13 replies to this topic

[rg]

the caption says: SUGARPLUM FAIRY - V. A. NIKITINA AND PRINCE KOKLUSH - P. A. GERDT
i suspect this reproduction, published in a russian book comes originally from one of the YEARBOOK OF THE IMPERIAL THEATERS, mostly likely 1892/93.

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[Mel Johnson]

Interesting!  The picture I recall seeing had this reversed, but then either it or this version, which is sort of mixed-media, photography and photogravure, may have been "flipped".  It happens all the time with old pictures made with glass-plate negatives.  It may even be a collotype judging from the pebbly background.  (A third change of medium.)

[Anthony_NYC]

Wiley says the dancers move from audience left to audience right, though whether he gets this information from the choreographic notation or deduces it from the picture is unclear.

[Mme. Hermine]

Good ol' Prince Whooping Cough!    

[doug]

I *assume* Wiley got the direction from the notation.  I've not looked at the these particular notations too closely, but the Nutcracker notation as a whole (mostly in Nikolai Sergeev's hand ... and he appears to have to be in a hurry) contains at least ground plans for most of the formal dances, and arrows are often used to indicate traveling direction.

[Mel Johnson]

pmeja, on Jan 8 2005, 01:47 PM, said:

Good ol' Prince Whooping Cough!   

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Balanchine said that he thought that the Cavalier's name might have indicated that he was supposed to be a cough drop.  (You know, MANLY candy, candy with a job, in the Victorian sensibility.)

[rg]

re: direction of the photo and likely the choreographic path, i think i too have seen this pic reproduced 'flopped' - i must dig out other possible sources, at least two or three it would seem. i chose this one b/c it was near at hand and reproduced in a good size, as i recall the other uses as illustration reproduce the pic smaller than this one in my russian book.
re: koklush = whooping cough, arlene croce added a 1977 footnote to her 1974 NEW YORKER rev. of balanchine's NUTCRACKER, it goes as follows:
"Several readers wrote, identifying 'Koklush' as a Russian gallicism derived from 'coqueluche,' whooping cough, but suggesting that the NUTCRACKER Cavalier was namee after 'coqueluche,' originally 'a hooded bonnet of the Middle Ages worn by men and women of fashion' and hence a term for favorite, fashion, or rage, as in 'coqueluche de ville' (town dandy) or 'coqueluche des dames' (ladies man). No one has explained why the same word means whooping cough."
i still like mel's suggestion that there might be a link here to smith brothers cough drops - a manly mint, which was introduced to russia around this time.
[have just checked two more sources: both my editions of Roslavleva's ERA OF RUSSIAN BALLET, and of John Warrack's TCHAIKOVSKY, reproduce the illustration in the same disposition as that scanned and posted from my russian book on SCHELKUNCHIK.]

[carbro]

Why does the photo (which I believe I have also seen reversed) suggest the table cloth trick?  

[Paul Parish]

All I can say is, if she went across the stage in that sous-sus, I'm IMPRESSED......

[Mel Johnson]

Don't ya love these candid shots?  

[Balanchinomane]

I recall a Royal Ballet Production about 20 years ago -
Anthony Dowell pulled Leslie Collier along on a piece
of cloth --- it was stage left to right --- and I think this
was the version Peter Wright did using archival material.
It's not in the recent production video 2000. Maybe
Leslie took her magic carpet with her when she retired.

[rg]

the 'magic carpet' effect is documented in the dowell/collier-led p. wright NUTCRACKER still on video, recently out in the US on kultur dvd.

[Mme. Hermine]

The following quotation (not ballet related but pertinent) appeared in an interview on msnbc.com today:

"...He was the handsomest though  admittedly not the brightest boy around, the coqueluche (the darling)  of all the girls. "

[Mel Johnson]

That's an extended metaphor:  He's infectious, he's contagious, he gets around.