![]() For years, Pepita had imported Italian ballerinas as guest artists, infusing their strong pointe work with the lyricism of the French style that served as the basis for ballet training in Russia. ![]() Petipa had a genuine star in ballerina Pierina Legnani, who danced the role of Odette/Odile at the revival’s premiere. While not an unqualified hit, Swan Lake was a solid success. With Petipa in the lead, some music was transferred between acts, some numbers cut, others added. The score is mammoth and the relative length of the four acts unbalanced. What Tchaikovsky had composed was far ahead of its time, but the 1895 team forged on. Tchaikovsky’s brother, Modeste, labored to streamline the story, while conductor Riccardo Drigo took on the unenviable task of editing the sometimes unwieldy musical score. Ivanov choreographed Act IV, the second lakeside scene, and Petipa supplied dances for Acts I and III. The performance was a success and plans were laid for a revival of the entire ballet in 1895. Petersburg the next year included a revival of Swan Lake Act II, the first lakeside scene, with new choreography by Lev Ivanov, ballet master Marius Petipa’s assistant. Tchaikovsky’s score was admired but considered unsuitable for ballet-not sufficiently dansante. Anti-German sentiment fueled opinions against both the dance and the story, which was thought to have originated in Germanic legend. The choreography by the otherwise unknown German ballet master Julius Reisinger, was admittedly undistinguished. The original Moscow production, now generally regarded as a failure, actually achieved mild success and saw more performances over more years than most ballets premiered on the Moscow stage. Tchaikovsky longed for a successful revival of his first ballet. ![]() Petersburg production of 1895 that Swan Lake took the form we know today. Tchaikovsky composed his score for Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet in 1877, but it was not until Petipa and Ivanov’s St. Swan Lake has inspired countless choreographers, who, in their own productions, seek to extend the ideas and meanings suggested in the work of its creators: composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky and choreographers Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov. The current production of Kent Stowell’s Swan Lake, in a revised staging and featuring new designs, premiered in 2003 to open PNB’s inaugural season in Marion Oliver McCaw Hall. Pacific Northwest Ballet’s 1981 production was a significant milestone as the first full-length ballet re-created for the Company. With its fantastical plot filled with romance, sorcery, and betrayal, Swan Lake offers dancers the ultimate challenge of a dual role-Odette, trapped in the body of a swan while awaiting an oath of true love to set her free, and Odile–the temptress daughter of Baron von Rothbart–who plots the downfall of Odette’s true love, Siegfried. Swan Lake is considered by many to be the greatest classical ballet of all time.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |