“For all its beauty and hazy, mysterious texture, Faure’s music […] wafts a melancholy perfume. At the end of “Emeralds,” four women leave and three men drop to a knee, nobly seeking a love that eludes them. […]
“Emeralds” uses Faure’s incidental music for plays, “Pelleas and Melisande” and the “Shylock” music for “The Merchant of Venice.” A dramatic thrust emerges from the apparently misty sound. The legend of Pelleas and Melisande – doomed lovers – is a clue to the unattainable happiness Balanchine’s cavaliers seek at the close. […] In “Emeralds,” he gave us the most unreal of his ballets.”
– Anna Kisselgoff, “Dance; Degas, Faure, and French Romanticism“
Clara's Coffee Break 