Contents of the ballet Sleeping Beauty. The further fate of music

P. I. Tchaikovsky

"Sleeping Beauty"

Ballet extravaganza in three acts with a prologue (1888-1889)

Libretto: I. Vsevolzhsky and M. Petipa.

Staging: M. Petipa.

Artists: M. Bocharov, K. Ivanov, I. Andreev, M. Shishkov, G. Levot, I. Vsevolzhsky.

Characters:

King Florestan XIV

Queen

Princess Aurora, their daughter

Prince Sheri

Prince Sharman - contenders for the hand of Princess Aurora

Prince Fortune

Prince of Fleur-de-Poix

Catalabut, chief master of ceremonies of King Florestan

Prince Désiré

Fairy Carabosse, evil fairy

Lilac Fairy

Fairy Canaries

Fairy Violant (frantic)

Fairy Baby (scattering bread crumbs)

Fairy Candide (pure-hearted)

Fairy Fleur-de-farin (fairy of flowering ears)

Courtiers, ladies, gentlemen, hunters and huntresses, pages,

guards, footmen, fairy retinue, nurses, nannies, peasants,

fairies of jewelry (Diamonds, Gold, Silver, Sapphires),

characters from fairy tales.

In the midst of work on “The Enchantress” (November 14, 1886), the composer turns to his brother Modest (screenwriter of “Ondine”): “Write the script, negotiate with Petipa and Vsevolozhsky, and “Ondine” appeals to me so much that, it seems to me, I can easily write the music for December” (M. Tchaikovsky. Life of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, vol. III, p. 141). However, the script, apparently completed only at the end of the next year, was rejected, and the project of creating Ondine was dropped.

In November-December 1888, Petipa presented Tchaikovsky with a detailed program for The Sleeping Beauty. By this time, the composer already had the first sketches of the music. On January 18, 1889, Tchaikovsky completed the prologue and the first and second acts of the ballet in sketches. The third act was composed in the spring and summer of the same year, some of the numbers during the composer's long journey from Paris - through Marseille, Constantinople, Tiflis - to Moscow. The instrumentation of the ballet was completed in August, while rehearsals for the new performance were already in full swing in the theater.

The production of The Sleeping Beauty was prepared with great conscientiousness. This was already evident in the work of the production’s chief artistic director, M. Petipa, on the ballet program. In a voluminous manuscript, the choreographer accurately recorded the plot, character, rhythm and even the duration of each ballet number. Marked by a wealth of artistic imagination, dramatic sensitivity, and professional thoroughness, this program provided significant assistance to the composer and determined much of the artistic quality of The Sleeping Beauty and its first production. According to theater experts who examined M. Petipa’s personal archive, the choreographer also developed a detailed production plan; it includes a large number of notes and drawings that determine the mise-en-scène, the nature of the dances, and individual moments of the action. On separate pieces of paper, M. Petipa records various historical information necessary for a correct depiction of the era. “The choreographer does not even stop at historical and philological research. Having encountered in Perrault’s fairy tales an unfamiliar designation for the shoe lost by Cinderella, he finds out that this is the nomenclature of the shoe worn in the home by knights and their wives - felt with fur trim.” The scenery and costumes were prepared very carefully, taking into account the style and many details of Perrault's fairy tales. The first ones were made according to the sketches of the famous theater artist M. I. Bocharov. Sketches for the costumes were drawn by the initiator of the production, I. A. Vsevolozhsky, who had extraordinary artistic taste.

The first performance of The Sleeping Beauty took place on January 3, 1890 on the St. Petersburg stage. The success at first was not as noisy as the authors and directors of the play expected. In the reviews of the premiere, it was not without philistine nonsense and mockery, reproaches that the new ballet was too serious. “In the auditorium, the music [of the ballet] was called either a symphony or melancholy,” reported a reviewer for the Petersburg newspaper. (“Petersburg newspaper” of January 4, 1890) And, at the same time, the production brought Tchaikovsky’s new work lasting and increasingly expanding public recognition. On this occasion, the composer’s brother later wrote: “...stunned by both the novelty of the program and the abundance of dazzling details, the public could not appreciate the ballet as they appreciated it later, as those who followed its production step by step appreciated it. The beauty of the details flashed quickly followed by a series of unnoticed and restrained: “very nice” was all she could say for the first time... And yet the success was colossal, but it appeared, just like the success of “Eugene Onegin”, not in violent manifestations of delight during performances, and in an endless series of full gatherings” (M. Tchaikovsky. Life of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, vol. III, p. 340).

It was “The Sleeping Beauty” that finally established in the public consciousness that new type of ballet music, and hence the overall new type and level of choreographic performance, which was the result of Tchaikovsky’s reform.

The libretto of The Sleeping Beauty is based on one of the most popular fairy tales by the famous 17th century French storyteller Charles Perrault2. Like most of the fairy tales he published, The Sleeping Beauty is a literary version of a widespread folklore story. The German version of this tale is popular - “Tsarevna-Brosehip” from the collection of the Brothers Grimm. There are also wonderful Russian fairy tales on the same topic, which could suggest certain images and situations to the authors of the ballet. These are, for example, numerous versions of the story about the dead princess, published in “Folk Russian Tales” by A. Afanasyev, in “Fairy Tales and Songs of the Belozersky Territory” by B. and Yu. Sokolov and in other folklore collections. Such are the well-known fairy tales of V. Zhukovsky (“The Sleeping Princess”) and A. Pushkin (“The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Knights”). The overall deeply humanistic meaning of the plot is the overcoming of evil spells by the victorious power of good feelings, the power of love, friendship and devotion. It is easy to see the similarity of this idea with the main plot motif of Swan Lake and The Nutcracker.

The author of the libretto of The Sleeping Beauty used only the first part of Perrault's fairy tale - until the moment of Aurora's awakening; the entire long and, it must be said, much less poetic story of Aurora’s further relationship with the prince and the evil machinations of Desiree’s stepmother turned out to be discarded. But this was not the main change made by the librettist and director. The general appearance and style of the fairy tale changed: from a modest, moralizing narrative, it turned into a magnificent spectacle, a luxurious ballet extravaganza. This transformation was determined by the general aesthetic guidelines of the ballet scene of that time. The extravaganza ballet was a fashionable genre that the public was waiting for, on which the leaders of the capital's ballet scene had high hopes. Only recently, in 1886, St. Petersburg witnessed the sensational success of M. Petipa’s extravaganza ballet “The Magic Pills.” The new premiere was supposed to surpass this performance in spectacular luxury and scope. The task of creating a performance of this type could not have been more consistent with M. Petipa’s personal artistic inclinations. Although he sought to enhance the figurative content of the ballet spectacle, he still remained primarily a master of brilliant divertissement, masterfully composed crowd scenes, and the effects of colorful character dances.

Tchaikovsky wrote his “Sleeping Beauty” in full accordance with the plans of Vsevolozhsky and Petipa. He wrote precisely the extravaganza ballet, giving wide scope to his imagination and his skill in the field of colorful sound painting and decorativeness. But Tchaikovsky always and in everything remained faithful to the fundamental properties of his artistic nature - his tendency to humanize, lyrically spiritualize any image, any object of depiction. Hence the significant “amendment” made by the composer to the theatrical concept of Vsevolozhsky - Petipa. This adjustment, which reflected the very essence of Tchaikovsky’s creative direction, was aptly and rightly defined by G. Laroche with the words about the “Russian element” that dominates the music of “The Sleeping Beauty”, that it is “a French fairy tale, accompanied by music in the Russian style.” The “Russian element” manifested itself in this case as an element of lyricism and emotionality. She powerfully subjugated and therefore internally rebuilt, re-emphasized a purely spectacular intention of the librettist and director.

“The Sleeping Beauty” embodies almost exclusively the “light” Tchaikovsky - the Tchaikovsky of solemn love cantilenas, cheerful, brilliant, lyrically graceful danceability. This is the world of bright romance, which lives in both operas and symphonies of Tchaikovsky, as a contrast to the fatally tragic or as the final phase of the gradual flowering of mental strength and ear passion. The lyrics of “The Sleeping Beauty” are distinguished by their special pomp, sensual fullness, and elevated festivity.

At the center of the ballet are the bright images of Princess Aurora (the embodiment of playful half-childish grace and femininity), passionately loving princes and the kind fairy Lilac, who brings goodness and happiness. The main lyrical episodes are A dagio and all the slow major cantilenas that approach them. They contain a rich gradation of feelings from maternal tenderness and meekness of benevolent fairies to the pathos of Prince Desiree's enthusiastic love confessions.

Already in the music of the prologue the inexhaustible riches of Tchaikovsky’s lyrical melodicism are revealed. Here we hear for the first time one of the main musical themes of the ballet: the smooth theme of the Lilac fairy, flowing with soft silvery light; This image of the victorious good feelings, contrasted with the evil and sarcastic music of the fairy Carabosse. Here is a beautiful and affectionate adagio of good fairies presenting their gifts to young Aurora ( B-dur" episode from "Dance of Six") Subsequently, three large A daggios act as the lyrical peaks of each of the ballet’s actions.

The bright, life-affirming images of “The Sleeping Beauty” are often associated with the composer’s favorite sphere of the waltz. The character of the waltz contains, in particular, the best “portrait” dances of Aurora: her light, airy variation C - major in the scene with the princes (first act), her excitedly joyful dance with a spindle in the same scene and the final one, full of ebullient fun “ Dance of two" (third act, C major). The large ensemble waltz is widely known B -dur from the first act. In terms of musical brightness, this is one of the main episodes of the ballet, invariably captivating with its wide-flowing, charming melody and its bright festivity.

In the pantomimes of The Sleeping Beauty, the precise and vivid imagery of each episode is remarkable. Particularly indicative in this sense are the endings of the prologue and the first act, as well as the scene with the knitters in the first act. With two or three well-aimed strokes, the composer expresses a word, a gesture, a mood, managing to imprint it in the listener’s mind, despite the speed and extreme sketchiness of the choreographic action. But for all its catchiness and character, pantomime music never loses the power of generalization and does not fall out of the overall strong chain of symphonic development.

Next to pantomimes, as a variety of the same, in essence, instrumental-program genre, the wonderful symphonic “landscapes” of “Sleeping Beauty” should be mentioned. This is the “Panorama” that connects the first and second scenes of the second act: the music depicts the path of Desiree and the Lilac fairy to the castle of the sleeping princess - a gently gliding boat and the forest thickets floating past. And then, at the beginning of the next picture, there is the finest symphonic watercolor “Dream”: an unsteady, like pre-dawn fog, picture of a sleeping kingdom and its gradual awakening under the influence of life, warmth and light.

Tchaikovsky performs in The Sleeping Beauty as a first-class master of character dance. The main theme of Carabosse has a sharp theatrical character - a generalized image of evil, sarcasm, mockery. The composer finds subtle artistic touches for the portrait dances of the jewel fairies (third act): ringing silver, iridescent flashes of diamonds, sparkling facets of sapphire. But one of the peaks of Tchaikovsky’s theatrical music is a series of fairy-tale portraits in the final divertissement of “The Sleeping Beauty”: the famous “cat duet” (“Puss in Boots and the White Pussycat”), the dance of Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, the heroes of “Thumb Boy”, “Cinderella” ", "Blue Bird", etc.

The remarkable advantages of these episodes are the combination of lively imagery and musical and lyrical generality. Here the general properties of Tchaikovsky’s programmatic symphonic music were reflected, never isolating the image from the internal lyrical relationship to the depicted, from the general emotional atmosphere of the work, and that is why he never reduced the program to naturalistic sound writing.

The new type of musical and choreographic performance, the creator of which was Tchaikovsky, received an even broader and bolder embodiment in The Sleeping Beauty than in Swan Lake. The reform of ballet music during these years was supported by the creative quests of the masters of Russian choreography, and first of all by the activities of M. Petipa. Updating the ballet performance has become an urgent need, recognized both by the stage managers and the most receptive part of the ballet audience. If we take into account the creative scope and professional care with which the first production of The Sleeping Beauty was carried out, its immeasurably greater public success, compared to Swan Lake, will become clear. The premiere of The Sleeping Beauty marked the beginning of Tchaikovsky's widespread recognition as a ballet composer. Its success was a new major victory for Russian classical choreography, which finally cemented its alliance with Russian musical classics.

The introduction of the ballet “The Sleeping Beauty” is based on the contrast of the two most contrasting musical images of the ballet: the dark and evil theme of the fairy Carabosse and the tender and soothing theme of the fairy Lilac. In the further development of the action, these themes appear repeatedly, personifying the fighting forces of evil and good.

Princess Aurora's christening. Hall in the palace of King Florestan.

The gentle, peaceful music of the first part of the scene accompanies the entrance of the benevolent fairies - the godmothers of Aurora. The fairies Candide, Fleur-de-Faria, Violante, Canary, Baby and, finally, the eldest among them, the Lilac fairy, appear. At a sign from the master of ceremonies, the pages and girls bring out the king's gifts intended for the godmothers and the newborn. This part of the scene is accompanied by graceful waltz music. Dance of six (Pas de six). The fairies, in turn, want to give gifts to the young princess. At first they perform together: a large A daggio follows (No. 6), where a beautiful melodic theme is decorated with elegant harp passages.

A little dance serves as a contrasting transition to the cycle of solo variations. The music of this little “fairy suite” contains a number of finely defined musical portraits.

I variation (Candide) - naive and innocently graceful, II variation (Fleur-de-farine) - fast-paced and sharply accented music in tarantella rhythm, variations III and IV ( And ) - two miniature scherzos, the first in a jerky pizzicato movement in the strings, as if depicting falling crumbs, the second with “chirping” melodic flute patterns and bells. V variation (Violante) - energetic dance in the nature of a gallop with a whimsical play of rhythms, VI variation - - a gentle and transparent sounding waltz.

The suite ends with a generally lively .

Yielding to the requests of the suitors, Aurora herself dances.

Desiree indifferently looks at the crowd of secular beauties: he does not find among them the one who could touch his heart.

And again the composer, in a condensed form, carries out the symphonic development of a large plan. The middle episode, with its lyrically sharpened, pleading intonations, prepares for an intensified presentation of the main theme (it is now performed by cellos, doubled by the rich and also “masculine” timbre of the English horn, and then by the entire group of string instruments).

The small Allegro that concludes this part of the scene (in some productions, the dance of the nymphs surrounding Aurora) is based on a witty rhythmic modification of the same theme. The music of Aurora's solo variation, combining playful grace and lyricism, is a new subtle characteristic of the fairy tale heroine.

The fog gradually dissipates, and one of the rooms of the enchanted castle is visible. On the bed under the canopy is a sleeping Aurora, on armchairs nearby are the king and queen, and around are courtiers frozen in various poses. Even the flame in the fireplace sleeps. Everything is illuminated with a mysterious light.

“A deeply expressive symphonic poem of the numbness of life, the connectedness of forces”! - such is the music of this scene, executed by subtle means of musical painting. The tremolo of the violins flickers slightly (“phosphoresces”), against which a chain of mysterious cold chords appears.

Familiar themes of evil and good (Carabosse and Lilac) are barely noticeably intertwined, but a sad melody reigns over everything, as if telling about the sadness of a bound soul.

A wave of impetuous rhythms accompanies the appearance of Desiree and his companion. The prince tries in vain to wake up the sleeping people. But then he touched the sleeping Aurora with his lips, and the enchanted kingdom came to life.

The second variation is performed by 43. . In music - imitation of intricate bird graces. The dance ends with a swift and light coda:

The festive celebration ends with a big dance of all those present. According to Petipa's original plan, such a dance should have been a “measured and serious” sarabande. Subsequently, the choreographer proposed another version of the final dance - the mazurka. The score of The Sleeping Beauty included both proposed dances:

A brilliant, captivating mazurka.

A solemn hymn to fairies who personify goodness and justice. The music of the Apotheosis is based on the theme of the famous French song “Vive Nepgu IV”, which the composer also used in the scene of the countess’ memories in the fourth scene of “The Queen of Spades”. The introduction of this song into the Apotheosis of the Ballet is indicated by the program, apparently on the basis that Perrault dates the beginning of the action of The Sleeping Beauty to the time of the French king Henry IV (1589-1610). In the scene of the awakening of the heroine of the fairy tale, we read: “The prince helped the princess get up, she was completely dressed and very luxurious, but he was careful to tell her that her dress was like his grandmother’s and that she had a high collar, which was worn under King Henry IV.. ."

D. Zhitomirsky. "Tchaikovsky's Ballets". M. 1957

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born on May 7, 1840 in the provincial Ural Votkinsk. His father, an engineer, served as director of a mining plant. Her mother, a noblewoman and French by birth, played the piano quite well; Obviously, she really did have an extraordinary talent, because under her influence Petya became seriously interested in music.

After graduating from the St. Petersburg School of Law, Tchaikovsky, as expected, entered the service of the Ministry of Justice. He escaped from there four years later, unable to imagine life without music, and after three years of studying at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, he was invited to a teaching position at the Moscow Conservatory, which to this day bears his name.

Symphonies (in his youth alone he created three), chamber works, music for theatrical productions - what did he not write with pleasure, which his former dull work would never have brought him! He even became famous - although real fame would find him later...

In 1876, Tchaikovsky completed the final edition of the score for the ballet Swan Lake, and around the same time his correspondence began with Nadezhda von Meck, a wealthy widow and later patron of the great Russian composer.

The mid-1880s saw the flowering of Tchaikovsky's talent as a composer. The symphonic poem "Manfred", the opera "The Queen of Spades", the Fifth Symphony and the last two ballets - "The Nutcracker" and "The Sleeping Beauty" - are golden pages of the Russian musical heritage.

Pyotr Ilyich died on November 6, 1893 in St. Petersburg on the ninth day after the first performance of his Sixth Symphony. In the history of Russian music, perhaps, there was no loss more sudden and painful - the greatest of geniuses passed away too tragically and absurdly.

Perrault, intellectual at the court of the Sun King

Born into a wealthy Parisian bourgeois family, Charles Perrault was a brilliant inspirer of the French cultural and political scene during the reign of Louis XIV.

Under the patronage of the powerful minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert became the author of highly valued historical, satirical and philosophical works. He took an active part in the famous controversy in the French Academy, known as the “Quarrel of the old and the new,” defending the right to new creative forms of literary and artistic works.

Today his name is primarily associated with Mother Goose Tales. This is a collection of eleven fairy tales, of which eight are written in prose and three in verse. The book includes the most beloved children's fairy tales: “Sleeping Beauty”, “Little Red Riding Hood”, “Bluebeard”, “Puss in Boots”, “Tom Thumb”, “Cinderella”.

With this book, Perrault opened a new literary genre for his country, bringing to life in a simple and poetic style the themes and characters characteristic of the oral folk tradition.

sleeping Beauty

The first part of the famous ballet trilogy (“Sleeping Beauty”, “Swan Lake”, “The Nutcracker”), born of the inspired creative union of Marius Petipa and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Its premiere took place in 1890 at the St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theater.

The production, which amazed even the most demanding connoisseurs with its luxury, was very soon recognized as the highest example of romantic choreography of the 19th century. It is based on elegance, strength, style and perfection of dance movements and facial scenes. Not a single role was “blacked out” for the sake of the prima ballerina’s part: on the contrary, all the others only increased its radiance with their brilliance.

In the twentieth century, the production of “The Sleeping Beauty” was performed with great success by almost all the world’s theaters. And, with rare exceptions, its content and choreography remained untouched - so perfect and flawless did they come from the pens of their creators.

Prologue. Baptism

After the overture is completed, the curtain opens with a solemn march. At the court of Florestan XIV they are preparing a celebration of the baptism of the little princess Aurora: the scenery takes us to the end of the seventeenth century.

While the comical master of ceremonies Catalabutte examines the list of guests and greets them, the sound of a trumpet announces the entrance of the king and queen. Six fairy godmothers arrive at the court: the Fairy of Sincerity, the Fairy of Blooming Ears, the Fairy Scattering Bread Crumbs, the Chirping Canary Fairy, the Fairy of Ardent, Strong Passions, and the Lilac Fairy.

They brought their gifts to the newborn. Chief among them is the Lilac Fairy, she invites the others to a pas de sis, one of the most ingenious choreographic creations of Marius Petipa. Little princess Aurora sleeps peacefully in her cradle under the supervision of caring nannies.

Each fairy performs a masterly variation, with the Lilac Fairy having the last word.

The pas de sis ends with a coda, in which, in addition to the fairies, their gentlemen and other invitees take part. Suddenly, the festive atmosphere is disrupted: the sky darkens, and thunderclaps announce the arrival of Fairy Carabosse, accompanied by a mouse cortege. Offended and angry that she was not invited to the baptism ceremony, she demands an explanation from the king and queen and torments the comical master of ceremonies who forgot to do so. Despite the intercession of the fairies and the requests of the queen, the evil Carabosse pronounces a curse: at the age of sixteen, Aurora will prick herself on a spindle and die.

But at this moment, the alarming accompaniment of the orchestra is filled with tenderness, and the Lilac Fairy, who has not yet presented her gift, softens the witchcraft: the girl will not die, but will only fall asleep for a long time and wake up when the handsome prince wakes her with a kiss. General depression is replaced by an irresistible faith in goodness and hope for the best.

To avoid the misfortune predicted by the evil sorceress Carabosse, the king issues a decree prohibiting, under penalty of death, the use of a spindle in his kingdom.

Act 1.Witchcraft

16 years have passed and Aurora's birthday is celebrated in the royal gardens. The waltz sounds - the most famous fragment of the ballet.

The princess is introduced to the grooms of four princes (French, Spaniard, Indian and Russian), who arrived to congratulate her on her coming of age. She is friendly with everyone and willingly dances with everyone, but does not give preference to anyone. The king and queen look at their daughter with tenderness and affection. But the anxiety does not leave them - after all, they have not forgotten the curse of the evil sorceress.

One of the brightest and most beautiful moments in the tradition of romantic ballets begins: the famous adagio. A sumptuous harp arpeggio opens it. The four princes, like excellent assistants, take turns supporting Aurora in her magnificent pirouettes.

This is followed by the cheerful dance of the court ladies and the last variation of Aurora. An old woman approaches the princess with a bouquet of roses. The girl takes the bouquet and spins in a waltz. Suddenly she loses strength and falls: a spindle was hidden in the flowers, and the princess pricked her finger with its sharp end.

Everyone is overwhelmed with grief. At this moment, the cloak falls from the old woman’s shoulders, and those present recognize her as the triumphant Fairy Carabosse. The Lilac Fairy, the patroness of Aurora, calms the princess’s family. “She did not die, this is not death, but a dream,” says the good fairy, and after a wave of her abandoned wand, the entire kingdom falls asleep following Aurora. Darkness envelops the castle, and soon it is completely hidden in thick darkness.

Act 2.Vision

100 years have passed since the tragic events in the kingdom of Floristan XIV. In the vicinity of an enchanted castle, Prince Désiré and his entourage are going to hunt. Horns blow. The ladies and gentlemen are dressed in the fashion of the late eighteenth century, and the master of ceremonies' cocked hat has been replaced by a feathered hat. The courtiers gather to have fun and court the ladies, then start a game of “Blind Fly,” but the prince reluctantly joins them. Soon he completely leaves the noisy clearing and, wandering thoughtfully through the forest, meets the Lilac Fairy. She consoles him and tells him that the beautiful princess is waiting for his kiss to wake up from a hundred years of sleep. Aurora appears in the prince's imagination. Having coped with the unexpected excitement, the prince eagerly joins her dance and even tries to hold the girl, but the Fairy and her companions affectionately stop him. Aurora runs away, disappearing like a ghost.

The prince passionately wants to see Aurora again. Together with the Lilac Fairy, he sails in a boat to the enchanted kingdom. They are surrounded by a silent forest, through the dense thickets of which the towers of the palace emerge.

The curtain falls temporarily and a violin solo opens a magnificent symphonic intermission.

In the overgrown park, only the evil Fairy Carabosse and her servants are awake. They block the path of anyone who intends to penetrate the sleeping kingdom.

Suddenly they hear sounds heralding the appearance of the Lilac Fairy. Carabosse is powerless before her power. Meanwhile, Prince Désiré had already reached the bed of Aurora, who was immersed in sleep. With a passionate kiss he awakens the sleeping beauty. The whole kingdom wakes up with her. The ardent feeling of first love covers Aurora and Desiree. Captivated by Aurora's beauty and charm, the prince asks the king and queen for the hand of their daughter.

Act 3. Wedding

The wedding of Prince Désiré and Princess Aurora is celebrated in the luxurious palace hall. The solemn and long-awaited event opens with a cheerful polonaise. One after another, famous characters from Charles Perrault's fairy tales pass by. The Lilac Fairy is also here, because only thanks to her the magic happened.

The Aurora sisters perform delightful ensembles with fun variations. This is followed by the first intermezzo - the duet of the White Cat and Puss in Boots.

Following them, Princess Florin and the Blue Bird perform their pas de deux - a number that requires enormous technical skill. The flapping of their arms resembles the movements of the wings of birds in majestic flight.

The second fairy tale intermezzo is the story of the Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood. Despite his menacing appearance, the Wolf is comical and not at all scary.

Thumb and his brothers are also welcome guests at the holiday. They are not at all afraid of the clumsy and funny Ogre - after all, he is just a character at a masquerade ball. All the guests are happy for the young people. And here they are!

Happy newlyweds perform a festive duet, their pas de deux is filled with the brightest feelings. General rejoicing ensues. Fountains flow. From the sparkling cascade emerges the Lilac Fairy, the personification of the all-conquering and triumphant good, which has won a crushing victory over evil.

Photos by V. Dmitriev (NGATOB, Novosibirsk), etc..

Ballet extravaganza in 3 acts (with prologue and apotheosis).

Characters:

• King Florestan XIV
• Queen
• Princess Aurora, their daughter
• Prince Sheri
• Prince Sharman
• Prince Fleur de Poix
• Prince Fortune
• Catalabut, chief butler of King Florestan
• Prince Désiré
• Lilac Fairy
• Good fairies: Canary Fairy, Violant Fairy (frantic), Crumb Fairy (scattering bread crumbs), Candide Fairy (pure-hearted), Fleur de Farine Fairy (blooming ears fairy)
• Carabosse, the evil fairy
• Ladies, lords, pages, hunters, servants, spirits from the fairy retinue, etc.

The action takes place in a fairyland in fairy-tale times with an interval of one hundred years.

Prologue. Hall of the palace of King Florestan XIV. The christening of Princess Aurora is celebrated here. Fairy sorceresses are invited, each of them gifts her goddaughter with various spiritual qualities. However, before the main godmother, the Lilac fairy, has time to approach the cradle, the most evil and powerful fairy Carabosse in the whole country bursts into the hall with a noise. They forgot to invite her and she's furious! In vain the King and Queen beg her to forgive the mistake of the Chief of Ceremonies Katalubut. Carabosse only mocks them. “So that the princess’s happiness, which my sisters have given her, is never interrupted, she will fall into eternal sleep as soon as she pricks her finger.” With these words, the evil fairy casts magic spells. The fun of the triumphant Carabosse and her ugly retinue is interrupted by the Lilac fairy. She predicts not eternal, but only long sleep for Aurora. “One day the prince will come and wake you up with a kiss on your forehead.” The enraged Carabosse disappears, and the rest of the fairies surround the cradle.

1. Aurora turned 20 years old. The beginning of the holiday in the palace park is overshadowed by a scene with the villagers. They were found with needles that were prohibited near the palace. The king wants to punish them severely, but is it worth spoiling the celebration? General fun, dancing peasants. Aurora's exit. She dances with four suitors, without giving preference to any of them. Everyone admires the young princess. Aurora notices an old woman with a spindle, curiously snatches it from her hands and, waving it, continues the dance. The sudden pain from the spindle prick frightens the princess. She rushes from side to side and then falls lifeless. Everyone is terrified. The old woman takes off her cloak - this is a triumphant Carabosse. In vain the suitors draw their swords, the fairy disappears. The fountain at the back of the stage is illuminated with magical light, and the Lilac Fairy appears. According to her instructions, the princess is taken to the castle, followed by the courtiers. The sorceress waves her wand and everything freezes. Lilac bushes cover the castle, creatures subservient to the fairy guard its peace.

2. A hundred years have passed. Prince Désiré is hunting on the banks of a wide river. During breakfast in nature, his retinue is having fun. Archery, dancing. The prince is tired and orders the hunt to continue without him. A luxurious boat appears on the river. The Lilac Fairy, the Prince's godmother, emerges from it. Desiree confesses to her that his heart is free. By the sign of the fairy's wand in the rock, the sleeping Aurora is visible. Together with her friends, the ghost of the princess appears on stage. They captivate the young man with their dances. The prince is delighted, but the shadow eludes him and disappears into the rock. Desiree begs the Lilac Fairy to show him where to find this heavenly creature. They get into the boat and sail. The landscape becomes more and more wild (panorama). A mysterious castle appears in the light of the moon. The Fairy leads the Prince through a closed gate, sleeping horses and people are visible. Quiet music is heard.

Sleeping Beauty Castle. A layer of dust and cobwebs cover the room where Aurora sleeps, surrounded by her parents and retinue. As soon as Desiree kisses the Princess on the forehead, everything changes. The dust of centuries disappears, a fire flares up in the fireplace. The prince begs the awakened father to agree to marry his daughter. “Such is her fate,” the King answers and joins the hands of the young people.

3. Aurora and Desiree's wedding. Esplanade of the Florestan Palace. The exit of the King, Queen, newlyweds with their retinue and fairies of Diamonds, Gold, Silver and Sapphires. The heroes of fairy tales march in a large polonaise. Here are Bluebeard and his wife, Puss in Boots, the Marquis de Carabas, the Golden-haired Beauty and Prince Avenant, Donkeyskin and Prince Charmant, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella and Prince Fortune. Next come the Blue Bird and Princess Florina, the White Cat, Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, Prince Khokhlik and Princess Eme, Little Thumb and his brothers, the Ogre and the Ogress, the fairy Carabosse on a wheelbarrow driven by rats, as well as the good fairies led by the fairy Lilac . A great divertissement where fairies and fairy-tale characters dance. Pas de deux of Aurora and Desiree. Final general code.

The initiative to appear on the St. Petersburg stage of a ballet based on Perrault’s famous fairy tale came from the director of the Imperial Theaters, Ivan Vsevolozhsky. This nobleman was European-educated, composed plays, drew well, and received a good musical education. In August, Tchaikovsky received a detailed script for the future ballet, which he liked. The script, which largely coincided with the final libretto given above, differed favorably from Perrault's fairy tale in many details: new characters appeared, and the scenes of the action were more advantageously outlined. The authors of the script (it was unsigned) were Marius Petipa and, probably, the director himself.

In February 1889, Petipa sent Tchaikovsky a detailed plan for the prologue and all three acts. In this amazing document, the desired music was written down to the number of bars. It is amazing how in detail the venerable choreographer saw his performance, without yet hearing a single musical phrase, without composing a single movement. For example, Aurora’s reaction to the injection was described as follows: “2/4, quickly. In horror, she no longer dances - it’s not a dance, but a dizzying, crazy movement as if from a tarantula bite! Finally, she falls lifeless. This frenzy should last no more than 24 to 32 bars." Tchaikovsky, having formally followed all the instructions of the choreographer, created a unique composition, “raising the bar” of ballet music for many years to come.

On the cover of the program released for the premiere, it was written: “The content is borrowed from Perrault’s fairy tales.” Firstly, it was deliberately not indicated who borrowed it, that is, who the author or authors of the script were. Only later did the co-authorship of Petipa and Vsevolozhsky begin to be indicated (the latter also owned sketches of the costumes for the play, which, apparently, should have been known only to the initiated). Secondly, among the characters in the final act are the heroes of fairy tales not only by Perrault (from the famous “Puss in Boots” to “Donkey Skin” and “Rike with the Tuft”), but also by Madame d’Aunois (The Blue Bird and Princess Florine, Golden-Haired beauty, Prince Avenant) and Leprince de Beaumont (Beauty and the Beast).

All the best forces of the troupe were busy. Aurora was danced by Carlotta Brianza, one of the Italian ballerinas who served under contract at the Mariinsky Theater in the 1890s and who performed leading roles in ballets by Tchaikovsky and Glazunov. Desiree - Pavel Gerdt, Lilac Fairy - Maria Petipa, Carabosse - Enrique Cecchetti (Italian artist, choreographer and teacher, who also masterfully performed the role of the Blue Bird). Reviews for the premiere of “Sleeping Beauty” turned out to be different. Recorded balletomanes grumbled that the music was “unsuitable for dancing,” that ballet was “a fairy tale for children and old people.” However, the theater was filled with other spectators who knew and loved Tchaikovsky’s music from his operas and symphonic works. During the first two seasons, the ballet was performed about 50 times.

“The luxurious, juicy ballet “The Sleeping Beauty” has the same meaning in the development of Russian ballet as “Ruslan and Lyudmila” in the opera” (Boris Asafiev). Thanks to Tchaikovsky's music, the "children's" fairy tale became a poem about the struggle between good (the fairy Lilac) and evil (the fairy Carabosse). At the same time, in its mood, “Sleeping Beauty” is unique in the composer’s work. The ballet, written between the fifth symphony and “The Queen of Spades” - works full of fatal beginnings and condensed drama, is full of light and lyricism. No wonder “The Sleeping Beauty” is called the ballet symbol of St. Petersburg. The anger and envy of any Carabosse are insignificant before the surreal light of white nights, filled with the smell of lilac.

The musical material of individual numbers is developed into a broad symphonic canvas. The prologue is monumental and solemn. The first act is the effective, dramatic center of the ballet. The second is the romantic lyrics, especially impressive in the extended musical intermissions. The final act is a celebration of triumphant joy. Tchaikovsky's famous waltzes in The Sleeping Beauty range from dancing fairies in the prologue to an extensive festive Peisan waltz and a short waltz sequence of Aurora's dance with a spindle. It is known that the magnificent music of ballet has gone far beyond the stage. The best conductors perform it in concerts and record it on audio discs. It is not for nothing that the composer, always dissatisfied with himself, wrote in a letter to a friend: “The Sleeping Beauty is perhaps the best of all my compositions.”

The ballet, slender in its architecture, amazes with the magnificence of its varied choreographic colors. At the same time, the designs of the acts are artistically thought out. At first there is a short pantomime episode (the knitters in the first act) or a genre dance (Désirée's hunt). This is followed by an extensive dance fragment (sextet of fairies in the prologue, peasant waltz of the first act, court dances in the second). And finally, a classical dance ensemble (pas d'axion) - Aurora dancing with four suitors, or a scene of nymphs. Let us note in parentheses that this scene of Desiree's seduction is mistakenly called "dances of the Nereids." There was no such name, and could not have to be with Petipa, for he knew that the Nereids are “found" only in the sea, and not on the river bank. In the last act, Petipa’s inventive genius dazzles the audience with a bizarre pattern of diverse dances, the pinnacle of which is the solemn pas de deux of the heroes.

As always, at the center of every Petipa performance is the ballerina. The choreographic image of Aurora is characterized by a masterful selection of movements and at the same time rare plastic expressiveness in the dynamics of plot collisions. A young girl, brightly and naively perceiving the world around her, in the first act. An alluring ghost, summoned from a long-term sleep by the Lilac fairy, in the second. The happy princess who found her betrothed in the finale. It was not for nothing that Petipa was considered a master of female variations. In The Sleeping Beauty these are dance portraits of the good fairies. Traditionally, the male characters, with the exception of the Bluebird, are less impressive. The choreographer did not consider it necessary, for example, to give Aurora’s suitors any dance characteristics other than the support of the desired princess. In general, “The Sleeping Beauty” by Petipa - Tchaikovsky is called “an encyclopedia of classical dance.”

The stage life of the play at the Mariinsky Theater actively continued into the 20th century. In 1914, it was decided to replace the original scenography; this was entrusted to the famous artist Konstantin Korovin. In 1922/23, when after the turbulent revolutionary years it was necessary to overhaul the ballet, changes affected the choreography. In the second act, Fyodor Lopukhov restored the symphonic intermission, composed the court dances on the hunt and the painting “Dream” that Petipa had missed, and edited some scenes of the final act. Almost all of this later began to seem inseparable from Petipa’s choreography.

In the post-war years, the splendor of The Sleeping Beauty seemed to fade. In 1952, Konstantin Sergeev carried out a major choreographic and directorial revision of the ancient ballet, “aimed at a more complete and profound disclosure of the ideological and artistic concept of the composer and director.” The images of the fairy Lilac, who parted with high-heeled shoes and a magic wand, and Désiré, who received new variations in the second and third acts, became more dance-complicated. Some numbers were staged again: the entrance of the fairies in the prologue, the farandola of the second act, the procession of characters and the sextet of fairies in the last act. Simon Virsaladze's stylish sets and costumes evoked admiration.

In 1999, the Mariinsky Theater decided on a seemingly crazy idea - to reconstruct The Sleeping Beauty from 1890. By this time, the collection of the former chief director of the pre-revolutionary Mariinsky Theater Nikolai Sergeev, now stored at Harvard University, became available. The choreographer of the reconstruction, Sergei Vikharev, wrote: “When I got acquainted with the recordings of Nikolai Sergeev, it became clear that The Sleeping Beauty can be restored in a form as close as possible to Petipa’s original. The ballet was recorded in all components: the pantomime was completely painted, the geography of the characters’ movements on the stage And most importantly - dance combinations...”

The sets and costumes were restored using materials from St. Petersburg museums. The performance turned out to be festively bright, a real “grand feast” for the eyes, but quite controversial.

The stage history of The Sleeping Beauty abroad began in 1921 in London. Diaghilev decided to show Europe an example of that old St. Petersburg school that formed the foundation of his troupe. The scenery and costumes (more than 100!) for the luxurious production were commissioned from the famous Lev Bakst. True, Diaghilev treated the works of Tchaikovsky and Petipa in his own way. He deleted from the score everything that seemed boring to him and supplemented it with other music by the same composer. He asked Igor Stravinsky to re-orchestrate something.

Nikolai Sergeev showed the choreography to the troupe, but then Bronislava Nijinska supplemented it with new numbers. The most famous of them - “The Dance of the Three Ivans” - crowned the divertissement of fairy tales. The premiere was danced by Petrograd guest performer Olga Spesivtseva and former premier of the Mariinsky Theater Pyotr Vladimirov. For the role of Carabosse, Diaghilev invited Carlotta Brianza, the first performer of the role of Aurora in 1890. The troupe, despite 105 performances, failed to justify the enormous costs. The investor took the entire scenography to pay off the debt, and Bakst received his fee only through the court.

The times of big story ballets in the West came later. Nowadays, most major ballet companies have in their repertoire “The Sleeping Beauty” in very different stage and choreographic versions.

A. Degen, I. Stupnikov

History of creation

The director of the imperial theaters I. Vsevolozhsky (1835-1909), a fan of Tchaikovsky’s work, who highly appreciated Swan Lake, in 1886 tried to interest the composer in a new ballet theme. He suggested the plots of “Ondine” and “Salambo”. The composer, who was then working on the opera “The Enchantress,” immediately refused “Salammbo,” but “Ondine” interested him: an early opera was written on this plot, and Tchaikovsky was not averse to returning to it. He even asked his brother Modest, a famous librettist, to handle the script. However, the version presented by M. Tchaikovsky (1850-1916) was rejected by the theater management, and Vsevolozhsky was seized by another idea - to create a magnificent performance in the style of ballets at the court of Louis XIV with a quadrille from Perrault's fairy tales in the divertissement of the last act. On May 13, 1888, he wrote to Tchaikovsky: “I decided to write a libretto for “La belle au bous dormant” based on Perrault’s fairy tale. I want to make a mise en scene in the style of Louis XIV. Here musical fantasy can run wild and you can compose melodies in the spirit of Lully, Bach, Rameau, etc., etc. If the idea suits your gut, why not take up composing music? The last act requires a quadrille of all Perrault’s fairy tales - there should be Puss in Boots, and Little Thumb, and Cinderella, and Bluebeard, etc.” The script was written by him himself in close collaboration with M. Petipa (1818-1910) based on the fairy tale by Charles Perrault (1628-1697) “The Beauty of the Sleeping Forest” from his collection “Tales of Mother Goose, or Stories and Tales of Bygone Morals with Teachings” (1697 ). Having received it in the second half of August, Tchaikovsky, according to him, was fascinated and delighted. “This suits me quite well, and I don’t want anything better than to write music for it,” he answered Vsevolozhsky.

Tchaikovsky composed with passion. On January 18, 1889, he completed sketches of a prologue and two acts; work on the third took place in the spring and summer, partly during a long journey undertaken by the composer along the route Paris - Marseille - Constantinople - Tiflis (Tbilisi) - Moscow. In August, he was already finishing the orchestration of the ballet, which was eagerly awaited at the theater: rehearsals were already underway there. The composer's work proceeded in constant interaction with the great choreographer Marius Petipa, who formed an entire era in the history of Russian ballet (he served in Russia from 1847 until his death). Petipa provided the composer with a detailed order plan. As a result, a completely new type of ballet in musical embodiment arose, far removed from the more traditional in musical and dramatic terms, although beautiful in the music of Swan Lake. “The Sleeping Beauty” has become a true musical and choreographic symphony in which music and dance are fused together.

“Each act of the ballet was like a part of a symphony, closed in form and could exist separately,” writes the famous ballet researcher V. Krasovskaya. - But each expressed one of the sides of the general idea, and therefore, as part of the symphony, could be fully appreciated only in connection with other acts. The stage action of The Sleeping Beauty outwardly repeated the plan of the script. But next to the climaxes of the plot and, in fact, crowding them out, new peaks arose - musical and dance action.... “The Sleeping Beauty” is one of the outstanding phenomena in the history of world choreography of the 19th century. This work, the most perfect in Petipa's work, sums up the difficult, not always successful, but persistent search of the choreographer in the field of ballet symphonism. To a certain extent, it sums up the entire path of choreographic art of the 19th century...”

The premiere of The Sleeping Beauty took place at the St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theater on January 3 (15), 1890. Throughout the 20th century, the ballet was staged more than once on many stages, and the basis of the performance was always Petipa’s choreography, which became a classic, although each of the choreographers who turned to “The Sleeping Beauty” contributed something of their own individuality.

Music

Despite the fact that “The Sleeping Beauty” is a French fairy tale, its music, in terms of its spontaneous emotionality and heartfelt lyricism, is deeply Russian. She is distinguished by spirituality, light romance, clarity and festivity. In its character it is close to one of Tchaikovsky’s operatic pearls - “Iolanta”. The music is based on the opposition and symphonic development of the themes of Lilac and Carabosse as the antithesis of Good and Evil.

The Great Waltz of Act I is one of the brightest numbers in the ballet. The famous musical Panorama of Act II illustrates the path of the magic boat. The musical intermission connecting the first and second scenes of Act II is a solo violin intoning the beautiful melodies of love and dreams. The gentle sound of the violin is matched by the oboe and English horn. In Act III, the Pas de deux of Aurora and the Prince is a large Adagio, sounding like the apotheosis of love.

L. Mikheeva

The circumstances surrounding the production of Swan Lake could not but have a cooling effect on Tchaikovsky. Only thirteen years later he again turned to the ballet genre, having received an order to compose music for the ballet “The Sleeping Beauty” based on Perrault’s fairy tale for production at the Mariinsky Theater. The new ballet was created under completely different conditions. By the end of the 80s, Tchaikovsky, who was in the period of highest creative maturity, achieved universal recognition in his homeland and in a number of foreign countries as one of the most outstanding Russian composers. The success enjoyed by many of his works on the concert stage and in the opera prompted the director of the imperial theaters, I. A. Vsevolozhsky, to turn to him to create a richly furnished, exciting performance that would amaze the audience with its enchanting luxury, variety and brightness of colors. Showing special concern for the production level of the performances of the largest capital theater, Vsevolozhsky wanted to amaze the audience with novelty and brilliance in The Sleeping Beauty, surpassing anything they could see before. For this purpose, ordinary ordinary ballet music was not suitable and the participation of a composer of Tchaikovsky’s caliber was needed.

The St. Petersburg Ballet had a strong troupe, headed by one of the most prominent choreographers of the 19th century, Marius Petipa. A representative of the classical school, not inclined to any bold innovations, he was not only a brilliant master with great imagination and subtle taste, but also a thoughtful, interesting artist. “One of Petipa’s great merits,” writes the researcher, “was his desire to return to classical dance, at least the first plots, its former expressiveness and psychological richness, this is perhaps the most valuable property of the old ballet, long ago reduced to nothing "

Tchaikovsky wrote the music for The Sleeping Beauty in close collaboration with the scriptwriter and director Petipa, who, taking advantage of Vsevolozhsky's general wishes, developed a detailed plan for the ballet, indicating the nature and quantity (size and number of bars) of music for each individual number. Tchaikovsky tried to take into account all the instructions contained in Petipa’s plan with maximum accuracy, but at the same time he did not simply fulfill the wishes of the theater director and choreographer, but independently interpreted the plot, creating an internally complete, holistic work, permeated with the unity and continuity of symphonic development. Sometimes the composer went against the intentions of the scriptwriters. Vsevolozhsky imagined the music of The Sleeping Beauty as an elegant stylization in the spirit of the 17th - early 18th centuries. Addressing Tchaikovsky with a proposal to take on this work, he wrote: “Here musical fantasy can run wild and compose melodies in the spirit of Lully, Bach, Rameau, etc., etc.” However, Tchaikovsky resorts to such stylization only in a few individual episodes; in general, his music is distinguished by its extraordinary richness, fullness and brightness of colors, using all the riches of harmony and orchestral writing of the second half of the 19th century.

Often the symphonist’s creative thought led him to such an expansion of scale and complication of texture that this puzzled the choreographer, who was not accustomed to such developed musical forms and such a degree of “density” of the material. A number of eyewitnesses testify to the difficulties Petipa experienced when receiving ready-made pieces of music from Tchaikovsky (“Tchaikovsky’s music created considerable difficulties for Petipa,” writes one of the memoirists. “He was used to working with full-time ballet composers - my grandfather Puni and Minkus, who were ready to endlessly change the music of certain numbers<...>Therefore, it was quite difficult for Petipa to work on The Sleeping Beauty. He admitted this to me too.”). “Petipa,” notes N. I. Nosilov, “was the greatest master of composing ballet dances to non-dance music, but he had not yet had to deal with the revelation of ideas and images embedded in the symphony by choreographic means.” Therefore, with all the brilliance of the production carried out by the venerable choreographer, it still did not reveal Tchaikovsky’s score in all the depth and significance of its content.

For Petipa, “The Sleeping Beauty” was a fabulous choreographic performance that made it possible to unfold a wide, colorful panorama of pictures and images that captivate the imagination, and to demonstrate all the richness of classical and character dance. Tchaikovsky needed a main motive, a guiding idea that would unite this entire motley series of scenes and episodes. Laroche found a mythological basis in the fairy tale about the sleeping beauty, common among many peoples - “one of the countless incarnations of the earth, resting in winter and waking up from the kiss of spring.” A similar idea was expressed by the inspector of St. Petersburg theaters V.P. Pogozhev in a letter to Tchaikovsky dated September 24, 1888, when the composer’s idea for “The Sleeping Beauty” was just maturing: “The program, in my opinion, is very successful; sleep and awakening (winter and spring) are a magnificent canvas for a musical picture.” Perhaps these words turned out to be to some extent a hint for Tchaikovsky and strengthened him in his decision to write music on a plot that at first he did not really like: winter and spring, sleep and awakening, life and death - these antitheses often come together in folk art and turn out to be interchangeable. This understanding of the plot made it possible to connect it with the main problems of Tchaikovsky’s work.

The images of the evil fairy Carabosse and the good, beautiful fairy Lilac personify in “Sleeping Beauty” antagonistic principles, the struggle of which determines both the eternal cycle in nature and the fate of human life. Both of them are characterized by constant musical themes, which receive extensive symphonic development in the ballet. The nature of these two themes is sharply contrasting. The theme of the fairy Carabosse is distinguished by its sharpness, “prickly” design, harmonic dissonance and mobility of the tonal plan (Asafiev draws attention to the “method of mixing tonal colors” used here by Tchaikovsky, which was discovered by Glinka in the flight scene of Chernomor from “Ruslan and Lyudmila.”).

The Lilac Fairy is depicted by a smooth, slowly unfolding melodious melody of the barcarolle type with a smoothly pulsating accompaniment, evoking a feeling of clear, serene peace.

In contrast to the elusively changeable theme of Carabosse, it steadily retains its melodic pattern and undergoes only external textural changes.

Dramatic nodes, centers of interweaving of the main active forces are the finales of the prologue and the first act, as well as the big picture of the Lilac fairy and the prince in the second act. The unexpected appearance of the fairy Carabosse in the prologue at the celebration of the christening of the newborn princess Aurora and her menacing prediction about the princess's eternal sleep causes general confusion. In this scene, the Carabosse theme is widely developed, taking on grotesque shapes; the abrupt sounds of woodwind instruments give it a special deathly cold, hard flavor. But after this, a light, bewitchingly affectionate theme of the Lilac fairy appears; the dream will not last forever, she says, and Aurora will wake up from the kiss of the handsome prince. The prologue ends with the triumphant sound of this theme, into which only isolated fragments of the theme of Carabosse are woven, leaving the palace in anger.

The finale of the first act is more dramatic, where the forces of good and evil, personified by two powerful fairies, collide again. Immediately preceding the finale is the dance of Aurora, already a young beauty, whose hand is sought by noble gentlemen. Graceful, slightly flirty dance (In the score designated as Aurora Variation No. 8 c.) begins in the movement of a leisurely waltz, but gradually becomes faster and more impetuous. Noticing an old woman with a spindle, Aurora grabs it and accidentally pricks her finger: the menacing prediction has come true: Aurora spins around in despair, bleeding (“Danse vertige” - a dizzying dance or dance of madness), and finally falls dead. At this moment, Carabosse’s theme resounds menacingly from the horns and trombones in a rhythmic increase (The similarity of this version with the beginning of development in the first movement of the Sixth Symphony is noteworthy.),

expressing the triumph and glee of the evil witch. The horror and despair of all those present subside with the appearance of the fairy Lilac, accompanied by her leitmotif in the same thick and bright key of E major in which it is set out in the orchestral introduction and finale of the prologue. With a wave of her magic wand, the fairy plunges everyone into a deep sleep, and the “chords of sleep” sound powerfully and commandingly in the orchestra, which are nothing more than a softened version of the theme of the fairy Carabosse.

The second act, consisting of two scenes, is a tightly welded chain of dance and pantomime scenes that directly transform into one another. The atmosphere of goodness, love and joy dominates here - evil lurks, only occasionally reminding itself of itself, and by the end of the action it is completely defeated. After the first divertissement scenes of hunting, games and dancing of Prince Désiré and his court, some kind of magical light seems to spill over the stage, drawing you into a mysterious unknown distance. From the moment the fairy Lilac appears, the color of the music changes, becomes vaguely shimmering, fantastic - she awakens the prince’s thirst for love and shows him a vision of Aurora. The lyrical Adagio of Aurora and Desiree with an expressive cello solo, the scene of the prince’s passionate plea to introduce him to the beauty, the panorama of the journey of Desiree and the fairy sailing on a boat to the enchanted kingdom, and, finally, the picture of a dream, remarkable in its subtlety of orchestral writing - these are the most important strongholds of the whole this long period of action (The score also has an orchestral intermission with a large violin solo, connecting the two scenes of the second act, but when performing a ballet it is usually omitted. Meanwhile, for the development of the internal action, this intermission is important: an expressive lyrical theme, close to the theme of love from “The Queen of Spades” , expresses the strength of the Prince’s passion, forcing him to break through all obstacles and dangers to the beauty that captivated him.). Once again, but quietly, muffled, “dream chords” sound from the woodwinds, fragments of the themes of the fairy Carabosse and the fairy Lilac are heard, and all this seems to be shrouded in a light transparent haze. The kiss of the prince, breaking through the fog and dense thickets of the forest, awakens Aurora from a long sleep: love and courage defeat the evil spells of witchcraft (The moment of “breaking the spell” is marked by a tom-tom strike - the only one in the entire score.). This, in essence, ends the development of the action - the final third act (the wedding of Aurora and Desiree) is a large luxurious divertissement.

The unity and integrity of the symphonic concept are combined in The Sleeping Beauty with the extraordinary richness and variety of dance forms. In each action we find a kind of dance parade, creating a colorful background for the unfolding of the dramatic plot. Individual dances are combined into larger formations based on the principle of rhythmic and expressive contrast, forming cyclic forms of the suite type. This principle in itself was not new for classical ballet, but in The Sleeping Beauty the choreographer and composer abandoned impersonal general dance formulas that have no connection with a particular situation and therefore can easily be transferred from one work to another: in each from the dances a certain characteristic image is imprinted. These are the fairy variations in the prologue, the rural dance and the “waltz of reconciliation” in the first act, a group of ancient dances (minuet, gavotte, farandole) in the second act and almost the entire third act - this, according to Asafiev’s definition, “a holiday continuously unfolding in its magical flowering dance."

A number of miniature character scenes featuring familiar characters from Perrault's fairy tales are remarkable. True masterpieces of brilliant sound writing are such episodes as “Puss in Boots and the White Cat” with “meowing” oboes and bassoons, “The Blue Bird and Princess Florine”, where the “playing” of the flute and clarinet creates the illusion of the singing of some unprecedented strange birds , “Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf”, in the music of which one can hear the timid steps of a little girl, turning into a fast hasty run, and a menacing wolf’s roar (tirats of violas and cellos). At the end of the third act, after the festive procession of fairy-tale characters ends, the main characters Aurora and Desiree appear again. Their Adagio (followed by the obligatory fast variations) sounds light, even triumphant, expressing the joy and completeness of the happiness achieved.

The premiere of The Sleeping Beauty at the Mariinsky Theater on January 3, 1890 became an event in the artistic life of the Russian capital. Despite the usual attacks of conservative criticism, the novelty and scale of the phenomenon were obvious to everyone. Evaluating the music of the ballet, Laroche put it on a par with the best works of Tchaikovsky as “the highest point to which Glinka’s school has so far reached, the point at which the school is already beginning to free itself from Glinka and open new horizons, which have not yet been clarified."

The departure from the usual cliches, the unusualness of the performance that presented itself to their hearing and sight, most of all worried the avid balletomanes, who criticized the production of The Sleeping Beauty from this very point of view. At the same time, Tchaikovsky's ballet evoked an enthusiastic reaction from the figures of the younger generation, who were destined in the near future to introduce a new, refreshing stream into Russian art. Young A. N. Benois, having attended one of the first performances of The Sleeping Beauty, was especially delighted with Tchaikovsky’s music, finding in it “ the same thing, what am I always somehow waited“,” “something infinitely close, dear, something that I would call my music.” “Admiration for The Sleeping Beauty,” he wrote in his declining years, “brought me back to ballet in general, to which I had lost interest, and with this burning passion I infected all my friends, who gradually became “real balletomanes.” This created one of the main conditions that, a few years later, pushed us to work in the same field, and this activity brought us worldwide success.”

This recognition of one of S. P. Diaghilev’s closest associates in organizing the “Russian Seasons” in Paris, who directly collaborated with Stravinsky and other composers of the same circle, serves as convincing evidence of the outstanding role played by “The Sleeping Beauty” in the renewal of the ballet theater at the turn of the 19th century and XX centuries.

P. I. Tchaikovsky wrote music for only three ballets. But all of them are masterpieces and are included in the repertoire of theaters all over the world. We will look at a brief summary of the ballet “Sleeping Beauty”.

Creation of a work

Having completed the Fifth Symphony and the opera “The Enchantress” and reflecting on the idea of ​​“The Queen of Spades,” Pyotr Ilyich received an order from the head of the directorate of the imperial theaters I. A. Vsevolzhsky to create a ballet. Initially, the composer was offered a choice of two themes: “Salambo” and “Ondine”. However, Tchaikovsky himself abandoned the first, and the libretto of the second was considered unsuccessful. At the end of 1888 (December) Marius Ivanovich Petipa gave Pyotr Ilyich the libretto of the ballet “The Sleeping Beauty”. The composer already had a summary, musical, sketch: prologue, first and second acts. It was only January 1889. The third act and apotheosis were composed in the spring and summer, also during trips to Paris, Marseille, Constantinople, Tiflis and Moscow. In August, rehearsals were already underway, and at the same time the composer was finishing the instrumentation of the ballet. At this time, Tchaikovsky and Petipa often met, making changes and clarifications. The score of The Sleeping Beauty reflects the maturity of Pyotr Ilyich. There is a general solidity in it, a careful development of situations, pictures and images.

Staging the play

M. Petipa, who had an outstanding artistic imagination, developed each number, considering its duration, rhythm and character. The famous theater artist M.I. Bocharov made sketches of the scenery, and Vsevolzhsky himself, in addition to writing the libretto together with Petipa, also drew sketches for the costumes. The performance should be incredibly beautiful and historically accurate - this was what all the participants strived for.

The premiere took place in St. Petersburg during the Christmas holidays in 1890, on January 3. The festive performance caused mixed reactions. Some critics thought the ballet was too deep (they just wanted to have fun). The public gave their answer. It was expressed not in thunderous applause, but in 100 percent attendance and a full hall at every performance. The choreographer's talent, his high demands on actors and brilliant music merged into a single whole. On stage, the audience saw an incredibly beautiful and deeply thought-out performance. It was a joint creation of two geniuses: the ballet “Sleeping Beauty”. A summary will follow below.

Characters

• King Florestan and his wife, their daughter Aurora.
• Contenders for the hand of the princess are princes: Fortune, Cherie, Fleur de Pois, Charmant.
• Head Butler - Catalabute.
• Prince Désiré and his mentor Galifron.
• Good fairies: Fleur de Farin, Lilac fairy, Violante, Canary fairy, Breadcrumb fairy. The spirits that make up the fairies' retinue.
• The evil powerful terrible fairy Carabosse with her retinue.
• Ladies and lords, huntresses and hunters, pages, footmen, bodyguards.

Prologue

We begin to present a summary of the ballet “The Sleeping Beauty”. Celebrations begin in the main hall of the palace of King Florestan in honor of the christening of the baby princess. The invited ladies and gentlemen line up in beautiful groups according to the instructions of the stewards. Everyone is waiting for the appearance of the royal couple and the invited fairies. To the solemn sounds of fanfare, the king and queen enter the hall. Behind them, the nurses' nurses carry the princess's cradle. After this, it is announced that the fairies have arrived.

The last one is the Lilac Fairy - the princess's main goddaughter. Gifts have been prepared for each of them. At this time, news arrives and the forgotten, uninvited fairy Carabosse appears. She's terrible. Her cart is being pulled by nasty rats.

The butler throws himself at her feet, begging for forgiveness. Carabosse, with an evil laugh, pulls out his hair; the rats quickly eat it. She announces that her gift is an eternal sleep into which the lovely princess will plunge into by pricking her finger. Everyone is terrified. But here comes the Lilac Fairy, who has not yet presented her gift. She bends over the cradle and promises that a handsome prince will appear, who will wake up the young girl with a kiss, and she will live joyfully and happily.

First action

It's the princess's birthday. She turned 16 years old. There are holidays everywhere. The villagers dance, dance in circles and have fun in the king's park. 4 princes have arrived and are eager for the girl to choose a groom from among them. Accompanied by maids of honor with bouquets of flowers and wreaths, Princess Aurora runs in. The princes are shocked by her unearthly beauty. With half-childish playful grace, the girl begins to dance. The princes join her.

This is a light aerial variation from the ballet Sleeping Beauty. The summary should continue with the fact that the princess suddenly notices an old woman sitting in the corner. She holds the spinning wheel and spindle and beats time with them. The princess flies up to her, grabs the spindle and, holding it like a scepter, begins to joyfully dance again. The four princes can't get enough of this spectacle. Suddenly she freezes and looks at her hand, through which blood is flowing: a sharp spindle has pricked her. How will the plot of the ballet “Sleeping Beauty” continue? The summary might describe the princess thrashing around and then falling dead. Father, mother and princes rush to her. But then the old woman throws off her cloak, and the creepy fairy Carabosse appears in front of everyone in her full enormous height. She laughs at the general grief and confusion. The princes rush towards her with swords, but Carabosse disappears in fire and smoke. From the depths of the stage, a light begins to glow and grow - a magical fountain. The Lilac Fairy appears from its streams.

She consoles her parents and promises that everyone will sleep for a hundred years, and she will guard their peace. Everyone returns to the castle, carrying Aurora away on a stretcher. After waving the magic wand, all people freeze, and the castle is quickly surrounded by impenetrable thickets of lilacs. The fairy's retinue appears, and she orders everyone to strictly ensure that no one can disturb Aurora's peace.

Second act

A century has already flown by. Prince Désiré is on the hunt. First, the courtiers appear to the sound of horns, and then the prince himself. Everyone is tired and sits down to rest, but then girls come out who want to become the prince’s wife. The dance of the duchesses begins, then the marquis, then the princesses and, finally, the baronesses. Desiree's heart is silent. He didn't like anyone. He asks everyone to leave, as he wants to rest alone. Suddenly a fantastically beautiful boat appears on the river. The godmother of the king's son, the Lilac Fairy, emerges from it. An intriguing summary of the ballet “The Sleeping Beauty” by Tchaikovsky continues. The fairy finds out that the prince's heart is free, and shows him the shadow of Princess Aurora, all pink in the setting light of the sun. She, dancing, now passionately, now languidly, constantly eludes the prince.

The charming girl appears every time in a place where the prince does not expect to see her: sometimes on the river, sometimes swaying on the branches of trees, sometimes located among flowers. Desiree is completely enchanted - this is his dream. But suddenly she disappears. The king's son rushes to his godmother and begs her to take him to this divine creature. They board a mother-of-pearl boat and float down the river.

Night falls, and the moon illuminates their path with a mysterious silvery light. Finally the enchanted castle becomes visible. The thick fog hanging over it gradually dissipates. Everything is asleep, even the fire in the fireplace. Desiree awakens Aurora with a kiss on the forehead. The king and queen and the courtiers wake up with her. This is not the end of P. I. Tchaikovsky’s ballet “The Sleeping Beauty”. The prince begs the king to give him a daughter as beautiful as the morning dawn as his wife. The father joins their hands - such is fate.

Last action

On the square in front of the palace of King Florestan, guests from all the fairy tales of Charles Perrault gather for the wedding. The King and Queen, the bride and groom, the fairies of jewelry come out marching: Sapphire, Silver, Gold, Diamonds.

All guests - characters from fairy tales - dance to the accompaniment of a slow, solemn polonaise:

• Bluebeard with his wife.
• Marquis Karabas with his Puss in Boots.
• Beauty "Donkey Skin" with the Prince.
• Golden-haired girl with the king's son.
• The Beast and the Beauty.
• Cinderella with the prince.
• Princess Florina with a young man enchanted by the Blue Bird.
• Little Red Riding Hood with the Wolf.
• Rike the tufted man, who became handsome, with the princess, whom he gifted with intelligence.
• Little boy with his brothers.
• The cannibal and his wife.
• The villainess Carabosse on a cart pulled by rats.
• Four good fairies with their retinues.

Each pair of characters has its own original musical and choreographic episode.

They are all bright and expressive. It ends with the newlyweds' waltz, with the theme of the Lilac Fairy playing in the music.

Then a general dance begins, which turns into an apotheosis - a thanksgiving dithyramb to the fairies, built by Tchaikovsky on the old song “Once upon a time there was Henri IV.” The ballet “The Sleeping Beauty”, the content of which we have described, ends with a general stormy whirlwind. But to get the full impression of a magnificent fairy tale, you need to see it on stage.

Ballet "Sleeping Beauty": summary for children

From the age of six, children should be introduced to the wonderful synthesis of music, movements, costumes and scenery. Since the characters in the ballet do not speak, parents must explain to their kids what is happening on stage by reading the libretto or reciting our retelling of the ballet. Children who are already studying at a music school heard individual numbers from ballet music. They study it in music literature lessons.

Tchaikovsky, ballet “The Sleeping Beauty”: analysis

Mountains of materials are devoted to the analysis of the work. Boris Asafiev expounded it especially deeply. We will limit ourselves to briefly saying that the plot is built on the confrontation between good and evil. The good beginning triumphantly defeats the evil that the fairy Carabosse embodies. An enchantingly beautiful ballet, a masterpiece of the composer, captures the viewer's attention from the first moments.

The profound music of P. I. Tchaikovsky brought about a complete reform in the art of ballet. She not only accompanies the movements of the dancers, but forces the performer to think through the smallest details of the character of his character and convey this to the viewer. The ballet's lyrics are distinguished by their special light romance and festivity.

• Inspired by the libretto, the composer made his first entries in the Russian Messenger magazine.
• The premiere of the extravaganza was very expensive due to the scenery and costumes. All historical information related to the 17th century was taken into account.
• Emperor Nicholas II and his family attended the dress rehearsal.
• The most famous melody (B-flat major with deviations in F major) from the ballet is the waltz on the theme of the Lilac fairy, transparent and gentle, from the first act. It involves not only adult dancers, but also children from the choreographic school.

The word "ballet" is translated from Italian as dance. Costumes, beautiful scenery, orchestra - everything is designed to make the viewer interested. But how do you understand what ballet dancers are trying to express in their movements? Each theatrical action has a brief content, a script. It's called a libretto.

Composer P. I. Tchaikovsky wrote the ballet “The Sleeping Beauty” back in the 19th century. The summary and libretto contain an allegory. This is a fairytale story about the evil spell of a fairy, a falling asleep princess and the magical kiss of love.

History of creation

The work of composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was highly appreciated by his contemporaries. Symphonies, ballets, and musical miniatures drew huge audiences and received a storm of applause.

Love for his work prompted the director of the imperial theaters to make an interesting proposal. Combine several fairy tales by Charles Perrault into one storyline and write a new ballet for the Bolshoi Theater.

Tchaikovsky liked this idea. He read with great pleasure the fabulous libretto of the future ballet. This fantastic story inspired the composer so much that the music itself flowed from his pen.

Ballet "Sleeping Beauty", summary and music - an amazing combination of fairy-tale action, picturesque scenery, classical choreography.

Ballet in our time

The ballet premiered in January 1890 at the Mariinsky Theater (St. Petersburg). More than a century has passed since then, but Sleeping Beauty is still popular. This ballet can be seen at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. It is also staged in regional theaters.

In St. Petersburg, on the stage of the Hermitage Theater, “The Sleeping Beauty” first appeared in 2009. You should be aware that there is no numbering of seats in the spectator hall. A long-standing tradition involves free seating. Therefore, you can watch the ballet “The Sleeping Beauty” at the Hermitage Theater from any seat in the hall you like.

The most interesting thing is that the choreography has remained almost unchanged. It was staged for the premiere by the legendary Marius Petipa. Since then, choreographers from different countries, cities, and regions have added something of their own to it. We slightly changed the dance pattern and made adjustments to some movements. But Petipa's general style of choreography can be seen in every new production of the ballet. This example of dance art has become a classic.

Tchaikovsky, ballet “The Sleeping Beauty” for children

Theatrical action is always the subject of numerous discussions and promotes new creative ideas. Fairytale ballet is a good basis for children's inspiration. During art lessons, schoolchildren create paintings based on the plot. Affordable productions are created for theater groups.

In secondary schools, several lessons are dedicated to the ballet “The Sleeping Beauty”. A summary, music, and viewing of video materials of the performance help familiarize students with elite art.

There is educational material for music schools. It includes slides adapted for a specific instrument of notes. The main themes of the ballet are recorded on CDs.

In many kindergartens, children are shown a musical fairy tale based on the music and plot of Sleeping Beauty. After listening, preschoolers themselves try to dance the themes they like. With ribbons and bells, kids try to express themselves in art.

"Sleeping Beauty". Summary

The libretto of the ballet was written by the director of the imperial theaters, Ivan Vsevolozhsky. This is an original fusion of several tales by Charles Perrault. The eternal conflict of good and evil is represented in the form of two sorceresses - the Lilac Fairy and the Carabosse Fairy. The awakening of beauty from sleep symbolizes the strength and triumph of love.

Fantastic scenes, magical transformations - all this is spectacular and poetic. Therefore, “The Sleeping Beauty,” the ballet by P. I. Tchaikovsky, became a successful work of the composer, choreographer, and screenwriter. And for a century now it has not left the stage, becoming a radiant masterpiece of world art.

Prologue

While traveling (France, Turkey, Georgia), he wrote Tchaikovsky's ballet The Sleeping Beauty. The content and action of the play tell about what is happening in a fairyland.

There is a celebration in the palace - the birth of Princess Aurora. King Florestan and the queen invited guests. The Lilac Fairy and 5 other sorceresses bless the newborn. They endow her with five necessary qualities. Fairies Candide, Fleur-de-Farine, Baby, Canary, Violante manage to make their offerings.

But as soon as her godmother, the Lilac Fairy, approached the princess, an evil witch named Carabosse bursts into the ceremony hall. She blames the king and queen for not inviting her to the celebration. She wants to take brutal revenge. Good sorceresses persuade her, asking her not to ruin the fate of the young princess. But the evil of Fairy Carabosse is inexorable. She calls upon evil forces and conjures that Aurora will prick her hand with a spindle and die.

At this moment, the Lilac Fairy, who did not have time to make her prediction, proclaims that the princess will not die. She will only fall asleep for many, many years. Evil can never defeat good, and Fairy Carabosse retreats powerless.

First action

Will the princess be able to prevent the terrible curse? The ballet “Sleeping Beauty” continues its narrative. The summary of the first act indicates that 20 years have passed. The day of the princess's coming of age is getting closer, when the evil prophecy must be fulfilled.

The palace is preparing for the holiday. Peasants weave garlands of flowers. Four suitors - contenders for Aurora's hand - are worried. On the day she comes of age, she will name the one who will become her happy chosen spouse.

Aurora is in a hurry to start the holiday. She enjoys dancing and is ready to give her smile to each of the suitors. But her heart is silent, the princess does not love any of the contenders.

Secretly, having changed clothes, the Fairy Carabosse sneaks into the palace. She also prepared a gift. The princess, unaware of the bad news, opens another present. There is a spindle hidden among the flowers. Aurora, not noticing him, accidentally pricked her finger. In fright, she rushes to her parents, but immediately falls dead.

Carabosse triumphs, her hour has come, and the prophecy has come true - the princess is dead. The Lilac Fairy is trying to calm the guests. She has prepared her magic - she plunges the entire court of King Florestan into a sleepy kingdom. Only the appearance of the hero and his love will awaken the princess, her parents, and the entire palace.

Second act

“The Sleeping Beauty” is a fantasy, fairy-tale ballet. Therefore, by the beginning of the second act, a whole century had passed. The godson of the Lilac Fairy, Prince Désiré, is hunting in the forest. He wanted to be alone, to make up his mind. He is already an adult, and the time has come to choose his wife. But the prince cannot choose. His heart is silent.

Suddenly the Lilac Fairy appears in the forest. She wants to find out who Prince Desiree will choose as his wife. The godson honestly answers that none of the brides are nice to him. Then the Fairy invites the prince to introduce him to another contender. She summons the spirit of Aurora. The prince is impressed by the girl's beauty and grace. But the Fairy does not allow him to even touch Aurora. The prince must follow her to the magical kingdom.

A sleeping castle, everything around is in fog, covered with dust and cobwebs. Prince Désiré looks around cautiously. Suddenly Fairy Carabosse appears. She doesn't like this prince and his desire to wake Aurora. A battle ensues and Carabosse is defeated. The fog clears, Desiree sees the princess lying down. One kiss of love - and the evil spell is broken. Aurora wakes up, and with her the king and queen and the entire court wake up.

The hero asks for the long-awaited reward - the hand of the princess. King Florestan blesses the young. Preparations for the wedding begin.

Apotheosis

Evil spells are dispelled, peace and goodness triumph. Many fairy-tale characters come to Desiree and Aurora's wedding. Puss in Boots and Duke Bluebeard with his wife. Little Red Riding Hood and the Gray Wolf. White cat and blue bird. Cinderella and Prince Fortune. Fairies of Silver, Sapphires, Diamonds, and Gold came to the wedding. Happiness and joy now reign in the palace.