Rose Latulippe

Rose Latulippe

Rose Latulippe. Three-act ballet by Brian Macdonald to music (1966) by Harry Freedman, commissioned for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet by the Canadian Centennial Commission. The story takes place in a community on the St Lawrence River in 1740 and concerns a pious young girl apparently bewitched by the devil but saved by the love and devotion of her family and fiancé. Freedman's music is serial in technique and evokes much regional colour through characteristic dance rhythms and melodic figures. Rose Latulippe was premiered 16 Aug 1966 by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet at the Stratford Festival in a production also presented 12 Apr 1967 on CBC TV's 'Music Canada' and repeated 8-19 Aug 1967 at the Charlottetown Festival and 25-26 Aug 1967 at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto.

Rose Latulippe was also the subject of an earlier ballet of that name, produced in Montreal and presented in 1953 on CBC TV to mark the inauguration of the network between Montreal and Toronto. The score was by Maurice Blackburn, the choreography by Françoise Sullivan.

The French-Canadian legend was the subject of a third ballet with the same title, premiered in May 1979 by the Compagnie de danse Eddy Toussaint. The 55-minute score was by Michael McLean. Choreography was by Toussaint.