A Century of Russian Ballet: Documents and Eyewitness Acoounts, 1810-1910

by Wiley, Roland John

• ISBN13: 9781852731205
• ISBN10: 1852731206
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-02-18
• Publisher: Princeton Book Co Pub

Summary

An exciting, wonderfully researched look onstage and backstage at the Russian Ballet between 1810 and 1910. The story is built on a framework of famous ballets by such celebrated choreographers as Charles Didelot, Filippo Taglioni, Jules Perrot, Arthur Saint-Leon, Marius Petipa and Mikhail Fokine. Onto this framework are placed eyewitness accounts and criticisms, including biographies of choreographers, accounts of life in the imperial theater school, reminiscences of important artists, and reviews of first performances. Each of the ten chapters is introduced with further commentary that draws on press accounts and literature of the time. Out of the mists of time, this story of the fabled Russian Ballet comes as close as possible to the reality of being a student, dancer and choreographer in its richest period. This is a reprint of a book first published by Oxford University Press in 1990, and long out of print.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Charles Didelor in Russia	p. 1
'Recollections of the Great Choreographer Ch. L. Didelot and Some Deliberations Concerning the Art of Dance'	p. 5
Libretto of Raoul de Crequi, or The Return from the Crusades	p. 50
Libretto of The Captive of the Caucasus, or The Bride's Shade	p. 68
Marie and Filippo Taglioni in Russia	p. 79
Libretto of La Fille du Danube	p. 90
The Life of a Russian Artist	p. 105
'Recollections of T. A. Stukolkin, Artist of the Imperial Theatres'	p. 108
From the 'Recollections of the Artiste A. P. Nararova'	p. 135
Fanny Elssler and Jules Perrot in Russia	p. 171
Libretto of Esmeralda	p. 178
Nadezhda Bogdanova	p. 183
'The Bogdanov Artistic Family'	p. 188
The 1860s	p. 215
Libretto of The Pharaoh's Daughter	p. 220
'The First Performance of the Ballet The Pharaoh's Daughter'	p. 234
Libretto of The Little Humpbacked Horse, or The Tsar-Maiden	p. 238
'The Petersburg Ballet During the Production of The Little Humpbacked Horse (Recollections)'	p. 250
The 1870s	p. 277
From the Memoirs of a Ballerina of the St Petersburg Bolshoy Theatre 1867-1884	p. 280
Libretto of La Bayadere	p. 291
The 1880s	p. 305
From In the Theatre World	p. 309
Libretto of The Vestal	p. 323
'Marius Ivanovich Petipa'	p. 350
The 1890s	p. 357
Libretto of The Sleeping Beauty	p. 360
Skalkovsky's Review of The Sleeping Beauty	p. 373
'A Musical Letter from Petersburg. Apropos The Sleeping Beauty, the ballet of M. Petipa, with music by P. Tchaikovsky'	p. 377
'The Sleeping Beauty' from My Reminiscences	p. 385
Libretto of Raymonda	p. 392
The Twentieth Century	p. 403
Libretto of The Magic Mirror	p. 408
'Letter to the Editor'	p. 417
Libretto of Le Pavilion d'Armide	p. 422
Postscript	p. 429
Index	p. 431
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.