Performance on 3 - Ondine

Martin Handley introduces a Royal Ballet anniversary revival of Ondine, Frederick Ashton's ballet choreographed for the great Margot Fonteyn and scored by Hans Werner Henze. The work tells the tragic tale of Palemon, a mortal who falls in love with the water nymph, Ondine, but betrays her and dies in their last embrace. The scoring reveals Henze's fascination with human gesture and movement as an inspiration for his own composition as well as evoking Ondine's beautiful watery underworld. With the Royal Ballet's music director, Barry Wordsworth, discussing Henze's specially-commissioned music. Henze: Ondine Orchestra of the Royal Ballet Barry Wordsworth (conductor) Followed by a Nielsen chamber music focus, including recordings from the BBC archives.