La Bayadère - Reconstruction of Petipa's 1900 revival 16/17

16/17 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.

See 1/17 for extensive notes on the production.

**Cast for this clip -

--Nikiyia, a Bayadère of the temple - Daria Pavlenko
--Solor, a wealthy kshatriya - Igor Kolb
--Gamzatti, the Rajah's daughter - Elvira Tarasova
--4 Coryphées - Janna Serebriakova, Xenia Ostreikovskaya, Yulia Kasenkova & Viktoria Kutepova

**Résumé of dances & scenes for this clip -

Grand pas d'action -
1. Grand adage
2. Variation de Solor (Minkus, taken from Petipa's 1874 revival of Offenbach's "Le Papillon")
3. Variation de Gamsatti (Riccardo Drigo, taken from Petipa's revival of "Le Roi Candaule")
4. Grand coda (it is imprtant to note that the great Anna Pavlova made one of her early performances with the Imperial Ballet in Petipa's 1900 revival of "La Bayadère" as one of the 4 coryphées seen here).


**Notes -

Here we have the original 'Grand adage' & 'Grand coda' fully restored both musically & choreographically. Petipa's scheme for the 'Grand adage' was much inspired by the Grand pas de trois created by Filippo Taglioni for the original "La Sylphide", in which the heroine is only visible to her beloved & haunts him throughout the dance.

There is a rather humorous moment in the 'Grand adage' where the fakir Madhavaya brings Gamzatti a basket of flowers à la the one she gave Nikiya in act II. Fearful that it might contain something just as nasty, Gamzatti gives it back to the fakir & runs to daddy for protection. HA!!

Minkus did not compose any variations for the lead dancers of this pas, which were performed ad libitum, i.e. at the dancer's choice. Minkus wrote in the score that the 'Grand adage' would be "...followed by variations for Gamzatti & Solor".

When Petipa mounted his 1900 revival of "La Bayadère", the 56 y.o. Pavel Gerdt performed the role of Solor. In light of Gerdt's age the danseur Nikolai Legat performed his part in the entrée & his variation (Pavel Gerdt created nearly every lead male role in Petipa's ballets, but as he got on in years younger dancers were brought in to perform his solos). For the 1900 revival, Legat inserted a variation originally composed by Minkus for Petipa's 1874 revival of Offenbach's "Le Papillon". This is the variation that is still performed by Solor today. Unfortunately the notation does not document the choreography, so the Mariinsky retained the traditional version by Vakhtang Chabukiani, created in the early 1940s. However the Mariinsky did restore Solor's prop bow as used by Nikolai Legat in 1900 (it is important to note that Vakhtang Chabukiani is responsible for much of the traditional choreography for the male variations in the Imperial/Petipa-derived pieces that make up the ballet repertory, such as "Le Corsaire pas de deux" & the "Diane et Actéon pas de deux").

No record survives of what variation Olga Preobrajenskaya (who performed Gamzatti) danced in 1900. In light of this the Mariinsky has retained Gamzatti's traditional variation, which was inserted into the pas at some point at the turn of the 20th century. The variation is actually by Riccardo Drigo, & is taken from the additional music he wrote for Petipa's revival of the grand ballet "Le Roi Candaule" in the 1890s. The choreography is the work of Pyotr Gusev in the style of Petipa, & was originally created for Natalia Dudinskaya in 1947.

Sadly, the Mariinsky was not able to restore Nikiya's extra variation - a little while after the1900 revival premiered, Petipa created a variation for Mathilde Kschessinskaya to new music by Riccardo Drigo. As was standard practice at the time, the variation quite literally became the ballerina's legal property, & was never performed by anyone else. As a result the variation was not documented when the choreographic notation was created circa 1900-1903, & the music has since become lost. Nevertheless the Mariinsky could have at least restored some variation from the period that is no longer performed, particularly one of several Petipa arranged for Kschessinskaya or Pierina Legnani to specially composed music by Drigo (almost always to a marvelous harp solo &/or pizzicato). The fact that Nikiya gets no variation to finish out the ballet is a bit of a let down. Oh well!

--ENJOY!!

Category:

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Tags:

• La
• Bayadere
• Kirov
• Mariinsky
• Ballet
• Daria
• Pavlenko
• igor
• Kolb
• Marius
• Petipa
• Minkus
• Elvira
• tarasova

[professorrapport]

I bet you still have some wild man in you (wink)

[mrlopez2681]

that is too funny

[professorrapport]

That's what I thought. I think a pas de trois is much better than the pas de deux--espeically the original pas de deux in the second act of Swan Lake. When I say "the first version", I mean the very first time Petipa staged the pas.

Adam, do you ever visit San Francisco?

[mrlopez2681]

no - not in a while. I lived in Valencia & Hollywood for a time (my life was alot more wild excessive then!), but now am very humdrum in Oklahoma.

[professorrapport]

Adam, Is this another Petipa Pas de Trio turned into a Pas de Deux? I would like to see the very first version Petipa created. The music here is lovely!

[mrlopez2681]

in the Soviet-era many of Petipa's logical pas were turned into athletic circus showcases, with the music taken out of context. One that comes to mind is the so-called "Diane et Acteon pas de deux". When you say "the first version", are you refering to the pas shown in this clip?

[theamazingsoter]

That part of the adagio with Gamzatti and the fakir's flower basket cracks me up everytime. Why won't they release this on DVD?!

@sweetaliena And why do you think Nikiya is useless here? She's supposed to be haunting Solor for agreeing to marry Gamzatti after they had reconciled in the Kingdom of Shades. I personally prefer the ballet ending with the destruction of the temple, though I like both versions.

[genzano]

Thank you soooo much! The reconstructed grand pas has more drama woven into the trio than the usual PDD, which is more presentation than revelation. As for Gamzatti's variation, now I can see how Nureyev's production for the POB relied on the Gusev lineage, quite different from what we are used to in Bolshoi and ROB productions.

[sweetaliena]

@theamazingsoter I understand the premise of it but I think the choreography is lacking. It doesn't blend well.

[sweetaliena]

Sorry to say this but I really don't like this pas de trois. I feel that Nikiya is useless there.

[mhenry91]

does anyone know the specific name of this song at the beginning?

[valeguidi100]

in other versions wasnt this scene and the pas de deux before the kingdom of the shades?? i always thought it was.

[Bnesque]

What a great treajure lost in time! At least Fateyev should restore this reconstructed version. But I can't quite imagine suitable Solor in their current line up of the principals except younger Kolb!