doug

The added intro to the Arab boys' dance is on both recordings. The Raymonda article is only available in Ballet Review. It's a quarterly journal to which you might consider subscribing - see www.balletreview.com. Most large universities likely have a set.

Leigh, the structure of Shades is the same now as it was in 1900. According to Wiley, in 1877 Petipa included a scene in which Nikia showed Solor a palace that rose up out of the stage. This took place where we now have the first pas de deux. According to notes I have from POB, Petipa added the pas de deux by 1900 (perhaps even in the 1880s). But what we see today closely mirrors the 1900 version in structure. Only steps are different, most significantly in the big pas de deux (the one with corps), the first and third shades variations, Nikia's variation (according to contemporary written sources - this variation was not notated) and parts of the coda.

For comparison, current Jardin anime settings (particularly the bizarre one from ABT in the early 80s) have significant structural differences from its Imperial-era version mostly because fewer dancers are used today.

I've found the notations offer a greater variety of steps than those we see today. For example, Nikia's second coda entree (the solo one) has about 3 times the variety of steps in the notation compared with what is danced today. I'd have to pull out my notes to list what the steps are, but can try if you are interested.

In my opinion, Petipa deserves far greater acknowedgement as a choreographer than he receives today and his ballets deserve to be danced with the steps he created (even if their execution must change to follow changes in bodies and style today).

The Raymonda article was published in the journal Ballet Review, vol. 26, no. 4.

Drigo may well have made some changes of tempi in the conductor's score, but any changes to Raymonda do not approach those made for Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty. To my knowledge and based on Imperial-era sources available in the West, very few changes were made at all. Additions of music were handled by Glazunov. The collaboration between Glazunov and Petipa, like that between Tchaikovsky and Petipa, appears to have been very close. However, Glazunov followed Petipa's instructions (available in English translation and also published in the original Russian) nearly to the letter, so fewer changes were made as the production approached its premiere. Other than the two interpolations mentioned(and also the apparent omission of the Act II "Dance Orientale") and a couple of minor cuts or added repeats, the score was essentially played as written.

I suggest getting hold a piano score of Raymonda. It is published in its original version with interpolations, cuts, added intros, etc.). You can compare it to the Fedotov recording. And do you have the NAXOS recording of the complete score?

To my knowledge, the complete Paquita score is not recorded on CD. POB has released their production of Paquita on DVD, so you can hear his music there for the time being. If anyone knows differently, I'd love to hear about it!

Hi everyone. I can add more tomorrow. In my opinion, things for the most part are still unclear with Petipa vs. altered-in-the-Soviet-era Petipa, but the topic is very important and deserves as much solid scholarship as possible. In many cases, with some important caveats, I think this may be possible.

To answer re Shades, it is true the Kirov neglected the notation of the Shades scene in their 1900 version of Bayadere. Nikia's solo entree in the Coda demonstrates a slight change from the 1940s changes but only very slight. Karsavina's recollections in Dancing Times, written when Nuruyev staged Shades for the Royal, point out differences. Each of her points is represented in the 1900 notations.

More generally, in most cases, the notations do not include the arms, head and torso movements. However, some are so detailed as to include wrist flexion, etc., but only very few. Most just give feet and legs with a floor plans and written rubrics.

I'd be happy to share what I have found studying the Stepanov notations. More details to come.

Raymonda's waltz variation in the vision scene (Act I, Scene 2) is from Scenes de Ballet and replaced the third variation (C major) that Glazunov originally composed. The mazurka from Scenes de Ballet was added to Act III.

Solor, I would love to know your source for the information on Drigo's participation in any alterations to the score.

The Harvard Theater Collection has an Imperial-era piano score that includes pencil-marked cuts for the version performed at the Maryinsky in the early years of the 20th century (it appears to go back all the way to the 1898 premiere). This includes some handwritten music, including the intro to the Arab boys' dances, and some piano reductions of single pieces, like the Scenes de Ballet mazurka.

I like how Roland John Wiley (in his Tchaikovsky's Ballets) states that the music at the end of Swan Lake describes neither a good nor an evil. Although the earlier B minor music has modulated to B major, the final note of the ballet is a repeated B without a chord attached - neither major nor minor.

Thanks, Solor, for mentioning the recordings. The NAXOS recording includes the complete score without the Petipa (Drigo?) revisions. Did Drigo really handle the revisions for the premiere or did Glazunov make those at Petipa's request? I've never read in depth one way or the other. The changes aren't too involved: a couple interpolations from Scenes de Ballet and some added bars before the Arab boys' dance and when Abderrakhman makes an originally unplanned entrance in the first scene. (The Glazunov materialy includes these bars in Glazunov's orchestration, so I assume the composer made at least that change for Petipa.) Also, a couple of cuts in the sprites dance at the end of the vision scene. What am I forgetting?

cheers,

PNB's Midsummer was shot in London because Ross MacGibbon wanted to direct it for the BBC. I don't remember this having to do with union issues in the States, but I agree with you that the film probably would not have been made in the States.

I'm with Leigh on this one, though I admit to not having seen all of the productions.

I am interested in Minkus and the topic of his orchestrations. I would like to know the source for your statement that Minkus did not orchestrate his own music. I know this was common in other musical genres but haven't come across this information about Minkus. I would be very interested to know your source so I can read more about it. Thanks!

We can't change 19th century ballet history, but we certainly can try to sort it out and determine who composed what. I'm all for that, and there is much scholarship needed in this area. Those few working in this field deserve our thanks!

The original Medora variation that Delibes composed is no longer danced but its choreography (presumably by Petipa) was notated in the 1890s in St. Petersburg and recently has been reconstructed. In 1899, a variation was interpolated in the Jardin anime scene for Pierina Legnani as Medora. That variation is from Pygmalion, music by Prince Trubetskoi. The two-violin repetiteur from turn-of-the-century St. Petersburg includes this variation for Medora in the Jardin anime scene. The choreography was not notated at the time. I believe this music is used in the current Kirov production of Le Corsaire or at least on their videotaped production with Assylmuratova.

The Mariinsky has the original Minkus orchestration. Harvard has the Shades scene orchestration plus a little bit more in a score copied out in Riga. Roland John Wiley discusses the Bayadere score a little in the intro to "Tchaikovsky's Ballets." The two-violin score is the repetiteur used for rehearsal.

Lanchbery's arrangement of Don Q has been referred to as "Kitri goes salsa-regaae."

That's a tall order to have on hand! But if you get thee to a dance dictionary, you will be able to find these ballets. Oxford Dictionary of Dance, Oxford Encylopedia of Dance. The internet will even help you here.

Thanks, Mel. If you ever come across the version with the Flora variation, let me know. I'm interested in anything that is still danced from Awakening of Flora.

Mel, This thread is a blast from the past that I was re-reading. Are parts of Awakening of Flora actually danced in Paquita, et al? If so, I'm really interested to know.

Thanks, Doug

Oh dear. I think a couple generations in the ballet world still do not make the distinction between the Imperial era in Russian ballet and the post-Revolution Vaganova era. I am certain there are varying reasons for this. And that would be a whole new thread (and maybe a Pandora's box)!

The Act One waltz is notated, per se, but the notation is indeed sketchy and consists mostly of groundplans, which indicate the use of tabourets (stools). But enough large-scale Petipa waltzes are notated in enough detail so that, in my opinion, if one studies the others well, the information from them could inform a reconstruction of the Swan Lake waltz. The same situation exists for the mazurka in the ballroom scene. You are right that Swan Lake is definitely not one of the better-notated ballets in the Stepanov collection!

Minor corrections. Peter mentioned that Francia Russell told him she modeled the PNB School syllabus for eight-year-olds on the teachings of Tumkovsky and Dudin, and therefore it would be familiar to him. La Valse, Concerto Barocco and Rubies are already in PNB's rep. New ballets are commissioned for next season from Marco Goecke and Dominique Dumais.

I didn't discuss with Lacotte the variations the he learned from Egorova, so in addition to those I provided it sounds like he added the ones he knew, too. Yes, the river variations would be a fun project. I only had access to the variations themselves and I am not sure what else surrounds them in the scene, but a nice suite possibly could be developed.

I reconstructed 5 of the 6 river variations for Lacotte for his Daughter of Pharaoh, but he didn't use any of them (in the versions I provided). He did use three (I think, maybe it was two with the first being longer - it's been a while now - I should buy the DVD and check!) variations in one of the court scenes. One is for two women and the other is for a man (Lacotte added a double tour at the end). The notations are very spare, with movements only for legs and feet plus groundplan and occasional rubrics in Russian. The choreography seemed much older to me than Petipa's choreography for Beauty or Raymonda. I really like the river variations - they are, on the whole, very interesting character variations, and I would love to see them performed sometime.

Hair down in Serenade didn't begin until the late 1970s, yes?

Thank you all so much for your contributions!

PNB's DanceChance program is still going strong, and a number of students, including some current Professional Division students, have continued on as students in PNB School.

Helene, the outreach programs you mention are part of the Company's outreach, while DanceChance is part of the School.

Here is the url to the DanceChance page on the PNB site:
DanceChance at PNB

I've been asked to compile a list of choreographers who were born or raised in the Pacific Northwest, spent a significant part of their career in the Northwest or are now working the Northwest. I've got a good start, but thought I'd ask for help from fellow posters.

Mark Morris was raised in Seattle, and Robert Joffrey was from Tacoma, WA. Those are two heavy-hitters. Care to add names to the list?