pietragalla - nijinsky's le sacre du printemps

The only known recording of the phenomenal Marie-Claude Pietragalla performing the danse sacrale in the reconstruction of Vaslav Nijinsky's lost choreography to Stravinsky's Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du Printemps). I have 5 versions of this on my channel and none can touch this (guessing) 19 year old dancer's performance. She dances as if she were an instrument in the orchestra. I imagine Stravinsky and Nijinsky would have found something to agree on in Pietragalla. See other performances of Le Sacre du Printemps on my channel and at www.igorandmore.blogspot.com.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• pietragalla
• nijinsky
• le
• sacre
• du
• printemps
• 1989
• reconstruction
• rite
• of
• spring
• stravinsky
• chosen
• one

[jockboy69]

I would think that a ballerina would have to unlearn everything she's ever known in order to be able to dance like this!

[fatovamingus]

@jockboy69 very astute observation!

[mjtpli]

Maybe I'm just being contrary, but I think Nijinsky would have said "Stop making it so pretty!" I miss the raw primitive power from some of the other versions you've posted (such as Zenaida Yanowsky & Beatriz Rodriguez); I'm mostly left with a sense of her overwhelming grace but little notion of a terrified young teenager being forced to dance herself to death.

[fatovamingus]

@mjtpli No, I think you make a pretty good point. There's an absence of drama absolutely and there's also an absence of the live ensemble and orchestra etc. This was from a filmed performance of 4 variations of Le Sacre choreographies . I've never seen a "live" performance of Pietragalla in this role but I have seen photos and have one on my blog which is much more emotional just in the still shot...I get your point completely. Thanks for the comment too.

[naniwa]

The pure genius of Nijinsky's choreography is only matched here by Pietragalla's stunning performance.Thank you so much for uploading it.

[fatovamingus]

@naniwa I agree with you completely. I'm writing in detail about Le Sacre on my blog this month as it will be 98 years ago on the 29th that it was performed. You can find the link on my channel if you are interested and thank you for your comment.

[mithrilmoon1]

@fatovamingus Perhaps the perceived 'lack of drama' is due to the fact that this piece is ritualistic; once the girl has been 'chosen' everything proceeds according to a well-established formula. Each participant, high or low in the great scheme of things, knows without consulting others or without so much as glancing at any other, exactly what to do next. There is little or no 'drama' because the routine is by now familiar to all. What must be done, is done.

[mithrilmoon1]

@jockboy69 LOL I am just a ballet-mad educated working class Glaswegian who, having been denied ballet lessons and piano lessons etc by resolutely disinterested parents ('a load of rubbish'; no use to anyone') embarked at a very young age on a programme of serious reading about ballet, and saving up for months to buy tickets to as many performances of the Royal Ballet Touring Company as I could afford. Somehow we find a way to pursue our passions.

[jockboy69]

@mithrilmoon1 Fantastic reply, and thank you.

So observant, and so intellectual; it sounds like you have a very deep knowledge of this world.

I don't, except that I worked in the Press dept's of the now-defunct Cleve. Ballet (knew quite well the 2 founders) and Carnegie Hall.

I just happen to adore the NYC Ballet, Balanchine and Stravinsky. The world is richer for the existence of these three things, IMHO!

It's nice that the BIG nuclear bomb hasn't gone off YET!

Thank you!

[mithrilmoon1]

@mjtpli She seems to me to be slipping in and out of numbness - of resigned acceptance of her fate because she knows how necessary her death is to the eventual success of the future harvest - and yet, now and then, desperately trying to do that very human thing - trying somehow to survive, to escape, even to beg for mercy - before the last vestige of breath and life leave her body. She and those around her know that, once the dance has begun, there can be only one outcome.

[mithrilmoon1]

@jockboy69 Yes indeed, just as Nijinksky's chosen original cast had to do. The turned-in feet, the odd, totally un-balletic steps, posture and arm movements, the almost undance-able score with its complicated time signatures - no wonder the original Chosen One, Maria Pilz, used to protest so often and so passionately at rehearsals. Pietragalla's performance is all the more remarkable due to her being only 19. Fantastic!

[mithrilmoon1]

@naniwa A wonderful performance. I don't see an 'absence of drama' - rather I see a young woman almost stupefied by her inescapable fate. She has no choice but to see this through, regardless of the pain, fear, exhaustion and isolation of having been 'chosen'. Bear in mind that SHE believes utterly in the necessity of such a sacrifice. Only now and then does she try to escape her fate - she is human, after all - but her mostly mask-like expression suggests resignation.

[TheTristanoz]

I never laughed so hard in my entire life, thank you.

[jockboy69]

Stravinsky observed about N's remark (50 years later, of course): "What Najinsky didn't seem to understand is that, just because we might come out together, does not mean AT ALL, that we were together ON THE WAY."

A very telling statement, I thought. I listened to that interview hundreds of times, and will never forget his remarks.