Petipa & Glazunov's Raymonda 1/4, La Scala

Sergei Vikharev's reconstruction of Marius Petipa & Alexander Glazunov's original 1898 production of "Raymonda" for the Teatro alla Scala. Broadcast of October 27, 2011.

The masterful décor of Orest Allegri (Act I); Pyotr Lambin (Act I/scene 2; Act III); & Konstantin Ivanov (Act II) has been fully recreated by Elena Kinkulskaya & Boris Kaminsky.

Ivan Vsevolozhsky's splendid costumes have been recreated by Irene Monti.


**Résumé of dances/scenes -

Act I (scene 1): "La fête de Raymonde"
--01 Introduction
--02 Jeux et danses
--03 La traditrice
--04 Scéne: Récit de la Comtesse Sybille
--05 Entrée de Raymonde
--06 Scène
--Entrée d'Abdéràme (Vikharev has cut this)
--07 Entrée des vassals et des esclaves

--08 Pas d'ensemble -
--a. Valse provençale
--b. Pizzicato de Raymonde (Mlle. Legnani)
--c. Coda

--09 Départ des invitées
--10 La Romanesque
--11 "Une fantaisie": Variation de Raymonde (Mlle. Legnani)
--12 Clémence joue du luth; Le charme
--13 L'apparition de la Dame Blanche


**Libretto -
Act I/scene 1: La fête de Raymonde" - A room in the castle of the Countess de Doris.

At the castle of the Countess de Doris, preparations are underway for the celebrations of the young countess Raymonda's name day (Jeux et danses). Sybille, her aunt, & an austere canoness, chides the pages & young girls for their idleness & their passion for dancing, reminding them of the legendary White Lady, the protector of the castle, who warns the Doris household every time one of its members is in danger & punishes those who do not fulfill their duties. The young people laugh at the canoness' superstitions & continue to amuse themselves. A horn sounds & the Seneschal of the Doris castle announces the arrival of a messenger, sent by the knight, Jean de Brienne, bearing a letter for his lord's betrothed, Raymonda. Countess Sybille goes to call her niece, while the girls throw flowers along the path that Raymonda will take. Raymonda runs in (Entrée de Raymonde). The messenger kneels & hands Raymonda the letter from her betrothed. Jean de Brienne informs Raymonda that King André II of Hungary, for whom de Brienne has fought, is returning home in triumph, & de Brienne will be at the Doris castle the next day to be married to Raymonda. The girl rejoices. Local vassals & inhabitants enter & noisily congratulate Raymonda (Pas d'esnemble). After the dances, Raymonda orders a sumptuous reception & a Cour d'amour to be made ready in honor of her fiancé. Exhausted, Raymonda remains in the company of her dearest friends & of the troubadours (La Romanesque, "Une Fantaisie"). Suddenly, they all fall under a spell which makes them feel drowsy. Illuminated by the light of the moon, the White Lady appears, & with an imperious gesture, orders Raymonda to follow her.


**Cast:
- Raymonda - Olesia Novikova
- Knight Jean de Brienne - Friedemann Vogel
- Abderakhman, a Saracen kight - Mick Zeni
- Henriette, Raymonda's girlfriend: Mariafrancesca Garritano
- Clémence, Raymonda's girlfriend - Francesca Podini
- Béranger, troubadour of Aquitaine - Claudio Coviello
- Bernard de Ventodour, troubadour of Provence - Marco Agostino
- Countess Sybille, canoness, Raymonda's aunt - Sabina Galasso
- King André II of Hungary - Luigi Saruggia
- The White Lady, protector of the House of Doris - Manuela Aufieri
- Michail Jurowski conducting the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala


**Notes -
**Sergei Vikharev has reconstructed, in as much as possible, Marius Petipa's original choreography which was notated ca. 1903, mostly from a performance featuring Olga Preobrajenskaya in the title role. It is a testament to the abilities of the great Pierina Legnani (creator of the role of Raymonda) that Raymonda's dances have not changed much over the course of the last century.

**I was surprised by the passage that occurs at 14:13. Here, Petipa had Glazunov adjust his score so that Abderakhman could make an entrance. This change has been retained in every production of "Raymonda" I've ever seen, but Vikharev has not restored this. I suppose Vikharev's version makes more sense, but this is not what Petipa did.

**Novikova takes the tempo for the pizzicato seen at 19:13 a little to slow, making the choreography drag a bit. It's no wonder the steps were changed over time since ballerinas were beginning to slow the music down. Imagine the variation with a much quicker, musically correct tempo & the choreography becomes more dynamic & more difficult.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Raymonda
• Marius
• Petipa
• Alexander
• Glazunov
• Mariinsky
• Olesia
• Novikova
• Sergei
• Vikharev
• Michail
• Jurowski
• La
• Scala
• Konstantin
• Sergeyev
• Natalia
• Dudinskaya

[gramilano]

Just a few corrections about dates: the tv broadcast was filmed on October 27 starting at 20.00 but put out at 21.30 to reduce the intervals to only a few minutes for the viewer at home. The cameras recorded the performance on October 25 so the two evenings can be used to create a DVD version. The opening on October 11 was only filmed by a news-team camera for the telegiornale the next day.

[mrlopez2681]

@gramilano - thanks for the corrections, but where did you learn of the DVD version?

[marikoTokyo]

I love this Raymonda! They wear really beautiful costumes, of course dancing is also excellent. Thank you so much for posting!

[palubob]

The libretto has been fiddled-with by everyone who has staged this ballet. Soon after Lydia Pashkova's original libretto was accepted in 1895, first Vsevolozhsky and later Petipa made substantial revisions before the ballet was staged. Pashkova's original libretto has been lost, so we will never know what she had in mind, but perhaps her story was historically more logical & coherent.

[gramilano]

@mrlopez2681 The information comes from friends who work in the theatre. The 'adjusted' recording (hopefully taking away that awful piano special effect) will be sold to international arts stations and maybe released as a DVD too.

[palubob]

Thank you very much for this. It will take me a few days to get through it all.