was staged at the Royal Opera House in London in 1950, with choreography by Ninette de Valois, and Robert Helpmann and Margot Fonteyn in the lead roles. The 40-minute ballet saw Gerhard's ultimate fusion of folk themes with modernist compositional techniques including serialism. The score is rich in subtle characterisation, vivid colours, dancing impetus and tender pathos. Music from the ballet is most frequently heard in the 15-minute Dances from Don Quixote, available in versions for symphony orchestra and for piano.