17 replies to this topic

[Mashinka]

I don't think the ballet has much to do with Byron, if the ballet followed Byron's story there would be no Medora at all, as she is Conrad's 'off stage' wife who dies of grief after hearing of his capture and death sentence by the Pasha.  It is Gulnara who is the heroine as she knifes the Pasha and rescues Conrad, whom she fell in love with when he saved her from the burning harem at the time of one of his raids.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Byron knew Turkey, Greece and the Balkans like the back of his hand and had met a few Pashas in his time (one of whom fancied him).  The land he loved best was Greece though and he died fighting for her freedom.  Today he is a national hero in Greece.

Conrad, by the way is Byron himself (all the clues are there).  The work must have meant a lot to him as his daughter by his half sister, Augusta Leigh, was named Medora.

[Mel Johnson]

I'm with you, Hans!     As a pas de deux, it was sometimes very awkward to transition from phrase to phrase.  It made a great deal more sense when I first saw it done with three people!

[Mel Johnson]

I study Byron's "Corsaire" as a sort of "the other end of the telescope" from "Don Juan".  The latter is brilliant, the former is a really silly poem by a great artist.  Sort of like contrasting Beethoven's "Wellington's Victory" against the Ninth Symphony!  I wish I had the time and resources to research it more fully.