Paquita ballet mariinsky theater content. Paquita ballet staged at the Mariinsky Theater

The ballet season at the Bolshoi Theater was opened by the French. This was the second part of the return tour of the Paris Opera ballet. Or, rather, the return of a forgotten debt, which Brigitte Lefebvre recalled before leaving the post of director of the Paris Opera Ballet.

She had long wanted to bring Pierre Lacotte's Parisian Paquita to the historic stage of the Bolshoi, but the tour of the Opera ballet (February 2011) coincided with the midst of renovations, and the Parisians showed small-format ballets on the New Stage: Suite in White by Serge Lifar, Arlesienne "Roland Petit and" Parc "by Angelin Preljocaj.

Neither Rudolf Nureyev nor Pierre Lacotte - the authors of large staged performances, the so-called Parisian exclusive from the category of classics - were included in the company of "brought" choreographers.

Two years ago, the Bolshoi Theater introduced a convenient practice - to open the season with a tour of some serious European theater.

In 2011, the Madrid theater "Real" came with Kurt Weill's opera "The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagoni", in 2012 - "La Scala" showed its brand new "Don Giovanni". The tour of the Paris Opera Ballet with Paquita fit perfectly into the scheme. And the bar of the artistic level of visitors is kept at a height.

However, these are all explanatory formalities. The message of the Paris tour is different.

Anyone who follows events in France is aware that the Paris Opera Ballet is on the verge of change.

In 2014, the troupe will be headed by a new artistic director - a choreographer from Bordeaux, husband of Natalie Portman, ex-premier of New York City Balle, Benjamin Millepieu.

Yes, of course, Brigitte Lefebvre, the longtime head of the renowned company, was not a guardian of the classical heritage, on the contrary, she did her best to promote modern dance into the repertoire. But she also baked about the local heritage - the ballets of Nureyev and Lacotte. As well as the fact that choreographers or dancers who want to reincarnate as choreographers of French origin should have priority for new productions in the theater.

Again, this does not mean that racism was promoted. Lefebvre invited Israeli choreographers, Algerians, and any others who were "in the discourse" to stage performances. Among such promising invited Frenchmen was Millepier twice - with very average works "Amoveo" and "Triad", which were pulled to the proper level by the ingenious legs of Parisian dancers and the design of fashion designers.

However, xenophobia has historically taken place at the École de Paris Opera.

The school accepts different talented children, but after graduation, only holders of a French passport can get into the corps de ballet of the country's main ballet theater. It's cruel, but generally fair. Each theater has its own characteristics, and the institution of French ballet, as the oldest in the world, has the right to its eccentricities, the result of which has always been a high level of skill and, most importantly, stylistic unity.

Wherever a ballet dancer of the Paris Opera comes, he always carries the French style - this is both a manner of performance, and technique and a special stage culture.

The same can be said about the ballerinas of the Mariinsky Theater, partly about the artists of the Bolshoi Theater, and about the soloists of the Danish Royal Ballet, that is, about the representatives of the oldest national companies.

And that's all - just these three, or four, theaters.

Is this elitism good or bad in the era of globalization?

From the standpoint of a balletomaniac, she is undoubtedly good. Because around these pillar theaters there are other wonderful theaters, where in honor - a mixture of styles, techniques and nationalities. These are the American Ballet Theater (ABT), La Scala Ballet, New York City Balle, Covent Garden Ballet, English National Ballet, Berlin State Ballet, Vienna Opera Ballet and a few others. In addition, there are authorial theaters such as the Hamburg Ballet (Neumeier's repertoire) or the Stuttgart Ballet (Crenko).

Time is making adjustments. Both in Denmark and in Paris the problem of shortage of talented students with the "correct" passports to the theater arose at the same time. There are two ways out of this situation - either to change the charter and take foreigners from among the best graduates, or take everyone in a row from the French.

Denmark already takes everyone in a row, since the country is small, and the problem does not begin at the graduation, but right at the reception - there is a shortage of Danish children.

And now a girl of any origin can enter the School of the Royal Danish Ballet with the appropriate data, and boys are taken without data, just to go. But the Danes did not have xenophobia before, just Danish children were enough to fill ballet classes.

France is still at the school level, because there, as in Russia, where, in addition to the Moscow State Academy of Arts and the ARB ("Vaganovka"), there are a dozen more ballet schools, whose forces can feed two schools in the capital, not one school, but several. And all the same, the personnel problem for the French is not far off, and it will have to be somehow solved, and, most likely, at the expense of the “non-French”.

In the meantime, Benjamin Millepier, the future artistic director of the Paris Opera ballet, sees no threat in the fact that strangers will enter the theater.

Moreover. He has already managed to provoke the indignation of the etoules with his statements in the press. In his enlightened Americanized outlook, the refined company lacks African Americans with their extraordinary plastics and techniques. This is a normal statement by a person who has never danced at the Paris Opera and has never even attended a renowned school.

Moreover, it will not be difficult for him to recruit plastic non-Europeans into the troupe at the beginning of the next season. Four etoiles are retiring at once - Nureyev's "chickens" Nicolas Lerish (he says goodbye in the summer of 2014 at Notre Dame Cathedral by Roland Petit) and Agnes Letestu (her farewell performance - "The Lady of the Camellias" by John Neumeier will take place on October 10 this year), as well as Aurelie Dupont (in the ballet Manon in autumn 2014) and Isabelle Ciaravola in March 2014 as Tatiana in Onegin by J. Cranko.

By law, the Paris Opera Ballet dancer retires at forty-two and a half years old!

But in the group of first dancers, from where, in theory, they should nominate future stars for vacant positions, there are no suitable candidates in such a number. It is clear that in a year you can manage to promote some of the lower ranks to the first dancers, but these people will then have to "pull" the most difficult parts in classical ballets. Therefore, Millepier's idea of ​​"diluting" the troupe with professionals from the outside, no matter how talentless and tasteless it may seem, is likely to be realized. And everything, everything will change.

But while Brigitte Lefebvre is at the helm, there are no vacant positions in her troupe, on the contrary, there are excellent dancers with whom she fought side by side for 20 years for the purity and identity of the French style.

She was and remains a friend of the Bolshoi Theater - with her submission there were invitations of Moscow artists to one-off performances: Nikolai Tsiskaridze danced La Bayadère and The Nutcracker, Maria Alexandrova - Raymonda, Svetlana Lunkina - The Nutcracker and Vain Precaution, Natalia Opipov - "The Nutcracker". And second, thanks to the agreements between Lefebvre and Iksanov, the Bolshoi Ballet Company began to tour regularly in Paris.

Brought to Moscow "Paquita" - a farewell photograph of the Paris Opera Ballet of the era of Brigitte Lefebvre.

A beautiful gesture of the avant-garde queen, who wants to be remembered in Russia not only as a propagandist of existential felting on the floor.

This version of Paquita premiered in 2001. The French were then a little worried that the Bolshoi Theater, where the premiere of Pierre Lacotte's ballet The Pharaoh's Daughter based on Petipa had taken place a year earlier, would intercept its main connoisseur and reenactor of romantic antiquity from the Paris Opera. By this time, the theater's repertoire included his regularly renewed Sylphide and the rare Marco Spada.

Lacotte's revision of Paquita dates back to the premiere performance of 1846, with choreography by Joseph Mazilier not preserved.

The choreographer relied on unique documents that he found in Germany, which are a complete description of the mise-en-scenes, the first edition of the pantomime and two Mazilier variations, marked and written by the choreographer's hand, plus a description of the stage design.

All this was needed to form into a full-fledged performance "The Big Classical Pas" - a masterpiece excerpt from "Paquita" by Marius Petipa, which survived time. These are the well-known children's mazurka, pas de trois, virtuoso female variations, the pathetic pas de de Paquita and Lucien and the general entre, which successfully existed for a hundred years in a plotless mode.

The first French "Paquita" in 1846 arose in the wake of the enthusiasm of the then choreographers for the legends of the Iberian Peninsula.

Spain, on the one hand, was seen as a country in which incredible stories could take place with the abduction of children by gypsies and robbery raids - such stories actively fed the French romantic ballet. On the other hand, Spain was famous as the birthplace of all kinds of folk-characteristic dances - gypsy, bolero, kachuchi. Tambourines, tambourines, castanets, cloaks - these accessories became an integral part of the ballets of that time.

The literary basis of "Paquita" was the short story "The Gypsy" by M. Cervantes.

Late 30s - 40s the century before last, in general, passed under the sign of ballet gypsies. In St. Petersburg in 1838 Philippe Taglioni staged the ballet "La Gitana" for Maria Taglioni. Joseph Mazilier directed La Gipsy for Fanny Elsler even before Paquita. The first performer of Paquita was the no less eminent French ballerina Carlotta Grisi. At the same time, the premiere of Jules Perrot's ballet Esmeralda, the main gypsy ballet hit of the 19th century, took place in London.

But the gypsy theme in Paquita is revealed somewhat differently than in Esmeralda.

The word "gypsies" in romantic ballet was understood in a sense as an epithet for "theatrical robbers". So the libretto of Paquita tells about the extraordinary fate of a girl who lives in a gypsy camp according to his laws - dancing, she earns her living. However, her origin is shrouded in mystery - the girl has a medallion depicting a French aristocrat, hinting at her noble parent.

And in Esmeralda, the word “gypsy” means “beggar,” “persecuted,” “homeless,” and gypsy life in ballet is not shrouded in any romance. In this sense, the first Parisian "Paquita" is closer to "Catarina, the daughter of a robber" by J. Perrot. Paquita is a late romantic ballet, the plot of which is based on the melodrama, beloved by visitors to the theaters on the Bolshoi Boulevards.

As a result, Lacotte, whom we know as a first-class dance director in the style of the Romantic era, restores all pantomime mise-en-scenes in his Paquita - from notes, engravings, sketches, reviews and articles by poets and literary critics like Théophile Gaultier.

The play contains the whole picture "The Gypsy Tabor", which practically does not contain dances, but full of the most dramatic pantomime, from which Gaultier was once delighted.

It is difficult to compare the acting skills of the first performer Paquita Carlotta Grisi and today's ballerinas Lyudmila Pagliero and Alice Renavan, but this picture itself, which is a revived engraving, looks harmonious, in part reminiscent of a dramatic intermission.

Paquita, in love with the French officer Lucien d'Ervilli, overhears the conversation between the gypsy Inigo and the Spanish governor, who are going to give him sleeping pills and then kill Lucien - the first out of jealousy, and the second out of hatred of the French and unwillingness to marry her daughter Serafina to the hated son general. Paquita warns Lucien of the danger, swaps the glasses of Lucien and Inigo, he falls asleep, not having time to commit the atrocity, and the couple escapes safely through a secret door in the fireplace.

In the previous picture, the content was told mainly through dance. This is the Spanish dance with tambourines, and the gypsy dance of Paquita, and variations of Lucien and the notorious Dance with cloaks (Danse de capes), which was once performed by drag dancers, given to men by Lacotte, and pas de trois, transcribed into something different than in Petipa's manner.

Therefore, the "pedestrian" picture serves as a transition to the next whole dance act - the ball at General d'Herville,

to which Paquita and Lucien, out of breath from the pursuit, run belatedly. The girl exposes the insidious governor and along the way discovers on the wall a portrait of a man with features familiar from her medallion. This is her father, the general's brother, who was killed many years ago. Paquita immediately accepts Lucien's offer, which she had previously delicately rejected, considering herself an unworthy commoner, puts on a beautiful wedding tutu, and the ball continues in the mode of that very beloved grand pas to the music of Minkus, complicated by Lacotte in the French manner.

In an interview, Lacotte repeatedly said that "Paquita's technique requires more liveliness than lyricism."

And "ballerinas need to comply with the old allegro technique, which is gradually disappearing." Paquita's exits are a chain of small steps, bounces, "skidding" and pas de sha. The soloist's variation in pas de trois and Lucien's variation is an almost continuous flight without landings.

The compositions of the soloists brought to Paquita by the Parisians are unequal, if only because

Matthias Eiman - the performer of Lucien - exists in the world in a single copy.

All the other Luciens are good, but they fall short of Matthias. He made his debut in Paquita in December 2007 in all parts at once. While the senior colleagues worked out their star status in the premier role, Eiman, who had just been elevated to the rank of first dancer, jumped in the pas de trois and saluted in Spanish dance, parallel to the bison in the reproom for Lucien's flights.

And when he came out in the lead role as a replacement - a boy with a pronounced Arabic note in his facial features and an absolutely incredible effortless jump - the name of the future etual was unambiguously determined (then, however, there was no vacancy for a long time, and the appointment had to wait at least a year).

Eiman established a completely different style of dance and demeanor on stage - fearless, slightly unceremonious, slightly insensitive, but extremely interesting and innovative.

Today he is a venerable premier, whose performances are watched by Paris, and whom Muscovites are passionately fond of. He was not shown on previous tours, citing the artist's employment in the current repertoire of the opera, thereby aggravating the shock of the opening. Florian Magnene, the second Lucien, is not inferior to Eiman in gallant manner, but Lacotte's variations are still too much for him.

On the first evening Paquita was danced by Lyudmila Pagliero, the main virtuoso of the Paris Opera.

Etoile is beautiful, hardy, with a good jump, ingenious spin and an extraordinary sense of adagio.

Like any hostage of technology, Lyudmila has a certain dramatic stamp, but not critical.

Another Paquita is Alice Renavan. She is also hardy, also with a leap, but too exotic for classical ballet. Renavan stagnated on the sidelines, which she often plays brighter than the other prima title role, but the mentality of a good adjutant prevents her from becoming a general.

However, the beauty Alice has all chances to soon turn into an etoile for her achievements in modern dance - in this area she is out of competition.

In addition to the delights of the etialee dance, the French gave the joy of neat fifth positions, restrained manners and elegance of each artist individually.

Photo by D. Yusupov

No doubt, Paquita would have stood the test of our time, so prone to all kinds of melodramas. The heroine - a young lady of aristocratic origin, kidnapped by robbers in childhood - wanders with a gypsy camp in Spanish cities and villages, experiences various adventures and, in the end, finds parents and a noble groom. But Time as such made its own selection, leaving the plot and its pantomime development outside the brackets and sparing only the dance.

This was the first production of the young Marius Petipa on the Russian stage (1847, St. Petersburg), which followed a year after the premiere at the Paris Opera, where Paquita saw the light of the footage through the efforts of the composer E.M. Deldevez and choreographer J. Mazilier. Soon - again a year later - the ballet was played on the stage of the Moscow Bolshoi Theater.

In 1881 at the Mariinsky Theater Paquita was given to the benefit performance of one of Petipa's most beloved ballerinas, Ekaterina Vazem. The maestro not only significantly reworked the ballet, but also added the final Grand Pas (and children's mazurka) to the music of Minkus. This grand classical pas, timed to coincide with the wedding of the main characters, together with the pas de trois from the first act and the already mentioned mazurka, survived in the 20th century from the entire large, full-length performance. Of course, it is no coincidence, since, of course, he belongs to the highest achievements of Marius Petipa. The Grand Pas is an example of an expanded ensemble of classical dance, remarkably built, giving the opportunity to show off with its virtuosity - and to compete with passion - almost all the leading soloists, among whom the one who performs the part of Paquita herself is supposed to demonstrate an absolutely unattainable level of skill and ballerina's charisma. This choreographic picture is often called the ceremonial portrait of the troupe, which really must have a whole scattering of sparkling talents in order to qualify for its performance.

Yuri Burlaka met Paquita in his early youth - Pas de Trois from Paquita made his debut at the Russian Ballet Theater, where he came immediately after graduating from a choreographic school. Later, when he was already actively engaged in research in the field of ancient choreography and ballet music, he took part in the publication of the clavier of the surviving musical numbers of the ballet Paquita and the recording of Petipa's choreographic text. So the Bolshoi gets Petipa's masterpiece from the hands of his great connoisseur. And it is not surprising that the future artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet decided to start a new stage of his career with this production.

The great classical pas from the ballet Paquita at the Bolshoi regained the Spanish flavor that was lost in the 20th century, but did not lose the masculine variation acquired thanks to the choreographer Leonid Lavrovsky (the 20th century no longer perceived the dancer as a simple support for the ballerina). The director's goal was to recreate the imperial image of the Grand Pas, to restore, if possible, the original composition of Petipa and to make the most of the variations ever performed in this ballet. Of the eleven "active" female variations, seven are performed in one evening. The performers of Paquita's part were offered a choice of variations, so that each one dances the one she liked the most (of course, in addition to the big adagio with a cavalier, which is already included in the “obligatory program” of the role). Among the other soloists, the variations were distributed by the director himself. Thus, every time the Grand Pas from Paquita has a special set of variations, that is, different performances differ from each other. Which gives additional intrigue to this performance in the eyes of a true balletomaniac.

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I watched the ballet Paquita. Since Copenhagen is about four hours away from me, I bought a ticket for the afternoon show, which starts at one in the afternoon. I was very concerned with train tickets in advance, so I got them, one might say, on the cheap, 300 kroons in both directions, well, the ticket to the theater (Opera on Holmen) cost almost 900 kroons (however, the seats were good, for 1- m tier, in the first row, near the stage - directly opposite were the seats of the Queen and Prince Henrik, but they were not at this show. The trip to Copenhagen went well, even though we stood in a couple of places because of road works. fewer arrived in Copenhagen on time Finally photographed blooming rapeseed: not a year without rapeseed!

Then we had to wait a long time for bus 9a, which goes to the Opera. We rolled around Christianshavn:

In general, I drove to the Opera at the beginning of the first and, by the way, there were a lot of people there. This is what the Opera looks like from the outside:

Most of the spectators were representatives of the older age group.

In the cafe I had a bite of salad with coffee, studied the program: I think I was lucky, two etoiles danced, Myriam Ould-Braham (Paquita) and Mathias Heymann (Lucienne d'Herville).

The story of Paquita and the ballet's journey to Russia and back to France is almost as confusing as the content of the ballet. It takes place in the Spanish province of Zaragoza during the occupation of the Napoleonic army. Paquita is a young girl who was raised by gypsies from childhood. She rescues the elegant French officer Lucien d "Herville from a low conspiracy against him, and after a series of dramatic events, the performance ends with a ball scene at Lucien's father, French general, Comte d" Herville. The perpetrators of the conspiracy are arrested, and Paquita, who learns the secret of her origin (she turns out to be the niece of General d "Herville), can marry her lover.
In the 19th century, romantic natures raved about Spain, which offered fiery passions and exotic local flavor, and Paquita was inspired in part by Cervantes's 1613 novella La Gitanilla, and in part by the travels of French artists and writers to Spain. Choreography by Joseph Mazilier in 1846 did not resemble classical "white ballet" with its dreamy themes. With Carlotta Grisi, who had created Giselle and Lucien Petipa in the lead roles a few years earlier, as well as many dances inspired by Spain, Paquita was a tremendous success and remained in the repertoire of the Paris Opera until 1851. In general, this ballet is a dream of classical ballet: there is a plot, good conquers evil, a lot of dances - both for soloists and for the corps de ballet, beautiful costumes and wonderful music! And the location was excellent: the Valley of the Bulls near Zaragoza. "As a person who has visited Zaragoza, I declare that there is nothing similar to the declared landscape, but if you go north, then yes, perhaps you can find both mountains and valleys.
The ballet received an especially long stage life in Russia. The younger brother of Lucien Petipa, later so famous Marius Petipa, was engaged in 1847 as a dancer of the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg, and his first role was Lucien d'Erville in Paquita, where he also helped with the production on stage. the next season, Marius Petipa was sent to Moscow to stage the ballet, and when he later became choreographer of the imperial theaters of Russia, he created in 1882 a new version of Paquita, where he re-choreographed the pas de trois in the first act and turned the last scene of the ballet into a brilliant divertissement, to which the official composer of the imperial theaters Ludwig Minkus wrote the music.This late romantic version lasted on Russian stages until the revolution, after which the Soviet government began to demand a different kind of ballet art.
However, "Paquita" has not sunk into oblivion. Petipa's remarkable choreography was remembered in the second half of the twentieth century. The divertissement from the last act of Paquita reappeared in the program. The Kirov Ballet danced him in Paris on tour in 1978, and two years later he appeared in the repertoire of the Paris Opera. Likewise, in other Western companies, brilliant dances from "Paquita" surfaced. George Balanchine directed the pas de trois for the Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas in 1948, and then for the New York City Ballet in 1951. Rudolf Nureyev danced from Paquita at a gala in London in 1964, and Natalia Makarova staged these classic treasures at the American Ballet Theater in 1984.
While the divertissement has been more or less preserved in its original form, the ballet itself has disappeared. But in 2001 Pierre Lacotte remodeled it for the Paris Opera, and since then it has been an integral part of the repertoire.
Well, now about the ballet itself, as I saw it last Saturday. The first act consists of two scenes: in the first, the action takes place in the center of a Spanish village, i.e. the villagers, the French military and the gypsies are involved. Mathias Heymann as Lucien:

In addition to the main characters and antiheroes, General d'Erville (Bruno Bouche), Spanish Governor Don Lopez (Takeru Coste) and his sister Serafina (Fanny Gorse) stand out. She's actually called Paquita, or Francisca.) How beautifully she was danced and played by Myriam Ould-Braham! She is so charming and created such a wonderful image of the willful beauty who always does what she wants and who everyone adores!

She has a great a la gypsy dance, accompanied by a tambourine in the first picture. And how well she played together with Iñigo (he was danced by Francois Alu (seemingly a rising star of the Parisian ballet), and he suffered so earnestly and was jealous of Paquita! I hope Myriam Ould-Braham will still delight all ballet lovers, she, as I understand it , recently returned to service after maternity leave.
Technically, everything was perfect, and with my amateurish look I marked the fifth position, almost all duets and variations ended with it! The group dances were good, especially the girls, but there were some roughness and inaccuracies among the boys.
I remember the dance of bullfighters with red cloaks (pas des manteaux), very effective. Also in the first film is a beautiful pas de trois, which was performed by Ida Viikinkoski (also, it seems, a rising star, of Finnish origin), Alice Catonnet and Marc Moreau.
The second scene takes place in a gypsy house, where Lucien, who is in love, comes. The comic side prevails here: Paquita and Lucien deceive Iñigo, causing him to fall asleep after drinking a sleeping pill intended for Lucien and his plans to kill Lucien fail.
During the intermission, it was not without a highly spiritual:

Well, the second act is one big divertissement, ending with a wedding. Here you can see a square dance, a mazurka, a gallop, a pas de deux, a waltz. But perhaps most of all I liked the performance of the children from the ballet school of the Paris Opera, who danced the polonaise - and how wonderful! I have not seen this at the Royal Theater, where children are allowed to run in formation from one corner to another, and here they have a whole dance number. Most, however, were very tense, only one mulatto and one boy of oriental appearance smiled, but towards the end of the performance, other children began to smile.
And here you can watch the dance of Matthias Heyman (Lucien) - however, the video was made about 2 years ago:

Well, the Grand Pas, of course, was amazing! Again, here is a video where Myriam Ould-Braham dances him with Nikolai Tsiskaridze:

So I left the building impressed.
Photos from bows - even with Pierre Lacotte!

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FSBEI HPE "Moscow State Academy of Choreography"

Abstract on the topic:

Paquita on the world stage from Mazilier to Lacotte

Performed:

2nd year student

Tyablikova I.V.

Paquita (or Pakita) (French: Paquita) is a ballet to music by composer Edouard Deldevez (French Edouard-Marie-Ernest Deldevez; 1817-1897) with subsequent musical additions by composer Ludwig Minkus.

The first performance took place in Paris, on the stage of the Grand Opera, on April 1, 1846, staged by choreographer Joseph Mazilier to music by Ernest Deldevez.

Characters:

Lucien d "Hervilli

Inigo, head of the gypsy camp

Don Lopez de Mendoza, governor of a province in Spain

Count d "Hervilli, French general, father of Lucien

Sculptor

Doña Serafina, sister of don Lopez

Countess, mother of the Count d "Ervilli

Young gypsy.

V Spain the beautiful Paquita lives in a gypsy camp. But she's not a gypsy. Her appearance in the camp is associated with some terrible crime of 1795 and is shrouded in mystery. Paquita carefully keeps a miniature portrait of his father, but who is he and why he was killed -- she doesn’t know. She was very small and only remembers how someone took her away.

But here in the valley in the vicinity of Saragossa, where a gypsy camp lives, Count d "Ervilli, a French general, arrives. He demands to erect a monument to his brother Charles, who was once killed with his wife and daughter at this very place.

Meanwhile, the Governor of the Spanish province of Lopez de Mendoza is intriguing about how to marry his sister Serafina to Lucien d'Ervilla. And Inigo, the head of the gypsy camp, weaves his intrigues -- he wants to win the love of the beautiful Paquita. However, she notices that tender feelings flare up between Lucien and Paquita. Inigo comes to the Governor Don Lopez de Mendoza, and they develop a plan for the destruction of Lucien: to give him wine with mixed sleeping pills, and then specially hired killers will come.

But their plans are not destined to come true -- Paquita overheard their conversation and saves Lucien by changing bottles of wine and giving Inigo sleeping pills. The hired assassins, having received the order to kill the one in the house, instead of Lucien kill Inigo himself by mistake.

And the main characters, Paquita and Lucien d'Ervilli, together, safe and sound after all the troubles, come to the place where the big ball is being prepared and where the portrait of the murdered hero Karl d'Ervilli is sculpted.

Paquita tells of the governor's betrayal, and he is arrested. And in the portrait of the deceased hero, she, comparing it with the image in her medallion, recognizes her own father.

Ballet history

The premiere of the two-act play took place on April 1, 1846 in Paris, at the Teatro Grand Opera; choreographer J. Mazilier, artists R. Filastre, C. Cambon, P. Lieterl, T. J. Séchamp, E. Deplechet.

Featuring Paquita as Carlotta Grisi, Lucien as Lucien Petipa; in the game Inigo - Pearson.

The ballet ran at the Paris Opera until 1851, when Carlotta, the lead singer, worked there. Grisi (then she went to her common-law spouse, choreographer Jules Perrot, in Russia, where she received a contract for two seasons and where Paquita was among the parts performed).

But real success awaited this ballet in a year and a half in Russia, where it received the name Paquita and was staged several times and continues its stage life to this day.

The production in Russia became the next after the Paris premiere, it turned from a two-act into a three-act and was performed in the St. Petersburg Imperial troupe on the stage of the Bolshoi Kamenny Tetra on September 26 (October 8) 1847 with Deldevez's music in instrumentation K.N. Lyadova and with the addition of new gallop music to him, he is also the conductor of the first production (according to other sources, it was not Konstantin Lyadov who made the instrumentation and conducted, but his brother Alexander Lyadov, just at this time he was appointed conductor of the St. Petersburg Ballet Orchestra; ballet masters Jean-Antoine Petipa, Marius Petipa and Frederic Malaverny (there are versions that the elder Petipa did not take part in this production); artists G. G. Wagner and Jourdel. In the main parts: Paquita - Elena Andreyanova, Lucien - Marius Petipa, Inigo - Frederic, Count D "Ervigli - Nikolai Golts (later in the same version of the play the part of Paquita was performed by R. Guiraud, A. I. Prikhunova and the very first performer of the Paris premiere, Carlotta Grisi, arrived in Russia in 1851).

After a successful premiere in St. Petersburg, Elena Andreyanova left to seek creative happiness in the Moscow Imperial troupe, her constant partner at that time, Marius Petipa, was sent with her. The same production was repeated by Marius Petipa in the Moscow Imperial troupe, at the Bolshoi Theater, on November 23, 1848, while he himself, together with his partner E. Andreyanova, performed the main parties; artists I. Brown, F.F. Serkov, F.I. Shenyang, conductor D. P. Karasev. The play remained in the Moscow repertoire, the role of Paquita performed later by Irka Matias, E.A. Sankovskaya, P. P. Lebedev.

5 October 1866 choreographer Frederick in revived the performance, conductor P. N. Luzin; Paquita - A. Gorokhova.

On December 27, 1881, the St. Petersburg Imperial troupe on the stage of the Bolshoi Stone Theater showed a new version of the ballet by choreographer Marius Petipa, where Deldevez's music complemented by the music of Minkus, to which M. Petipa specially invented several scenes, including those who subsequently received a huge children's fame mazurka and grand pa; artists G. G. Wagner, F. E. Egorov, A. R. Lupanov (scenery), Charlemagne (costumes); conducted myself L. Minkus. It was this edition that became classic and acquired further stage history. In the premiere performance of 1881 starring: Paquita - E. Vazem , Lucien - P. Gerdt, Inigo - F. I. Kshesinsky (then the same party with no less they were successfully performed by his son, I. F. Kshesinsky).

On January 29, 1889, choreographer A. N. Bogdanov transferred the St. Petersburg production of M. Petipa with musical inserts by L. Minkus to the Moscow Imperial troupe, to the stage of the Bolshoi Theater, adding a few more musical x scenes by composers C. Puni, R.E. Drigo and others; conductor S. J. Ryabov; Paquita -- M.N. Gorshenkova, Lucien - N. F. Manokhin.

In 1896, Marius Petipa made another version of the same ballet, adding, among other new scenes, some dance numbers from the ballet The Wayward Wife - the performance was timed to coincide with the celebrations held in Peterhof in honor of the 100th anniversary of the death of Empress Catherine II. The leading role was performed by Matilda Kshesinskaya.

Since then, the ballet has been repeatedly resumed on the stages of various musical theaters.

Several productions were created by Rudolf Nureyev. In 1964 he staged this ballet for the Royal Academy of Dancing in England, then in 1970 for the Italian Teatro alla Scala, in 1971 Nureyev transferred his version to two theaters: the Vienna State Opera ( Vienna State Opera Ballet ) and the troupe American Ballet Theater in NYC.

During the Soviet period in the USSR the ballet was staged by choreographers K. F. Boyarsky (1957 g.), P. A. Gusev (born in 1972) ), N.A. Dolgushin (1974), O.M. Vinogradov (1978), T. N. Legat (1987, Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theater) and others.

The ballet version staged by Marius Petipa is not disappeared. It was saved by N. G. Sergeev, who at the beginning of the twentieth century recorded the ballet repertoire of the Petersburg Imperial troupe according to the choreographer system the physical recording of his teacher V. I. S tepanov. Having left for emigration, N. G. Sergeev took all the recordings with him and himself used them several times, staging ballet performances on different stages where he was thrown there was life; in 1922-1924 N. G. Sergeev was the choreographer of the Riga Musical Theater and staged several performances, including Paquita, based on his own recordings. Now his collection is kept in the USA, in the Harvard University library, and is available to all ballet dancers.

In 2000, based on these recordings, the editorial staff of Marius Petipa was restored by Pierre Lacotte for the Paris Opera. Thus, the ballet returned - though not in its original form, but in the version of Marius Petipa - to the stage from which its story began.

Rebuilding Paquita was very important for me, ”Lacotte admitted. - I was lucky to be a student of Lyubov Egorova, who danced Paquita under Marius Petipa in 1900-1910, and Carlotta Zambelli, who performed this part in St. Petersburg in 1901. They filled my childhood with their wonderful memories, thanks to them I saw many fragments of ballets, among which was Paquita.

However, it turned out to be extremely difficult to restore the ballet to its original form, according to Lacotte.

As a result, his version is a large plot performance that contains both classical and characteristic dance and pantomime. The revived "Paquita" has come to the taste of modern audiences who enjoy watching the old ballet.

ballet performance petipa choreographer

Sources of

1. Paquita. Ballet. E. Deldevez. L. Minkus. P. Lacotte Opera de Paris. 2003

2. Paquita (Paris Opera Ballet) / Deldevez and Minkus

3. "PAKHITA" ("Paquita") in the ballet encyclopedia (

Paquita is a ballet to music by composer Edouard Deldevez with subsequent musical additions by composer Ludwig Minkus.
The libretto was written by Paul Foucher and Joseph Mazilier. The literary basis was Miguel Cervantes' short story "The Gypsy".
The first performance took place in Paris, on the stage of the Grand Opera, on April 1, 1846, directed by choreographer Joseph Mazilier to music by Ernest Deldevez

Characters:
Lucien d'Herville

Inigo, head of the gypsy camp
Don Lopez de Mendoza, governor of a province in Spain
Comte d'Herville, French general, Lucien's father
Sculptor
Paquita
Doña Serafina, sister of don Lopez
Countess, mother of the Earl d'Herville
Young gypsy.

Summary:

The beautiful Paquita lives in a gypsy camp in Spain. But she's not a gypsy. Her appearance in the camp is associated with some terrible crime of 1795 and is shrouded in mystery. Paquita carefully keeps a miniature portrait of her father, but she does not know who he is and why he was killed. She was very small and only remembers how someone took her away.
But here in the valley in the vicinity of Saragossa, where the gypsy camp lives, the Count d'Herville, a French general, arrives. He demands to erect a monument to his brother Karl, who was once killed with his wife and daughter at this very place.
Meanwhile, the Governor of the Spanish province of Lopez de Mendoza is plotting how to marry his sister Serafina to Lucien d'Ervigli. And Inigo, the head of the gypsy camp, weaves his intrigues - he wants to win the love of the beautiful Paquita. However, she notices that tender feelings flare up between Lucien and Paquita. Inigo comes to the Governor Don Lopez de Mendoza, and they develop a plan for the destruction of Lucien: to give him wine with mixed sleeping pills, and then specially hired killers will come.
But their plans are not destined to come true - Paquita overheard their conversation and saves Lucien by changing bottles of wine and giving Inigo sleeping pills. The hired assassins, having received the order to kill the one in the house, instead of Lucien kill Inigo himself by mistake.
And the main characters, Paquita and Lucienne d'Hervilli, together, safe and sound after all the troubles, come to the place where the big ball is being prepared and where the portrait of the murdered hero Karl d'Herville is sculpted.
Paquita tells of the governor's betrayal, and he is arrested. And in the portrait of the deceased hero, she, comparing it with the image in her medallion, recognizes her own father.

The history of the creation of the ballet.

The premiere of the two-act play took place on April 1, 1846 in Paris, at the Grand Opera.
Featuring Paquita as Carlotta Grisi, Lucien as Lucien Petipa; in the game Inigo - Pearson.
The ballet ran at the Paris Opera until 1851, while Carlotta Grisi, the performer of the main part, worked there (then she went to her common-law spouse, choreographer Jules Perrot, to Russia, where she received a contract for two seasons and where Paquita was among the parts performed).
But real success awaited this ballet in a year and a half in Russia, where it received the name Paquita and was staged several times and continues its stage life to this day.
The production in Russia was the next after the Paris premiere, it turned from a two-act into a three-act and was staged in the St. Petersburg Imperial troupe on the stage of the Bolshoi Kamenny Tetra on September 26, 1847 with Deldevez's music instrumented by K.N.Lyadov and with the addition of new gallop music.
The same production was repeated by Marius Petipa in the Moscow Imperial troupe, at the Bolshoi Theater, on November 23, 1848, and he, together with his partner E. Andreyanova, performed the main roles.
On December 27, 1881, the St. Petersburg Imperial troupe on the stage of the Bolshoi Stone Theater showed a new version of the ballet by choreographer Marius Petipa, where Deldevez's music was complemented by the music of Minkus, for which M. Petipa specially invented several dance scenes.
The version of the ballet directed by Marius Petipa has not disappeared. It was preserved by N.G.Sergeev, who at the beginning of the 20th century recorded the ballet repertoire of the St. Petersburg Imperial troupe according to the system of choreographic recording of its teacher V.I.Stepanov. Having left for emigration, N.G.Sergeev took all the recordings with him and he himself repeatedly used them, staging ballet performances on different stages where life threw him. Now his collection is kept in the USA, in the Harvard University library, and is available to all ballet dancers.
In 2000, based on these recordings, the editorial staff of Marius Petipa was restored by Pierre Lacotte for the Paris Opera. Thus, the ballet returned - though not in its original form, but in the version of Marius Petipa - to the stage from which its story began.