doug

Petipa appears to have replaced the original variation music for Aurora with the Gold Fairy music prior to the premiere of the ballet. Tchaikovsky made a change in the passage leading up to the variation in order to accommodate the difference of key. Wiley has documented this well in TCHAIKOVSKY'S BALLETS.

I, too, would be interested to know if any parts of this ballet have survived as interpolations in other ballets. I haven't thought so to this point. The ballet was *very* popular in Russia for over 50 years after its premiere.

Having worked with some parts of the Pugni score, I have to say I don't think it is of very high quality - not at all, in fact! But, it is rhythmic and provides a suitable basis for dance. I'm generally sympathic to specialist 19th-century ballet music, but this drove me crazy.

Lacotte's production is quite grandiose; however, I would love to see a reconstruction based as much as possible on the notations of the ballet, even if only in suite form. The River variations (as notated) are quite clever.

PNB's MERRY WIDOW came from La Scala via Royal Danish. BEAUTY came from English National. Owning a ballet instead of renting allow more control over the look of the scenery and costumes, and one is more apt to sink money into maintenance of the production if it is owned. Buying an existing production, especially a full-length, is relatively new to PNB, which has its own costume and scenic shops.

I think the recent influx of Balanchine ballets at the Kirov (since 1998) is because Gergiev and Makhar Vaziev have wanted them. They did SCOTCH and THEME AND VARIATIONS back in 1989 under Vinogradov and that really took some doing. In 1998 they got APOLLO, SERENADE and TCHAI PAS (or at least got maintenance on TCHAI PAS). SYMPHONY IN C came somewhere in those years, too, I believe. Then JEWELS and the recent rep of additional Balanchine ballets.

My understanding is that the Trust has, for years, been very generous with the ballets and very reasonable financially, too.

I thought it was AGON that was pulled from the RB rep - ?

Hi all. I can speak for Jardin at the moment. Over the years an increasing amount of music has been interpolated into Corsaire, including interpolations into Jardin anime. That scene has also been re-orchestrated (the original manuscript in Delibes' hand sits in the Library of Congress). By 1899 both ballerina variations in Jardin - danced by Olga Preo. and Pierina Legnani - were interpolations from other ballets. One of those interpolations - the Medora variation - is still performed by the Kirov.

As far as the Adam score for the entire ballet, Bonynge has recorded it and included Delibes original orchestration of Jardin. That can be a starting point for comparison but you won't get too far before the interpolations begin.

Re modern revivals, it seems that the long-time practice of interpolation continues!

Sometimes the waltz variation from Sylvia Act III is used for Franz.

I will try to help sort out what I can from my end. And I can check the scores at PNB and clarify. I had no idea a variation from Awakening of Flora found its way into the Soviet Paquita.

I have always understood the Drigo variation composed for Pavlova to be the waltz in C major, but I could be mistaken. The Paquita scores at Harvard include five variations (including the C major waltz) but not the "harp variation." But I will re-check my notes.

Yes, I believe it is the aerial dance. !

"Marius Petipa. Materialy, vospominaniya, stat'i" (materials, recollections, articles), ed. Yuri Slonimsky and others, was published in Russia in 1971 and has since been translated into German.

I think, in some cases, original orchestrations have viewed as weak-sounding or sparse and have subsequently been beefed up for bigger sound and to make them "legitimate" for modern audiences. I'm of the opinion that this generally does not work musically. The straightforward nature of most melodies and harmonies of music of this period does not stand up to enhanced orchestration. Delibes' Pas des fleurs (Petipa's Jardin anime) has for years and years, possibly for a century, been performed with enhanced orchestration, although the original has been available from several accessible sources.

I *assume* Wiley got the direction from the notation. I've not looked at the these particular notations too closely, but the Nutcracker notation as a whole (mostly in Nikolai Sergeev's hand ... and he appears to have to be in a hurry) contains at least ground plans for most of the formal dances, and arrows are often used to indicate traveling direction.

That makes good sense to me, Mel.

Hi Mike,

A good source for info on the 1892 Nutcracker is Roland John Wiley's "Tchaikovsky's Ballets," published by Oxford University Press in 1985, and also "The Life and Ballet of Lev Ivanov," same author and publisher, 1997. The original apotheosis of the Nutcracker may sound a little strange. The original libretto included the following description: "The apotheosis represents a large beehive with flying bees, closely guarding their riches." Eight students from the Imperial Ballet School represented bees. We don't know what action, if any, was carried out in this scene; the apotheosis is not included in the early 20th-century choreographic notation of Nutcracker. Possibly, the scene was included as a nod to the Tsar; bees traditionally represent prosperity. Ballets of this period sometimes included apotheosis scenes that seem to us unrelated, at least directly, to the ballet's plot. Raymonda (1898) included a depiction of a tournament, with jousting knights on horses (made of papier-mache!). Raymonda is set in the middle ages, so at least we can make broad sense of that scene. Sleeping Beauty included a depiction of mythological beings set in a cloudscape, with Apollo driving his chariot. That ballet's last two acts are set in the age of Louis XIV, the sun god, so the Apollo reference also makes broad some sense. Nutcracker's apotheosis seems much more of a baffler.

PNB has Valse Fantaisie in its rep. I think they performed it on two different reps in the 90s.

Here are my Balanchine Cortège Hongrois notes (listing the dance numbers, where it is found in the original 1898 Raymonda score and who danced in the 1973 premiere of the Balanchine ballet):

Introduction (Procession)

Original score - Act III: Le cortège hongrois

Dancers - Principal classical couple (Melissa Hayden, Jacques d’Amboise); Principal character couple (Karin Von Aroldingen, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux); 8 classical couples; 8 character couples)

Entrée

Original score - Act III: Entrée

Dancers - 8 classical couples

Adagio

Original score - Act III: Pas classique hongrois

Dancers - 8 classical couples

Czardas

Original score - Act III: Grand pas hongrois

Dancers - Principal character couple (Karin Von Aroldingen, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux); 4 character couples

Pas de quatre

Original score - Act III: Danse des enfants

4 classical women

Variation 1

Original score - Act III: Variation 1

Dancer - Classical woman (Colleen Neary)

Variation 2

Original score - Act III: Variation 2

Dancers - 4 classical men

Variation 3

Original score - Act III: Variation 3

Dancer - Classical woman (Merrill Ashley)

Pas de deux

Original score - Act II: Grand adagio

Dancers - Principal classical couple (Melissa Hayden, Jacques d’Amboise)

Variation 4

Original score - Act II: Variation 3

Dancer - Principal classical man (Jacques d’Amboise)

Variation 5

Original score - Act III: Variation 4

Dancer - Principal classical woman (Melissa Hayden)

Waltz

Original score - Act I: Grande valse & Repreise de la valse

Dancers - 8 classical couples w/Principal classical couple (Melissa Hayden, Jacques d’Amboise)

Coda

Original score - Act III: Coda

Dancers - 8 character couples w/Principal character couple (Karin Von Aroldingen, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux)

Galop

Original score - Act III: Galop

Dancers - 16 corps couples w/principals

Apotheosis (Procession)

Original score - Act III: Apotheosis

Complete cast

* * * * *

More notes:

- The choreography of Cortège Hongrois is a mix of new choreography and quotes from the Petipa choreography of 1898. The quotes are often set to different passages of music than Petipa used.

- The women’s pas de quatre was a dance for 24 students in 1898.

- The pas de deux was a pas d’action for 6 dancers/character artists in 1898.

- The coda was danced by the classical couples and classical principals in 1898.

But the Jarvi recording is beautifully performed (and lists the excerpts on the back cover as being from Acts I & II). In my opinion, the best complete Raymonda is the NAXOS recording. No cuts, no additions (not even Petipa's 1898 interpolations) and inexpensive.

I like Orpheus Portrait. It's one of my favorite pas de deux's by Kent Stowell.

Cortege also includes the Act I waltz (classical corps) and Act 2 Pas d'action adagio (classical pas de deux) and male variation from Raymonda.

Lisa Kipp (ballet mistress) is a former dancer with PNB and also has recently work in the PNB Costume Shop.

The score of Le Pavillon d'Armide has been recorded by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra and released on Marco Polo 8.223779. The CD includes a variation that has made its way into the Paquita Grand Pas. The choreography for the variation, as danced today by the Kirov, seems to be an embellishment (in this case, technically more difficult but with less overall movement) of what Alexandra Danilova taught in the video I mentioned above.

Hi all - the Stepanov notation system allows for notation of movement for body parts as detailed as wrists, ankles and necks. The Jardin notations (probably among the first notation projects in the 1890s) are uncharacteristically detailed. With most of the Stepanov notations, only legs and feet and direction of the torso are given, but with Jardin all three staves that can accomodate notational symbols are filled. Notations this detailed are very helpful when working with a less-detailed notated work. At least one has some viable options for editorializing.

What I love so much about working with the Stepanov notations is learning the vocabulary used for children, corps, soloists/principals. There definitely is a regular vaocabulary in use so when you find something unique it is all the more special.

The vocabulary is very academic and musically literal. I am reminded of Bach, who was a very academic composer. Like Petipa, he was considered passe at the end of his life, although later generations found his work expressive, as well as classical/academic. I feel the same about much Balanchine choreography.

Hope this hasn't strayed too far off topic.

Just a few random comments:

Whether one agrees with Joan A. or not, I believe she does address the big-picture issues. That said, she balances her arguments with specific examples, given her space limitations in the New Yorker. I suppose the same issues keep coming up because she, among other writers, feel they are not being addressed.

I think it is possible to be a great fan of the company and like the dancers one is seeing and still appreciate the viewpoint of a critic who wants to see changes in the way the company functions. I would say this is possible just about everywhere in the dance world.

It's no big surprise that City Ballet puts ballets on without a lot of rehearsal. They have a huge rep and only so many dancers and hours in which to prepare. One of the issues seems to be how that time is used and how those dancers are deployed, from class (do they still do enough slow tendus) to rehearsals to coaching to casting.

I, for one, appreciate all the view points. An anology: in British music, in which I have been somewhat involved for the past ten years or so, there exists an active pool of performers/writers/scholars/enthusiasts, many of whom have voiced their opinion in Gramophone magazine. This ongoing exchange (reviews sparking new research that results in new musical editions and recordings, producing more reviews and criticism) has generally been very healthy for the state of music making and music research in London and beyond.

I don't have Roland John Wiley's A Century of Russian Ballet at hand, but Pavillon is the last libretto included in the book. It premiered in Russia and maybe parts of it were kept in rep in the Company or at least in the School during Danilova's days.

The video documentary about Alexandra Danilova, Reflections of a Dancer, includes rehearsal clips of her staging of excerpts of Pavillon d'Armide for SAB. You could watch the Workshop performance from whatever that year was at the NYPL. One of the variations is a Soviet Paquita standard and is given complete in the documentary. So interesting to see Danilova's version -- faster and more fleet -- compared to the Soviet version - slower and more technical. Really demonstrates one of the major differences between Imperial-era choreography and Soviet-era revisions in a nutshell.