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Sebastian

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Posts posted by Sebastian

  1. On 8/4/2022 at 3:04 PM, Sebastian said:

    This same link now shows that publication has been put back again, this time to November (Amazon suggests release on November 15th).

    At the risk of seeming to repeat myself, this same link now shows that publication has been put back again, this time to March 2023 (Amazon suggests release on March 7th).

  2. After years of rumour Roland John Wiley’s major new study of Petipa and his ballets has just been announced for publication next month:

    https://anthempress.com/the-petersburg-noverre-marius-petipa-in-russia-hb

    Professor Wiley, known for his lifetime’s devotion to ballet scholarship of the highest order, looks here to have reached a new high point. The price is not untypically steep for an academic work of this scale but no doubt libraries are already placing their orders. This is very exciting!

  3. 2 hours ago, Joseph said:

    Hi! Is Ballet Master and the Score a book? Just tried to look for it but to no results. 

     

    Hi Joseph. Ballet Master and the Score is an essay, not a whole book. If you are looking for an English translation, the review below has all details of a book in which one appears.

     

    On 7/25/2020 at 1:20 PM, Sebastian said:

    On Lopukhov in general, here as so often we can learn from the impeccable and deeply informed writing of Roland John Wiley. It so happens that his coruscating review (in Dance Research, winter 2004) of the translated collection you quote from is currently conveniently available online:

     

    Incidentally, Fedor Lopukhov was three years old when The Sleeping Beauty was first rehearsed and performed.

  4. What a most stimulating set of ideas Quiggin, thank you so much for your careful reading.

    And thanks also for the great Chekhov letter, perfect for inspiring a good weekend mood. For those who would like a little more, in English and easily accessible, may I recommend the magnificent Tchaikovsky Research website (no doubt well known to many here). A relevant page, with some good links, is here:-

    http://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/pages/Anton_Chekhov

    To return to that most mysterious of masterpieces, The Sleeping Beauty, might I add a couple of comments? You suggest the 1890 audience might seek a return to a time before "complicated social questions". Indeed but in my piece I go further: I suggest that one strength of the narrative for its intended Russian audience is the possibility of a resolution to complicated social questions. In 1890 Carabosse was not merely vanquished (ubiquitous in modern productions) but later also happily incorporated back into the social order (the first production went to some trouble, using a double, to have Carabosse present at the wedding party in the last act). 

    As to antisemitism, this was by no means limited to St Petersburg and Paris during this period. This undercurrent, though undeniably present, may therefore not be particularly helpful when one is trying to understand what was going on between - specifically and only - those two cities. However it may be a theme to consider when looking at (again) Carabosse.  The original designs for this character show her not only - as in the version of the story most familiar to 19thC Russians - old and hunchbacked, but also with a prominent "hooked" and pointed nose. There is some less than wholly convincing scholarship about Carabosse from a couple of writers so, as ever, more research is needed.

    Finally, Lopukhov. To be blunt, it is not a good idea to rely on what he says, however colourful. There seems to be an accidental Carabosse theme to this post so, to finish, it was Lopukhov who insisted - when mounting his revival of Beauty in 1923 - that it was "authentic" to the 1890 production if, on first entering during the Prologue, Carabosse and her rats take the places of the King and Queen on their thrones. The Sergeyev notations have no such scene. Again, more research will be necessary to clarify the extent of the lèse-majesté. As my summary article suggests, this may be important to our overall understanding.

    On Lopukhov in general, here as so often we can learn from the impeccable and deeply informed writing of Roland John Wiley. It so happens that his coruscating review (in Dance Research, winter 2004) of the translated collection you quote from is currently conveniently available online:
     
  5. The critic Mark Ronan has posted my 2019 article about The Sleeping Beauty on his website (with permission from the Royal Opera House: the piece appeared in their programme for the latest revival). Perhaps people might like to have the link:-

    https://www.markronan.com/2020/06/sleeping-beauty/

    The article focuses on the first production in order to try and rediscover the original intentions of Petipa, Vsevolozhsky and Tchaikovsky. Although not mentioned in this short piece I also have a personal interest in such issues as tempi and choreographic style, the key research question for me being one of meaning, both of the Sleeping Beauty as a whole and also of the individual scenes, mimes, variations and so on.

    Please note that the Royal Opera House did not allow me to write this article academically - with footnotes etc - and asked me just to assert my findings. This may be controversial (for example when I appear to contradict well-known books or leave out stories "everyone knows") but as much as possible is drawn from primary sources.

    I am looking for more material, specifically private documents (e.g. diaries, memoirs, correspondence) that might cast light on what was going on in St Petersburg and Paris around 1890. So if anyone knows of a family archive - even just forgotten papers in an attic somewhere - relating to Russia and/or France during the relevant period, I would be delighted to learn more.

  6. There is a comment online (not on this forum) to the effect that the recent production of Jewels at the Vienna Staatsoper seemed less successful than the performances by the Royal Ballet in London in 2017. Further there has been criticism by others of the recent Jewels in Berlin. 

    So I was wondering if someone could explain these variations in quality, given how seriously the Balanchine Trust supervises everything? Are some authorised coaches more reliable than others? Or is this more about variable standards across different companies (such as the three listed above)? Or just the luck of the draw, subjective opinion meeting the vagaries of rehearsal and production?

  7. On 7/8/2019 at 1:03 AM, laurel said:

    What troubles me is the nonstop critical reportage, both from fans and alleged professional writers, of this beautiful production, which has continued nonstop since its premiere four years ago.  No one likes the reconstruction, it’s too old fashioned, it isn’t exciting, the costumes are bulky, the costumes are ugly, etc. etc.  I adore this production; I love the pageantry, the grandeur, the attempt to place you and your mind in a time capsule and give you a view of a different way of dance and life.  Possibly that’s too much to ask of people these days, when imagination is a scarce commodity.  I’m also sorry people do not understand the language of clothes, as the costumes contain information regarding character which, alas, is of no concern to audiences.  By the way, many if not most of the wigs appear to be new, made of natural colors, and cut in styles more pleasing to the modern eye.  I guess no one noticed this either.  My concern is that the AD will use all the criticism for this production to return to the old one, the one with his name on it, or even a more modern one, but I hope Ratmansky’s reputation will negate this idea.  I could attend another week’s worth of performances of this production and never be bored. 

    I could not agree more. Modern audiences have come to expect ballet to deliver “a psychological journey" or "gymnastics" (misnamed as "dancers are so much better these days": as someone who has watched many dozens of hours of recordings, official and unofficial, of British dancers performing many different versions of Sleeping Beauty from the 1930s to the present day, the experience is far more one of a gradual decline in technique, pace, musicality and meaning).

    This combination of (ahistorical) expectations produces a rather simplistic and low-grade set of metrics for judging performances when set against the more sophisticated audience of St Petersburg in the 1890s, still in touch with the roots of ballet in Louis XIV and his court, and able to catch the many and various allusions packed into the text of Sleeping Beauty. Ratmansky's experiments are probably the most serious attempts in the world today at re-educating dancers, managements and the public. Bravo!

  8. On 5/3/2019 at 3:04 PM, rg said:

    what is the subject of the ON POINT article?

    The title of the article is “Inheritance: an historical overview of the Sleeping Beauty”. It's written by Tobi Tobias.

  9. 7 hours ago, rg said:

    The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts may have archived copies, but that's only a guess... 

    Many thanks: NYPL do indeed have what looks like a full run so I have written to them. 

  10. Wonder if anyone can help. I am looking for an article in the summer 1976 issue of “On Point” (vol.2, no. 1). This periodical was published from 1975 by the American Ballet Theatre, New York, but it does not seem any libraries in the UK (where I am based) carry it. 

    I would be most grateful for further information as to where I might find a copy. 

  11. 9 minutes ago, Jane Simpson said:

    I think the NYPL film is probably the only one in existence, or at least in a public collection - a piece I wrote about it when it was shown here (at the Fonteyn Conference in 1999) mentioned 'the film going back to New York' so something to that effect must have been said at the showing. We didn't get Act 2, for some reason.

    That is probably true, in one sense. However, as the NYPL catalogue entry makes clear, the films have been digitised. They now exist in digital form (as computer files which the NYPL can stream) so things have clearly moved on from the days of rare rolls of film in cans.

     

  12. On 2/22/2003 at 5:58 AM, rg said:

    still the only complete 'beauty' i know of is the ny pub. lib. jessen one.

    here's how the library lists it, before noting: permission required.

    The sleeping beauty [1949-50] 4 reels. 123 min. 4800 ft. : sd. b&w. ; 16 mm.

    Notes:Filmed by Victor Jessen in 1949 and 1950 during various performances of the Sadler's Wells Ballet at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, and other theaters during their U.S. tours. Edited, with addition of sound, in 1979 by Mr. Jessen.

    Choreography: Frederick Ashton and Nikolai Sergeyev after Marius Petipa, with additional choreography by Ninette de Valois. Music: Peter Tchaikovsky. Scenery and costumes: Oliver Messel.

    Performed by Margot Fonteyn (Princess Aurora), with Robert Helpmann (Act II) and Michael Somes (Act III) as Prince Florimund, Beryl Grey (Lilac fairy), Frederick Ashton (Carabosse), and artists of Sadler's Wells Ballet.

    CONTENTS. - Reel 1: Prologue (The christening) (24 min., 30 sec.) - Reel 2: Act I (The spell) (28 min., 55 sec.) - Reel 3: Act II The vision) (27 min., 20 sec.) - Reel 4: Act III. (Scene 1, The awakening. Scene 2, The wedding) (42 min., 30 sec.)

    This excellent summary of the Victor Jessen "Sleeping Beauty" films dates from 2003. So - as it is now 15 years later - does anyone know if there are any other ways of seeing them without going to New York Public Library?

    Here is the full link to the NYPL holding:

    https://catalog.nypl.org/search~S1?/Xjessen+victor+beauty&searchscope=1&SORT=DZ/Xjessen+victor+beauty&searchscope=1&SORT=DZ&extended=0&SUBKEY=jessen+victor+beauty/1%2C4%2C4%2CB/frameset&FF=Xjessen+victor+beauty&searchscope=1&SORT=DZ&4%2C4%2C

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