La Bayadère - Reconstruction of Petipa's 1900 revival 1/17

1/17 of the premiere of the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet's reconstruction of Marius Petipa's final revival of "La Bayadère" as staged in 1900. March 31, 2002, Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg. The audience is comprised of the most important people of the ballet world, particularly in Russia.

This reconstruction caused a great deal of debate among the Russian ballet & the ballet world in general, with many feeling it was better left to the history books. Many in the audience were quite shocked after watching the ballet in its original form - Altynai Asylmuratova was seen weeping after the performance, allegedly because of her shock at seeing the ballet restored. Unfortunately the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet have not yet filmed the production for commercial release to DVD, & recently the company's newly appointed director Yuri Fateev announced that all of the reconstructions shall no longer be performed (i.e. "The Sleeping Beauty" & "La Bayadère" ... I am not sure about "The Awakening of Flora"). I can only say that this is beyond CRIMINAL - this is Petipa's original production of "La Bayadère", need I say more?

I apologize for the poor quality of this film, and the annoying little "skips" are a youtube thing I have not been able to avoid. With regard to the décor (which cannot be seen), it is exactly the same as the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet's 1941 production in every scene except "The Kingdom of the Shades" .

**Cast for this clip -

--Solor, a wealthy kshatriya - Igor Kolb
--Madhavaya, a Fakir - Igor Petrov
--The High Brahmin - Vladimir Ponomaryev


**Résumé of dances & scenes for this clip:

1. Prélude
2. Scène première et entrée de Solor
3. Entrée du Grand Brahmane, les prêtres et les fakirs


**Notes on "La Bayadère" & important revisions -

"La Bayadère" was originally created by Marius Petipa for the Imperial Ballet's Prima ballerina Ekaterina Vazem, & included Lev Ivanov in the role of Solor & the ballerina Maria Gorshenkova as Gamzatti (or Hamsatti, as the character was known at that time). The ballet premiered to a resounding success at the St. Petersburg Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre on February 4 [O.S. January 23] 1877 on the occasion of Ekaterina Vazem's benefit performance (Vazem would go on to become one of the most renowned instructors of the Classe de perfection at the Imperial Ballet School, & counted Anna Pavlova, Agrippina Vaganova & Mathilde Kschessinskaya among her pupils). Petipa presented his final revival of "La Bayadère" on December 15 [O.S. December 3] 1900 in honor of the 40th anniversary benefit performance of the Imperial Ballet's Premier danseur Pavel Gerdt, & especially for the Prima ballerina assoluta Mathilde Kschessinskaya.

Fedor Lophukov's 1924 revival of "La Bayadère" was the first production that did not include Petipa's original act IV. The reasons for this have become lost to history, but it was likely due to the fact that Petrograd was flooded that year, & the décor for that scene was destroyed. Also, the former Imperial Mariinsky Theatre may have lacked the funding & techinical staff needed in order to produce the final apotheosis. Another explanation may be that the Soviet goverment (which was officially athiest) would not have allowed a theatrical presentation where Hindu deities destroy a temple.

The current version performed by the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet (which is also the version from which nearly all modern stagings are derived) was staged by Vakhtang Chabukiani & Vladimir Ponomarev in 1941. For this production Chabukiani & Ponomarev edited the choreography accordingly, & re-produced the décor created for Petipa's 1900 revival in every scene except for the "The Kingdom of the Shades".


**Notes on the reconstruction -

The original choreography of Marius Petipa has been reconstructed by Sergei Vikharev from the choreographic notation of the Sergeyev Collection, held in the Harvard University Theatre Collection. Petipa's choreography for the 1900 production was recorded in the Stepanov method of choreographic notation by the Imperial ballet's régisseur Nicholas Sergeyev & his team of notators at some point between 1900 & 1903. Today this notation, as well as the notation of several other ballets of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, are today held in the Harvard University Theatre Collection as part of the Sergeyev Collection.

The original mime passages have been fully restored - an art that is almost completely lost in the annals of modern-day ballet.

Ludwig Minkus's complete 4-act score has been fully restored thanks to 2 hand-written volumes in the Mariinsky Theatre Music Library.

The décor & costumes have been fully restored thanks to photos and sketches in the St. Petersburg State Museum of Theatre & other sources.

--ENJOY!!

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• La
• Bayadere
• Kirov
• Mariinsky
• Ballet
• Daria
• Pavlenko
• IOgor
• Kolb
• Elvira
• Tarasova
• Marius
• Petipa
• Minkus

[professorrapport]

Adam,

1.) Did Petipa change his own choreography? Is the 1900 revival different from the 1877 performace?

I ask because I was surprised by some of the differences in the choreography between between this version you posted and other Kirov versions of this ballet.

2.) I agree with your comment about the criminal nature of withholding Petipa's original works from the public.

3.) Are you planning on posting the last act?

[mrlopez2681]

3.) Ill upload it ths weekend

[mariinskyfan]

I am so excited to watch this production! Thank you.

[ikerovich]

Is so wonderfool to see this kinds of ballet video, congratulatión for your love, risk and patience to recorder, now I can see then Makarova's and Lanchbery´s work was so good with out underestimate this version.

[Bnesque]

Thank you very much for sharing this. The current Bayadere should need definitely a proper conclusion!

[aliismayilov]

Hi,

russianballetvideo advised me to ask you for what I'm searching. I'm looking for the video recording of Hungarian Fantasie for piano and orchestra written by Liszt with high quality.

Thanks.

[EricMontreal22]

I believe any changes you see in the other Kirov productions were done post this production by Vakhtang Chabukiani and Sergeyev etc-- While I'm sure Petipa made some changes from his original production, this has been the basis for the Kirov/Soviet editions (they even used the same sets which didn'thave to be rebuilt for this reconstruction except the last act). Interestingly the Bolshoi's production by Grigorovich used scenery baed on the 1877 ORIGINAL designs

[palubob]

Thank you very much for this, especially the highly informative notes. Altynai was seen weeping? This drives ones curiosity to feverish levels. Was she overcome by the beauty of the performance, or was her disappointment so great?

[EricMontreal22]

Thank you SOOOOOOOOOO much for this.