3 replies to this topic

[cubanmiamiboy]

IS AN OWL!!...SO WHY DO THEY MAKE HIM LOOK MORE LIKE AN AMPHIBIOUS..?!?!..Oh, well. He's just our old  Von Rothbart, which in some of his encarnations seems  to be part of the cast for "Alien IV"  to play the intergalactic monster ready to fight against Sigourney Weaver rather than the feathery creature of  "Swan Lake" .  As years pass by the character seems to be always  "reinventing" himself. I've seen him with and without  wings, with an all face covering mask , often protrayed in a futuristic form, in some cases wearing heavy gothic costume and makeup , and sometimes even with horns   .  So, can somebody shred some light about this character nature, history and costume accuracy...?...Maybe there's an old pic or sketch somewhere despicting the way it used to be portrayed back on the imperial days...?...Mr. R.G, Mr.Mel J., Mr. Doug. F. please...?
Also:
any thoughts on specially good or bad portrays of  Von Rothbarts from specific companies...?

[Mel Johnson]

He's an owl.  (Only comes out at night)  There's a photograph of Bulgakov (I believe the original v.R.) and he's wearing a chain mail hauberk (shirt) that comes to his knees, a tabard of arms with a swan on the shield, a very severe makeup which presumably features a red beard, and over all, a small helmet with a tournament crest of a spread owl.  (Like a spread eagle, only different poultry)  He looks like he could be the postmaster in "Harry Potter".

[rg]

in haste for now, but it's important to remember that the 'horned' owl is familiar in germanic iconography. there's a sepia water color by k.d.friedriech of a horned owl perched in a gothic window opening on a ruined castle in the imperial collection. (i think katherine the great might have acquired it.) so 'horns' are very naturally connected to owls in russia. there is a grainy photo of bugalkov in demidov's SWAN LAKE monograph in his owl guise, as opposed to his 'knightly' guise. if i can locate it and get it into my scanner w/o damaging the spine i'll post it in the near future.
btw, mel, can you recall where you saw this baron von stein look for rothbart reporduced. i don't think it's ringing any bells w/ me, but i'd love to see it.

[Mel Johnson]

You're gonna hate me, rg, but it was in the liner notes, booklet, really, accompanying the ca. 1962 release on Columbia of the Ormandy reading of selections from the score.  It took up a whole lp, so not just the Op. 20a Suite of Act II scene, Act I valse, Little Swans, White Swan pas d'action, Csardas, and the final scene beginning at the allegro agitato.  I don't know who had the score before it came to Ormandy, but the pas de trois was, astonishingly, performance-cut!  Come to think of it, it might have been Stukolkin instead.  That was one of his kinds of roles, but it's been a long time since I wore out that album.