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Questions about Sergeyev's notations...........


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What ballets were included in the notations that Sergeyev took with him when he left Russia?

When Sergeyev came to the west with his "trunk" full of the notatuions of some of the old works, why was only a few of the ballets that were re-staged in the west, and not all of them? I know that some of the ballet of Minkus and Pugni were included, why were these ballets not staged.

It seems it took Nureyev and Makarova to stage ballets that perhaps could have been staged long before. I have theorized that some of these ballet were left 'un'mounted' becasue the music was not inluded.

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wiley published a substantive article on the sergeyev/stepanov holdings at harvard for a harvard publication, the name of which escapes me now.

additionally the n.y.p.l. for the perf. arts has a typescript of the holdings of the collection, with a rundown of the ballets and a page, or two, elaboration of what the particular ballet notations include. in some cases, if mem. serves, there is indication of an accompanying score, etc.

alas, neither of these is on line. one would have read them in a library.

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Sorry to be silent through this. I think a lot of the notated ballets were considered passe during the years that Sergejev was in the West. When he was staging the Shades scene for Mona Inglesby's International Ballet (never made it to the stage), dancers later wrote that they were in hysterics because of the melodrama of the plot - and the was the Shades scene (with very little plot to it). But Sergejev did manage to stage a number of ballets and had plans to stage more than he was able to do before he died. I think Wiley's article on the Sergejev Collection was published in the Harvard Library Bulletin in the mid 1970s. The ballets in the collection differ widely in the detail of their notation. Most are not notated in great detail - only legs and feet with ground plan. Some are very sketchy. I believe the scores by Pugni and Minkus were also a hindrance to popularity.

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re: sergeyev and 'shades' wasn't there a production overseen by n.s. in england billed as 'the rajah's dream'? or has it never been determined that the work w/ this title was related in anyway to bayadere? i'm foggy on my understanding of it now; i believe jane pritchard wrote something about it for THE DANCING TIMES, if i can unearth the mention i'll re-post.

i know that sergeyev tried to revive the 'shades' scene for pavlova and co. and that it was scrapped before it got performed b/c it was thought to be 'old-fashioned' etc. in the eyes of those about to put it on.

there is a photo, btw, in nina tikhanova's memoirs - in russian - of spesivtseva and serge peretti in a very reduced-forces moment from 'shades' - apparently this was put on in paris for a gala in the mid-1920s: the foto shows only a handful of corps de ballet 'shadows' around olga s. and serge p. as nikiya and solor. i don't have any info. on the person who staged this for the event.

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here's the NYPL cat. entry on the article i was thinking of:

Pritchard, Jane.

Title :Bits of Bayadère in Britain.

Source :The dancing times. London. Sept. 1989, p. 1120-1121. ill.

Notes :The restaging of La bayadère by Natalia Makarova for the Royal Ballet during the summer of 1989 prompted this article on some dance pieces seen previously in England that might have been related to the Petipa work. The rajah's dream by Nicolas Sergeyev, seen at the Bournemouth Pavilion in 1934, as well as excerpts from La bayadère, are among those discussed.

Subjects :Bayadère (Choreographic work) ;Bayadère (Choreographic work :Makarova after Petipa, M); Rêve du Radjah (Choreographic work : Sergeev, N); Dance dream (Choreographic work : Gorski)

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Thanks Hans for pointing out the guest access. Solor, I meant calling the library to ask what was in their holdings regarding the Sergeyev notations. I called them by phone to ask about some Balanchine and Kirstein papers and the librarians were helpful. I didn't put up the link to be nasty, only helpful.

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Yes, Rajah's Dream is essentially the Shades scene. So I guess it was peformed. Somehow I'd always thought it didn't make it to the stage because the scenery fell apart. Sergejev's synopsis of Rajah's Dream is reprinted in the Wiley article. It's got an intro scene before Shades proper.

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