`LA COMMEDIA UMANA' Sra,—I am rather puzzled by Mr. Ponsonby's
letter. Admittedly I have no first-hand evidence of Massine's view of his ballet La Commedia I matta, though the general impression in Nervi this summer was that he was the only per:on who was unaware of the work's deficiencies. But if he was well aware of them, as Mr. Ponsonby claims, why did he do nothing to remedy them in the two Months between the ballet's first performance in Nervi and its Edinburgh pro- duction? And if he could not remedy them, why did be 'wish the ballet to be given in Edinburgh'?
Perhaps if Mr. Ponsonby had actually seen the performances at Nervi, he would not have been content with suggesting a change of programme for Edinburgh. He would have been in a strong position to insist. An easy solution was at hand. For Mas- sine's Bal des Volenrs, also created it Nervi, would have been far more suitable for the Edinburgh Festival, and also far more typical of Massine's best work.
It could have been given with Bejart's Haat Voltage, which the Massine company performed very successfully at Nervi and which is still almost unknown here. If it seemed essential to retain some- thing of the advertised Decameron ballet, a one-act version would have served to complete the pro- gramme and could have included such things as had any value in Massinc's incredibly inflated threc-act creation.—Yours faithfully, 01.17.6 I:IfNf.N!,KY
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