Russian Ballet Gala Program Notes

On Sunday, January 17, Sangamon Auditorium patrons were treated to a delightful sampling of some of ballet’s “greatest hits”, with selections from many of the world’s most well-known ballets performed by the Moscow Festival Ballet. The company had only recently begun their tour of the United States, and in their final rehearsals, some of the selections and their order had been shifted from the program order that was initially distributed to Sangamon Auditorium staff. To that end, I have posted the correct program copy below, which might be interest and use to those who were in attendance.

MOSCOW FESTIVAL BALLET GALA
Sunday, January 17, 2010 – 3:00PM

PROGRAM

The Sleeping Beauty Act III Pas de Deux
Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Choreography by Marius Petipa
Danced by Maria Klueva; Marat Abdrakhmanov

The Ocean and the Pearls from The Little Humpbacked Horse
Music by Cesare Pugni
Choreography by Saint-Leon
Danced by Elena Aytuganova; Viktoria Krakhmaleva; Dmitri Shchemelinin

Le Corsaire Pas de Deux
Music by Adolphe Adam
Choreography by Marius Petipa
Danced by Ekaterina Pankovskaya; Alexander Daev.

Melody
Music by Christoph Willibald Gluck
Choreography by Asaf Messerer
Danced by Nadezda Illarionova; Marat Abdrakhamanov

Cinderella Act III Adagio
Music by Sergei Prokofiev
Choreography by Rostislav Zakharov
Danced by Maria Klueva; Alexander Daev

Don Quixote Act III Grand Pas
Music by Leon Minkus
Choreography by Minkus Petipa
Danced by Marianna Chemalina; Ruslan Mukhambetkaliev

INTERMISSION

Pas de Quatre
Music by Cesare Pugni
Choreography by Anton Dolin
Danced by Viktoria Krakhmaleva, Elena Aytuganova; Maria Barcova; Nadezda Illarionova

Allegro
Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Choreography by Vitaly Zabelin
Danced by Ekaterina Pankovskaya; Vitaliy Zabelin; Dmitri Shchemelinin; Marat Abdrakhmanov

Dying Swan
Music by Camille Saint-Saens
Choreography by Michel Fokine
Danced by Nadezda Illarionova

Selections from Paquita
Music by Leon Minkus
Choreography by Marius Petipa
Danced by Marianna Chemalina; Ruslan Mukhambetkaliev.
Variations: Maria Klueva; Ekaterina Pankovskaya; Elena Aytuganova; Maria Barcova; Viktoria Krakhmaleva; Tatiana Muratova

PROGRAM NOTES

Pas de deux from Act III of Sleeping Beauty
Choreograhy: Marius Petipa
Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

The Sleeping Beauty, a ballet in a prologue and three acts with choreography by Petipa, had its first production in 1890 at the Maryinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, ballet on the Imperial Russian stage had sunk to a very low level artistically. The director of the Imperial Theatres, Ivan Vsevolojsky, a talented and cultured man, was determined to raise the artistic level on all counts, and as a first step he approached the composer Tchaikovsky to supply him with a ballet score. Owing to the slight success in Moscow of his previous attempts at ballet music (Swan Lake), it is not wholly surprising to find Tchaikovsky insistent on having minute and detailed instructions from the choreographer himself. These he followed slavishly, down to the exact number of bars required in a given scene or variation, which circumstance amazingly, far from shackling his imagination, seems positively to have inspired it, for the resulting enchanting score remains possibly his best ballet music.

The grand Pas de Deux of Act III of The Sleeping Beauty is the climax of Prince Desire and Princess Aurora’s wedding celebration. In the ending, Aurora whirls into the Prince's arms and dives toward the floor as the Prince catches her around the waist and supports her in the famous inverted pose known as the “fish dive.”

Marius Petipa (1818-1910), served as ballet master of the Imperial Theatre in St. Petersburg from 1862 to 1903, where he choreographed such classics as Don Quixote, The Sleeping Beauty, Raymonda and Le Corsaire. His work is considered one of the greatest achievements of ballet history.

Le Corsaire Pas de Deux
Music by Adolphe Adam
Choreography by Maurius Petipa

The so-called Le Corsaire Pas de Deux is one of the most popular and performed excerpts in all of classical ballet. Today this celebrated piece has become a major repertory staple of ballet companies all over the world, while many dancers select it for ballet competitions.

In January 1915, Le Corsaire was presented in a new production at the Mariinsky Theatre. For this revival the Ballet Master Samuil Andrianov—who performed the role of Conrad—arranged a new Pas d'action for the second scene of act I.

As was the custom of the time, music from various sources was selected in order to serve as accompaniment: the adage was choreographed to a nocturne composed by Riccardo Drigo titled Dreams of Spring. The variation in triple time performed by the character Conrad was taken from the composer Yuli Gerber's score for Petipa's 1870 ballet Trilby, while Tamara Karsavina performed a variation in polka rhythm taken from the composer Baron Boris Vietinghoff-Scheel's score for the 1893 ballet Cinderella, originally staged by Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov and Enrico Cecchetti. Since 1915, Karsavina's variation has been substituted out quite often. Nevertheless her variation is still considered the "traditional" solo for the character Medora in the Le Corsaire Pas de Deux. The origins of the music for the coda is unknown, though it is typically credited to Riccardo Drigo.

In 1931, Agrippina Vaganova revised the choreography of the 1915 Pas d'action. She transformed the piece into an athletic duet for the graduation performance of her pupil, Natalia Dudinskaya, who was partnered by the danseur Konstantin Sergeyev. In 1939 Vaganova's version was inserted into the Kirov Ballet's 1936 production of the full-length Le Corsaire, with the dancers Galina Ulanova and Nikolai Zubkovsky in the principal roles.

It was the noted Premier danseur of the Kirov Ballet Vakhtang Chabukiani who had the most influential hand in refashioning the male dancing of the Le Corsaire Pas de Deux. During his performances in the pas during the 1930s he gave the male role more athletic and virtuoso choreographic elements. His interpretaion of the male role became, in essence, the standard, and it has remained so to the present day.

On 5 November, 1962, Rudolf Nureyev performed the Le Corsaire Pas de Deux with Margot Fonteyn for the first time at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London. Nureyev called upon John Lanchbery to create a new orchestration of the music, which are still in use by many ballet companies. It is Nureyev's staging of the pas de deux that helped make it a major repertory staple with ballet companies all over the world.

Melody
Choreography; Asaf Messerer
Music; Christoph Willibald Gluck

Asaf Messerer, one of the Bolshoi Ballet’s most individual and dynamic principal dancers, graduated from the Bolshoi Ballet in 1921 and continued to perform until 1954.
His occasional choreagraphic works include such concert pieces as Melody. It is performed to the music of Christoph Willibald Gluck, from Act II of his famous Italian Opera, Orfeo ed Euridice.

Selection from The Little Humpbacked Horse
Music by Cesare Pugni
Choreography by Saint-Leon

Arthur Saint-Léon created a ballet from the book to the music of Cesare Pugni for the Imperial Ballet (today the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet). The work premiered in December 13, 1864 at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. The resoundingly successful premiere was attended by Emperor Alexander II.

The ballet lived on for many years in the repertory of the Imperial Ballet and the Kirov Ballet, and of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in a version by Alexander Gorsky (1901). Marius Petipa revived the ballet in 1895.

Alexander Radunsky choreographed his own version to a score by Rodion Shchedrin for the Bolshoi Ballet in 1960, a version which was filmed in 1961 with Maya Plisetskaya as the Tsar Maiden and Vladimir Vasiliev as Ivanushka. In 2009, Alexei Ratmansky choreographed a new version for the Mariinsky (Kirov) Ballet, also using Shschedrin's score.

A version of Saint-Léon's original was filmed in 1989 for Russian television with graduates from the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in the lead roles. The film included narrated sections and illustration from a popular 1964 Russian version of Yershov's book.

Cinderella Act III Adagio
Music by Sergei Prokofiev
Choreography by Rostislav Zakharov

In Act III, Cinderella remembers the Ball as if it were a beautiful dream, but finds the remaining glass slipper in one of her pockets. She quickly hides it as the Stepsisters return, proudly displaying the oranges the Prince gave them. The Stepmother announces the arrival of the Prince with his Jester and courtiers in search of the owner of the glass slipper they bear with them. Each of the Stepsisters in turn vainly tries to squeeze an oversized foot into the tiny slipper. When the Prince notices Cinderella sitting shyly by the fire, he asks her father if she may try it on. As she moves to do so, the second slipper falls from her pocket. The Prince is overjoyed in spite of Cinderella's ragged appearance, and asks her to marry him. Cinderella forgives her Stepmother and sisters for their previous cruelty to her.

As the Prince returns the glass slipper to the Fairy Godmother, the kitchen is transformed into a magic glade where Cinderella and her Prince dance a romantic Pas de Deux. The guests return to acclaim their new Princess at her betrothal.

Grand Pas de deux from Act III of Don Quixote
Choreography: Alexander Gorsky
Music: Leon Minkus

The full-length ballet of Don Quixote concentrates on the love affair between Kitri and the barber Basil from Volume Two of Cervantes's masterpiece. The characters of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza merely serve as a thread to link the various scenes of the ballet. This striking pas de deux performed by Kitri and Basil takes place during their wedding festivities, and is one of the most famous dances for its flair and stamina. After a bold, lyrical entrance the ballerina and her partner dance a sustained duet followed by an engaging, diamond-like variation for her and a spectacular solo for him. A joyous climax is reached with her famous fouettés (quick whipping movement of the raised leg while turning on the other) and his tours a la seconde (turns on one leg with the other raised and extended throughout).

Pas de Quatre
Music by Cesare Pugni
Choreography by Anton Dolin

"Pas de Quatre" was originally choreographed, at the suggestion of Benjamin Lunley, by Jules Perrot in 1845, with music by Cesare Pugni, at Her Majesty's Theatre in London. In the nineteenth century, ballerinas were worshiped, even idolized. Their salaries were the equivalent of what is paid to star athletes today. They developed enormous egos and had feuds with their rivals. It was a real feat for Benjamin Lumley to get Marie Taglioni, Carlotta Grisi, Fanny Cerrito, and Lucile Grahn to dance together, and Perrot to choreograph. Of the great dancers of that time only Fanny Elssler didn't participate. The first performance of "Pas de Quatre" sent critics into a frenzy.

Perrot had the difficult task of making each ballerina look her best: if she could turn, he had her turn, if she jumped, he had her jump.

There was also the problem of the order in which they were to appear the last solo was the best spot. The manager, Benjamin Lumley, solved the problem by suggesting that they dance according to age--the youngest first and the oldest last. Suddenly everyone wanted to be first, but it was decided that Grahn would lead, followed by Grisi, then Cerrito and, finally, Taglioni. Only four performances were given with the original cast. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were in the audience at the third performance.

In 1941 Anton Dolin rechoreographed the ballet for Ballet Theatre and in 1949 for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. I saw this ballet with Alicia Markova in the role of Taglioni, Mia Slavenska as Grisi, Alexandra Danilova as Cerrito, Nathalie Krassovska (and later Gertrude Tyven) as Grahn. Many, many dancers have danced this ballet since.

Dying Swan
Music by Camille Saint-Saens
Choreography by Michel Fokine

Originally choreographed for the great ballerina Anna Pavlova and performed at a gala performance in St. Petersburg in 1907, Michel Fokine employed the music of Le Cygne from Saint-Saens's "Le Carnival des Animaux." The dance, evoking the final struggle for the life of a dying bird, became particularly identified with Pavlova. It remains one of the most famous solo dances ever created, representing for many the very essence of ballet dancing.

Allegro
Choreography: Vitaly Zabelin
Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikaovsky

Tchaikovsky’s last symphony, nicknamed “Pathetique,” which in Russian translates to “passionate” or “emotional,” was composed between February and August of 1893. Tchaikovsky conducted its debut in St. Petersburg on October 28, 1893, nine days before his death (it is said that five days after he conducted his final symphony, he drank a glass of unboiled water, which was the cause of many cholera cases in St. Petersburg at the time, although some refute that it was an accidental death). The choreographer for this work is also a member of the company, and sets the music to the third movement from Tchaikovsky’s famous symphony.

Selections from Paquita
Choreography: Joseph Mazilier
Music: Edouard Deldevez

Paquita is one of the most celebrated displays of technical fireworks from the old Imperial Russian Ballet. Marius Petipa made a series of revisions to the famous French ballet Paquita when he was ballet-master in St. Petersburg, the most important being in 1881 when he inserted a trio and Grand Pas to new music by Ludwig Minkus as a showcase for the considerable talents of his ballerinas at that time. These gems of Petipa’s choreography have been treasured in Russia ever since and remain wonderful examples of his genius. Paquita was originally staged at the Paris Opera in April 1846. The first Paquita was Carlotta Grisi. A year after its creation it was staged in St. Petersburg, where Marius Petipa danced the leading role – his first steps on a stage to which he would devote the rest of his long career in Russia. As chief ballet-master in St. Petersburg, Petipa revived the ballet in 1881 for his favored ballerina, Yekaterina Vazem, and with the new music by Ludwig Minkus, he created the dazzling Grand Pas, which was revived by Pyotr Gusev for the Bolshoi Ballet.

The ballet takes place in Spain during the Peninsular War and tells of a Gypsy girl Paquita who saves the life of Lucien, an officer in Napoleon’s army, from a plot to murder him. Lucien’s father, a French general, wants his son to marry Doña Seraphina, daughter of the Spanish Governor, but the Governor looks at the proposed alliance with disdain and bribes the Gypsy King Idigo to kill the young Frenchman. Idigo offers Lucien a glass of drugged wine, but Paquita, who knew about the plot, changes the glasses. When hired assassins enter the Gypsy’s hut, Paquita and Lucien escape. Lucien approaches his father and introduces Paquita during a ball. The Governor is arrested and Paquita discovers that she is a daughter of noble parents, and thus she is able to marry Lucien.