Solor

I have another question, which is a little off topic. I was wondering the source of the extended harp arpeggios of the Rose Adagio and the Vision scene Pas de Deux, which seem to only appear in Soviet productions of Sleeping Beauty. Likewise the Love Duet of Swan Lake has an elaborately extended harp section at the beginning, which again is only part of the Russia versions of the pas. Tchaikovsky's original harp arpeggios for the Rose Adagio are not nearly as elaborate as the ones used today by the Mariinksy in both the Sergeyev staging and the new/old reconstruction. However Tchaikovsky's original passage for harp at the start of the Vision scene Adagio is very brief, whereas the Mariinksy version, used in both the Sergeyev staging and the new/old reconstruction is again very elaborate - both are sort of done a la the harp arpeggios at the start of the Shades scene of La Bayadere. I always thought that these extended interludes for harp were from Drigo, but nowhere in Tchaikovsky's Ballets does Wiley mention them.....

I've got "Tchaikovsky's Ballets" in front of me..... Actually the coda was danced in 1890, Wiley states that the repetiteur says over bars 25-26 'Brianza'. He also states that the male section of the coda was notated in Nikolai Legat's version. After the adagio Wiley explains that the notation preseves two variants (what does he mean - variants?) of a pas titled 'Dance after the Pas de Deux/Adagio', which he says is identified in one of the variants as being danced by two woman - the fairies Gold and Sapphire to music in 6/8 that lasts for 38 bars. As far as I know the Entree is longer that 38 bars (?) , maybe it was edited to be more in lines of a classical variation, which are usually about 40 bars or so..... I was wondering what mucial manuscript Wiley is talking about in the book when he refers to the holograph score and the nouvelle version? Also he refers to a repetiteur (or rep.). Is there a section in the book that explains this? I couldnt find it.

I have the out-of-print 1992 re-release "Homage to Pavlova" which is part of Bonynge's "Ballet Gala" set, as well as the massive 10CD "Fete du ballet", which includes "Homage to Pavlova" among many other previously out-of-print Bonynge conducted treasures. Both of these releases devide the extract of Riccardo Drigo's Marvelous music for "The Awakening of Flora" into 2 tracks, which are titled simply as 'part 1' & 'part 2'. Unfortunately there is no explanation of the music offered in relation to the stage action. Perhaps the original LP release of "Homage to Pavlova" from 1972(?) gives more explicit linernotes concerning "Flora"? I spliced up Bonynge's recording of "The Awakening of Flora" so that all of the numbers were in thier own individual tracks. I seperated each number where it seemed to me that the music came to an end. Heres what I got - 1. a short introduction, with 'fanfares' from the brass and strings sections that sound almost identicle in structure to the opening of the Polonaise from Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin" 2. - 5. musically these numbers appear to me to be 'action' scenes 6. a brilliant variation for pizzicati, a la the female variation from the Soviet "Talisman" Pas de Deux, or Delibes Pizzicati from "Sylvia" 7. Grand Pas de (?) - a RAVISHING 'grand adage' for solo violin, accompanied by harp, pizzicati, etc. (what a gorgeous melody!) 8. Grand Pas de (?) - a short variation in 3/4, 9. Grand Pas de (?) - an absolutely beautiful variation that seems likely to be for the Prima Ballerina, orchestrated for solo harp with pizzicati (typical orchestration by Maestro Drigo for a 'Prima Ballerina variation' - perhaps a preferance of Mme. Kschessinskaya, as she did create the majority of the lead roles in the ballets Drigo scored) 10. Grand Pas de (?) - a Grand Valse Brilliante Vienna-ish coda (done a la Strauss), 11. finally a finale allegro in quick 2/4 (i think its 2/4?), and then what appers to be an apotheosis Perhaps RG of someone knows of the dances as listed above (or others) in relation to the Bonynge recording?

A few weeks ago, curious about how "authentic" the Royal ballet's text was, I compared the Royal's BEAUTY (w/ Durante) and the Mariinsky reconstruction. I was stunned at how much, after a century, the Royal Ballet retained Petipa's text. Though there were changes, or some would say "improvements", there was a very admirable consistancy between the two, which really says alot about the level of respect and tradition at the Royal Ballet. BRAVO! I dont know if it still being retained, but the Ashton? Act I Valse was nothing compared to Petipa. By the way, why did Dowell stop being the RB director? Alymer - what is this about the coda of the Grand Pas?

Thanks for the advice everyone! Im actually not interested in descriptions of his dancing, I am interested in his life and times, private life etc. I know his wife kept out any talk of his homosexualioty, etc in her book. It seems Leonid's suggestions are the way to go as a good foundation. AGAIN THANKS ALOT

Regarding the photography that was used @ the Mariinsky - were these photos tintype? For example all of the marvelous photos of the Imperial Ballet of the late 19th century. I ask this because, as some may know, tintype's were 'mirror' images. Though there wasnt a photography dept. @ the Mariinksy/Bolshoi Kamenny?, someone was taking photos, as there are quite a few pre-dating Vsevolozhsky's appointment.

I am interested in reading abut the life of Nijinsky. There seem to be quite a few to choose from. I have heard from different people and read different reviews, etc. that differ when reccomending the books written by his sister and his wife - some say "read it!" and some say "stay away from it"......... I am interested in a book that is a detailed as possible and that leaves no stone unturned, basically just presenting the facts from when he was a child all the way through to his days in hospitals toward the end of his life. Perhaps in order to read all of these things multiple books should be read? Thanks!

I am not 100% sure, but wasnt there a publication of some kind detailing the 'evolution/journey' of Adolphe Adam's score for "Giselle" and the many versions of it that have been/are in use? Thanks alot guys! --Solor

I added all of Marius Petipa's works for the Imperial Ballet to the wikipedia.org web page on Petipa. Heres the link - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marius_Petipa Ive also acquired a ton of photos on my PC that I could share, though Im sure there are a few other prople on this site that have better stuff regarding photos than I do! --Solor

Does anyone know how true Bonynge's recording of excerpts from the 1894 Drigo/petipa "The Awakening of Flora" is to the original text? I have a recording titled "Homage a la Pavlova", played by the Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec, conducted by Simon Streatfeild, as well as Bonynge's "Homage to Pavlova" (which is also on the 10CD boxed set "Fete du Ballet"). The Bonynge recording offers about 30 minutes of the Drigo score, including what appears to be the ballet's Grand Pas. The Streatfeild recording recording offers only the Grand Adage from the Grand Pas. Both recordings of this particular number are offerred in the same orchestration. However the Streatfeild recording credits Marc Belanger as the number's orchestrator, where as the Bonynge recording does not credit anyone as an orchestrator. Since this number is offerred on both recordings in the same arrangement I was wondering what the deal is? I know that Bonynge's recording of snippets of the Shades from Minkus's "La Bayadere" on "The Art of the Prima Ballerina" is a rather severe reorchestration, though no one is credited with the arrangement in the liner notes. Likewise Bonynge's recording of the Drigo "Harlequinade" Pas de Trois often associated with "The Fairy Doll" (also on "The Art of the Prima Ballerina") is presented in a rather stripped down version from its original. I believe that Bonynge's manuscript was the one used by Pavlova for both the Pas de Trois and Bayadere, which were likely hand copied and/or orchestrated from piano reduction. Since Pavlova also performed Flora I figured that maybe that is where he got this music as well. Anyway all of this has me wondering about the origins of the manuscript used by Bonynge for this recording. Oh yes, how complete is Bonynge's recording? Thanks guys!

I cannot address the specifics of your instance but here follows the general situation. During the 18th and 19th centuries ballet scores were typically only published in piano reductions, if at all. Orchestral scores could only be obtained by having a copyist create a duplicate score: time-consuming and expensive. As an alternative it was often cheaper and more expediant to have someone create a new orchestration based on the published piano reduction. I believe Adam's orchestration of Giselle remained unpublished until the 1920's when the composer/conductor, Henri Busser, prepared an edition for publication. Busser's edition contained all manner of 'improvements': the era of musically authentic texts was yet to come. Most of the recordings I have heard seem to use Busser's text. One notable exception was a recording by Bonynge which went back to Adam's original orchestration. Despite the availability of Busser's edition for these many years, a number of productions used commissioned orchestrations. That can avoid royalty fees. Constant Lambert was responsible for one such orchestration. PHENBY I have heard this to fandango - the different cello solo accompanying Albrecht's entrance. What staging did you see/hear this? The original 1841 Adolphe Adam 'Entrance of Albrecht' (or occasionally its 'Entrance of Albrecht and Wilfred' as in the Mariinsky staging) is orchestrated for solo clarinet, which then leads into cello solo. I believe the music that you heard where the entire number is played for solo cello, with a variation on the melody, is John Lanchbery's reorchestration/revision of the Adam score, done for ABT in the 1970s. Anybody know why Lanchbery ever revised the score? Is the Lanchbery revised version still in use by ABT? I know of 1 recording where snippets from Act II are presented in Lanchbery's revision, on a CD called "Homage a la Pavlova" with the Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec conducted by Simon Streatfeild. The Mariinsky's score I believe is the version that has been in use since Imperial times, which was orchestrated by Minkus. The passsage in question is the same as the orignal Adam in that version. Hey Phenby, where did you come by your info? Thats very good stuff! Was there not some publication done some years ago concerning the 'journey' of Adam's score since 1841? I did not know that there was any type of 'royalty situation' going on with Adam's score.....thats very interesting. I was wondering if anyone has heard the recording of GISELLE on the label Capriccio played by the Orchestra of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, conducted by Sir Neville Marriner (here a link to it - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002J88S...v=glance&n=5174 ) What version is performed in this recording?

Anybody know if there are any photos of this production available online? So the Royal Ballet doesnt perform the Maria Bjornson-designed production anymore ?? (for those who dont know, this is the rather ultra-modern production that was filmed with Viviana Durante) I heard that they also had another production that was staged after the Maria Bjornson/Dowell production. When did Dowell stop being director of the Royal Ballet? Regarding the article provided by Bart, I always find the "I dont want to dance in a museum" comment made by many dancers/directors, etc. to be interesting....even contradictory if you will....is not a museum filled with old works of art as well as new ones? What is ballet without the old 'classic' works?

BEAUTIFUL PHOTOS RG! Its obviously the same costume in both pics but for some reason the Theatre Street pic is darker in the actual tutu part, and her hair is lighter! Heres another photo I am not familiar with, though I think Ive seen it captioned as Sleeping Beauty - RG do you know whos who and what they are dancing? http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/9997/kjhkj5zm.jpg

A a matter of fact it is Karsavina's book that I scanned these potos from, I got it from the library, though obviously I forgot who was who. Heres another photo - its Vasily Tikhomirov and Ekaterina Geltzer, circa 1910s I believe. I was wondering if anyone knows what ballet they are costumed for. I got a kick out of Smakov's recollection of her in "The Great Russian Dancers", of when Geltzer was an old woman telling her colleagues in the wings, "help me get myself up on pointe, after that I know what to do".....GREAT! http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/7229/vteg2jb.jpg

It's been about 5 years since I danced with the Los Angeles Classical Ballet, and I dont know anything about thier affairs of late, but I remember that they were an inch from going under in the 3 years I danced there every year right before "Nutcracker season" started, and then they were able to stay afloat till the next "Nutcracker Season", just barely. In the 3 years or so years I was associated with the company I danced at random, and I had to split my time dancing "freelance" in Arizona, Oklahoma, Oregan, and a small troupe that was once in Redding, CA. I even taught for about 1 week for Ballet magnificant in Oklahoma....but I left real quick as the place was little to much for my taste. As a pro-dancer I found that I was dong trippy stuff on stage in bare feet to strange music more than dancing this or that "classical" pas, and after that I stopped dancing professionaly more or less.....maybe I should have made my way to NY, but I never did.......of course my dissatisfaction with company life wasnt the only reason I stopped dancing, but it had a lot to do with it. Had I been in Europe, where there are more solidly based dance companies than in the US I probably would have been able to nurture my talent, etc. and find a 'home' per se. But my own little story as a pro dancer, however small, I always felt was a by-product of the way that professional ballet is handled in the US.

Sorry no reply vrs, I havnt checked this topic in a while. Thanks for the reply....I was wondering, how could one go about attaining a score for "Le Corsaire", or any of the more rare ballets for that matter, such as "Humpbacked Horse" or "Bayadere" for example?

Heres these 2 photos, I was wondering if anyone could tell me who the dancers are, or what they are costumed for (I was thinking that perhaps the first photo was dancers costumed for "Sleeping Beauty" 1890, as it has the same background used in many of the "Sleeping Beauty" photos taken for the 1890 production. The second photo is maybe "Swan Lake"?) - 1. http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/6420/idontknow2sw.jpg 2. http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/2295/idontknow23lj.jpg

So that is circa 1910 or so? Maybe it's just the way that the old dancers are posed in the many photos Ive seen of Petipa's orignal "Fille", but it seems that perhaps the staging was alot more 'Egyptian-esque' regarding costumes and other little touches like props, etc. than Lacotte's revival?

I must say though that I do RESPECT Bourne's original approach very much.

Funny you should mention this leonid. I just recently bought the DVD of the horrific ABT/MacKenzie (spelling?) production of "Swan Lake" filmed in Washington DC, which had wonderful dancing from all involved. For all of Gillian Murphy's wonderful tours (her Black Swan variation was wonderful!) and her really emotional performance, her arms really spoiled an otherwise superb performance, at least in my opinion.....there was something about them that I couldnt quite put my finger on - something that seemed over polished, yet at the same time under-polished. I noticed this as well when I watched her in the ABT "Le Corsaire" film, in her 3rd Oldalisque waltz variation. She also does that 'loose thumbs' thing where the thumbs are sort of hanging from her hand - I used to do this as a kid, untill a teacher of mine put some rubberbands around my hand to keep my thumbs securely fastened to my hand. I never had a loose thumb again! Please dont misunderstand me from my original post guys - I LOVE footage of the Ballerinas of old, the technique, regardless of its "imperfections" if you will, takes on a life of its own. I just think its sad that there is so little footage of it There are some students in my more or less adult/advanced class who will never become professionals, but had they lived about 90 or so years ago they would at the least achieve Soloist status! Perhaps for recital I should put together a little 19th century Grand ballet interlude, something "Little Humpbacked Horse Underwater Scene-ish". Theres a few older girls in my class who would litterally take the audience back through time!

Does anyone know of any other versions of "Le Corsaire" besides the 1856 staging of Mazilier? I know of the version staged by Ferdinand Albert Decombe in London in 1837, but what of other versions? Who were the composers/choreographers?

Does anyone know who this Ballerina is in this "Fille Du Pharaoan" photo? - http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/6406/sdau...cenecarolin.jpg

I was wondering if anyone who has the recording "Pas de Deux: The Ballet Experience" (Boris Spassov conducting the Sofia National Opera Orchestra - CD Capriccio 67 012) could help me identify the 2 variations and coda included in this CD's recording of the "La Fille Mal Gardee" PDD (tracks 19-22 on this disc). This recording credits the Pas to Peter-Ludwig Hertel, being arranged by Peter March. The Entree/Adage (track 19) is the standard Hertel music - which by the way is in it's standard orchestration - but then there are the subsequent 2 variations and coda that I have never heard as part of the traditional Hertel/Russian/Gorsky/Soviet "La Fille Mal Gardee" PDD music (it sounds to me as though March didnt have a hand in orchestrating any of this music). When I have danced this PDD, the male and female variations were the ones traditionally danced by just about everyone in performance and on the competition circuit (the female variation being the polka variation for Columbine by Drigo from "Harlequinade", whioch is alos included in the Gusev "Harlequinade PDD". I believe this variation came into the "La Fille Mal Gardee" Pas via Gorsky in the 1910s. In this Spassov recording the 2nd variation (track 21) sounds very Drigo-esque to me - its in 4/4 I believe, sort of a slow allegro, with a charming melody orchestrated for flutes and glockenspiel, with some strings accompanyment, though the 1st variation in 3/4 (track 20) and coda (track 22) sounds very Minkus-ish. Theres a 6 CD boxed-set called "Original Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra" (Georgi Zhemchushin conductor - label: Pilz) that includes the standard Soviet/Gorsky/Petipa?/Hertel/Drigo "Fille Mal Gradee PDD.

LOL! INDEED! That is funny. @ work one day (a local studio I teach at) we got into a big disscussion about Bourne's "Swan Lake", which seems to have been named in the dance world as the "all-male Swan Lake". Everyone couldnt believe that I really didnt like it - I still feel like Im the only one who doesnt! Im not a conservative person by a long shot, but when it comes to ballet, I guess Im a regular "conservatist" if there ever was one.

Was that staging done @ the Mariinsky?