DON QUIXOTE, Minkus, Petipa, in the beginning

[rg]

f.y.i. scans from pp. of the impressively researched and presented program booklets out of Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet nowadays.

a few books and articles delving into the 1869 beginnings of the Petipa/Minkus DON QUIXOTE in Moscow have reproduced the print of the Don with the spiderweb as well as that showing a moment from the Dream Scene, which, in most? standard stagings of this work, and which is true for the scene-by-scene break-up in this program's text, follows the tavern scene, which occurs as sc. one of act 2: the Dream itself originally came in sc. 3 of act 2, unlike the current ABT prod. which follows the scheme perhaps started with Baryshnikov's 1978 prod. where it comes before the tavern sc.

the view of "The battle of the dragon and the lion" as a maquette from the period by the era's famous stage machinist, Karl Valts, is unfamiliar to me.

apologies, incidentally, for the distortions of the scans due to the way the booklet is bound, too much pressure on my scanner's bed would overly stress the book's spine.

[Birdsall]

Very insteresting! Thanks, Rg! I think the Mikhailovsky's live webcast had the dream scene with palm trees (if I remember correctly) very similar to the picture you just posted. That explains a lot because some people were confused about that.

[Helene]

What wondrous creatures!

[rg]

two more scans related to the first production of the Petipa/Minkus DON QUIXOTE in Moscow, 1869:

one of a print showing the Don's entrance into Barcelona's streets and another of a maquette of Valts' setting for the scene with spider and web.

[cubanmiamiboy]

Thanks a lot rg for those scans! I suspect that the role of the Don has been considerably diminished in modern era ballet compared to the original libretto.

[rg]

f.y.i. the originator of the role of the Don in '69 was Vilgelm Vanner; Sancho Panza was Leon Espinoza. Vanner also played the Don in the ballet's next 'revision' in '87 at a benefit performance for the ballerina dancing Kitiri: Lydia Geiten, who was prominent in late 19th c. ballet in Moscow.

[Mashinka]

Not sure about the mountains but Barcelona certainly has palms

http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/images/int/albums/placa-reial/images/placa-reial-01_jpg.jpg

[Birdsall]

I think when the Mikhailovsky had a webcast and the dream scene looked like Hawaii a couple of people thought it was odd. I think it was simply because people weren't used to imagining the dream scene that way, but it looks like it was how it originally looked!

[Helene]

The mountain is probably Monserrat.

[Birdsall]

Be nice!!!

Oh, I just realized you meant the mountain. I thought you were making a joke.

[Helene]

No opera joke meant ! Caballe is a Catalan, though, and I'm guessing her name stems from that.