Sebastian

Apparently it‘s now set for March next year: https://anthempress.com/the-petersburg-noverre-marius-petipa-in-russia-hb

Did Amazon take your money, by any chance?

Did you ever get clarity from Amazon about the odd information - or did a copy of the book turn up?!

Thanks Joseph. So do you now have the book?!

And now, a new date of August: https://www.amazon.com/Petersburg-Noverre-Marius-Petipa-Russia/dp/1839984163

The publishers appear to have put back publication again. This time to June: https://anthempress.com/the-petersburg-noverre-marius-petipa-in-russia-hb

At the risk of seeming to repeat myself, this same link now shows that publication has been put back again, this time to March 2023 (Amazon suggests release on March 7th).

This same link now shows that publication has been put back again, this time to November (Amazon suggests release on November 15th).

I see the publishers have now put publication back to August, so we sadly have a little longer to wait for this: https://anthempress.com/the-petersburg-noverre-marius-petipa-in-russia-hb

After years of rumour Roland John Wiley’s major new study of Petipa and his ballets has just been announced for publication next month: https://anthempress.com/the-petersburg-noverre-marius-petipa-in-russia-hb Professor Wiley, known for his lifetime’s devotion to ballet scholarship of the highest order, looks here to have reached a new high point. The price is not untypically steep for an academic work of this scale but no doubt libraries are already placing their orders. This is very exciting!

Might I draw attention to a new one-hour film on Cecchetti by the British ballet teacher Julie Cronshaw? Based not only on Cecchetti technique but also on her twenty years work with the late Roger Tully, this film is as enjoyable and instructive to a beginner like me as it will be to experts: https://youtu.be/ZGT4g7FHSvA

Following two Zoom terms on Russian music and a pre-Christmas special on The Nutcracker, the well-known British music critic David Nice is offering a two-hour exploration of Tchaikovsky's score for The Sleeping Beauty. Tomorrow (Wednesday 30 December) afternoon, 2.30-4.30pm UK time. £10 per household. If interested, please email David on david.nice@usa.net

An article about the Nutcracker by British film-maker Margy Kinmonth appeared online this week, on the "Russian Art+Culture" site. Her article draws on her film "Nutcracker Story" and the Bolshoi transmission tomorrow with Semyon Chudin and Margarita Shrayner. Here's the link, in case this might be of interest: https://www.russianartandculture.com/bolshoi-ballet-cinema-the-nutcracker/

Hi Joseph. Ballet Master and the Score is an essay, not a whole book. If you are looking for an English translation, the review below has all details of a book in which one appears. Incidentally, Fedor Lopukhov was three years old when The Sleeping Beauty was first rehearsed and performed.

What a most stimulating set of ideas Quiggin, thank you so much for your careful reading. And thanks also for the great Chekhov letter, perfect for inspiring a good weekend mood. For those who would like a little more, in English and easily accessible, may I recommend the magnificent Tchaikovsky Research website (no doubt well known to many here). A relevant page, with some good links, is here:- http://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/pages/Anton_Chekhov To return to that most mysterious of masterpieces, The Sleeping Beauty, might I add a couple of comments? You suggest the 1890 audience might seek a return to a time before "complicated social questions". Indeed but in my piece I go further: I suggest that one strength of the narrative for its intended Russian audience is the possibility of a resolution to complicated social questions. In 1890 Carabosse was not merely vanquished (ubiquitous in modern productions) but later also happily incorporated back into the social order (the first production went to some trouble, using a double, to have Carabosse present at the wedding party in the last act). As to antisemitism, this was by no means limited to St Petersburg and Paris during this period. This undercurrent, though undeniably present, may therefore not be particularly helpful when one is trying to understand what was going on between - specifically and only - those two cities. However it may be a theme to consider when looking at (again) Carabosse. The original designs for this character show her not only - as in the version of the story most familiar to 19thC Russians - old and hunchbacked, but also with a prominent "hooked" and pointed nose. There is some less than wholly convincing scholarship about Carabosse from a couple of writers so, as ever, more research is needed. Finally, Lopukhov. To be blunt, it is not a good idea to rely on what he says, however colourful. There seems to be an accidental Carabosse theme to this post so, to finish, it was Lopukhov who insisted - when mounting his revival of Beauty in 1923 - that it was "authentic" to the 1890 production if, on first entering during the Prologue, Carabosse and her rats take the places of the King and Queen on their thrones. The Sergeyev notations have no such scene. Again, more research will be necessary to clarify the extent of the lèse-majesté. As my summary article suggests, this may be important to our overall understanding. On Lopukhov in general, here as so often we can learn from the impeccable and deeply informed writing of Roland John Wiley. It so happens that his coruscating review (in Dance Research, winter 2004) of the translated collection you quote from is currently conveniently available online: https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/pdfplus/10.3366/drs.2004.22.2.207