Hans

I'm sure if I heard the music, I would know exactly what you meant but I'm having trouble figuring it out--I'll get my Don Q tape out. Does the G major march begin with a harp? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Florestan is supposed to be the name of the king in Sleeping Beauty. I have no idea why the prince is sometimes named "Florimund."

My favorite at the Bolshoi is Goriacheva . I also like Evgeny Ivanchenko, but I'm not sure he counts, as he's a Maryinsky import. I'm partial to Ilze Liepa as well; I love her port de bras.

Yes rg, according to the tape I have, the only moment that might be construed as 'competitive' is when Taglioni bows just one more time to Cerrito before leaving the stage, but it's not exactly mean-spirited.

I saw a very old film of Kitri's variation (with the harp) a little while ago (it did not culminate in pas de cheval en pointe as one version does). I think this is the original variation, but the Kirov often substitutes the waltz variation because it is more substantive. I have a lot of different variations from Don Q on tape, but not one with hops...?

Yes--that's the reason she always wore bracelets and a necklace onstage: so her limbs wouldn't appear quite so long. I don't know about that extra bow, but considering that her variation was right before Taglioni's, it would have been extremely ill-mannered. Imagine Fonteyn instead of Taglioni and Lynn Seymour instead of Cerrito. It could have happened, but I think it's doubtful.

Okay Doug, that makes more sense . For the sake of clarity, perhaps we could all differentiate between the jewels "intrada" and the "entrée" before the grand adagio? The Sergeyev production seems to contain a vestige of the fairies in the entrée, but it is placed before the adagio and includes all four fairies of the precious stones and metals as well as two pages and several cavaliers--I forget the exact number; I think there are 6. Leigh, thank you for that info. I would really like to see that variation, though I doubt anyone's going to perform it.

Let me see if I understand this properly. The gold and sapphire fairies may have performed the intrada from the Precious Stones and Metals pas de quatre after the adagio of Aurora and Désiré, in which the two fairies also danced? If that was indeed the case, did the diamond and silver fairies simply perform their variations and then the coda, without the intrada? However, if the gold and sapphire fairies danced in the coda before Aurora's entrance, Prince Désiré really didn't have much to do at all, at least until the Legats came along, I suppose. Isn't there supposed to be a notation of the Act III variation Sergei Legat performed that is even more difficult than the choreography we have now? To confuse things even more if Balanchine choreographed to Aurora's original Vision Scene variation music, why doesn't NYCB perform it when they do SB?

I was watching my "Great Moments in Opera" video the other day and came up with another to add: Judith DePaul. I think Marilyn Horne has a very beautiful face.

As far as I know, it was felt that the Golden Fairy's music suited Carlotta Brianza (the original Aurora) better. I think in the Sergeyev production the Golden Fairy's music is used for the Lilac Fairy near the beginning of Act III--after the polonaise. If Sergeyev did indeed choreograph to the original vision scene music, he did a wonderful job--it is beautiful and appropriate.

Did Ashton choreograph Aurora's Vision Scene variation before the Sergeyev production of 1952? Because in my video of Sizova (1964, but may have been choreographed before then), she performs Tchaikovsky's original music in the Vision Scene, not the Golden Fairy's music. Also, the entrée of the Act III adagio is staged in the video of SB w/ Asylmuratova--don't know if this is a different version, but it looks v. similar to the Sizova video.

When you've finished a solo and the audience is already booing and hissing...what do you do? Do you bow once and leave? Keep going as long as there's noise (unless it is accompanied by vegetables)? It must require a great deal of courage (or something) to bow then--I hope I am never in that position!

As for rules about how to stress American names, I don't think there can be any because almost all the names here had their origins somewhere else. I've heard "Millepied" and "Marcovici" pronounced the same way you describe, Alexandra; the trouble is that Marcovici is a French person with an Italian name! I know how it would generally be pronounced in Italian, but I imagine that in French it would be Mark-oh-vi-CHI...am not 100% on that, though. Millepied is rather simpler, as both his nationality and name are French (as far as I know) so I think that in French the stress would be on the last syllable. Estelle, "pied" is considered a monosyllabic word in French, right?

Ari, I've always heard "Ananiashvili" pronounced with the accent on the next to last syllable. We wouldn't happen to have any Georgians on the board, would we?

Talon a la main, jambe tendue is a stretch in which the heel is placed in the hand in order to pull the leg upward and stretch the hip joint. I have never heard it phrased quite that way before, so it threw me as well, at first.

The worst inappropriate applause in my opinion is during the codas of Don Quixote and Le Corsaire, especially in Russian companies. I used to think it was logical to pause for the applause, but those codas have become too formalized and ritualistic, to the point where every sequence is treated and applauded for as if it were a variation with its own separate entrance. I think it diminishes the impact of the coda as similar to the end of a fireworks display--one sequence right after another in rapid succession. What do people think of applause during "Chopiniana?" Between the variations, that is, not during them!

You are of course right, Estelle--I was writing for English speakers who would probably not pronounce the "e" at all (it always bothers me, though, when people say "Les Misérab"). I notice that in classical singing, the e muet seems to always be fully pronounced as a separate syllable, though it's often barely audible when spoken. Alexandra, if Balanchivadze is pronounced with the same accent as my teacher's name (Djou-lou-kha'-dze), then the stress is indeed on the next to last syllable, but I am certainly no expert on Georgian surnames! Maybe I'm weird, but I've only heard "Tomasson" pronounced with the accent on the 2nd syllable.

Here it is: http://www.bolshoi.ru

R S Edgecombe, dancing helps keep the synapses in working order . There's a wonderful little comic I saw somewhere of a woman dancing with a man while filling in a crossword puzzle over his shoulder to keep Alzheimer's at bay.

I must have seen the misidentified photo, then. That scarf moment in the Royal Ballet video is rather unnerving. Is it still performed that way? This is perhaps the only case in which I like the Balanchine version more--the ballerina always looks much more secure with someone to hold onto, even though she is on one leg.

Could we add Evdokimova? I'm not sure which syllable to accent.

Fat as compared to...? She looks fine in the photos to me.

Brain cells don't die as you age, but you do have to keep the synapses strong . (Yes, I'm taking a psych course :rolleyes: )

Fracci is an excellent suggestion, Ms. Leigh .

Come to think of it, McKerrow would make a good Grisi . I was using current dancers in order to be realistic, but if we're going to go into dream casts (aside from the original one, of course!), I think I would cast: Beriosova as Taglioni Sizova as Grisi Maybe Ayupova as Grahn? Can't think of an ideal Cerrito right now, but I'm sure it'll come to me. Thank you, rg .

Glebb wrote: I'm curious Hans as to why you would cast Julie Kent as the Italian Cerrito. Why Nina Ananiashvili as the French Grisi? Well, for one thing, Julie Kent has a very Italianate style in terms of port de bras and posture. I don't find her "spiritual" enough for Taglioni, but seems to have the right playful quality for the Cerrito variation. I put Ananiashvili as Grisi without paying attention to nationality--the variation just seems to suit her, IMO. Was Grisi really French? Her sister, the opera singer at La Scala, was named Giulia, which is definitely not a French spelling of the name (of course, "Grisi" is not French, either).