doug

Here is Heinrich Heine's description of Wilis. This has been translated by Marian Smith and is included in her new book, Ballet and Opera in the Age of Giselle (Princeton, 200O). This description was also printed at the beginning of the Giselle libretto in 1841:

GERMAN TRADITION

From which the plot of the ballet Giselle or The Wilis is taken.

There exists a tradition of the night-dancer, who is known, in Slavic countries, under the name Wili. -- Wilis are young brides-to-be who die before their wedding day. The poor young creatures cannot rest peacefully in their graves. In their stilled hearts and lifeless feet, there remains a love for dancing which they were unable to satisfy during their lifetimes. At midnight they rise out of their graves, gather together in troupes on the roadside, and woe be unto the young man who comes across them! He is forced to dance with them until he dies.

Dressed in their wedding gowns, with wreathes of flowers on their heads and glittering rings on their fingers, the Wilis dance in the moonlight like Elves [italicized]. Their faces, though white as snow, have the beauty of youth. They laugh with a joy so hideous, they call you so seductively, they have an air of such sweet promise, that these dead bacchantes [italicized] are irresistible.

Heinrich HEINE (On Germany) [italicized]

Amy, Lunacharsky is mentioned on pages 53, 53 and 64 of Bernard Taper's "Balanchine." Taper states that Lunacharsky convinced Lenin that opera and ballet were not inherently decadent.

From my readings, I've not gotten the impression that a particular ballet influenced the decision of the early Soviet government to support ballet. Doesn't mean it wasn't the case, of course. There is a parallel story in the history of early music that Palestrina's "Missa Papae Marcelli" (Pope Marcellus Mass) saved polyphony in the wake of the Counter-Reformation. This story is regard as apocryphal today, but it sure has made that particular mass setting famous.

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Doug Fullington

Alexandra, my knowledge of the early post-Revolution era in Soviet Russia is pretty limited. Souritz deals with the ballet "to be or not to be" crisis on pages 42-50. According to Souritz, Lunacharsky was the main leader involved in championing the ballet, first in Moscow, then in Petrograd. She doesn't mention Vaganova in this section. In fact, Vaganova is mentioned only once in the entire book, re her 1930s redaction of Swan Lake.

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Doug Fullington

"Soviet Choreographers in the 1920s" by Elizabeth Souritz is a great resource for learning about early changes to the full-lengths we know today. I believe a Soviet official named Lunacharsky is thought to be responsible in great part for the continuing of ballet during the early years of the Soviet Union.

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Doug Fullington

Re: Odette's port de bras and neo-classicism, I would disagree that Odette's arm positions indicate a **particular** development or "looking ahead" beyond Ivanov's attempt to make Odette resemble a swan. Notated port de bras from the late -Imperial era is quite a bit different from what we consider classical or, more specifically, Vaganova port de bras today. Photos from the era jive with various notated arm positions: there seems to have been a lot of variety in port de bras and the aesthetic was also different from what we might think. For example, palms were often turned toward the audience when arms were raised, wrists were often flexed, arms in high fifth were sometimes crossed over the head, etc.

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Doug Fullington

This is a little off the top of my head, but . . . I wrote my analytic paper in law school on choreographic copyright. I believe it was in 1976 that Congress added choreography to copyright laws. Essentially, as soon as a piece of choreography is made, it is protected by copyright. The big case on this subject is still the Balanchine Trust case against the folks who wanted to published pics of Balanchine's Nutcracker in a book without the permission of the Trust.

[This message has been edited by doug (edited March 26, 2001).]

My impression from BB friends is that McPhee's role as artistic coordinator is to help finish pulling the 2001-2002 season repertoire together in a very short time. The BB marketing department has deadlines in early April for renewals and season announcements. The staff is working together to complete the budget and McPhee is overseeing the communication among the various constituencies. Given the very limited time in which they have to do this job and keep their heads above water, following last month's period of paralyzing stasis, I think they are probably doing the best they can at the moment. McPhee is one of the artists at the center of BB. He may not have experience as a dancer, but he knows how to work with people and he is trusted, and those characteristics might be the most important at the immediate present.

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Doug Fullington