Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Le Corsaire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the overture "Le corsaire" by Berlioz see Overtures by Hector Berlioz
| Important Ballets & *Revivals of Marius Petipa |
|---|
*Paquita (1847, *1881) |
Le Corsaire (The Pirate) is a Grand ballet in three acts, with a libretto originally created Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges, loosely based on the poem The Corsair by Lord Byron. Originally choreographed by Joseph Mazilier to the music of Adolphe Adam. First presented by the Ballet du Théâtre Impérial de l´Opéra in Paris on 23 January 1856. All modern productions of Le Corsaire have thier roots in the revivals staged by the Ballet Master Marius Petipa for the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg throughout the mid to late 19th century.
The ballet has many celebrated passages which are often extracted from the full-length work and performed independently: the scene Le jardin animé, the Pas d'Esclave, the Pas de trois des odalisques, and the so-called Le Corsaire Pas de Deux, which is among classical ballet's most famous and performed excerpts.
Today Le Corsaire is performed chiefly in two different versions: those productions derived from the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet's 1987 production (initially staged by Pyotr Gusev for the Maly Theatre of Leningrad in 1955); and those derived from the Ballet Master Konstantin Sergeyev's production (initially staged for the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet in 1973, and later for the Bolshoi Ballet in 1992). The most well-known production derived from Sergeyev's version is American Ballet Theatre's 1999 staging.
Today Adolphe Adam's score for Le Corsaire contains a substantial amount of additional musical material, primarily acquired by way of revivals staged by Petipa. By the time the Ballet Master staged his final revival of Le Corsaire in 1899, the score included musical contributions from eleven composers: Cesare Pugni, Prince Pyotr Georgievich of Oldenburg, Léo Delibes, Riccardo Drigo, Baron Boris Fitinhof-Schell, Yuli Gerber, Albert Zabel, Ludwig Minkus, Mikhail Ivanov and Alexander Zibin. Although many modern productions credit Léo Delibes jointly with Adolphe Adam for the score, it is Cesare Pugni who has the greater musical contribution aside from Adam.
Contents |
Lord Byron's 1814 poem The Corsaire inspired five ballets concerning pirates, buccaneers, etc. during the early period of the Romantic ballet. The first production was staged by Giovanni Galzerani in 1826 for the Ballet of La Scala in Milan.
On August 12, 1835 a second work on a similar subject was presented in Paris by the Ballet du Théâtre de l´Académie Royale de Musique under the title L'Ile des pirates. The ballet featured the legendary Première danseuse Fanny Elssler in the principal role of Mathilde (the velvet toque worn by Elssler during her performances caused a fashion craze among Parisian women). The staging was mounted by the Ballet Master Louis Henri to a libretto drafted by the noted singer/dramatist Adolphe Nourrit. The score—a musical pastiche typical of the early Romantic ballet—was assembled and adapted by the composer Casimir Gide from the airs of Ludwig van Beethoven, Gioachino Rossini and Luigi Carlini. The ballet was received with a measure of indifference by the balletomanes and critics, and was given twenty-four performances over the course of three years.
The third ballet inspired by Byron's poem was mounted under the title Le Corsaire by the Ballet Master Ferdinand Albert Decombe (known simply as Albert) to the music of the french harpist Nicholas Bochsa. The work was given its premiere in London on June 29, 1837 at the King's Theatre, with the ballerina Hermine Elssler in the role of Medora, Pauline Duvernay as Gulnare, and Albert himself in the role of Conrad. Apart from the choreography, Albert crafted the libretto as well in a version based almost entirely on Byron's poem. Albert presented a revival of the work on September 30, 1844 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in which he reprised the role of Conrad. The ballerina Clara Webster performed the role of Medora, with Adèle Dumilâtre in the role of Gulnare (she would later create the role of Myrtha in Giselle in 1841).
The Ballet Master Filippo Taglioni presented the fourth adaptation of Byron's The Corsair, set to the music of Herbert Gärich. Taglioni's version premiered on March 13, 1838 at the Prussian Court Opera in Berlin.
The fifth adaptation of Byron's The Corsair proved to be among the most celebrated and enduring ballets ever created. The work was first presented on January 23, 1856 by the Ballet du Théâtre Impérial de l´Opéra. The work was the brainchild of the Minister of State François Louise Crosnier, who also served as director of the Théâtre Impérial de l´Opéra, and of the Empress Eugénie, wife of Emperor Napoleon III, who made several suggestions concerning the ballet's scenario.
The choreographer was the Opéra's renowned Premier Maître de Ballet Joseph Mazilier, one of the most celebrated choreographers of his time, who was highly skilled in producing the full-length narrative ballets then in vogue. He had many successes to his credit, including Le Diable à Quatre in 1845, and Paquita in 1846.
As was standard practice in 19th century ballet, a literary man was commissioned to write the libretto, and here Mazilier looked to the most celebrated dramatist available—Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges—who fashioned a scenario loosely based on Byron's poem (Vernoy crafted libretti for many ballets throughout his life, most notably Giselle in collaboration with Théophile Gautier in 1841, and later for Marius Petipa's The Pharaoh's Daughter in 1862).
Le Corsaire was created primarily for the talents of the famous Italian ballerina Carolina Rosati, who was then the Paris Opéra's reigning Prima, who was much celebrated for her great beauty, strong pointes, clean batterie, precision of execution, and easily intelligible mime. The score was commissioned for a fee of 6,000 francs, in addition to royalties, from Adolphe Adam, who at that time was one of the most distinguished composers writing for both the ballet and the opera in France. The libretto for Le Corsaire went through many changes during the long months of the ballet's preparation, requiring Vernoy to be paid an additional 3,000 francs for the work.
Le Corsaire premiered to a resounding success, with Rosati's interpretation of the heroine Medora becoming the rage of Paris. Mazilier's choreography and his staging of the mise en scène were highly praised by the balletomanes and critics. Among is most the most notable passages was the Pas des Éventails of the second scene of act I—an elaborate Grand pas in which the heroine Medora and a large corps de ballet created a "peacock effect" with large fans. The stage effects—designed by the master machinist Victor Sacré—were hailed as the best yet seen on the stage of the Opéra. Sacré's realistic execution of the sinking Corsaire ship of the last scene became immortalized by Gustave Doré's drawing.
In attendance for the first three performances were Emperor Napoleon III and his wife, the Empress Eugénie, both of whom were fanatic balletomanes. So moved by Le Corsaire was the Empress that she exclaimed "In all my life I have never seen, and probably never shall see again, anything so beautiful or so moving."
Adam's score was highly praised for its melodiousness, orchestration, and dramatic intensity. It was to be the composer's last work—he died of a heart attack on May 3, 1856, nearly four months after the ballet's premiere. On the evening of the day of his death, Le Corsaire was given at the Paris Opéra in memoriam to him. In attendance was the royal family with their guest of honor, King William I of Württemberg. As equally moved by the ballet as was the Empress Eugénie, Emperor Napoleon III gave orders that all of the evening's box office receipts be given to the composer's widow.
Le Corsaire was given forty-three performances at the Opéra with only Rosati in the role of Medora. Her interpretation was considered by all to be incomparable, and after her departure from Paris in 1859 the ballet was taken out of the repertory. Not long afterwards the Ballet Master Mazilier retired.
Le Corsaire was first staged in Russia for the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg by the Ballet Master Jules Perrot, being given for the first time on January 24 [O.S. January 12] 1858 at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre. The production was mounted especially for the Ballerina Ekaterina Friedbürg, with the young Marius Petipa as Conrad. For this production Petipa assisted in rehearsals, and was permitted by Perrot to revise some of the dances, including the Pas des Éventails and the Scéne de seduction of act II.
Over the course of his long career, Petipa revived Le Corsaire on four occasions, each time significantly revising the mise en scène and adding a substantial number of new pas, variations, and incidental dances. His first revival was staged especially for his wife, the Prima Ballerina Maria Surovshchikova-Petipa, with the Danseur Christian Johansson as Conrad. The production premiered on February 5 [O.S. January 24] 1863, and included a substantially revised score by the composer Cesare Pugni that included much additional material.
Four years later Joseph Mazilier came out of retirement to mount a revival of Le Corsaire at the Paris Opéra for the German Ballerina Adèle Grantzow, a production which included new music by Léo Delibes. The production was also staged in honor of the 1867 Exposition Universelle given that year in Paris. Mazilier's revival premiered on October 21, 1867, and was given thirty-eight performances with Grantzow performing the role of Medora. After the ballerina's departure from Paris in 1868 Le Corsaire was again taken out of the Opéra's repertory, never to be performed by the Parisian ballet again.
In the winter of 1867, Granztow was invited to perform with the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg. For the occasion, Petipa staged a revival of Le Corsaire, which was given for the first time on February 6 [O.S. January 25] 1868. For the production Petipa again called upon Cesare Pugni to compose music for new dances.
Petipa's third revival of Le Corsaire was staged especially for the Russian Ballerina Eugeniia Sokolova, given for the first time on November 22 [O.S. November 10] 1885.
Petipa presented his last and most important revival of Le Corsaire on January 25 [O.S. January 13] 1899, at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre. This production was mounted especially for the benefit performance of Pierina Legnani—Prima ballerina assoluta of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres—with Olga Preobrajenskaya as Gulnare and Pavel Gerdt as Conrad.
In 1894 the Imperial Ballet began documenting their repertory in Stepanov method of dance notation. The choreography for Le Corsaire began to be documented in 1894 with the scene Le jardin animé, and was completed in 1906. After the Russian revolution of 1917 the Imperial Ballet's régisseur Nicholas Sergeyev brought the choreographic documentation out of Russia, utilizing it to stage such classics as The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and The Nutcracker, as well as Petipa's definitive versions of Giselle and Coppélia for the first time in the west primarily for the Vic-Wells Ballet (today the Royal Ballet). From there these ballets went on to be staged all over the world. In 1969 Harvard University purchased this collection, where it now resides as the Sergeyev Collection.
In 2007, the Bavarian State Ballet utilized the notation to reconstruct 25 dances from Petipa's 1899 revival of Le Corsaire for their new production. The Bolshoi Ballet made use of the notations as well when they staged their lavish production of Le Corsaire in 2007.
A substantial number of supplemental pas, variations and various other dances were inserted into Le Corsaire throughout its performance history, primarily by Marius Petipa in Imperial Russia. Below is a list of the history of the most notable of these pieces.
For his 1863 revival Petipa commissioned the composer Cesare Pugni to revise and add to Adam's score. Among these new numbers was an elaborate overture which opened the first act.
Pugni's musical contribution to Adam's music was so prolific that he received equal credit for the score in Imperial-era programs.
In 1858 Petipa interpolated a pas de deux into the first act of Le Corsaire taken from his 1857 ballet The Rose, the Violet, and the Butterfly, a work set to the music of Prince Pyotr Georgievich of Oldenburg. Petipa titled the piece as the Pas d'Esclave.
Petipa arranged the Pas d'Esclave as a dramatic Pas d'action for three dancers, in which a slave girl was presented to the potential buyers of the slave market. Originally the slave girl was partnered by a male slave and an additional suitor. When Agrippina Vaganova staged her version of Le Corsaire for the Kirov Ballet in 1931, the Pas d'Esclave included the character Gulnare in place of the anonymous slave girl. Vaganova further revised the pas by excluding the additional suitor, transforming the pas into a duet. It was not until Pyotr Gusev's revival of Le Corsaire for the Leningrad Maly Theatre in 1955 that the character Lankendem began to take part in the Pas d'Esclave.
Originally the Pas d'Esclave consisted of no variations for the soloists. Over time various solos were interpolated from other works. The traditional variations in place today have been included in the Pas d'Esclave since the early 20th century. The first variation, traditionally danced by the character Lankendem, is set to music by the composer Alexander Zibin. Taken from an unknown work, the variation was first interpolated into the piece by the Danseur Pierre Vladimirov when he danced in the piece in 1914. The Mariinsky Theatre's score for Le Corsaire titles the solo as 21/12/1914; Variation pour Vladimirov. Today the variation is performed with choreography by Vakhtang Chabukiani, created in 1931.
The female variation, traditionally danced today by the character Gulnare, is by Riccardo Drigo. It was originally created as an addition to Marius Petipa's 1888 ballet The Vestal. Today the variation is performed with choreography by the Ballet Master Pyotr Gusev.
In 1863 Petipa arranged a comedic scene for his wife, Maria Surovshchikova-Petipa, to music by Cesare Pugni, which he called Finesse d'amour. The music was originally an elaborate two part variation d'action which Petipa added to his 1866 revival of another of Mazilier's ballets—Le Diable amoureux (staged in Russia as Satanella)—for the Ballerina Praskovia Lebedeva.
The scene Finesse d'amour took place in the first act, with the heroine Medora teasing the Seïd Pasha while the slave-trader Lankendem attempts to sell her. Today the scene is only retained in selected stagings of Le Corsaire, such as the Boston Ballet and American Ballet Theatre's productions—and only in a shortened version. In 2007 the Bolshoi Ballet presented Petipa's reconstructed choreography for Finesse d'amour in their production of Le Corsaire.
For his revival of 1868, Petipa replaced Mazilier's original Pas des Éventails in the second scene of act I, with an elaborate Pas de six for the Ballerina Adèle Grantzow, set to new music by Cesare Pugni. The pas was staged for the characters Medora, Conrad, and four coryphées, and included only one variation for Medora and a dance for the four coryphées.
The Pas de six was retained in the St. Petersburg editions of Le Corsaire until 1915. That year the pas was replaced by a Pas d'action created by the choreographer Samuil Andrianov, which is today known as the Le Corsaire Pas de Deux.
For his revival of 1868 Petipa inserted a new dance for the ballerina Adèle Grantzow into the second scene of act I. This Pas de caractéristique was set to a new polka composed by Cesare Pugni. In this solo the heroine Medora performs a dance with a prop megaphone while imitating and costumed as a Corsaire. The variation ends with the Ballerina shouting "Au bord!". Petite Corsaire went on to become one of the most celebrated passages of Le Corsaire (it is described by the Ballerina Tamara Karsavina in her famous biography Theatre Street).
In 1863 Petipa expanded the Pas des odalisques of Act II. Originally this piece consisted only of Adolphe Adam's waltz from the original score. Petipa expanded this piece into a classical Pas de trois, consisting of an entrée (being Adam's original waltz), 3 variations, and a coda. The first two variations and the coda were set to new music by Pugni, while the third variation was transferred from another part of Adam's original score.
In 1868 Petipa added a new mazurka into the first scene of act I titled as the Danse des forbans, set to new music by Pugni. The Ballet Master choreographed the mazurka to be lead by the character Birbanto, who made his entrance with two prop muskets which he "fired" on stage to the musical accents. The mazurka proceeded with a large male corps de ballet dancing with their prop Scimitar swords. For his revival of 1899 Petipa moved the Danse des forbans to the second scene of act I, where it is still retained in many modern productions of Le Corsaire.
When Joseph Mazilier revived Le Corsaire in Paris in 1867 for the German ballerina Adèle Grantzow, he inserted a Grand pas into the second act known as the Pas des fleurs. Mazilier commissioned Léo Delibes—a pupil of Adolphe Adam—to compose the required music.
In 1868 Grantzow was invited by Emperor Alexander II to perform with the Imperial Ballet. For the occasion, Marius Petipa prepared a revival of Le Corsaire. which included an elaboratly expanded version of the Pas des fleurs. Petipa retitled he scene as Le jardin animé. Delibes' music was brought from Paris by Grantzow in a piano reduction, requiring Cesare Pugni to re-orchestrate. Pugni also expanded the music for the opening Grande valse in accordance with Petipa's new staging, and also composed new variations for the principal ballerinas.
Nearly all productions of Le Corsaire familiar to modern audiences contain an edition of the scene Le jardin animé as revised by the Ballet Master Pyotr Gusev, whose version is itself based on revisions from the early Soviet period as staged in Leningrad. Gusev originally mounted his revival of the full-length Le Corsaire in 1955 for the Maly Theatre of Leningrad, and the production was later included in the repertory of the Kirov Ballet. Gusev's version of the scene Le jardin animé simplified Petipa's elaborate choreography, and also included a revised version of the music. Cesare Pugni's expanded passages for Delibes' musis were edited out by Gusev, though his orchestration of the music was retained. Many ballet companies today perform this version of Delibes' music—notably American Ballet Theatre and the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet.
In 2004 the Pacific Northwest Ballet School presented a reconstruction of Marius Petipa's choreography as notated in the Sergeyev Collection for the final performance at the end of the school year. Since the school did not have access to the revised music of Delibes as prepared by Cesare Pugni, the notated choreography set to these passages was not included. In 2006 the Bavarian State Ballet included the reconstructed choreography for the scene in their production of the full-length Le Corsaire, and in 2007, the Bolshoi Ballet also included the restored edition for their production.
For Petipa's 1899 revival new variations for Medora and Gulnare were used in substitution of Delibes' original solos in the scene Le jardin animé. The first, danced by Olga Preobrajenskaya as Gulnare, was originally the Variation d´Amour taken from the 1876 Petipa/Minkus ballet The Adventures of Peleus, while the second variation, danced by Pierina Legnani as Medora, was taken from Petipa's 1883 ballet Pygmalion (a.k.a. The Cyprus Statue). The variation is by the composer Riccardo Drigo, and was added to Pygmalion in 1895.
The variation danced in 1899 by Olga Preobrajenskaya as Gulnare is no longer performed in Le jardin animé, and has been replaced over time by a variation Petipa choreographed in 1885 for the Ballerina Eugenia Sokolova to the music of Albert Zabel (principal harpist in the orchestra of the St. Petersburg Imperial Mariinsky Theatre at the turn of the 20th century). Today Sokolova's variation is retained in almost all productions of Le Corsaire during the scene Le jardin animé as a variation for the character Gulnare.
The variation danced in 1899 by Pierina Legnani as Medora is still retained in the scene Le jardin animé in the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet's production of Le Corsaire.
The Prima ballerina Natalia Dudinskaya preferred to dance a rarely heard variation taken from Ludwig Minkus's original score for Petipa's Don Quixote in substitution of Legnani's variation. This variation is retained as a variations for the character Medora in the scene Le jardin animé in Amercian Ballet Theatre's produciton of Le Corsaire.
The so-called Le Corsaire Pas de Deux is one of the most popular and performed excerpts in all of classical ballet. Today this celebrated piece has become a major repertory staple of ballet companies all of over the world, while many dancers perform it in ballet competitions.
On January 24 [O.S. January 11] 1915, Le Corsaire was presented in a new production at the Mariinsky Theatre. For this revival the Ballet Master Samuil Andrianov—who performed the role of Conrad—arranged a new Pas d'action for the second scene of act I.
Originally this scene contained the Pas des Éventails—an elaborate Grand pas that made use of large fans—which the original production staged in Paris in 1856 offered as a Pièce de résistance. In 1868 Marius Petipa replaced the Pas des Éventails with a Pas de six to the music of Cesare Pugni. For the 1915 production, Andrianov replaced Petipa's Pas de six with a new Pas d'action.
The opening adagio was staged by Andrianov for three dancers—the characters Conrad, Medora (performed by Tamara Karsavina) and an additional suitor (performed by Mikhail Obhukov). Then followed variations for the each of the two principals, with the piece ending in a rousing coda.
As was standard practice at that time in ballet history, Andrianov selected music from various sources in order to create this piece. The opening adagio was set to a nocturne composed by Drigo titled Dreams of Spring. The variation in triple time performed by the character Conrad was taken from the composer Yuli Gerber's score for Petipa's 1870 ballet Trilby (this remains the famous variation performed by all male dancers today in the Le Corsaire Pas de Deux). Tamara Karsavina performed a variation in polka rhythm taken from the composer Baron Boris Fitinhof-Schell's score for the 1893 ballet Cinderella, originally staged by Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov and Enrico Cecchetti. Since 1915, Karsavina's variation has been substituted out quite often. Nevertheless her variation is still considered the "traditional" solo for the character Medora in the Le Corsaire Pas de Deux. The coda was set to music composed especially for the piece by Drigo.
In 1931, Agrippina Vaganova revised the choreography of the 1915 Pas d'action. She transformed the piece into an athletic duet for the graduation performance of her pupil, Natalia Dudinskaya, who was partnered by Konstantin Sergeyev. Through Vaganova's revision, the Le Corsaire Pas de Deux took on the basic shape it has today. In 1939 Vaganova's version was inserted into the Kirov Ballet's 1936 production of the full-length Le Corsaire, with the dancers Galina Ulanova and Nikolai Zubkovsky in the principal roles.
It was the noted Premier danseur of the Kirov Ballet, Vakhtang Chabukiani, who had the most influential hand in refashioning the male dancing of the Le Corsaire Pas de Deux. During his performances in the piece during the 1930s he gave the male role more athletic and virtuoso choreographic elements. His interpretaion of the male role became, in essence, the standard, and it has remained so to the present day.
When Pyotr Gusev staged his 1955 revival of the full-length Le Corsaire for the Maly Theatre in Leningrad, he restored the Le Corsaire Pas de Deux to its original form, with the opening adagio being performed by three persons.
In 1960, Rudolf Nureyev staged the Le Corsaire Pas de Deux for himself and Margot Fonteyn in London. Nureyev called upon John Lanchbery to create a new orchestration of the music. Today, Lanchbery's arrangements are still in use by many ballet companies in the west.
Many variations have been used in substitution of Tamara Karsavina's solo of 1915. One popular variation is the Variation de Reine des Dryades taken from Alexander Gorsky's 1900 revival of Marius Petipa's Don Quixote. This variation is by the composer Anton Simon, and features a solo for violin in triple time.
Another variation which is often danced in the Le Corsaire Pas de Deux by the ballerina is taken from modern stagings of Marius Petipa's 1877 ballet La Bayadère, and is traditionally danced by the character Gamzatti in that ballet. The variation is by the composer Cesare Pugni, and is taken from the Pas de Venus from his score for Petipa's 1968 ballet Le Roi Candaule.
Originally, the additional danseur who participated in the piece known today as the Le Corsaire Pas de Deux merely served as suitor for the ballerina, and had no other purpose in the ballet's action. By 1937 when the Danseur Nikolai Zubkovsky performed the role, this suitor evolved into a character known as the Rhab (russian for Slave). By the time the Kirov Ballet's Premier danseur Vakhtang Chabukiani danced the role in the 1930s, the character wore a costume which consisted of baggy pants and chains strapped around a shirt-less torso. Over time the costume came to include the now standard head-band with a feather protruding from the forehead. When Pyotr Gusev staged his revival of Le Corsaire for the Maly Theatre in 1955, the Rhab character was named Ali, and was given a more prevalent part in the ballet's action. This change in the character from a mere suitor to a slave also gave rise to revisions in the choreography of the Le Corsaire Pas de Deux, with many of the dancers who performed in the role adding in more athletic and exotic elements of choreography.
In March 1858 Petipa was dispatched to mount the Perrot staging of Le Corsaire for the Ballet of the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre, who performed the production with some regularity until it was taken from the repertory in 1880. Le Corsaire was not performed again on the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre until the Ballet Master Ivan Clustin presented his staging on March 22 [O.S. March 9] 1894.
On January 12 [O.S. December 31] 1912 Alexander Gorsky—Premier Maïtre de Ballet of the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre—presented his own version, with Ekaterina Geltzer as Medora and Vasily Tikhomirov as Conrad. Typical of his revivals of works from the St. Petersburg repertory, Gorsky included more ethnographic and historically accurate elements with regard to the setting (the only surviving example of Gorsky's style in reviving a work from the classical repertory is the famous ballet Don Quixote, which is performed today all over the world in productions derived from his 1901 and 1902 editions staged in Moscow and St. Petersburg).
For his revival of 1912 Gorsky interpolated a substantial number of new dances set to music from a variety of sources, with Adolphe Adam's original music serving as the foundation. The traditional dances as added by Joseph Mazilier and Marius Petipa were retained, while a number of airs taken from the works of such composers as Edvard Grieg, Anton Simon, Reinhold Glière]], Karl Goldmark, Frédéric Chopin, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, and Antonín Dvořák. Among the most notable additions was a dream sequence set to a Nocturne by Chopin, in which the character Medora dreams of her beloved Conrad, and a divertissement for Turkish, Persian, and Arabian slave-women during the scene in the slave-market in the first act, which was set to Simon's new music.
Another of Gorsky's additions was the Pas de deux which would one day be known as the Tchaikovsky Pas de deux—originally fashioned by Tchaikovsky from a supplemental Pas de deux composed by Ludwig Minkus which was included in the original 1877 production of Swan Lake. The piece was placed by the Ballet Master during the second act divertissement set in the Corsaire's underground palace. This pas de deux was thought to be lost for many years by ballet historians and musicologists. The fact that Gorsky included this piece in his version of Le Corsaire led to its accidental re-discovery in 1953, when it was found in the archives of the Bolshoi Theatre among the orchestral parts used for Gorsky's 1912 production. Upon learning of the existence of this music, George Balanchine subsequently choreographed the piece as the Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux for the dancers Violette Verdy and Conrad Ludlow. Today the piece is quite popular with companies all over the world.
Gorsky's revival of Le Corsaire remained in the repertory of the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre until 1927. Although the company regularly performed extracts from Le Corsaire for many years, the full-length work was not given again until Konstantin Sergeyev staged his version for the company in 1992.
On June 21, 2007 the Bolshoi Ballet presented a lavish revival of Le Corsaire, which included twenty-five of Petipa's dances as staged for his 1899 revival reconstructed from the choreographic notation of the Sergeyev Collection. The staging proved to be the most expensive production of a ballet ever mounted, estimated at $1.5 million USD.
Adam's original score as performed for Mazilier's 1867 revival was obtained from the archives of the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The production also made use of music taken from Riccardo Drigo's score for Lev Ivanov's 1887 ballet The Enchanted Forest for a Grand pas in the last act.
Petipa's 1899 revival of Le Corsaire—which was given its final production in 1915—remained in the repertory of the Mariinsky Theatre until 1928 (after the 1917 Russian Revolution the ballet company was known as the State Petrograd Ballet, and later the State Academic Ballet, before it was renaimed the Kirov Ballet). By 1928 Le Corsaire had been performed 224 times since 1899 at the Mariinsky Theatre.
Agrippina Vaganova, the revered pedagogue of Russian Ballet, supervised the first "after Petipa" revival of Le Corsaire for the Kirov Ballet, first performed on May 15, 1931. In 1936 another revival of Le Corsaire was given by the Kirov Ballet, with Natalia Dudinskaya as Medora, Mikhail Mikhailov as Conrad, and Vakhtang Chabukiani as the Slave (or Rhab, as the character was known in Russia). This was the first production of the full-length work to include Vaganova's 1931 revision of the Le Corsaire Pas de Deux as staged for Dudinskaya's graduation performance. The revival also included a new version of the Pas d'Esclave, with the characters Lankendem and Gulnare performing in the piece. The 1936 revival remained in the Kirov Ballet's regular repertory until 1941. From 1941 until 1959 the production was only given on a few occasions until it was totally removed from the repertory.
The Balletmaster Pyotr Gusev staged a new version of Le Corsaire for the Maly Theatre of Leningrad in 1955. This was the first production of the work to present a modified version of the libretto, written by Gusev and the ballet historian Yuri Slonimsky. A new character was also included—known as the slave Ali—a role which evolved out of the Slave who took part in the Le Corsaire Pas de Deux in the early Soviet productions of Le Corsaire at the Mariinsky Theatre.
Gusev opted to include a completely new version of the ballet's score. Although the Ballet Master retained the traditional interpolations of Petipa and Mazilier, he opted to discard nearly all of Adam's original score in favor of music fashioned from airs taken from Adam's 1842 ballet La Jolie fille du gand and his 1852 opera Si j'étais roi, with the conductor Eugene Kornblit adapting and orchestrating the music accordingly.
Additional dances were also added: a pizzicati taken from Riccardo Drigo's score for Petipa's 1889 ballet The Talisman, which was used to accompany a dance for four coryphées in the scene Le jardin animé. Gusev also added dances for Turkish, Persian, and Arabian slave-women to music by Anton Simon, taken from Alexander Gorsky's 1912 revival at the Bolshoi Theatre. With the new music fashioned from Adam's other works, new leitmotifs were created for the ballet's main characters.
Gusev also created a new prologue in his revival, which included the famous shipwreck transferred from the last scene. There followed a scene set on a beach where Gusev staged a pas for the characters Medora, Gulnare and ten coryphées.
Gusev's revival premiered on May 31, 1955, and went on to become the most popular version of Le Corsaire in Russia. In 1977 the director of the Kirov Ballet, Oleg Vinogradov, staged Gusev's version for the company, who still retain the production in their repertory.
In 1973, the Ballet Master of the Kirov Ballet, Konstantin Sergeyev, staged his own version of Le Corsaire. For this production Sergeyev included a new variation for the characters Conrad and Birbanto in Act I fashioned from themes taken from Adam's original score. Sergeyev also included two dances taken from Riccardo Drigo's score for Petipa's 1894 ballet The Awakening of Flora—a dance for eight slave girls in the first act, and an adagio for the characters Medora and Conard in the second act (this number is often referred to as the "Bedroom Pas de Deux").
Sergeyev's revival only lasted nine performances in the Kirov's repertory, as the production was pulled when the Ballet Master fell into disfavor with the Soviet government due to the recent defections from the U.S.S.R. of Natalia Makarova and Mikhail Baryshnikov. His production was replaced in 1977 by Pyotr Gusev's revival, which was staged by the company's newly appointed director Oleg Vinogradov.
In 1987 the Kirov Ballet decided to present a revival of Le Corsaire for its upcoming world tour. There was much debate as to whether Gusev's staging would be retained or whether Sergeyev's version would be reinstated. The company chose to retain Gusev's version, while still lavishing the production with new sets and costumes. This staging premiered to great success in New York at the Metropolitan Opera House on July 3, 1989 with the Ballerina Altynai Asylmuratova as Medora (this production was filmed at the Mariinsky Theatre in April 1989, and has been released onto DVD/video).
In 1992 Yuri Grigorovich, director of the Bolshoi Ballet of Moscow, invited Sergeyev to mount his 1973 revival of Le Corsaire for the company. This production—which included a heavily re-edited and re-orchestrated score by the Bolshoi Theatre's conductor Alexander Sotnikov—premiered on March 11, 1992 to great success, but after only seven performances Grigorovich decided to pull the production from the repertory. After witnessing the success of Sergeyev's production, Grigorovich decided to stage his own version, which premiered on February 16, 1994. Grigorovich's production was then taken out of the repertory after the director left the company in 1995. In 2005 the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Yuri Tkatchenko recorded the version of the score used for Grigorovich's 1994 production, which was released by the publishing company Shinshokan.
The sets and costumes designed by Irina Tibilova for Konstantin Sergeyev's 1992 Moscow production sat unused in the archives of the Bolshoi Theatre for almost five years. At the suggestion of Sergeyev's wife, the Ballerina and teacher Natalia Dudinskaya, Anna-Marie Holmes staged Sergeyev's production for the Boston Ballet (with the assistance of Dudinskaya, Tatiana Terekhova, Sergei Berezhnoi, Tatiana Legat, and Vadim Disnitsky). The music for this production was copied from the conductor's score used for Sergeyev's production in Sotnikov's orchestration, as well as additional parts taken from the Mariinsky Theatre Library. In some cases the Boston Ballet used copies of the Bolshoi's score from Grigorovich's 1994 version, which also contained orchestrations by Alexander Sotnikov. The Boston Ballet music librarian Arthur Leeth, the company pianist Marina Gendal, and conductor Jonathan McPhee performed a cut-and-paste operation on the score as the choreography was adapted for the new staging. This required the re-ordering of many numbers, as well as a few new transitional passages which were composed by Kevin Galie. Galie also did some minor reorchestrating throughout many parts of the score. This production premiered on March 27, 1997 with the Ballerina Natasha Akhmarova as Medora, to great success.
Nearly one year later, American Ballet Theatre rented the Boston Ballet's production of Le Corsaire. The staging went through even more revisions both choreographically and musically, with modifications performed by American Ballet Theatre conductor Charles Parker and the company pianist Henrietta Stern. With regard to the plot, a crucial revision was made by the transformation of Mediterranean Corsaires into Caribbean Pirates. This production premiered on June 19, 1998, with Nina Ananiashvili as Medora, Ashley Tuttle as Gulnare, Giuseppe Picone as Conrad, Jose Manuel Carreño as Ali, and Vladimir Malakhov Lankendem. The ABT production was later filmed at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, California by PBS for Great Performances in 1999, with Julie Kent as Medora, Paloma Herrera as Gulnare, Ethan Steifel as Conrad, Angel Corella as Ali, and Vladimir Malakhov as Lankendem. The film has since been released onto DVD/video
In June 2004 the School of the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle presented a reconstruction of Petipa's choreography for the scene Le jardin animé, taken directly from the notation of the Sergeyev Collection. It was staged by the dance historian and Stepanov notation expert Douglas Fullington, and Manard Stewart, former principal dancer of the Pacific Northwest Ballet.
In 2006, the Bayerisches Staatsballett (Bavarian State Ballet) presented a partial reconstruction of Petipa's 1899 revival of Le Corsaire. For this production, twenty-five of Petipa's original dances were reconstructed from the Stepanov Choreographic Notation of the Sergeyev Collection.
Below is a list of the titles for the dances and mise en scène from the Bolshoi Ballet's recent revival of Le Corsaire, which follows the original 1856 libretto as close as possible while still including most of the important interpolations. Unless otherwise noted, all of the music is the work of Adolphe Adam. All libretti and programs of works performed on the Tsarist stage were titled in French, which was the official language of the Imperial Russian Court, as well as the language in which balletic terminology is derived.
Act I (scene 1)
- no.1 Ouverture (Cesare Pugni; 1863)
- no.2 Grand scène du bazar d´Andrianople
- no.3 Entrée de Médora
- no.4 L´arivée du Seïd Pasha
- no.5 Pas d´esclave (Prince Pyotr of Oldenburg – from Marius Petipa's La Rose, la Violette et le Papillon, 1857) —
-
- a. Entrée
- b. Pas d´action
- c. 21/12/1914; Variation pour Vladimirov (? Zibin – interpolation for Pierre Vladimirov. 1914)
- d. Variation (Riccardo Drigo – interpolation for Marius Petipa's La Vestale. Circa 1888)
- e. Coda
- no.6 Scène
- no.7 Finesse d´amour (Cesare Pugni – interpolation for Praskovia Lebedeva from Marius Petipa's revival of Satanella. 1866)
- no.8 Scène
- no.10 Danse des corsaires—Ballabile d'action (Expanded by Cesare Pugni. 1863)
- no.11 Scène de l´abduction (Cesare Pugni. 1858)
Act I (scene 2)
- no.12 Entr´acte
- no.13 Scène de la grotte du corsaires
- no.14 Danse des forbans (Cesare Pugni. 1868)
- no.15 Pas d´action, aka Le Corsaire Pas de Deux (interpolation by the Ballet Master Samuil Andrianov. 1915) –
-
- a. Andante (Riccardo Drigo – Nocturne pour le piano: Rêves de printemps)
- b. Variation (Yuli Gerber – from Petipa's Trilby. 1870)
- c. Variation (Baron Boris Fitinhof-Schell – from the Petipa/Ivanov/Cecchetti Cendrillon. 1893)
- d. Coda (Riccardo Drigo?)
- no.16 La mutinerie
- no.17 La fleur empoisnnée
- no.18 Petite corsaire (Cesare Pugni – interpolation for Adèle Grantzow. 1868)
- no.19 Danse des enfants
- no.20 Scène dansante
- no.21 L´abduction de Médora
Act II
- no.22 Introduction et scène du harem
- no.23 Entrée des odalisques
- no.24 Entrée de Gulnara
- no.25 L´arivée de la Sultana
- no.26 Scène de séduction
- no.27 Scène d´espièglerie
- no.28 Pas de trois des odalisques (Revised by Cesare Pugni. 1863) –
-
- a. Entrée
- b. Variation (Cesare Pugni. 1863)
- c. Variation (Cesare Pugni. 1863)
- d. Variation
- e. Coda (Cesare Pugni. 1863)
- no.29 L´arrivée de Médora
- no.30 Entrée des pélerins
- no.31 Le jardin animé (Léo Delibes. Pas des fleurs for Adèle Grantzow. 1867) –
-
- a. Grande valse (Revised by Cesare Pugni. 1868)
- b. Grand pas
- c. Variation (Albert Zabel – interpolation for Eugenia Sokolova. Circa 1885)
- d. Pizzicato (Riccardo Drigo – interpolation for Marius Petipa's revival of La Esmeralda. 1898)
- e. Intermède
- f. Variation pour Mlle. Grantzow
- g. Coda générale
- no.32 Scène finale
Act III (scene 1)
- no.33 Introduction
- no.34 Le palais du Seïd Pasha
- no.35 Scène
- no.36 La cérémonie du mariage
- no.37 Grand pas des éventails (Riccardo Drigo. Taken from Lev Ivanov's La Forêt enchantée. 1887)
-
- a. Entrée
- b. Grand adage
- c. Pas de six
- d. Variation
- e. Variation (Riccardo Drigo – interpolation for Sergei Legat from Marius Petipa's Le Miroir magique. Circa 1903)
- f. Variation (Riccardo Drigo – interpolation for Pierina Legnani from Marius Petipa's Pygmalion, or La Statue de Chypre. Circa 1895)
- g. Grand coda
- no.38 Scène dansante
Act III (scene 2)
- no.39 Le navire des corsaires
- no.41 Danse á bord du vaisseau
- no.42 La tempête et le naufrage
Act III (scene 3)
- no.43 Apothéose
- American Ballet Theatre. Theatre program for Le Corsaire. Playbill 24-26,31. 2005.
- Bayerisches Staatsballett (Bavarian State Ballet). Theatre program for Le Corsaire. 2007.
- Bolshoi Theatre. Theatre program for Le Corsaire. 2007.
- Fullington, Doug. Petipa's Le Jardin Animé Restored. The Dancing Times: September, 2004. Vol. 94, No. 1129.
- Garafola, Lynn, ed. and translator. The Diaries of Marius Petipa from Studies in Dance History: Spring 1992 Vol. III, No. 1
- Guest, Ivor Forbes. CD Liner notes. Adolphe Adam. Le Corsaire. Richard Bonynge cond. English Chamber Orchestra. Decca 430 286-2.
- Guest, Ivor Forbes. Ballet of the Second Empire.
- Guest, Ivor Forbes. Jules Perrot: Master of the Romantic Ballet.
- Mariinsky Ballet. Theatre program for Le Corsaire. 2004.
- Sidney-Fryer, Donald. The Case of the Light Fantastic Toe: The Romantic Ballet and Signor Maestro Cesare Pugni.
- Smakov, Gennady. The Great Russian Dancers.
- Wiley, Roland John, selector and translator. A Century of Russian Ballet: Documents and Eyewitness Accounts 1810-1910.
- Wiley, Roland John. Dances from Russia: An introduction to the Sergeyev Collection. The Harvard Library Bulletin: January, 1976. Vol. XXIV, No. 1.