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Famous Russian ballets. Top 5

Classical ballet is an amazing art form that was born in Italy during the mature Renaissance and “moved” to France, where the credit for its development, including the founding of the Academy of Dance and the codification of many movements, belonged to King Louis XIV. France exported the art of theatrical dance to all European countries, including Russia. In the middle of the 19th century, the capital of European ballet was no longer Paris, which gave the world the masterpieces of romanticism La Sylphide and Giselle, but St. Petersburg. It was in the Northern capital that the great choreographer Marius Petipa, the creator of the classical dance system and the author of masterpieces that still do not leave the stage, worked for almost 60 years. After the October Revolution, they wanted to “throw the ballet off the ship of modernity,” but they managed to defend it. Soviet times were marked by the creation of a considerable number of masterpieces. We present five Russian top ballets - in chronological order.

"Don Quixote"

Scene from the ballet Don Quixote. One of the first productions by Marius Petipa

Premiere of the ballet by L.F. Minkus "Don Quixote" at the Bolshoi Theater. 1869 From the album of architect Albert Kavos

Scenes from the ballet Don Quixote. Kitri - Lyubov Roslavleva (center). Staged by A.A. Gorsky. Moscow, Bolshoi Theater. 1900

Music by L. Minkus, libretto by M. Petipa. First production: Moscow, Bolshoi Theater, 1869, choreography by M. Petipa. Subsequent productions: St. Petersburg, Mariinsky Theatre, 1871, choreography by M. Petipa; Moscow, Bolshoi Theater, 1900, St. Petersburg, Mariinsky Theater, 1902, Moscow, Bolshoi Theater, 1906, all - choreography by A. Gorsky.

The Don Quixote ballet is a theatrical performance full of life and joy, an eternal celebration of dance that never tires adults and to which parents are happy to take their children. Although it is named after the hero of the famous novel by Cervantes, it is based on one of his episodes, “The Wedding of Quiteria and Basilio,” and tells about the adventures of young heroes, whose love ultimately wins, despite the opposition of the heroine’s stubborn father, who wanted to marry her to rich Gamache.

So Don Quixote has almost nothing to do with it. Throughout the entire performance, a tall, thin artist, accompanied by a short, pot-bellied colleague portraying Sancho Panza, walks around the stage, sometimes making it difficult to watch the beautiful dances composed by Petipa and Gorsky. Ballet, in essence, is a concert in costume, a celebration of classical and character dance, where all the dancers of any ballet company have a job.

The first production of the ballet took place in Moscow, where Petipa visited from time to time in order to raise the level of the local troupe, which could not be compared with the brilliant troupe of the Mariinsky Theater. But in Moscow there was more freedom to breathe, so the choreographer, in essence, staged a ballet-memory of the wonderful years of his youth spent in a sunny country.

The ballet was a success, and two years later Petipa moved it to St. Petersburg, which necessitated alterations. There they were much less interested in characteristic dances than in pure classics. Petipa expanded “Don Quixote” to five acts, composed the “white act,” the so-called “Don Quixote’s Dream,” a real paradise for lovers of ballerinas in tutus and owners of pretty legs. The number of cupids in the “Dream” reached fifty-two...

“Don Quixote” came to us in a reworking by the Moscow choreographer Alexander Gorsky, who was keen on the ideas of Konstantin Stanislavsky and wanted to make the old ballet more logical and dramatically convincing. Gorsky destroyed Petipa's symmetrical compositions, abolished tutus in the "Dream" scene and insisted on the use of dark makeup for dancers portraying Spanish women. Petipa called him a “pig,” but already in the first adaptation of Gorsky the ballet was performed on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater 225 times.

"Swan Lake"

Scenery for the first performance. Big theater. Moscow. 1877

Scene from the ballet “Swan Lake” by P.I. Tchaikovsky (choreographers Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov). 1895

Music by P. Tchaikovsky, libretto by V. Begichev and V. Geltser. First production: Moscow, Bolshoi Theater, 1877, choreography by V. Reisinger. Subsequent production: St. Petersburg, Mariinsky Theater, 1895, choreography by M. Petipa, L. Ivanov.

The beloved ballet, the classic version of which was staged in 1895, was actually born eighteen years earlier at Moscow's Bolshoi Theater. The score by Tchaikovsky, whose world fame was yet to come, was a kind of collection of “songs without words” and seemed too complex for that time. The ballet was performed about 40 times and sank into oblivion.

After Tchaikovsky's death, Swan Lake was staged at the Mariinsky Theater, and all subsequent productions of the ballet were based on this version, which became a classic. The action was given greater clarity and logic: the ballet told about the fate of the beautiful princess Odette, who was turned into a swan by the will of the evil genius Rothbart, about how Rothbart deceived Prince Siegfried, who fell in love with her, by resorting to the charms of his daughter Odile, and about the death of the heroes. Tchaikovsky's score was cut by approximately a third by conductor Riccardo Drigo and re-orchestrated. Petipa created the choreography for the first and third acts, Lev Ivanov - for the second and fourth. This division ideally answered the calling of both brilliant choreographers, the second of whom had to live and die in the shadow of the first. Petipa is the father of classical ballet, the creator of impeccably harmonious compositions and the singer of the fairy woman, the toy woman. Ivanov is an innovative choreographer with an unusually sensitive feel for music. The role of Odette-Odile was performed by Pierina Legnani, “the queen of Milanese ballerinas”, she is also the first Raymonda and the inventor of the 32nd fouetté, the most difficult type of spin on pointe shoes.

You may not know anything about ballet, but everyone knows Swan Lake. In the last years of the existence of the Soviet Union, when elderly leaders quite often replaced one another, the soulful melody of the “white” duet of the main characters of the ballet and the splashes of winged hands from the TV screen announced a sad event. The Japanese love “Swan Lake” so much that they are ready to watch it morning and evening, performed by any troupe. Not a single touring troupe, of which there are many in Russia and especially in Moscow, can do without “Swan”.

"Nutcracker"

Scene from the ballet "The Nutcracker". First production. Marianna - Lydia Rubtsova, Klara - Stanislava Belinskaya, Fritz - Vasily Stukolkin. Mariinskii Opera House. 1892

Scene from the ballet "The Nutcracker". First production. Mariinskii Opera House. 1892

Music by P. Tchaikovsky, libretto by M. Petipa. First production: St. Petersburg, Mariinsky Theater, 1892, choreography by L. Ivanov.

There is still erroneous information floating around in books and websites that “The Nutcracker” was staged by the father of classical ballet, Marius Petipa. In fact, Petipa only wrote the script, and the first production of the ballet was carried out by his subordinate, Lev Ivanov. Ivanov was faced with an impossible task: the script, created in the style of the then fashionable extravaganza ballet with the indispensable participation of an Italian guest performer, was in obvious contradiction with Tchaikovsky’s music, which, although it was written in strict accordance with Petipa’s instructions, was distinguished by great feeling and dramatic richness and complex symphonic development. In addition, the heroine of the ballet was a teenage girl, and the star ballerina was destined for only the final pas de deux (a duet with a partner, consisting of an adagio - a slow part, variations - solo dances and a coda (virtuoso finale)). The first production of The Nutcracker, where the first act was predominantly a pantomime act, differed sharply from the second act, a divertissement act, was not a great success; critics noted only the Waltz of the Snowflakes (64 dancers took part in it) and the Pas de deux of the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Prince of Whooping Cough , the source of inspiration for which was Ivanov's Adagio with a Rose from The Sleeping Beauty, where Aurora dances with four gentlemen.

But in the twentieth century, which was able to penetrate the depths of Tchaikovsky’s music, “The Nutcracker” was destined for a truly fantastic future. There are countless ballet productions in the Soviet Union, European countries and the USA. In Russia, productions by Vasily Vainonen at the Leningrad State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater (now the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg) and Yuri Grigorovich at the Moscow Bolshoi Theater are especially popular.

"Romeo and Juliet"

Ballet "Romeo and Juliet". Juliet - Galina Ulanova, Romeo - Konstantin Sergeev. 1939

Mrs Patrick Campbell as Juliet in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. 1895

Finale of the ballet "Romeo and Juliet". 1940

Music by S. Prokofiev, libretto by S. Radlov, A. Piotrovsky, L. Lavrovsky. First production: Brno, Opera and Ballet Theatre, 1938, choreography by V. Psota. Subsequent production: Leningrad, State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater named after. S. Kirov, 1940, choreography by L. Lavrovsky.

If a Shakespearean phrase in a famous Russian translation reads “There is no sadder story in the world than the story of Romeo and Juliet”, then they said about the ballet written by the great Sergei Prokofiev on this plot: “There is no sadder story in the world than Prokofiev’s music in ballet”. Truly amazing in its beauty, richness of colors and expressiveness, the score of “Romeo and Juliet” at the time of its appearance seemed too complex and unsuitable for ballet. Ballet dancers simply refused to dance to it.

Prokofiev wrote the score in 1934, and it was originally intended not for the theater, but for the famous Leningrad Academic Choreographic School to celebrate its 200th anniversary. The project was not implemented due to the murder of Sergei Kirov in Leningrad in 1934, changes occurred in the leading musical theater of the second capital. The plan to stage “Romeo and Juliet” at the Moscow Bolshoi did not come true either. In 1938, the premiere was shown by the theater in Brno, and only two years later Prokofiev’s ballet was finally staged in the author’s homeland, at the then Kirov Theater.

Choreographer Leonid Lavrovsky, within the framework of the “drama ballet” genre (a form of choreographic drama characteristic of ballet of the 1930s-50s), which was highly welcomed by the Soviet authorities, created an impressive, exciting spectacle with carefully sculpted crowd scenes and subtly outlined psychological characteristics of the characters. At his disposal was Galina Ulanova, the most sophisticated ballerina-actress, who remained unsurpassed in the role of Juliet.

Prokofiev's score was quickly appreciated by Western choreographers. The first versions of the ballet appeared already in the 40s of the 20th century. Their creators were Birgit Kullberg (Stockholm, 1944) and Margarita Froman (Zagreb, 1949). Famous productions of “Romeo and Juliet” belong to Frederick Ashton (Copenhagen, 1955), John Cranko (Milan, 1958), Kenneth MacMillan (London, 1965), John Neumeier (Frankfurt, 1971, Hamburg, 1973).I. Moiseeva, 1958, choreography by Yu. Grigorovich, 1968.

Without Spartak, the concept of “Soviet ballet” is unthinkable. This is a real hit, a symbol of the era. The Soviet period developed different themes and images, deeply different from the traditional classical ballet inherited from Marius Petipa and the Imperial Theaters of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Fairy tales with happy endings were archived and were replaced by heroic stories.

Already in 1941, one of the leading Soviet composers, Aram Khachaturian, spoke of his intention to write music for a monumental, heroic performance, which was to be staged on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater. The theme for it was an episode from ancient Roman history, a slave uprising led by Spartacus. Khachaturian created a colorful score, using Armenian, Georgian, Russian motifs and full of beautiful melodies and fiery rhythms. The production was to be carried out by Igor Moiseev.

It took many years for his work to reach the audience, and it appeared not at the Bolshoi Theater, but at the Theatre. Kirov. Choreographer Leonid Yakobson created a stunning innovative performance, abandoning the traditional attributes of classical ballet, including dancing on pointe shoes, using free plasticity and the ballerinas wearing sandals.

But the ballet “Spartacus” became a hit and a symbol of the era in the hands of choreographer Yuri Grigorovich in 1968. Grigorovich amazed the viewer with his perfectly constructed dramaturgy, subtle portrayal of the characters of the main characters, skillful staging of crowd scenes, and the purity and beauty of the lyrical adagios. He called his work “a performance for four soloists with a corps de ballet” (corps de ballet are artists involved in mass dance episodes). The role of Spartacus was played by Vladimir Vasiliev, Crassus - Maris Liepa, Phrygia - Ekaterina Maksimova and Aegina - Nina Timofeeva. The ballet was predominantly male, which makes the ballet “Spartacus” one of a kind.

In addition to the famous readings of Spartacus by Jacobson and Grigorovich, there are about 20 more productions of the ballet. Among them are the version by Jiří Blazek for the Prague Ballet, László Szeregi for the Budapest Ballet (1968), Jüri Vamos for the Arena di Verona (1999), Renato Zanella for the Vienna State Opera Ballet (2002), Natalia Kasatkina and Vladimir Vasiliev for the State Academic Theater directed by them classical ballet in Moscow (2002).

Ballet is a performing art form; this is an emotion embodied in musical and choreographic images.

Ballet, the highest level of choreography, in which the art of dance rises to the level of musical stage performance, arose as a courtly aristocratic art much later than dance, in the 15th-16th centuries.

The term “ballet” appeared in Renaissance Italy in the 16th century and meant not a performance, but a dance episode. Ballet is an art in which dance, the main expressive means of ballet, is closely connected with music, with a dramatic basis - libretto, with scenography, with the work of a costume designer, lighting designer, etc.

The ballet is diverse: plot - classical narrative multi-act ballet, dramatic ballet; plotless - symphony ballet, mood ballet, miniature.

World stages have seen many ballet performances based on literary masterpieces to the music of brilliant composers. That is why the British online resource Listverse decided to compile its ranking of the best ballet performances in history.

"Swan Lake"
Composer: Pyotr Tchaikovsky

The first, Moscow production of Swan Lake was not successful - its glorious history began almost twenty years later in St. Petersburg. But it was the Bolshoi Theater that contributed to the fact that the world was gifted with this masterpiece. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky wrote his first ballet at the request of the Bolshoi Theater.
“Swan Lake” was given a happy stage life by the famous Marius Petipa and his assistant Lev Ivanov, who went down in history primarily thanks to the staging of the standard “swan” scenes.

The Petipa-Ivanov version has become a classic. It underlies most subsequent productions of Swan Lake, except for the extremely modernist ones.

The prototype for the swan lake was the lake in the Davydovs' Swan Economy (now Cherkasy region, Ukraine), which Tchaikovsky visited shortly before writing the ballet. While relaxing there, the author spent more than one day on its shore, watching snow-white birds.
The plot is based on many folklore motifs, including an ancient German legend telling the story of the beautiful princess Odette, who was turned into a swan by the curse of an evil sorcerer, Knight Rothbart.

"Romeo and Juliet"

Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet is one of the most popular ballets of the twentieth century. The ballet premiered in 1938 in Brno (Czechoslovakia). However, the edition of the ballet, which was presented at the Kirov Theater in Leningrad in 1940, became widely known.

“Romeo and Juliet” is a ballet in 3 acts, 13 scenes with a prologue and epilogue based on the tragedy of the same name by William Shakespeare. This ballet is a masterpiece of world art, embodied through music and amazing choreography. The production itself is so impressive that it is worth watching at least once in your life.

"Giselle"
Composer: Adolf Adam

“Giselle” is a “fantastic ballet” in two acts by the French composer Adolphe Adam to a libretto by Henri de Saint-Georges, Théophile Gautier and Jean Coralli, based on a legend retold by Heinrich Heine. In his book “On Germany,” Heine writes about the Wilis - girls who died from unhappy love, who, having turned into magical creatures, dance to death the young people they meet at night, taking revenge on them for their ruined lives.

The ballet premiered on June 28, 1841 at the Grand Opera, choreographed by J. Coralli and J. Perrault. The production was a huge success and received good reviews in the press. Writer Jules Janin wrote: “There is so much to be found in this work. And fiction, and poetry, and music, and the composition of new steps, and beautiful dancers, and harmony, full of life, grace, energy. That's what they call ballet."

"Nutcracker"
Composer: Pyotr Tchaikovsky

The history of stage productions of P. I. Tchaikovsky’s ballet “The Nutcracker”, the literary basis of which was the fairy tale “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” by Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, knows many author’s editions. The ballet premiered at the Mariinsky Theater on December 6, 1892.
The ballet's premiere was a great success. The ballet “The Nutcracker” continues and completes the series of ballets by P. I. Tchaikovsky, which have become classics, in which the theme of the struggle between good and evil, begun in “Swan Lake” and continued in “Sleeping Beauty,” is heard.

The Christmas tale about a noble and handsome enchanted prince, transformed into a Nutcracker doll, about a kind and selfless girl and their opponent, the evil Mouse King, has always been loved by adults and children. Despite the fairy-tale plot, this is a work of real ballet mastery with elements of mysticism and philosophy.

"La Bayadère"
Composer: Ludwig Minkus

“La Bayadère” is a ballet in four acts and seven scenes with an apotheosis by choreographer Marius Petipa to the music of Ludwig Fedorovich Minkus.
The literary source of the ballet “La Bayadere” is the drama of the Indian classic Kalidasa “Shakuntala” and the ballad of V. Goethe “God and the Bayadère”. The plot is based on a romantic oriental legend about the unhappy love of a bayadère and a brave warrior. “La Bayadère” is an exemplary work of one of the stylistic trends of the 19th century - eclecticism. In “La Bayadère” there is both mysticism and symbolism: the feeling that from the first scene a “sword punishing from heaven” is raised over the heroes.

"Sacred spring"
Composer: Igor Stravinsky

The Rite of Spring is a ballet by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, which premiered on May 29, 1913 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris.

The concept for “The Rite of Spring” was based on Stravinsky’s dream, in which he saw an ancient ritual - a young girl, surrounded by elders, dances until exhaustion to awaken spring, and dies. Stravinsky worked on the music at the same time as Roerich, who wrote sketches for the scenery and costumes.

There is no plot as such in the ballet. The composer sets out the content of “The Rite of Spring” as follows: “The bright Resurrection of nature, which is reborn to a new life, a complete resurrection, a spontaneous resurrection of the conception of the world.”

"Sleeping Beauty"
Composer: Pyotr Tchaikovsky

The ballet “The Sleeping Beauty” by P.I. Tchaikovsky - Marius Petipa is called the “encyclopedia of classical dance.” The carefully constructed ballet amazes with the magnificence of its varied choreographic colors. But as always, at the center of every Petipa performance is the ballerina. In the first act, Aurora is a young girl who perceives the world around her brightly and naively; in the second, she is an alluring ghost, summoned from a long-term sleep by the Lilac Fairy; in the finale, she is a happy princess who has found her betrothed.

The inventive genius of Petipa dazzles the audience with a bizarre pattern of diverse dances, the pinnacle of which is the solemn pas de deux of the lovers, Princess Aurora and Prince Désiré. Thanks to the music of P.I. Tchaikovsky, the children's fairy tale became a poem about the struggle between good (fairy Lilac) and evil (fairy Carabosse). “Sleeping Beauty” is a true musical and choreographic symphony in which music and dance are fused together.

"Don Quixote"
Composer: Ludwig Minkus

“Don Quixote” is one of the most life-affirming, vibrant and festive works of ballet theater. It is interesting that, despite its name, this brilliant ballet is by no means a dramatization of the famous novel by Miguel de Cervantes, but an independent choreographic work by Marius Petipa based on Don Quixote.

In Cervantes's novel, the image of the sad knight Don Quixote, ready for any exploits and noble deeds, is the basis of the plot. In Petipa's ballet to the music of Ludwig Minkus, which premiered in 1869 at the Moscow Bolshoi Theater, Don Quixote is a minor character, and the plot centers on the love story of Kitri and Basil.

"Cinderella"
Composer: Sergei Prokofiev

"Cinderella" is a ballet in three acts by Sergei Prokofiev based on the story of the fairy tale of the same name by Charles Perrault.
The music for the ballet was written between 1940 and 1944. “Cinderella” to Prokofiev’s music was first staged on November 21, 1945 at the Bolshoi Theater. Its director was Rostislav Zakharov.
This is how Prokofiev wrote about the ballet Cinderella: “I created Cinderella in the best traditions of classical ballet,” which makes the viewer empathize and not remain indifferent to the joys and troubles of the Prince and Cinderella.

Ballet as a musical form evolved from a simple complement to dance, to a specific compositional form that often had the same meaning as the dance that accompanied it. Originating in France in the 17th century, the dance form began as a theatrical dance. Formally, ballet did not receive “classical” status until the 19th century. In ballet, the terms "classical" and "romantic" evolved chronologically from musical use. Thus, in the 19th century, the classical period of ballet coincided with the era of romanticism in music. Composers of ballet music from the 17th to 19th centuries, including Jean-Baptiste Lully and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, were primarily in France and Russia. However, with his increasing international fame, Tchaikovsky during his lifetime saw the spread of ballet musical composition, and ballet in general, throughout the Western world.

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• Until about the second half of the 19th century, the role of music in ballet was secondary, with the main emphasis on dance, while the music itself was simply borrowed from dance tunes. Writing "ballet music" used to be the work of musical artisans, not masters. For example, critics of the Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky perceived his writing of ballet music as something base.
  From the earliest ballets until the time of Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687), ballet music was indistinguishable from ballroom dance music. Lully created a separate style in which the music would tell the story. The first "Ballet of Action" was staged in 1717. It was a story told without words. The pioneer was John Weaver (1673-1760). Both Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau wrote an "opera-ballet" where the action was performed partly by dancing, partly singing, but ballet music became gradually less important.
  The next big step took place in the first years of the nineteenth century, when soloists began to use special rigid ballet shoes - pointe shoes. This allowed for a more fractional style of music. In 1832, the famous ballerina Maria Taglioni (1804-1884) first demonstrated dancing on pointe shoes. It was in La Sylphide. It was now possible for the music to become more expressive. Gradually the dancing became more daring, with ballerinas being lifted into the air by men.
  Until Tchaikovsky's time, the composer of ballet was not separated from the composer of symphonies. Ballet music served as accompaniment for solo and ensemble dance. Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake was the first musical ballet work to be created by a symphonic composer. On Tchaikovsky's initiative, ballet composers no longer wrote simple and easy dance parts. Now the main focus of ballet was not only on dance; the composition, following the dances, took on equal importance. In the late 19th century, Marius Petipa, a choreographer of Russian ballet and dance, worked with composers such as Cesar Pugni in creating ballet masterpieces that both boasted both complex dance and complex music. Petipa worked with Tchaikovsky, collaborating with the composer on his works The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker, or indirectly through a new edition of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake after the composer's death.
  In many cases, short ballet scenes were still used in operas to change scenery or costume. Perhaps the most famous example of ballet music as part of an opera is the Dance of the Hours from the opera La Gioconda (1876) by Amilcare Ponchielli.
  A fundamental change in mood occurred when Igor Stravinsky's ballet The Rite of Spring (1913) was created.

The music was expressionistic and discordant, and the movements were highly stylized. In 1924, George Antheil wrote Ballet Mechanica. This was suitable for a film of moving objects, but not for dancers, although it was innovative in the use of jazz music. From this starting point, ballet music is divided into two directions - modernism and jazz dance. George Gershwin attempted to fill this gap with his ambitious score for Shall We Dance (1937), more than an hour of music that embraced cerebral and technically foot-dropped jazz and rumba. One of the scenes was composed especially for the ballerina Harriet Hoctor.
Many say jazz dance is best represented by choreographer Jerome Robbins, who worked with Leonard Bernstein in West Side Story (1957). In some respects it is a return to "opera-ballet", since the plot is mainly told in words. Modernism is best represented by Sergei Prokofiev in the ballet "Romeo and Juliet". This is an example of pure ballet, and there is no influence from jazz or any other kind popular music. Another trend in the history of ballet music is the tendency towards creative adaptation of old music. Ottorino Respighi adapted the works of Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) and their joint series in the ballet called "The Magic Shop", which premiered in 1919. Ballet audience prefers romantic music, so that new ballets are combined with old works through new choreography.A famous example is "The Dream" - music by Felix Mendelssohn, adapted by John Lanchbury.

Ballet composers

At the beginning of the 19th century, choreographers staged performances to collected music, most often composed of popular and well-known opera fragments and song melodies. The first to try to change existing practice was the composer Jean-Madeleine Schneizhoffer. For this, he was subjected to considerable criticism, starting from his first work, the ballet “Proserpina” (1818):

The music belongs to a young man who, judging by the overture and some motifs of the ballet, deserves encouragement. But I firmly believe (and experience supports my opinion) that motives skillfully selected to situations always serve the choreographer's intentions better and reveal his intention more clearly than music that is almost completely new, which, instead of explaining the pantomime, itself awaits explanation.

Despite the attacks of critics, following Schneitzhoffer, other composers began to move away from the tradition of creating ballet scores assembled from musical fragments based on motives of other famous (most often operatic) works - Ferdinand Herold, Fromental Halévy, and, first of all - and then fruitfully who worked with Marius Petipa, when creating his scores, strictly followed the instructions of the choreographer and his plan - right down to the number of bars in each number. In the case of Saint-Leon, he even had to use melodies assigned by the choreographer: according to the memoirs of Karl Waltz, Saint-Leon, himself a violinist and musician, more than once whistled tunes to Minkus, which he “feverishly translated into musical notations.”

This practice did not correspond to the principles of the same Schneitzhoffer, who valued his reputation as an independent author and always worked separately from the choreographer when creating scores (an exception was made only when creating the ballet La Sylphide together with

When we talk about ballet, we always mean creativity, since it was he who brought this stage genre into the category of serious and large-scale musical stage performances. He has only three ballets and all three - “Swan Lake”, “The Nutcracker”, “Sleeping Beauty”, are famous for their excellent dramaturgy and wonderful music.

The most popular ballet work of Pyotr Tchaikovsky, which is heard by almost everyone, is “,” written in 1877. Many fragments from this dance performance - “Dance of the Little Swans”, “Waltz” and others, have long lived their own separate lives, like popular musical compositions. However, the entire performance, which tells the story of a love story, is worthy of the attention of music lovers. Tchaikovsky, who was known during his lifetime for his amazing compositional talent, generously rewarded the ballet with countless charming and memorable melodies.

Another one of the best ballets in musical history is Tchaikovsky's. This was the composer’s second turn to the dance genre, and if “Swan Lake” was not appreciated by the public at first, “Beauty” was immediately recognized as a masterpiece and was shown in almost all theaters of the Russian Empire and Europe.

The ballet is based on the plot known to us since childhood, the fairy tale story of Charles Perrault about Sleeping Beauty, the evil fairy and all-conquering love. Tchaikovsky complemented this story with wonderful dances of fairy-tale characters, and Marius Petipa with amazing choreography, which all became an encyclopedia of ballet art.

"" is the third and last ballet by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, one of the recognized peaks of his work, which is sure to be shown in all theaters in Europe on Christmas and New Year's Eve. Hoffmann's fairy tale “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” continues the theme of the struggle between evil and good begun by Tchaikovsky in “Swan Lake”, complementing it with elements of fantasy and, naturally, love and self-sacrifice. A philosophical tale, numerous beautiful melodies of dance numbers and choreography make this ballet one of the best and most sought-after classical musical works of world music.

At one time it was one of the most scandalous ballets. Now “Romeo and Juliet” is one of the classic dance productions in many theaters around the world. The composer's new, largely revolutionary music required new scenography and styles of movement from the troupe. Before the premiere, the composer literally had to persuade the directors and dancers to participate in the production. However, this did not help, the main theaters of the country - the Bolshoi and Kirov theaters - refused to stage this performance. Only after the unexpected and stunning success of Romeo and Juliet in Czechoslovakia, the ballet was staged in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and Prokofiev himself was awarded the Stalin Prize.

The classic performance of all dance companies in the world is “Giselle”. The ballet is based on the legend of the Willis - the spirits of brides who died of unhappy love and therefore pursued all the young men on their way in a frantic dance. Since its premiere in 1841, “Giselle” has not lost its popularity among lovers of dance art, and has had many productions.

Alexander Nikolaevich Scriabin Alexander Nikolaevich Scriabin is a Russian composer and pianist, one of the brightest personalities of Russian and world musical culture. Scriabin's original and deeply poetic creativity stood out as innovative even against the backdrop of the birth of many new trends in art associated with changes in public life at the turn of the 20th century.
Born in Moscow, his mother died early, his father could not pay attention to his son, as he served as ambassador to Persia. Scriabin was raised by his aunt and grandfather, and showed musical talent from childhood. At first he studied in the cadet corps, took private piano lessons, and after graduating from the corps he entered the Moscow Conservatory, his classmate was S. V. Rachmaninov. After graduating from the conservatory, Scriabin devoted himself entirely to music - as a concert pianist-composer he toured in Europe and Russia, spending most of his time abroad.
The peak of Scriabin's compositional creativity was the years 1903-1908, when the Third Symphony ("Divine Poem"), the symphonic "Poem of Ecstasy", "Tragic" and "Satanic" piano poems, 4th and 5th sonatas and other works were released. "Poem of Ecstasy", consisting of several theme-images, concentrated Sryabin's creative ideas and is his brilliant masterpiece. It harmoniously combines the composer's love for the power of a large orchestra and the lyrical, airy sound of solo instruments. The colossal vital energy, fiery passion, and strong-willed power embodied in the “Poem of Ecstasy” makes an irresistible impression on the listener and retains the power of its impact to this day.
Another masterpiece of Scriabin is “Prometheus” (“Poem of Fire”), in which the author completely updated his harmonic language, departing from the traditional tonal system, and for the first time in history this work was supposed to be accompanied by color music, but the premiere, for technical reasons, was held without lighting effects.
The last unfinished “Mystery” was the plan of Scriabin, a dreamer, romantic, philosopher, to appeal to all of humanity and inspire it to create a new fantastic world order, the union of the Universal Spirit with Matter.
A. N. Scriabin "Prometheus"

Sergei Vasilievich RachmaninovSergei Vasilievich Rachmaninov is the world's largest composer of the early 20th century, a talented pianist and conductor. The creative image of Rachmaninoff the composer is often defined by the epithet “the most Russian composer,” emphasizing in this brief formulation his merits in uniting the musical traditions of the Moscow and St. Petersburg schools of composition and in creating his own unique style, which stands out in the world musical culture.
Born in the Novgorod province, at the age of four he began studying music under the guidance of his mother. He studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, after 3 years of study he transferred to the Moscow Conservatory and graduated with a large gold medal. He quickly became known as a conductor and pianist, and composed music. The disastrous premiere of the innovative First Symphony (1897) in St. Petersburg caused a creative composer's crisis, from which Rachmaninov emerged in the early 1900s with a mature style that united Russian church song, outgoing European romanticism, modern impressionism and neoclassicism, all full of complex symbolism. During this creative period, his best works were born, with