Piano Extract for The Birthday of the Infanta

Maurice Goldberg (b. 1895)
The Birthday of the Infanta
(Ruth Page (1899-1991)
Gelatin sliver print
Music Division
Gift of Mrs. John Alden Carpenter, 1963 (155.4)

John Alden Carpenter adapted the Infanta as an orchestral suite soon after the ballet premiere. The suite had its premiere with the Chicago Symphony under Frederick Stock on December 3, 1920, and was heard in Boston under Pierre Monteux on February 25, 1921. This short score apparently was a working document for the choreographer Adolph Bolm in his collaboration with Carpenter. It includes considerable movement annotations and score corrections in red ink. Ruth Page was twenty-years old when Adolf Bolm directed her in the role of the "Infanta" in The Birthday of the Infanta. This photograph captures her dancing the title role.

John Alden Carpenter (1876-1951)
The Birthday of the Infanta, ca. 1919
Short score with movement notations
Music Division
Gift of Adolph Bolm (155A)