Estelle

It is interesting to notice that in Ivor Guest's "Paris Opera Ballet" (published in 1976), "Coppelia" is listed as the most frequently performed ballet of the POB repertory in all the POB history. At that date, it had been performed 741 times. I can't resist mentioning the following ballets of the list: 2- Psyche (Gardel): 564 times (all between 1790 and 1829) 3- Giselle: 465 times (1841-1868 and 1924-1976) 4- Telemaque (Gardel): 408 (1790-1826) 5- Suite en blanc (Lifar): 369 (1943-1970) 6- Suite de danses (Clustine): 336 (1913-1974) 7- Soir de Fete (Staats): 303 (1925-1974) 8- La Dansomanie (Gardel): 244 (1800-1826) 9- Palais de Cristal (Balanchine): 303 (1947-1973) 10- Les deux pigeons (Merante): 196 (1886-1949) (If anyone is interested, Guest's books lists the first 38 ballets of the list...) Surely the list must have changed a lot now, as there has been many performances in the last 25 years. But I wonder if "Coppelia" still ranks first! (If only the official POB web site had pages about its repertory, like for example that of the Comedie Francaise, which includes a list of the most often performed plays since the creation of the company around 1690!) It probably is the oldest ballet of the POB's repertory with a continuous performing tradition since its creation (but the present production is a recent one by Patrice Bart which is very different from the traditional one).

I'd have to check some references (I attended a performance of "Coppelia" by the POB school a few weeks ago and the program notes are very informative) but one name which seems to be associated with Swanilda (French spelling, without "h") is that of Solange Schwarz (1910-2000). It was said to be her favorite role, she chose it for her farewell performance in 1957, and she even called one of her daughters Swanilda! I also remember reading about Carlotta Zambelli (1877-1968) in that role, and Lycette Darsonval (1912-1996).

Francoise, thanks for correcting me. I had forgotten that Bart and Gillot had already performed those roles.

Giannina, thanks for the comments about the second performances. Actually, Jean-Guillaume Bart and Marie-Agnes Gillot had never danced "La Bayadere" before the California tour, so perhaps they will improve when they become more experienced with the roles...

Hilaire had danced Solor in the premiere of that production at the Paris Opera (with Guerin and Platel; if I remember correctly, the second cast was Legris, Loudieres and Maurin), and has danced that role many times since then. But last fall he got injured during a tour to Italy, and since then he has danced almost nothing, so perhaps he's not back to a really good shape yet (and he's 38 or 39 now). But that's just a hypothesis. And I hope he'll dance more often next season. For Le Riche, I really have no idea... I don't know if it was his choice or if it was the direction which preferred to cast other dancers. Actually, the three Solors who danced in California (Legris, Martinez, Bart) are the three male dancers who have been the most active this season at the Paris Opera. Hilaire was absent because of his injury, Belarbi (who is 39 too) now dances mostly contemporary works, and Le Riche guested a lot abroad and was quite absent on the POB stage. Jean-Guillaume Bart, who is the most recently promoted principal (and the youngest principal with Le Riche), danced in *every* program since the beginning of the season except the modern creation "Nosferatu" (i.e., in "Raymonda", "Apollo" in a mixed bill, a Forsythe mxed bill, two roles in "Jewels", "The Nutcracker", "Paquita", two ballets in the Robbins mixed bill, Manon, the Kylian program, and he'll dance in Neumeier's "Midsummer night's dream"); Legris and Martinez danced a lot too. In her interviews, Brigitte Lefevre insists that she doesn't want the company to have too many principals, but considering that three female principals retire that season (and isn't it a bit odd to cast Juliets who all are above 38?) and that three male principals have to dance most of the big roles, one might wonder if it is not the opposite, i.e. not enough principals.

Giannina, thanks for posting your comments. As doug wrote, Isabelle Guerin is injured. She has had a difficult season: she came back in december after a one-year leave because of pregnancy (she had a baby girl last summer), but got injured a few months later. It prevented her from dancing some of the Robbins programs (and so I couldn't see her), and some of the performances of "Manon". She's supposed to have her farewell performance in "Romeo and Juliet" in July, but I don't know if she'll be back in shape. Next season, she'll dance at the Paris Opera as a guest dancer in "Notre-Dame de Paris". What did you think of Legris? He's one of my very favorite dancers. I don't know for how long he'll continue dancing "La Bayadere", as he's 37 (and has announced that he'd stop dancing Romeo after this season).

Oops, I had made a mistake: it is Hadley with a "d", not Hatley. Koegler's book said that Adams studied with her, but doesn't say if she was her mother.

Segreta, there is an entry about Jillana in Horst Koegler's "Concise Oxford dictionary of ballet" (a very useful book, by the way. It is out of print on amazon.com, but seems to be available on amazon.co.uk). It says that she studied with Emily Hatley and the School of American Ballet, and joined the Ballet Society in 1948. She became a soloist of the NYCB in 1955 and stayed with the company until 1966 (dancing for one season 1957-58 with ABT). As Alexandra wrote, she was in the original casts of "Liebeslieder Walzer" (1960) and "A Midsummer night's dream" (1962), and also Robbins' "The Pied Piper" (1951). It also says that her name was Jillana Zimmermann.

Yes, in the original libretto, Giselle just did the test normally (without cheating). Also, it seems to me that the original libretto already was quite sentimental: Giselle's mother definitely insists on her "weak hart" and there's something like "the doctor said it might be fatal someday"... Also in a scene just after or before the daisies moment, she insists that if someday he left her, it would definitely kill her. One detail about the lilies: when a funeral ceremony was organized for Nureyev at the Paris Opera, there were white lilies on his coffin. It surely was a reference to "Giselle"...

There is a small difference between that original libretto and Gautier's text about it in 1844: in the later text, Gautier writes that at first the test fails, so Giselle becomes very sad, but Albrecht does the test again, and it works.

I've managed to browse through a copy of the issue of "L'avant-scère Ballet-Danse" that I mentioned in an earlier post (by the way, if some people are interested, there is an available copy at the Librairie Théâtrale in Paris, near the Opéra Comique- and I even saw the POB premier danseur Jérémie Bélingard there ;) ), and it includes the full original libretto by Théophile Gautier and Vernoy de Saint-Georges, and also some comments about the differences between that original libretto and Gautier's 1844 text. In the original libretto, as Doug wrote, Giselle did not kill herself, while in Gautier's later text, she does (it's like what Alexandra wrote about the Beaumont text: Albrecht tries to take the sword, but it's too late). There is no explanation about the reason why the grave is in the forest...

That's a silly detail, but if Giselle kills herself with the sword, why isn't there any blood on her costume? :confused: And as Marc wrote, why would her mother have reminded her of her weak heart if it she was to die from something else? There is an interesting issue of "L'avant-scene ballet-danse" ("L'avant-scene" used to publish issues about theater, opera and dance but they published only a few issues about dance) dating back from the early 80s with quite a lot of information about Giselle. I think that it included at least some part of Gautier's scenario- but unfortunately my copy is at my parent's house, several hundred kilometers away...

And in French: félicitations, Leigh!

Alymer, thanks a lot for your message! And please, feel free to elaborate about Nureyev's productions.

There's a video of Nijinsky's "Afternoon of a faun" in a tape called "Paris dances Diaghilev", which was filmed at the Paris Opera around 1990. The main roles are danced by Charles Jude and Marie-Claude Pietragalla. As Yvonne, a video of that ballet was one of the things which made me feel interested in ballet... Drew- a few weeks ago, there was a German documentary shown on the French-German channel ARTE, dealing with a reconstruction of "Afternoon of a faun" by Ann Hutchinson Guest (who managed more or less to understand Nijinsky's own system of dance notation. What a fascinating woman she seems to be, by the way!) It wasn't very clear if there had been an unbroken performance tradition- it seems that the work had been performed by several companies, but getting farther and farther from the original work... By the way, next season the Paris Opera Ballet will perform both Nijinsky's and Robbins' "Faun" in the same program.

enterachilles, as Francoise wrote in a previous post, Pierre-Francois Vilanoba used to dance with the Paris Opera Ballet. When he left, he was a "sujet", which is the third category of the company (etoiles, premiers danseurs, sujets, coryphees, quadrilles), and was considered as promising. I don't know how old he is. He is married with Rachel Rufer, who was a POB dancer too (a coryphee, I think) and danced in the corps de ballet of the SFB for a while; now I think that she is with the Grands Ballets Canadiens.

Jane, I don't know if Guerin is likely to be invited for "Le Parc". From her interview in the latest issue of "Dance View", she doesn't want to stop dancing just after her official retirement in july, but I don't know if the direction would like to invite her. It seems to depend a lot of the relationships between the direction and the dancers (for example, among the recently retired principals, Elisabeth Platel was invited a few times, Monique Loudieres was invited only for Neumeier's "Sylvia"- though I've been told she still takes company classes regularly-, Francoise Legree was not invited at all...) enterachilles, I think that the small number of female principals might be one reason for the low number of full-length classics... Moreover, among the remaining principals, Elisabeth Maurin is close to retirement (she's 38) and the direction doesn't seem to like her very much (she rarely is in the first casts), and Aurelie Dupont has had several problems of injuries recently. Jeannie and Terry, I wish Marie-Agnes Gillot could be promoted! And I think that all the people who saw her "Paquita" think the same. I also think that Clairemarie Osta would deserve to be promoted, but she's 30 or 31 and the direction might think it's already too late. But from the rumors, it seems that the next promotion is very likely to be Eleonora Abbagnato, who just became a premiere danseuse at the last competition and is about 22. Perhaps it's just that I haven't seen her enough, but so far I'm not really convinced by her (and unlike Gillot and Osta she hasn't danced many big classical roles; except Clara in "The Nutcracker", she was cast mostly in works by Roland Petit or the contemporary repertory). To me, Gillot and Osta would be more reliable choices. Some people on ballet.co.uk also pointed out that the next season will be more suited to male demicaractere dancers than to "nobler" ones: the only real "prince" role will be that of Solor in "La Bayadere" ... I wonder if this has something to do with the fact that some of the principals are likely to dance fewer prince roles as they get older (Legris, Hilaire) and that most of the premiers danseurs are better in demicaractere roles. About the new web site: it includes more information than the previous version, but unfortunately some links don't work (including the page which is supposed to announce the next seasonà. And it shocks me to see than there still isn't any list of the dancers, musicians and singers on the web site...

Hi Amy! Nice to see that you're back! In fact I should have said "promoted" instead of "named", but I wrote "named" because in French people often use the verb "nommer" ("elle a été nommée étoile") in that context... So that's just a translation problem

Jeannie, I think that Belarbi himself might be a good Heathcliff... I know that Philippe Hersant has written some operas, but have never heard anything from him. I hope that his music will be more suited to ballet than the one which was commissionned for Lionel Hoche' "Yamm" to Philippe Fenelon earlier in the season (also another problem that the choreographer and the dancers first heard the music just before the performances, before that they had to work only on piano reductions! I hope that the organization will be better this time). That's a matter of personal tastes, but I find the next season very, very disappointing. As Catherine pointed out, there are only two real full-length classics (Don Q and Bayadere)- perhaps also Coppelia, but Patrice Bart's version doesn't seem very interesting. There will be only two new works in the repertory: Belarbi's "Wuthering Heights" and the new work by Blanca Li (a modern dance choreographer that I don't appreciate much). This season, there were three world premieres (Lacotte's "Paquita" and two modern works by Hoche and Gallotta) plus 4 new works in the repertory ("Jewels", "The Cage" and two Kylian works), so the next season really looks poor. Also there are only 11 "normal" programs (by the company itself, not by guest companies or the school) instead of 12 in all the previous seasons. Most of the works of the next season have been danced already by the company quite recently: "Clavigo", "Le concours", "Don Quichotte", "Le Parc", "Coppelia" all have been danced in the 1999-2000 or 1998-99 seasons. It's such a pity to see that a company with such a large repertory neglects a large part of it- what about Tudor, Lifar, Nijinska...? Why was Ashton's "Rhapsody" danced only for one season? And only one Balanchine work in the whole season really isn't much... With only three female principals remaining (Letestu, Maurin, Dupont) and such a program, I'm not looking forward at seeing the next season. (And sometimes I wish Claude Bessy could do the programming, becuse her POB school programs often look more interesting that Ms Lefevre's choices). [This message has been edited by Estelle (edited March 28, 2001).]

I think that a French translation of it was published.

Alexandra, this seems to be the same letter you mention. (I remember the part about the RDB- well, it made me smile a little bit... )

There is an one-page letter by Maina Gielgud in the April issue of "Dance Europe". I've seen it this afternoon at the POB boutique, but unfortunately I just had a look at it at the intermission and didn't have enough time to read it fully...

I've just had a look at Ivor Guest's excellent book "The Paris Opera Ballet". It was published in 1976, and includes a lot of information which is very difficult to find elsewhere (for example, a list of all the principals and ballet masters since the 17th century, and also a complete list of the repertory from 1776 to 1976). A new version is supposed to be published very very soon- I hope that it contains some chapters about the period between 1976 and now, and am really looking forward to reading it! About the foreign POB tours: Alexandra, do you know exactly when they took place, and with what kind of repertory? When reading Guest's book, one has the feeling that the worst crisis period was in the 60s and early 70s. Lifar had been forced to leave the directorship of the company in 1945 for political reasons, he came back from 1947 to 1958, and created quite a lot of new works, but it seems that his authority had decreased a little bit, and also other companies were developing and became strong competitors for the POB (Roland Petit's successive companies, the Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas...) When Lifar left in 1958, he had no real successor. The following directors were: -George Skibine (1958-61), who doesn't seem to have done anything especially striking, except perhaps choosing to stage Bourmeister's "Swan Lake" (that was the first full-length version in the POB's repertory) -Michel Descombey (1962-69), a premier danseur of the company. He was quite young and unexperienced (b. 1930), and his own works seem to have been unsuccessful (also he staged a "renovated" version of "Coppelia", which was the oldest preserved ballet of the repertory, and Guest doesn't seem to like his version at all). The most important points of that period were the staging of four Balanchine works in 1963 (including "Concerto Barocco" and "the Four Temperaments"- I'd be curious to know what Balanchine thought of the company then), and some Bejart and Petit works (most notably Petit's "Notre-Dame de Paris" in 1965). After Descombey's departure there was a period of real crisis, with John Taras leading the company for a very short time, then some attempts to appoint Roland Petit as the director, but he refused, then a refusal from Bejart (who had declared in an interview that a complete reform would be necessary, needing for example to suppress the hierarchy, and talking about a three-headed direction by Roland Petit, Erik Bruhn and himself. I'm a bit surprised by the presence of Erik Bruhn there- did he have any connection with Bejart or with the POB then?) The Claude Bessy was appointed as ballet master for a short while (70-71), the Opera Garnier had to close for renovation... Well, that seems to have been a troubled period. Raymond Franchetti, a former dancer of the company and teacher at the POB school, became the company's ballet master between 1971 and 1977. Franchetti doesn't seem to have been an especially striking personality, but from Guest's book, it seems that in that period the company was in a "re-building" period rather than "going down", at least in terms of repertory. Alonso staged a new version of "Giselle" in 1972, Lacotte staged his reconstruction of "La Sylphide" on the same year, and later a reconstruction of "Coppelia" (I wonder why that one didn't stay in the repertory?), in 1974-75 Balanchine and Robbins staged quite a lot of works, mostly for a Stravinsky programmeand a Ravel programme, Alonso staged a version of "The Sleeping Beauty" in 1974 (it wasn't in the repertory before...), also Nureyev staged the Shades Act of "La Bayadere"... Most of the media then seem to have paid much attention to modern experiments, especially Cunningham's "Un jour ou deux" in 1972, and Carolyn Carlson's group. There are a lot of details I'd like to know about the way Nureyev's improved the company's level- but I've no idea how to find it... For example, was there much renewal among the corps de ballet dancers when he was there, as there was among the etoiles? (Most of the dancers of the "old generation", like Atanassoff, Pontois, Thesmar, Piollet, Denard, Franchetti, etc. left during his directorship). Whom exactly did he appoint as ballet masters or repetitors? He gave opportunities to dance big roles to young dancers, it proved successful for some of them (Guillem, Legris, Hilaire, Guerin...) but were there some failures too? Did he choose himself the dancers who entered the company?

Francoise, thanks for your corrections! I'm sorry for the typos. leibling: I don't like much the choreography (and even less the sets) of that "Cinderella", but yes it has a great cast (Jude and Guillem, and the stepsisters are the principals Monique Loudieres and Isabelle Guerin, one of the soloists of the seasons is Carole Arbo...) One thing which seems to appear in nearly all the comments of POB dancers about Nureyev is that they all admired his dedication to his work, and the fact that, even at the end when he was in a very bad health condition, he still took company class and always tried to do his best. He was very demanding from them, but also with himself, and his example seems to have increased very much the dancers' motivation.

Actually, I'd like to know more about it. I started being interested in dance around 1992, after his departure from the POB, and the only POB dancer I know as a friend had entered the company in 1989, shortly before he left. I'd be really interested in knowing the opinion of people who regularly saw the company before and during Nureyev's direction. And it's one of those problems which don't look the same "from inside" (one's country) and "from outside": I think that whatever the period, the French critics always ranked the POB among the "Big Six" (or "Big Any Number"), all the more as many foreign companies rarely toured to France (I think that for example the Royal Ballet never came to France in the 60s, 70s and 80s) and so the audience had not many opportunities to compare. And I think that the critics' opinions about Nureyev varied widely during the period of his directorship (especially at the end, when he was often absent- there seems to have been an atmosphere of crisis). Also, I'd like to add that some French critics now seem to have such an "idolizing" attitude towards Nureyev (for example Rene Sirvin and Patricia Boccadoro) that it's hard for me to feel totally confident about what they write. Perhaps a few dates would be useful for the rest of the discussion (especially for the people who are not very familiar with the POB): -Nureyev was the POB director of dance between 1983 and 1990. -the previous directors were: Rosella Hightower (1980-1983), Violette Verdy (1978-1980- she had to resign earlier than the normal date because of a strike of the dancers which was motivated by the fact that the direction wanted Nureyev and somebody else (Schaufuss? I'm not sure) to dance with the company in a tour as guests, and the dancers refused, arguing that there already were enough good principals in the company), Raymond Franchetti (1971-78). The period around 1970 seems to have been very messy, with several directors being appointed for a very short period (including Claude Bessy and John Taras), a bizarre plan of triumvirate with Roland Petit, Maurice Bejart and someone else (which never worked)... -Claude Bessy became the director of the POB school in 1972. -If I remember correctly, the principal dancers of the POB at the arrival of Nureyev were: *four principals chosen by Rosella Hightower: Francoise Legree (b. 1957, named in 1983), Monique Loudieres (b. 1956, named in 1982), Jean-Yves Lormeau (b. 1952, named in 1981), Elisabeth Platel (b. 1959, named in 1981). *one principal chosen by Violette Verdy: Patrick Dupond (b. 1959, named in 1980) *twelve principals chosen by Jean-Pierre [correction: Raymond] Franchetti or before: Claude de Vulpian (b. 1952- 1978), Florence Clerc (b. 1951- 1978), Charles Jude (b. 1953- 1976), Jean Guizerix (b. 1945- 1973), Ghislaine Thesmar (b. 1943- 1972), Patrice Bart (b. 1945- 1972), Michael Denard (b. 1944- 1971), Jean-Pierre Franchetti (b. 1944 1971), Georges Piletta (b. 1945- 1969), Wilfride Piollet (b. 1943- 1969), Noella Pontois (b. 1943- 1968), Cyril Atanassoff (b. 1941- 1964). There might have been also Nanon Thibon (b. 1943- 1965). (Wow! I realize that there were far more principals back then! Piollet, Thesmar and Pontois retired in the same period as Nureyev's arrival, but they came back from time to time as guest dancers at the beginning, especially Pontois). Dominique Khalfouni had become a principal in 1976 (aged 25) but had left the company in 1980 to join Roland Petit's company. -The principals chosen by Nureyev were: Sylvie Guillem (b. 1965- 1984), Isabelle Guerin (b. 1961- 1985), Laurent Hilaire (b. 1962- 1985), Manuel Legris (b. 1962 [correction: 1964]- 1986), Elisabeth Maurin (b. 1983- 1988), and Kader Belarbi (b. 1962- 1989). [This message has been edited by Estelle (edited March 19, 2001).]