A futile precaution (ballet). Ballet “Vain Precaution” “Ballet of Straw, or From Bad to Good Just One Step”

P. HERTEL
VAIN PRECAUTION
Ballet in two acts
Libretto by J. DOBERVAL

ABOUT THE BALLET “Vain Precaution”

“Vain Precaution” is the first-born of the classical choreographic heritage. For more than two centuries it has graced the repertoire of many theaters around the world. Created on the eve of the French Revolution of 1789, “Vain Precaution” is closely connected with the philosophy of Rousseau and Diderot. She continued, but in the field of choreography, the innovative quests of Gluck, Mozart, Beaumarchais, and in the genre of lyrical comedy, practically embodied the behests of the great theorist and reformer of the art of dance J. Noverre. In the second half of the 18th century, ballet turned from an entertaining divertine and applied spectacle to opera or drama into an independent art form. It was united by a common theme and range of images with advanced literature, music, and painting. The progressive ideas of the encyclopedists, their struggle for the theater-tribune, for the depiction of reality, were reflected here.
The Greek and Roman characters in the tragic ballets of the leading choreographers of that time - Noverra, Hilferding, Angiolini - were endowed with deep and sincere feelings. Within the framework of traditional classical plots, new features were visible through the shell of popular myths and tales of antiquity. Naturally, in contrast to the naively pastoral performances of court ballet at the beginning of the century, such performances required new means of expression. The cold, sophisticated technique of the pre-Overrian period was replaced by pantomime, a picturesque and emotionally charged gesture. Cold virtuosity was replaced by meaningful and laconic plastic recitative. Noverre argued that any gesture of a dancer-artist is “an arrow fired by the soul.” The transformation of a ballet performance into a meaningful “play with dances”, the development of pantomime and pas d’accion (effective dance), the reform of costumes, scenery, and performing arts - these are Noverre’s main achievements. His endeavors were continued by the French dancer and choreographer Jean Berche Dauberval (1742- 1806). A virtuoso in a semi-characteristic genre, he enjoyed deserved success in comic ballets on the stage of the Paris Academy of Music. His contemporary Beaumarchais wrote with delight about the “masculine beauty of a flexible and graceful body”, “strong movements that excite the soul” that distinguished the art of Dauberval. After completing a brilliant stage career in Paris, he left for Bordeaux, where he began the second, perhaps the most fruitful stage of his work. Dauberval’s productions appeared one after another in a small city theater - “The Deserter” (1784), “Windy Park” (1786). , "Vain Precaution" (1789).
Their ideological and thematic sound, stage situations, plot and entertaining intrigue are close to French comic opera. The Italian choreographer and teacher K. Blazis called “Vain Precaution” “the most perfect image of comic ballet.” Following the behests of Noverre, Dauberval was the first in the history of ballet to bring his contemporaries onto the stage. His heroes are ordinary people. They live in an environment familiar to the viewer, have fun and are sad, work and dream of happiness, actively defend their right to love, oppose social prejudices and mercantile calculations.
The success of the ballet was also accompanied by the presence of a naive plot, widespread in the art of the 18th century, about the happy union of young lovers Lisa and Colin, contrary to the desire of Aunt Marcelina to marry Lisa to the son of a rural rich man. The plot perfectly matched the musical score of the play. It is based on famous melodies and songs of that time, excerpts from the works of Haydn, and an abundance of folk dances. They were selected and processed by Dauberval himself, and the line of the song “From bad to good, one step...” was even included in the title of the first edition of the ballet (“Ballet of Straw or From bad to good, one step”). Dauberval was called “Moliere of dance” by his student Charles Didelot. “Dauberval’s main quality was the ability to delineate characters... No one knew how to stage, show and play pantomime better than him; everything about him was truthful and deep,” wrote Didelot. Dauberval developed the plot in detail, played with everyday objects, and poeticized the everyday. He created a whole gallery of unique stage portraits. And Doberval endowed each of the heroes with a rich and original dance speech.
From the moment it appeared, “Vain Precaution” became a real school of performing arts - dancing and acting. During Dauberval’s lifetime, his students, later famous 19th-century choreographers C. Didelot, J. Omer, and S. Vigano, performed in the main roles of the ballet. It was they who transferred the choreographic masterpiece to the best stages of Europe - Vienna, Milan, Madrid.
Despite the general success of the ballet, its democracy and nationality were always alien to the tastes of the leaders of the Paris Opera. Like Nover, Dauberval did not receive recognition in his homeland. Only more than two decades after Dauberville’s death, “A Vain Precaution” finally appeared on the stage of the leading musical theater in France. In 1828, it was staged by J. Omer in the musical edition of L. Herold. The directors preserved the best dance, music and play episodes of the first edition, and independently composed forgotten and new fragments.
However, the ballet did not stay long in the theater's repertoire. And subsequently, repeated attempts to revive the performance did not give the desired result. Alien to the Paris Opera since its creation, the production of the ballet completely disappeared from the repertoire in the second half of the nineteenth century.
The second home of “Vain Precaution” was Russia. It was first shown in 1800 in Moscow and the St. Petersburg Theater by choreographer D. Solomoni under the title “The Deceived Old Woman or Vain Precaution.” In Moscow and St. Petersburg it appeared several times under different names in the editions of Bernardelli, Didelot, and Perrault. Throughout the 19th century, “Vain Precaution” constantly took place in the theater repertoire. The stage history of ballet in Russia is associated with the names of remarkable performers, among them the glorified A.S. Pushkin A. Istomina, favorite of Moscow students E. Sankovskaya. The performers of the role of Lisa, the famous F. Elsler, and the Italian V. Zucchi, had great success. Despite the abundance of ballets of the Romantic period at that time, the ancient ballet of the 18th century still successfully continued its stage life.
In 1863, the German composer P. Hertel proposed a third musical version of the ballet. It was she who served as the starting point for M. Petipa and L. Ivanov in St. Petersburg (1885, 1894), A. Gorsky in Moscow (1905, 1916). These editions of the ballet are based on the Dobervalian concept of solving the performance as a whole. Her dance text has changed - it has been enriched with discoveries and innovations of ballet technique of the 19th century. At the beginning of our century, A. Pavlova, T. Karsavina, S. Fedorova, M. Mordkin shone in “Vain Precaution”. The best performers of the role of Lisa later became E. Geltser, O. Lepeshinskaya, S. Golovkina. In the first post-revolutionary decade (1917-1927), “Vain Precaution” was one of the Bolshoi Theater’s most repertoire ballets. In recent decades, various stage versions of "A Vain Precaution" have appeared. The English choreographer F. Ashton (1960) and the Russian choreographer O. Vinogradov (1971) turned to an earlier edition of L. Herold’s ballet. In Moscow, “Vain Precaution” was edited by A. Gorsky - P. Hertel, staged in the late 40s by A. Messerer and A. Radunsky. V. MAINIECE

SUMMARY

FIRST ACTION

First picture

Early morning. A young peasant, Kolen, is walking in front of Marcelina's house. He is in love with Lisa, Marcelina’s pupil, and is looking for a meeting with her. but this is not easy to achieve. Marcelina strictly monitors her pupil and protects her from unwanted suitors. Peasants come to the farm to get money for field work. Marcelina, reluctantly paying, hurries to send them quickly, as she is distracted by numerous household concerns. Taking advantage of Marcelina's departure, Colin approaches Lisa, who is not indifferent to him. The lovers, not noticing anyone, dance enthusiastically. Marcelina returns and indignantly disperses them.
The rich man Michaud appears with his stupid son Nicaise, whom he would really like to marry Lisa in order to become related to Marcelina. Marcelina is not delighted with Nicaise, but she is attracted by his father’s wealth and is ready to begin negotiations. Lisa, sensing that her love is in danger, distracts Michaud's attention and takes him away with her. Marcelina and Nicaise hurry after them.

Second picture.

The successful completion of the harvest culminates the harvest festival. Everyone is happy and having fun. In a fit of generosity and joy, Marcelina gives the children new clogs. Marcelina and Michaud, surrounded by happy children, leave. Young people dance enthusiastically and have fun. The young lovers, Lisa and Colin, also dance. The gypsies appear. The fun is in full swing. Suddenly a thunderstorm begins. Everyone runs away. Marcelina and Michaud agree to meet at her house.

SECOND ACT

Third picture.

Marcelina and Lisa return home and sit down at the spinning wheels. The storm has passed. Marcelina goes out to the peasants who have arrived and locks Lisa with a key. Offended Lisa dreams of her beloved. Suddenly she notices Colin hiding. Lisa is embarrassed and asks Colin to leave. But the door is locked, and Colin cannot leave. However, Lisa is not angry for long, and she and Colin exchange handkerchiefs. Marcelina's steps were heard. Lisa pushes Colin into the closet. Marcelina enters and immediately notices someone else’s scarf on Lisa’s neck and wants to punish her. Marcelina forces Lisa to sit in the closet, unaware that Colin is there. Lisa desperately resists, but Marcelina still pushes her into the closet. The head of a notary, a trickster and a scoundrel pokes his head through the door. Michaud, Nicaise, and young people enter with him. The marriage contract is signed. The groom is given the key to the closet. The door opens and... Colin and Lisa appear on the threshold, holding hands. Everyone is confused. Michaud is mortally offended. The marriage contract is broken. The lovers throw themselves at Marcelina’s feet, and she blesses them. General delight and rejoicing.

Fourth picture.

Guests gather to congratulate Marcelina and the lovers on the special occasion. Young Lisa and Colin dance with pleasure for the guests. All the characters in the play say goodbye to the audience, thanking them for their attention and participation in the events that played out on stage.

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"A futile precaution."
Mikhailovsky Theater.
Music by Louis Herold, choreography by Frederick Ashton.

After a seven-year break, Vain Precaution again appeared in the Mikhailovsky Theater's repertoire, this time choreographed by Frederick Ashton (1960). The previous production - Oleg Vinogradov (1971) to the music of Louis Herold - remained on the playbill until 2007. In 2002, Ashton's ballet was transferred to the Bolshoi Theater, but now only Yuri Grigorovich's version remains in its repertoire.

Scene from the play.

“Vain Precaution” is a lyrical comedy (a rare genre in classical ballet), which miraculously survived all the reforms and upheavals of the 19th and 20th centuries, and is considered the oldest ballet that has survived to this day. However, we are talking only about the libretto by Jean Dauberval: the choreography and combined music of the premiere of 1789 have not been preserved. Pastorals with simple intrigue, where circumstances prevent the union of lovers, were traditional for the ballet stage. But this ballet was perceived by contemporaries as innovative. Dauberval made the plot and characters more realistic (albeit naively): he replaced bucolic silks with prosaic chintz in the literal and figurative sense. An important difference was also the effectiveness of the choreography. Following his teacher Jean Noverre, Dauberval created a ballet where the action developed through choreography, and not just pantomime, which critics have repeatedly noted. At one of the premiere shows at the Bordeaux theater, the main dancer, having heard the news from Paris that the third estate had received the right to vote, proclaimed a toast from the stage, which was vigorously supported by the audience. In the 19th century, this “folk” ballet received two scores - Louis Herold (1828) and Peter Hertel (1864), and, in the interpretation of various choreographers, was successfully performed on European stages, often chosen for debuts and tours due to its simplicity and versatility.

In Russia, ballet successfully survived the revolution of 1917, passing as a manual for the beginning balletomane. In 1937, Leonid Lavrovsky staged "Vain Precaution" (based on Hertel's score). He replaced the pastoral “puppet kingdom” (as Lavrovsky defined) in the version of Marius Petipa - Lev Ivanov, which remained in the repertoire until 1922, with realism and social background. The main motive was the fight for “free love”, which triumphs in the third act, composed by the choreographer for the festive dances on the occasion of the birth of Lisa and Colin’s first child.

A. Soboleva (Lisa), V. Lebedev (knees).
Photo - archive of the Mikhailovsky Theater.

Ashton’s “Vain Precaution” fit harmoniously into the atmosphere of bourgeois respectability that descended on the Mikhailovsky Theatre, pleasantly shaded by the floral ornamentation of Duat’s opuses and skillfully diluted with calibrated doses of extraordinary director’s interpretations in the opera. Today Ashton's ballet - a classic, but not yet archaic - looks like a comic pastoral of the 20th century. The performance even includes the appearance of a cart drawn by a live pony, and the ballet opens with a comic pasdecinq of a rooster and four well-fed hens.

Like so many other versions of this ballet, Ashton's Vain is assembled from a mosaic of musical fragments (arranged by John Lanchbury based on Herold's score), findings from predecessors and original choreography. Much was gleaned from the stories of Tamara Karsavina, the performer of the role of Lisa in the Petipa-Ivanov ballet, as well as from photographs of Lavrovsky’s performance. This is how the dance with ribbons, the umbrella horse of the village fool Alena, the scene with the maypole and keys appeared... The program for the Mikhailovsky Theater performance contains a quote from the book by Julie Kavanagh, who attributes the idea of ​​Simone's dance in clogs (the hit number of the play) to Ashton, although According to Russian researchers, he already appeared in the play by Petipa-Ivanov.

A well-made Ashton ballet, harmoniously intertwining dance (quite effective) and pantomime, will have as much brilliance as the talented performers can bring. Characteristic and grotesque roles in comedy require improvisation in creating an image. However, in this case there are serious restrictions: the exact correspondence to the original is scrupulously monitored by choreographer Michael O’Hair and the copyright holder of Ashton’s production, Jean-Pierre Gasquier.

Scene from the play.
Photo - archive of the Mikhailovsky Theater.

The premiere on March 27, performed not without enthusiasm, lacked brilliance, excitement, and acting skills. The main characters - Lisa (Anastasia Soboleva) and Kolen (Viktor Lebedev) - are more classic than characterful, and would look more natural in a palace rather than a village setting. Sometimes sweet and gentle, playing a flirtatious game, they lacked vitality and persuasiveness, independently found, memorable touches.

Widow Simone, a grotesque role scored by Michael O'Hair, was not as enchanting and funny as it could have been. Alen (Denis Tolmachev) turned out to be a bit strange, but a kind fellow.

On the whole, a homogeneous ensemble of actors emerged: no one drew attention to themselves, but no one inspired the miracle of theatrical transformation.

"A Vain Precaution" - literally translated as "The Poorly Looked After Daughter" - is a ballet in two acts created by the French choreographer Jean Dauberval. Music was not specially composed for the ballet; J. Dauberval used French folk melodies. “Vain Precaution” is the only ballet of the classical repertoire that has survived to our time, in which the characters were contemporaries of the audience of the days of the premiere. The premiere took place on July 1, 1789 in Bordeaux.

Jean Dauberval, Noverre's student and successor of his choreographic ideas in creating effective ballet, is the founder of comedy ballet. The characters in his productions were not gods and ancient heroes, but representatives of the people, the so-called third estate, the simplest people with their shortcomings and vices, everyday disorder and without global interests and claims. This aesthetic became an innovation at the end of the 18th century; for the first time, representatives of the very bottom of society took seats on the ballet stage.
After the removal of J. Noverre from the post of director of the ballet troupe of the Paris Royal Academy of Music, this post in 1781-1783. occupied by Jean Dauberval, but did not last long there, dismissed by the director in 1783, and carried out most of his productions in the ballet troupe of the Bordeaux musical theater, where he soon moved and where the provincial audience favorably greeted his ballets about the same ordinary people who constantly found themselves in comic situations and got out of them not with the help of higher powers or great heroes, but with their own resourcefulness and cheerfulness, ingenuity and cunning.
One of his ballets was a two-act ballet (“The Ballet of Straw, or From Good to Bad is Just One Step”) - this is what the author himself called his work, which later conquered all the world’s ballet stages and is better known as La Fille mal gardée, and in Russia - “Vain precaution.”

Characters:

Marcelina, a wealthy peasant woman.

Lisa, her daughter.
Colin, poor peasant.
Michaud, farmer.
Nicaise, his son.
Notary.
Lisa's friends. Peasants and peasant women.

Plot.

Marcelina dreams of a profitable arrangement for her beautiful daughter Lisa to marry Nikez, the son of the local rich man Michaud. But the daughter herself has already chosen her beloved - this is the poor peasant guy next door, Kolen. This turn of events does not suit the mother seeking material well-being at all, and she does not take her eyes off her daughter, preventing her from dating Colin. But the agile poor man is not going to betray his beloved. He sneaks into the closet of the house where Marcelina and Lisa live and hides in a haystack. And Marcelina, knowing nothing about Colin’s deceit, conceived her own deceit: so that her daughter would not run away to her impoverished lover at an inappropriate moment, she locks her in the closet - the same one where Colin hid. She herself is actively preparing for the upcoming wedding of her rebellious daughter, and only when everyone is gathered in the house: the notary, the rich man Michaud, his son fiancé Nicaise, the peasant guests, she solemnly releases the prisoner-daughter from the closet. But two people appear before the eyes of those present - lovers Liza and Colin, and in what form! Lisa and Kolen.

Having lost Natalia Osipova and Nacho Duato, the Mikhailovsky Theater switched to so-called “folk ballets”, aimed at those who see ballet once every five years. However, this was the policy of this theater initially, from the very arrival of Kekhman: everything is for the common man, and let the highbrow go to the Mariinsky (The invitation of Duato and Osipova made me think about Mikhailovsky differently, but this was a temporary clouding of the director’s mind - no one knew that the real ballet is so expensive). "The Flames of Paris" and now "A Vain Precaution" turned out to be a banal throwback.

“Vain” is a highly specialized ballet. Interesting for fans and connoisseurs. But Frederick Ashton - who for some connoisseurs is the brightest mediocrity of the 20th century, symbolizing the total inability of the British to engage in choreography, for other connoisseurs - the author of "Marguerite and Armand" with Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev, and then with Sylvie Guillem and Nicolas Le Riche, for whose sake you can forgive all the other failures, for others - the popularizer of high ballet, the author of simplified versions of many outstanding choreographies (for example) - made a drama ballet out of an exquisite masterpiece of sentimentalism (this performance was first staged on the St. Petersburg stage by S. Didelot). The drama ballet turned out to be of high quality and should appeal to a wide audience. Moreover, in the first and second acts a charming pony is brought onto the stage, the second act ends with a spectacular storm scene ("Swan" is resting), the performance has many parody and ironic dance numbers, and most importantly - every movement is clear without gyrations. Here they dance about love, and here they dance about harvesting. Only Ashton doesn’t have dance in the most literal sense. In the first act there are a couple of simple variations for the soloist and soloist (the rest of the time they tie and untie bows, ribbons and other rubbish), in the second there is a slightly more complex pas de deux, in the third there is an easy dance of the heroine. All.
(For comparison. I vaguely remember “Vain” by Oleg Vinogradov at the Kirov Theater in the 1980s - with Margarita Kullick and Vladimir Kim. No crowd scenes, no ironic dances - but the soloist and soloist danced the entire ballet using small technique. The performance was, to put it mildly, not a masterpiece - but it was a ballet).
But how convenient it is for the theater management (English ballet still works on this principle, minimizing costs). There is no need for a soloist - anyone can dance. There is no need for a soloist anymore. The dramatic role of the widowed mother is the most striking, but even here it is enough to get an experienced artistic dancer - and the job is done. All that remains is to invite the ponies. The horse gets the loudest applause. The freed up money can be spent on an imported conductor - especially since Herold’s music is not just “for the feet”, it is very reminiscent of the rollicking choruses of cartoons about Munchausen or the famous “His Excellency loved poultry.”
However, the discovery of the Mikhailovsky Theater is Anastasia Soboleva, who performed the role of Lisa at the premiere. Finally, luck smiled on Mikhailovsky’s recruiters and instead of heavy-going, wooden-type soloists, they found a talented, artistic (at least in the role of a gentle village maiden), flexible ballerina. She has a lot of problems with technology, but with such data, this can be solved by attracting good tutors. It was very pleasant to watch Soboleva - she organically entered into the fabric of the ballet. Everything else is as it should be. Victor Lebedev (Kolen) - Pinocchio, as always. Michael O'Hair (widow, mother of Lisa) dances at the Central European level, no more. Moderately artistic, moderately technical. There are not enough stars from the sky. I believe that Nikolai Tsiskaridze was much more interesting.
The general level of the corps de ballet numbers is well demonstrated by two points. The dance of the rooster and hens, inserted into the text of the ballet several times: the whole thing is built on imitation of ONE movement of birds. Dance of Alain, the son of the vineyard owner: as he begins to ride on an umbrella in his first appearance, he continues the entire ballet. One move to solve the main comic role! If this is not mediocrity, then what is mediocrity?
Ashton is strong in crowd scenes, nuances of psychological play (for example, a widow, leaving home, flirtatiously looks into the mirror), English irony in the relationships between characters, and pantomime. Anything but dancing. Therefore, Ashton’s success among the audience of the Mikhailovsky Theater should be deafening. If only they go to the ballet with the mysterious name "Vain Precaution." The general Russian audience does not know this name.