leonid17

Maria Callas sang at the Royal Opera House many times during the 1950's and regrettably I did not hear hear until 1964 as Tosca. I later heard heard her in concert. Whilst I never heard her in her prime, I did know Alan Sievewright for many years who had many rare recordings and films of Callas which we watched on a numerous occasions. Like many of the singers of the past to be found at Cantabile Subito, Maria Callas once heard cannot be forgotten. I heard Di Stefano in concert and despite having grown up with his recordings over a number of years, there was no criticism in my mind that the voice was less than when younger, because there were many moments which entirely recalled my joy of his earlier days on records. Films of de Los Angeles who I heard as Mimi in 1962 and Schwarzkopf in concert also later in life are memorable, but they also do not capture the moment of the live voice. http://www.cantabile-subito.de/

It is interesting that this young dancer has moved around a bit. He struck me as an outstanding talent at Lausanne but was not so admired at Jackson. I rather liked this kind of control. http://www.myspace.com/zherlin

Thank you for the information. It was kind of you. What I will do, is to request it from my local public library and read it on my journeys in and out of London. Thank you again.

I have seen the film starring Constance Bennett(also producer)and Gracie Fields who give good performances but I found it rather a creaky old film. I am interested in films depicting the 1939-1945 war in Europe as my father fought in it. I googled the book today and found the following period review. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,850371,00.html

Alienation and disconnectedness seem like old fashioned humanist values. I don't think that's what's happening here -- the choices seem more arbitrary. To me a lot of the new (perhaps really neo-conservative) dance begins to look like dancers flinging themselves out and pivoting on some extreme locus points of their bodies, as if tumbling over a high jump bar. There's little development, only a short back and forth to a home base. At best they're Philip Glass-like arpeggios of glittering ribbons of movement. I always zone out after a while. I think I am with Quiggin and his view. When we observe virtuosity in a dancer we are seeing their skill in technique. If we are seeing their skill in technique we are not seeing art.If we are not seeing art, why are we in a theatre. Its better that we go to watch the Olympics. If technique is not subdued to combine with the the emploi,aesthetics and expression required in a role, we are in general not seeing the choreographers intention. If it is the choreographers intention, I will not be there. To my mind Wayne Macgregor deals in alienation and disconnectedness, which are my dears, terribly old hat.

I have gone back to read your reply twice and each time I have laughed out loud.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/dance/article2027206.ece Here is a quote from the above article (from 3 years ago): Having seen both Maya Plisetskaya and Natalia Osipova a number of times on stage and off, I am as certain as I can be, that Miss Osipova is not the same height as Madame Plisetskaya. There is something quite ridiculous in the suggestion that she is. After all it is only a statement in a newspaper article.

I really like Albrecht. He is not a cad, he is a young man who sees a beautiful young woman and is attracted to her. He knows he cannot appear to her in his usual attire otherwise she would not countenance his approaches, so he disguises himself. There is no indication that Albrecht is a rapist, instead he flirts with Giselle and in doing so, his feelings deepen and he gets lost in those feelings and at least for the moment, he forgets both who he is and in the course of minutes, his own status. Hilarion, who has historically been cast as an older man and to the audience it is quite clear, that Giselle would not be attracted to him. This boor pursues Giselle and she rebuffs him and is undoubtedly frightened by his advances. Who wouldn't be? All that hair, the smell of dead game and then, the age of the man. Get lost. So bitter with jealousy is Hilarion as to Albrecht's suit, he seeks to denounce this handsome interloper whom he sees in his fantasy of Giselle as a rival. At his first opportunity, he denounces Albrecht by summoning the Duke of Courland and he has lead us into a descending tragedy. Giselle becomes lost in her wild emotions and her heart begins to give way. At the moment of death she wants Albrecht, not her mother and definitely not Hilarion. Giselle the ballet,is a Romantic tale of a young man's attraction to beautiful girl from the wrong side of the tracks that leads to what was already a suggested by her mother, an early death. Myrtha in her forest realm quickly seizes the opportunity to destroy Hilarion, the cause of Giselle’s death and although destined to marry Bathilde, we are left with the image of Albrecht still loving Giselle and she loving him. Giselle the young girl/woman dies of a weak heart never to be touched by old age. She remains perpetually young in our memory of this romantic period tale, rather than being saddled by ugly hairy children from Hilarion and worn out at thirty years of age.

New York is home to some 120,000 English men and women - including photographer Jason Bell. Inspired by the sheer number of British-born people who live there, he tracked down some of better known faces, but also others who do their 'day jobs' in The Big Apple. As this is about a book of photographs which forms an exhibition of Jason Bell's work, I thought it fitted in this forum rather than, "What are you Reading." See: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-11029799

I wish I had written the above! There was a similar discussion in the Aesthetic IssuesForum. See Aesthetic versus Gymnastic Svetlana Zakharova Interview

Having had a moratorium for the last 10 years on new novels, while I catch up with 18th and 19th century works, the following Telegraph review did however catch my eye, intrigued me and I thought of my American balletalk co-posters. http://www.telegraph...-novelists.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/news/ballet-tour-brings-us-one-step-closer-to-cuba-2056318.html I know this was announced by ABT(See website)last month, but the news has only just hit our shores.

You are correct that the performing tradition of Hilarion was that he was cast as of an older generation and dressed like a peasant woodsman or game keeper. The First Giselle was Carlotta Grisi aged 22, Albert was played by Jules Perrot(not my idea of a handsome Count)aged 26 and Jean Coralli as Hilarion was 62 years of age. Perhaps it is the age of this Hilarion that gives the meaning that here was a much older man obsessed with a young girl, which she in turn, finds him morally and physically repugnant.

I found this film of Ivan Vasiliev in a rehearsal studio on the Hochhauser website advertising the recent London season. I have searched and only hope that it hasn't already been posted. http://www.victorhochhauser.co.uk/bolshoi_ballet.php

Leonid, I've never heard Bowen speak but I have heard de Valois. But I can hear clearly that early 20th century English (as spoken in GB) and I like the effect of it very much. It seems very elegant to me. Also American English spoken in this same period was considerably closer in effect to British spoken English back then. It was also much classier than it is today. Both version of spoken English have evolved into something much less clear and beautiful sounding. And they have gone in increasingly divergent directions. So much of the British English we hear here in the US is very edgy sounding and American English has become more and more slurred. Not exactly progress. I certainly spoke with an older generation of Americans in the 1960's who spoke in as beautiful a manner as some duchesses. You are right when you describe such a closeness as to what one might call the speech mannerisms of UK Received Pronunciation. When you say, "So much of the British English we hear here in the US is very edgy sounding and American English has become more and more slurred. Not exactly progress." I know exactly what you mean and I try not to be infected by the vulgarisms of modern speech. It is up to those of us that care to set an example.

I am sure there are many people today who would describe Virginia Woolf's voice as affected or "camp." Such an appellation would in itself, denote to some members of an older generation, as an inference as to the class of the commentator rather than a jocular expression. The phrase "Received Pronunciation" was coined in 1869 by the linguist, A.J.Ellis, but it only became a widely used term used to describe the accent of the social elite after the phonetician, Daniel Jones, adopted it for the second edition of the English Pronouncing Dictionary (1924). The definition of received conveys its original meaning of accepted or approved. We can trace the origins of RP back to the public schools and universities of nineteenth-century Britain - indeed Daniel Jones initially used the term Public School Pronunciation to describe this emerging, socially exclusive accent. Over the course of the 19th century, members of the ruling and privileged classes increasingly attended boarding schools such as Winchester, Eton, Harrow and Rugby and graduated from then Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Their speech patterns were loosely on the local accents of "Upper Class" London, Oxford and Cambridge which in turn came to be associated with The Establishment. I know what you mean by High Received Pronunciation but it is a term not widely used in the UK, but it does of course still exactly carry the implied social inference. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second's speech was up until two or three decades ago, an example of a cut glass accent and a clear example of Received Pronunciation. The Queen however, has now moderately adapted some archaisms of pronunciation with the changing times. I think it is correct to say Miss Woolf's speech reflects RP in a highly individual manner. Daphne du Maurier, Muriel Spark, Beryl Bainbridge, Iris Mudoch, Margaret Drabble and Doris Lessing all speak with what many English people would call a posh voice and RP is never far away from their pronunciation.

The BBC has placed on a series of short broadcasts made by distinguished authors talking about their works and techniques employed in writing novels. Included among many others are: Virginia Woolf W Somerset Maugham Elizabeth Bowen******Just to listen to her beautifully modulated tones and diction conjuring up English speech of a lost era. Interestingly Ninette de Valois also born in Ireland spoke with similar standard of clear diction. Kingsley Amis Aldous Huxley PG Wodehouse. EM Forster Christopher Isherwood Kazuo Ishiguro Beryl Bainbridge Doris Lessing Robert Graves VS Naipaul Link:= http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/writers/12246.shtml

Just to get technical (sadly, I've been very aware of dancers' heights ever since my short (5'2") daughter became a professionally-minded, then professional ballet dancer - I wish I could stop because I believe it matters little!): Gillian Murphy is 5'6" and Tiler Peck is 5'5". I wouldn't call either dancer "short". Alina Cojacaru is 5'2". Natalia Osipova is not so tiny in height, either. She is 5'5", too. Personally, I think of Aurora as a shorter dancer. I don't much like to see the role danced by Amazons. Same with Giselle - I agree with you, there! I also prefer a small to medium-sized Odette, although it's a role that works with any height. Some Latina Odettes are incredible and many of them are on the short side. I would rephrase your sentence "I think a short dancer can dance Odette/Odile or Aurora just as well as a tall dancer" by reversing your words "short" and "tall"! Chacun à son goût! Rereading this thread, I saw my earlier posts from 5 years ago. I'm still singing the same tune! Even reused the word "Amazons"! 19th century Romantic and academic classical ballets were generally made for dancers around 4'10" to 5'2" in height. Alina Cojocaru has a balanced physique in relation to length of back and legs which lends to her achievement of an extended line in both poses and lyrical movements. For all her gifts, which are real, Osipova has by comparison a short back with restricts a longer lyrical line and she is in my opinion, shorter than 5'5" inches tall and on stage appears to be much shorter than Cojocaru. Generally speaking I want to see leading dancers in Romantic ballets and Petipa ballets performed by dancers between 5'2" and 5'5" in height. However, I would not want to have lived my life without having seen Toni Lander in La Sylphide, who was seemingly taller than 5'5". Other comparisons might be Dame Margot Fonteyn who was short in stature but achieved a great line and lyricism in her performances and the shorter Lucette Aldous, who had bundles of technique and often a thrilling dancer, but did not in my opinion, possess either a truly academic or true lyricism in her line. Tall dancers can essay first soloist roles effectively and in the case of Deanne Bergsma for instance, more than effectively.

I was surprised to hear both well known teachers and members of the audience declaring after the final performance of Don Quixote, that the Bolshoi ballet of today is, "the new Kirov." This is a perhaps a reflection of the opinions held on recent Kirov(Mariinsky)performances. Certainly the company is much more of a refined academic classical ballet company than in the past. The corps de ballet now has uniformly slim physiques and dance with beautifully clean lines and that goes for both the women and the men. This is quite a transformation from the past old style Bolshoi which did have perhaps a more physical vigour and more broadly characterful performance style. As they say, time changes many things. For me, only the absence of Yuliana Malkhasyants was a real negative of the performance. I did however particularly notice the pleasing Maria Vinogradova in the Grand pas lst variation. Natalia Ospipova and Ivan Vasiliev did exactly what we expected of them and then, something more. Do not think the following photographs from the Bolshoi Website were previously posted. http://www.bolshoi.ru/en/season/press-office/photos/

I am saddened to hear of the passing of Patricia Neal as she was one of those actresses whose face and voice was so easily recollected when I have mused on films that I loved in my "Salad Days." http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/patricia-neal-american-actress-and-former-wife-of-roald-dahl-who-won-an-oscar-for-her-performance-in-hud-2047929.html

English National Ballet is the heir to the London Festival Ballet and this year it celebrates its 60th anniversary. I regularly watched the company in the 1960's,70's and 80's when it had had an excellent repertoire and a number of distinguished dancers. Here as a very interesting article with the Director of ENB Wayne Eagling, who has done sterling work in reviving the company's profile, in which he discusses the problems of touring certain ballets. He highlights the fact that the majority of the UK population that will go to the ballet, really only want to see the major academic classical ballets and not the new works that companies are now pressured to produce. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sample/tt/article7164919.ece?token=null&offset=0&page=1

Here in Swan Lake, where Guillem, Zakharova and Lopatkina offend with hyper extensions you see none with Pavlova. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evuRor8h5tg

It is not often that I disagree with Mashinka comments on Russian dancers but I feel I have to Nadezhda Pavlova a dancer who had extraordinary talent as a teenager and who apparently experienced a very difficult time whilst with the Bolshoi Ballet. Nadezhda Pavlova's potential for hyper-extension was a natural physical feature of this dancer which may have been was exploited by artistic directors. Importantly she never used five to six penchee arabesques or in ala seconde poses went beyond the vertical, unlike some dancers of the present day Kirov or Bolshoi. See her at 16 years of age where every opportunity to hyper-extend exists, but is not attempted. Where is any vulgar hyper extension four years later in a studio film seen here performing Aurora? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vBkhrYjwEM. As well as seeing her dance in London I saw her give an extraordinary performance of Giselle in Moscow in 1986 and of course there was the legendary performance she gave of this role at the Kirov with Yuri Soloviev also sans hyper extensions. Pavlova was blessed with beautiful feet and leg line coupled with a strong back through which she certainly achieved high extensions but for me always without losing the aesthetics of academic classical ballet. Pavlova’s seemingly fragile personality brought touching pathos to a number of her roles and was joyous in Grigorovich's Nutcracker and in my opinion second only to Yekaterina Maximova in the role of Masha. As Jane Simpson points, the "ten best" of various subjects has been published in The Observer and so perhaps Mr Jennings was a hostage to the process. If thats the case, its a sad situation for a ballet critic to be in as the whole question of "ten best" is for me, something of a subjective and vainglorious exercise. Dumbing down has quite clearly hit "The Observer" which was once a quality newspaper, but then high art practitioners and knowledgeable pundits alike, are quite clearly ready to eschew the standards of the past rather than support them. PS I will post a further example of Pavlova's dancing below as apparently only two media files can be used in a post as an illustrative example.

I would have thought that more than one copy of this pamphlet has survived and it is highly probable that at least one copy exists somewhere in a UK Government collection, given what was seen as the significantly seditious nature of the work and the recent memory of The War of American Independence, the French revolution and of course the Napoleonic Wars which were still in full flood. As to the poem's importance, Professor Woudhuysen said that, while some of the poems language was reminiscent of Shelleys other work, the regularity of the couplets is uncharacteristic. That, he suggests, may be explained by the pamphlet being some sort of collaboration between Shelley and his sister, Elizabeth. You then begin to wonder if the newspaper reports of its status are little more that a series of puffs.

When The Guardian published the headline, Owning manuscripts is one thing: owning the contents is quite another firstly one thought what a load of over emotional nonsense and secondly what a seemingly a weak effort to echo Shelley's, "Queen Mab." The phrase possession is (as) nine-tenths of the law, a concept going back to at least Roman Law and sovereign right immediately came to my mind. One is aware with ones possessions rightfully owned, that one is the only controller of ones property and may therefore do with it as one pleases. The Guardians phrase,…owning the contents is quite another. as if there was some kind of denial of the public rights in this matter, has for me echoes of the first person to call himself an anarchist, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon who notoriously stated in his What is Property? Or, an Inquiry into the Principle of Right and Government that Property is theft which notably, attracted the attention of Karl Marx. It is nonsense to say that the right to keep private that which is privately owned,is an act of some kind of injustice to the public. It is an impudence to start telling people what they can do with their possessions and what is right or wrong in a such a matter. Museums and library collections exist because of the activities of private collectors of the past. Let the new owner enjoy his private pleasure and lets hope that the pamphletit may find it is way into the public domain sometime in the future. On another note, later this year, there will be an exhibition called, Shelleys Ghost: Reshaping the Image of a Literary Family , to be held in the Exhibition room of the Bodleian Library from 3 December 2010 27 March 2011. Star items will include Shelleys own notebooks, a letter of John Keats, William Godwins diary and the original manuscripts of Mary Shelleys Frankenstein. The exhibition will also feature treasures lent by the Pforzheimer Collection of the New York Public Library, many of which have never been on public display in the UK. Further comments and discussion on this matter can be found at: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article1072715.ece http://books.elliottback.com/percy-bysshe-shelleys-poetical-essay/ http://www.horshamsociety.org/history/poetical.htm