Stravinsky's "Les Noces"--the Royal Ballet, Part 1/3

Zenaida Yanowsky and David Pickering as the Bride and Bridegroom.

The Royal Ballet's version of Les Noces holds a special claim to authenticity and history, as
it was staged by the original choreographer, Bronislava Nijinska in 1966, and documented with much detail.

It was premiered on June 13, 1923, by the Ballets Russes.

Nijinska's austere vision is one of celebration and ritual among the family and community, not so much with the two principals.

Critic Alfred Kalisch, reviewing the London premiere of the ballet, described it as "enough to convert intending brides and bridegrooms to celibacy."

As always, Stravinsky's music seems to make more sense when danced to.

Robert Craft wrote: "The lament in the epithalamium at the end of Svadebka is as much for the loss of Holy Mother Russia as for the virginity of Nastasia Timofeyvna."

Category:

Music

Tags:

• ballet
• Bronislava
• dance
• Diaghilev
• LesNoces
• nijinska
• Stravinsky
• Svadebka

[BlueCougar]

Aw, come on. Listen to Webern, Carter or Crumb if you want to talk about eerie. This is almost classical music, inspired by Russian folk music harmonies. We've had more eerie music and chords in film scores from the '50es.

[Glyndwr65]

Almost hypnotic - captivating!

[Tiburonian]

I love Les Noces. Zenaida is superb in the role of bride.

[thedogesl]

Love the quote from Alfred Kalisch. We just saw a concert performance by the St. Louis Symphony and had much the same reaction. Great performance, mind you, but this piece is rather a wild ride. I wonder if Orff had this in mind when he wrote "Trionfo di Afrodite"? Sure sounds like it.

[kfcohea]

The impressionists and early 20th century composers were fascinated by Asian music. This is a fine example. You can also hear a strong echo of this music in the Uncle Tom's Cabin dance scene in the movie version of "The King & I" by Rogers & Hammerstein.. It's very similar.

[ManuelRelativista]

This is simply a masterful composition...

[Tsamnon]

I love it!!!!!!!

[fremsley001]

Loosely translated, the opening lyrics are: "I've put the potatoes on, they'll be ready in about 15 minutes, meanwhile let's do a bit of sowing and talk about Ivan's warts"

[martimtavares]

@BlueCougar - it's not russian folk harmonies - such a thing hardly exists actually. This is an octatonic scale, simply that. What is very folk-like are some of the wedding ceremonial elements!

[matju2]

Wow, this has had a clear, strong influence on Magma (Christian Vander)'s music.

Especially the Ẁurdah Ïtah (1974) album.