All about P. I. Tchaikovsky's ballet "The Sleeping Beauty"
The Sleeping Beauty ballet is a fabulous performance, a delightful extravaganza that captures the viewer both with its bright and solemn visual component, coupled with the musical theme of the authorship of the great Tchaikovsky, and deep philosophical overtones. The ballet in three acts is staged according to the plot of Charles Perrault's fairy tale, known to everyone since childhood, about a princess who fell asleep for a hundred years, who was awakened from her magical sleep only by the kiss of a handsome prince.
Creating the score for this production, Tchaikovsky fully revealed his legendary talent, elevating the music for the ballet from the rank of a “subordinate state” accompanied by dance to a complex and opening up new horizons work. Magnificent music, excellent dances and festive decorations return the viewer to the magical world of childhood for two and a half hours.
Summary
Behind the opened curtain, the viewer is awaited by a magnificent celebration arranged by King Florestan in his palace on the occasion of the christening of the newborn Princess Aurora. Among the guests there are six good fairies who have arrived to reward the little daughter of the king with magical gifts. However, the general fun is suddenly replaced by horror when the evil and powerful fairy Carabosse bursts into the ballroom, furious that they forgot to invite her to the royal celebration.
She wants to take revenge and casts a terrible spell on little Aurora, according to which the princess, on the day of her majority, will fall asleep forever, pricking her finger with an ordinary weaving spindle. After the departure of Carabosse, the godmother of Aurora, the Lilac Fairy, tries to soften the gloomy spell, telling the saddened royal couple that there is hope for a favorable outcome of the case and their daughter will fall asleep not forever, but for 100 years, and the kiss of the handsome prince can wake her up.
On the day of Aurora's coming of age, King Florestan again arranges a magnificent celebration in the garden of his palace. The butler of Catalabute reads the decree of the ruler, stating that anyone who brings a spindle or other sharp objects into the castle will go to prison. Court weavers, who ended up in the palace with their working tools, barely manage to avoid severe punishment.
During the holiday, numerous noble and wealthy grooms, who are handsome, come from royal families, are gallant and worthy, woo the beautiful princess. But none of them is able to captivate the heart of a young girl. Suddenly, Aurora notices an old woman in the corner of the garden, in whose hands is a spindle.
The girl runs up to her, takes the spindle in her hands and begins to spin with him in a dance, imagining that she is dancing with her lover. Carelessly touching the sharp end of the spindle, Aurora falls unconscious and falls into a deep sleep. The princes summoned to the ball rush to seize the culprit of the misfortune, but the old woman, whom, as it turns out, the evil fairy Carabosse turned into, laughs loudly and disappears, pleased with the accomplished atrocity. The Lilac Fairy Godmother decides to help the royal family in this unimaginable grief and puts the entire court to sleep along with Aurora for a whole 100 years so that everyone can witness the promised miraculous awakening of the princess.
A century has passed, and now, making his way through dense thickets while hunting, the handsome prince Desire finds himself with his retinue in an abandoned garden. Hunters and escorts start dancing and having fun here. Suddenly, on a majestic boat, the Lilac Fairy, already familiar to the viewer, floats up the river. Appearing to the prince, she shows him the way to the castle, where the king and queen, servants and courtiers froze for a century, where the same young Aurora rests peacefully. The prince in amazement examines the picture that has opened before him - people frozen without movement. He calls out to the king, the butler, but does not receive an answer, and then notices the sleeping beauty Aurora.
The prince is so amazed by the amazing beauty of the girl that he immediately leans down to kiss her. From a gentle kiss, the princess wakes up, and the castle and all its inhabitants come to life at the same moment. Prince Desire asks for the hand of Aurora from her royal father. The tale ends with a solemn wedding ceremony for the newlyweds.
Interesting Facts
Each act of the ballet is an independent work, like a part of a symphony - closed and complete in its form.
The performance has a deep philosophical meaning, opposing the Lilac fairy and the Carabosse fairy, which personifies the eternal struggle between good and evil, and the result of the fairy tale is the all-conquering power of the pure love of Aurora and Desiree.
Before Tchaikovsky, this tale was staged in the form of a ballet by the French composer Herold, who created a production called La Belle au bois dormant (Beauty of the Sleeping Forest) in 1829.
The ballet became one of the most expensive premieres of the Mariinsky Theater - 42 thousand rubles were allocated for it (a quarter of the annual budget of St. Petersburg theaters).
The scenography for the 2011 ballet in Moscow was staged by Ezio Frigerio, an Oscar-winning artist for his work on the set of Cyrano de Bergerac.
The name of King Florestan XIV is in honor of King Louis XIV of France, who is considered the founder of the ballet genre.
The author wrote music for the ballet while traveling around Europe, and while working on The Sleeping Beauty he visited Paris, Marseille, Tiflis, Constantinople, and then, returning to Moscow, provided the finished work.
Vsevolzhsky decided to stage a ballet based on a French fairy tale for political reasons, ardently supporting the course of Tsar Alexander III towards rapprochement with France.
Marius Petipa was born in Belgium and from the age of 9 he took part in productions staged by his father. From 1847 until the end of his life he lived and worked in Russia.
In Matthew Bourne's 2013 modernist production, Aurora is in love with a royal gardener named Leo, and the source of evil is the son of an evil witch who wants to avenge his mother.
In 1964, the Soviet film-ballet The Sleeping Beauty was filmed, where the choreographer Sergeev was involved. The main role in the film was played by the ballerina Alla Sizova, for which she was awarded the French Dance Academy Prize.
Music
Despite the fact that the ballet was created on the basis of an old French fairy tale, the music written by Tchaikovsky, in its lyrical component and emotional richness, is absolutely Russian. In this ballet, each musical movement is a brilliant masterpiece, evolving from scene to scene and culminating in the apotheosis of the triumph of love in the form of a grand adagio at the end of the performance.<
With his work, Tchaikovsky not only describes the plot, he reflects the contradictions of the inner world of a person, that eternal struggle of light and darkness that goes on in the soul of everyone, regardless of era and country. Musical accompaniment becomes the finishing touch of the story, its integral part.
The music of the great maestro has undergone various changes over the decades of productions of The Sleeping Beauty. The exact chronology of these changes during the existence of the ballet in the imperial theater could only be reconstructed from posters. So, almost immediately after the start of the show, the third act lost the slow Sarabande, and a little later - the variations of the Lilac fairy, and the minuet was excluded from the peasant dance suite. In the 20s of the 20th century, in the prologue, the scene of the appearance of the Carabosse fairy and the scenes of hunters' dances were reduced.
Each director of the Sleeping Beauty ballet changes the original score in one way or another in accordance with their own ideas. The Sleeping Beauty is recognized as a true world masterpiece of ballet art, setting a high standard for many generations to come. The stunning success of the performance in 1890, when the royal family was present in the hall of the Mariinsky Theater, echoes of applause is repeated in our days. The immortal music of Tchaikovsky, classical choreography with original elements or completely modified, luxurious scenery and exquisite costumes, the magic of a children's fairy tale and the deep problems of eternal philosophical questions - all this merged into a spectacle of incredible beauty and pomp, which is definitely worth seeing.
Throughout the 20th century, The Sleeping Beauty was successfully staged on various stages in many countries, becoming a real world heritage of art. Only the Bolshoi Theater saw seven different versions of the ballet, each of which was not inferior to the others in beauty and grandeur.
After a long and global renovation in 2011, the Bolshoi Theater again met its audience with the Sleeping Beauty ballet, where the role of Aurora was played by Svetlana Zakharova, and the role of Prince Desire was played by American David Holberg.
There are several contemporary readings of the play that use Tchaikovsky's classical music to accompany the modernist choreography. One of these original productions, which deserves special attention, is Matthew Bourne's ballet - a gothic fairy tale with a pronounced love line, where, according to the plot, Aurora wakes up in the modern world, which, however, is surprisingly surreal.
The production of the Spanish choreographer Duato is an extraordinary look at a classic work. Nacho Duato tried to speak with the audience in the language of dance and recreate the charm of the magic of a children's fairy tale, while maintaining the romantic spirit of the famous work.
The Sleeping Beauty" is performed by Rudolf Nureyev as Prince Florimund and Veronica Tennat as Princess Aurora. The National Ballet of Canada is classically magnificent and their dances are perceived as a jewel. Nureyev's characteristic and in this production - his additional choreography - captivates with the role of Prince Florimund. Superbly trained the troupe and soloists of the National Ballet of Canada add "plus" to this production. Canada, 1972
The Sleeping Beauty is recognized as a real world masterpiece of ballet art, setting a high standard for many generations to come. The stunning success of the performance in 1890, when the royal family was present in the hall of the Mariinsky Theater, echoes of applause is repeated in our days.
The immortal music of Tchaikovsky, classical choreography with original elements or completely modified, luxurious scenery and exquisite costumes, the magic of a children's fairy tale and the deep problems of eternal philosophical questions - all this merged into a spectacle of incredible beauty and pomp, which is definitely worth seeing.