Medea's Dance of Vengeance
Medea's Dance of Vengeance is a composition (1955, Op. 23a) by the American composer Samuel Barber, derived from his earlier ballet suite "Medea". Barber first created a seven-movement concert suite from this ballet ("Medea", Op. 23), and five years later reduced this concert suite down to a single-movement concert piece using what he felt to be the strongest portions of the work. He originally titled it "Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance", but shortly before his death, he changed the title to simply "Medea's Dance of Vengeance". Instrumentation. "Dance of  Vengeance" is scored for a larger orchestra than either preceding version (ballet or concert suite), being made up of the following: Premiere. The work was premiered on February 2, 1956, by the New York Philharmonic under the baton of Dimitri Mitropoulos. The concert suite was recorded by the New Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Barber.