Le Corsaire
Encyclopedia
Le Corsaire is a ballet
typically presented in three acts, with a libretto
originally created by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges loosely based on the poem The Corsair
by Lord Byron. Originally choreographed by Joseph Mazilier
to the music of Adolphe Adam
, it was first presented by the ballet of the Théâtre Impérial de l´Opéra in Paris on 23 January 1856. All modern productions of Le Corsaire are derived from the revivals staged by the Ballet Master Marius Petipa
for the Imperial Ballet
of St. Petersburg throughout the mid to late 19th century.
The ballet has many celebrated passages which are often extracted from the full-length work and performed independently: the scene Le jardin animé, the Pas d'esclave, the Pas de trois des odalisques, and the so-called Le Corsaire pas de deux, which is among classical ballet's most famous and performed excerpts.
Today Le Corsaire is performed chiefly in two different versions: those productions derived from the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet's 1977 production (initially staged by Pyotr Gusev
for the Maly/Mikhailovsky Theatre
of Leningrad in 1955); and those derived from the Ballet Master Konstantin Sergeyev's production (initially staged for the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet in 1973, and later for the Bolshoi Ballet
in 1992). The most well-known production derived from Sergeyev's version is American Ballet Theatre
's 1998 staging.
The score for Le Corsaire contains a substantial amount of additional material, primarily acquired by way of revivals staged by Marius Petipa during the mid to late 19th century in St. Petersburg. By the turn of the 20th century, the Imperial Ballet's edition of Adolphe Adam's score included musical contributions from ten composers: Cesare Pugni
, Prince Pyotr Georgievich of Oldenburg, Léo Delibes
, Riccardo Drigo
, Baron Boris Vietinghoff-Scheel, Yuli Gerber, Albert Zabel, Ludwig Minkus
, Mikhail Ivanov
, and an unknown composer known as Zibin. Nearly all modern productions retain the music of these composers, though their contributions typically go uncredited. Although many modern stagings credit Léo Delibes jointly with Adolphe Adam for the score, it is Cesare Pugni who has the greater musical contribution aside from that of Adam.
s, etc., during the 19th century. The first production was staged by Giovanni Galzerani
in 1826 for the ballet of La Scala
in Milan
.
On 12 August 1835 a second work on a similar subject was presented by the Paris Opera Ballet
at the Salle Le Peletier under the title L´Ile des pirates. The ballet featured the legendary ballerina Fanny Elssler
in the principal role of Mathilde (the velvet toque worn by the Ballerina during her performances in the ballet caused a small fashion craze among Parisian women). L´Ile des pirates was mounted by the Ballet Master Louis Henri to a libretto drafted by the noted singer/dramatist Adolphe Nourrit
. The score—a pastiche
typical of the early Romantic ballet—was assembled and adapted by the Opéra's resident composer of ballet music Casimir Gide from the airs of Ludwig van Beethoven
, Gioachino Rossini and Luigi Carlini. L′Ile des pirates was received with a measure of indifference by the balletomanes and critics, and was given twenty-four performances over the course of three years before being removed from the Opéra's repertory.
The third ballet concerning pirates, etc. was staged by the Ballet Master Ferdinand Albert Decombe (known to history simply as Albert), for the ballet of the King's Theatre
in London. The score was the work of the French harpist Nicholas Bochsa. Albert's work, staged under the title Le Corsaire, was first presented to the public on 29 June 1837 with the ballerina Hermine Elssler in the role of Medora, Pauline Duvernay
as Gulnare and Albert himself in the role of Conrad. Apart from the choreography, Albert was also responsible for creating the libretto in a version based on Byron's poem. Albert presented a revival of the work on 30 September 1844 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
, in which he reprised the role of Conrad. The great ballerina Clara Webster performed the role of Medora, and Adèle Dumilâtre—famous for creating the role of Myrtha in Giselle
in 1841—performed the role of Gulnare.
The Ballet Master Filippo Taglioni
presented the fourth 19th century ballet inspired by pirates. Taglioni's work, set to the music of Herbert Gärich, premiered on 13 March 1838 at the Prussian Court Opera of the Königliches Opernhaus
in Berlin.
During his one and only season with the Imperial Ballet
in St. Petersburg, Russia
, the renowned Ballet Master Joseph Mazilier
staged L′Écumeur de mer (The Pirate), known in Russian as Morskoĭ Razboĭnik, a ballet in 2 acts and 5 tableaux, for the great Marie Taglioni
, who was engaged in the Imperial capital at that time. The music was composed by Adolphe Adam
, who accompanied Mazilier to Russia to compose for the court of Tsar Nicholas I. L'Écumeur de mer premiered at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre on .
The sixth 19th century ballet on the subject of pirates was also staged by Mazilier, again to the music of Adam, and proved to be one of the most enduring ballets ever created. Le Corsaire was first presented on 23 January 1856 by the ballet of the Théâtre Impérial de l´Opéra. The work was the brainchild of François Crosnier, director of the Théâtre Impérial de l´Opéra, and of the Empress Eugénie
, wife of Emperor Napoleon III
, who also made several suggestions concerning the ballet's scenario.
An accomplished literary man was commissioned to write the libretto. Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges, who fashioned a scenario loosely based on Byron's poem, crafted libretti for many noted ballets throughout the 19th century. Among these works: Giselle
in collaboration with Théophile Gautier
in 1841, and later for Marius Petipa's The Pharaoh's Daughter
in 1862. The libretto for Le Corsaire went through many changes during the long months of the ballet's preparation, requiring Vernoy to be paid an additional 3,000 francs for the work.
Le Corsaire was created primarily for the talents of the famous Italian ballerina Carolina Rosati, who was then the Opéra's reigning Prima. The role of Conrad—which contained no dancing in Mazilier's original staging—was created by the Italian Domineco Segarelli. Although he was an accomplished dancer, it was Segarelli's abilities as a mime artist
that won him the many roles he created on the stage of the Opéra. It would not be until many years later that the role of Conrad included any dancing.
Le Corsaire premiered to a resounding success, with Carolina Rosati's interpretation of the heroine Medora becoming the talk of Paris. The ballerina Claudina Cucchi received laurels for her performance of the character Gulnare, as did Domineco Segarelli for his portrayal of the hero Conrad. Mazilier's choreography and his arrangement of the mise en scène
were highly praised by the balletomanes and critics. Among the ballet's most notable passages was the Pas des Éventails of the second scene of act I—an elaborate Grand pas that featured passages in which the heroine Medora and the corps de ballet created a "kaleidoscope effect" of sorts reminiscent of a male peafowl
's extravagant plumage. The stage effects—designed by the master machinist Victor Sacré—were hailed as the best yet seen on the stage of the Opéra. Sacré's realistic execution of the sinking corsair ship of the final act became immortalized by Gustave Doré
's drawing.
In attendance for the first three performances were Emperor Napoleon III and his wife, the Empress Eugénie, both of whom were fanatic balletomanes. So moved by Le Corsaire was the Empress that she exclaimed "In all my life I have never seen, and probably never shall see again, anything so beautiful or so moving."
Adam's score was highly praised for its melodiousness, orchestration, and dramatic intensity. It was to be the composer's last work for the ballet—he died of a heart attack on 3 May 1856, nearly four months after the premiere of Le Corsaire. On the evening of the day of his death, Le Corsaire was given at the Opéra with the royal family in attendance with their guest of honor, King William I of Württemberg
. As equally moved by the ballet as was the Empress Eugénie, Emperor Napoleon III gave orders that all of the evening's box office receipts, totaling some 10,000 francs, be given to the composer's widow.
Mazilier's original production of Le Corsaire was given forty-three performances at the Opéra with only Rosati in the role of Medora. Her interpretation was considered by all to be incomparable, and after her departure from Paris in 1859 the ballet was taken out of the repertory. Not long afterwards the Ballet Master Mazilier retired.
, the renowned Ballet Master of the Romantic Ballet
, who served as Premier Maître de Ballet of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres from 1849 until 1858. Le Corsaire was performed for the first time on at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre, with the Prima ballerina Ekaterina Friedbürg as the heroine Medora, and the young Marius Petipa as the corsair Conrad. For this production Petipa assisted Perrot in rehearsals, and even revised a few of the ballet's key dances, the most noted being the Pas des Éventails and the Scène de séduction of act II-scene 1.
as Conrad. The production premiered on , and included a score supplemented and revised by the composer Cesare Pugni.
Four years later Joseph Mazilier came out of retirement to mount a revival of Le Corsaire in honor of the 1867 Exposition Universelle
, given that year in Paris. The celebrated ballerina Adèle Grantzow performed the role of Medora, and Adolphe Adam's former pupil, Léo Delibes, composed new music especially for her performance. The revival premiered on 21 October 1867, and was given thirty-eight performances with Grantzow as the heroine Medora. After the ballerina's departure from Paris in 1868 Le Corsaire was again taken out of the Opéra's repertory, never to be performed by the Parisian ballet again.
In the winter of 1867, Granztow was invited to perform with the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg by Emperor Alexander II
. For her début, Petipa staged a revival of Le Corsaire, which was given for the first time on . For the production Petipa again called upon Cesare Pugni to compose music for new dances.
Petipa's third revival of Le Corsaire was staged especially for the Russian Ballerina Eugeniia Sokolova, given for the first time on .
Petipa's final and most important revival of Le Corsaire premiered on , at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre. This production was mounted especially for the benefit performance of Pierina Legnani
, Prima ballerina assoluta of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres. The Prima ballerina Olga Preobrajenskaya performed the role of Gulnare, and the Imperial Theatre's Premier danseur Pavel Gerdt
performed the role of Conrad.
the Imperial Ballet's régisseur Nicholas Sergeyev brought the choreographic documentation out of Russia, and used it to stage such classics as The Sleeping Beauty
, Swan Lake
, and The Nutcracker
, as well as Petipa's definitive staging of Giselle
and the Imperial Ballet's production of Coppélia
for the first time in the west primarily for the Vic-Wells Ballet (today the Royal Ballet). From there these ballets went on to be staged all over the world. In 1969 Harvard University
purchased this collection, where it now resides as the Sergeyev Collection
.
In 2007, the Bavarian State Ballet utilized the notation to reconstruct 25 dances from Le Corsaire for their new production. The Bolshoi Ballet made use of the notations as well when the company staged their production of Le Corsaire in 2007.
and various other dances were added to Le Corsaire throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, primarily by Marius Petipa. Below is a list of the origins of the most notable of these pieces, many of which are still performed today.
which opened the first scene.
The Bolshoi Ballet's 2007 revival of Le Corsaire restored Pugni's overture of 1863.
into the first scene of Le Corsaire to the music of Emperor Paul I's
grandson, the composer Prince Pyotr Georgievich of Oldenburg. Petipa titled the piece as the Pas d’Esclave. The music was likely taken from the ballet La Rose, la Violette et le Papillon
, the only ballet ever set to music by the Prince Pyotr Georgievich of Oldenburg, which premiered only four months prior to the 1858 revival of Le Corsaire.
Petipa arranged the Pas d’Esclave as a Pas d’action for two dancers, where a slave girl was presented to the potential buyers of the Turkish bazaar by a slave suitor. In Soviet Russia the slave girl and her suitor were replaced by the characters Gulnare and Lanquedem
As was standard practice during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the original variations of the Pas d’Esclave were substituted at the behest of various dancers. The traditional variations which are performed in modern productions of Le Corsaire have been included in the Pas d’Esclave since the early 20th century. The first variation, traditionally danced by the character Lanquedem in modern productions, was inserted into the Pas d’Esclave by the danseur Pierre Vladimirov in 1914. The Mariinsky Theatre's score for Le Corsaire titles the solo as 21/12/1914; Variation pour Vladimirov, and credits the music to an unknown composer named only as Zibin. Today the variation is performed with choreography created by Vakhtang Chabukiani
in 1931.
The music of the female variation, which is traditionally performed by the character Gulnare in many modern productions, is by Riccardo Drigo. This solo was originally created as an additional variation for the ballerina Maria Gorshenkova when she performed the role of Claudia in Marius Petipa and composer Mikhail Ivanov's 1888 grand ballet La Vestale
. Today the variation is performed with choreography created by the Ballet Master Pyotr Gusev, which he arranged circa 1940.
The Sergeyev Collection
contains choreographic documentation of the Pas d’Esclave among the notations for Le Corsaire as it was performed at the turn of the 20th century by the Imperial Ballet. The notations document a 1905 performance as danced by the ballerina Vavara Rhyklyakova and the danseur Sergei Legat.
(this ballet was originally staged as Le Diable amoureux at the Paris Opéra in 1840).
The scene Finesse d’amour took place during the first scene set in the Turkish bazaar, with the heroine Medora teasing the Sa`id Pasha while the slave-trader Lanquedem attempts to sell her. Today this piece is only retained in selected stagings of Le Corsaire. Boston Ballet
, American Ballet Theatre and the Bolshoi Ballet are among the companies who include this piece in their productions.
Le petit corsaire went on to become one of the most celebrated passages of Le Corsaire. In her famous biography Theatre Street, the legendary ballerina Tamara Karsavina
(who made her début in the role of Medora at the Mariinsky Theatre in 1909) gives an account of this dance:
A performance of Le petit corsaire was one of the first pieces of the art of ballet to ever be filmed. It was Alexander Shiryaev (1867–1941)—famous character dancer and Ballet Master to the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres—who was responsible for filming the anonymous dancer in this piece during the early 20th century. Shiryaev was the grandson of Cesare Pugni, who composed the music for Le petit corsaire.
. For the revival the pas was expanded into a classical pas de trois
, consisting of an entrée (being Adam's original waltz), 3 variations, and a coda. The first two variations and the coda were set to new music by Cesare Pugni, while the third variation was transferred from another part of Adam's original score. The expanded Pas de trois des odalisques was first performed by the danseuses Nadezhda Amosova, Anastasia Amosova and Anna Prikhunova.
into the first scene of act I titled as the Danse des forbans, set to new music by Cesare Pugni. The Ballet Master choreographed the mazurka to be led by the character Birbanto, who made his entrance with two prop musket
s which he "fired" on stage to the musical accents. The mazurka proceeded with the male corps de ballet dancing with their prop sabers. For his revival of 1899 Petipa transferred the Danse des forbans to the second scene of act I, where it is still retained in many modern productions of Le Corsaire.
held in Paris in 1867. For this production, the Ballet Master inserted a new Grand pas known as the Pas des fleurs into the second act especially for the ballerina Adèle Grantzow, who performed the role of Medora. Mazilier commissioned Léo Delibes—a pupil of Adolphe Adam—to compose the required music.
In 1868 Grantzow was invited to perform with the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg. For the occasion, Marius Petipa prepared a revival of Le Corsaire, which included an elaborately staged version of Mazilier's Pas des fleurs which was re-named as Le jardin animé. The composer Cesare Pugni arranged a new version of Delibes' music—he expanded the opening waltz in accordance with Petipa's new staging, and also composed new variations for the principal ballerinas.
Nearly all productions of Le Corsaire familiar to modern audiences contain an edition of the scene Le jardin animé as revised by the Ballet Master Pyotr Gusev. Gusev originally created his revival of the full-length Le Corsaire in 1955 for the Maly Theatre in Leningrad, a production that was later included in the repertory of the Kirov Ballet. Gusev's version of the scene Le jardin animé simplified Petipa's elaborate choreography, while omitting the additional passages added by Pugni to Delibes' music. Many ballet companies today perform this version of the scene Le jardin animé, notably American Ballet Theatre and the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet.
In 2004 the Pacific Northwest Ballet School
presented a reconstruction of Marius Petipa's choreography as notated in the Sergeyev Collection
for the final performance at the end of the school year. Since the school did not have access to the music used in the late 19th century, the choreography had to be adjusted accordingly, and Richard Bonynge
's recording of Adam's score for Le Corsaire was utilized.
In 2006 the Bavarian State Ballet included the reconstructed choreography for the scene Le jardin animé in their production of the full-length Le Corsaire, and in 2007, the Bolshoi Ballet also included the restored edition for their production, although the company did retain elements from other stagings.
The variation danced in 1899 by Olga Preobrajenskaya as Gulnare is no longer performed in Le jardin animé, and has been replaced over time by a variation Petipa choreographed in 1880 for the Ballerina Eugenia Sokolova to the music of Albert Zabel (principal harpist in the orchestra of the St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre
during the latter half of the 19th and early 20th centuries). Today Sokolova's variation is retained in almost all productions of Le Corsaire during the scene Le jardin animé as a variation for the character Gulnare.
The Prima ballerina Natalia Dudinskaya
preferred to dance a rarely heard variation taken from Ludwig Minkus's original score for Petipa's Don Quixote
in substitution of Legnani's variation. This number is retained as a variation for the character Medora in the scene Le jardin animé in American Ballet Theatre's production of Le Corsaire.
On , Le Corsaire was presented in a new production at the Mariinsky Theatre. For this revival the Ballet Master Samuil Andrianov—who performed the role of Conrad—arranged a new Pas d'action for the second scene of act I.
The opening adage was staged by Andrianov for three dancers—the characters Conrad, Medora (performed by Tamara Karsavina
) and an additional suitor (performed by Mikhail Obhukov). Then followed variations for the each of the two principals characters, with the piece ending in a rousing coda.
As was the custom of the time, music from various sources was selected in order to serve as accompaniment: the adage was choreographed to a nocturne
composed by Riccardo Drigo titled Dreams of Spring. The variation in triple time performed by the character Conrad was taken from the composer Yuli Gerber's score for Petipa's 1870 ballet Trilby
, while Tamara Karsavina performed a variation in polka rhythm taken from the composer Baron Boris Vietinghoff-Scheel's score for the 1893 ballet Cinderella
, originally staged by Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov
and Enrico Cecchetti
. Since 1915, Karsavina's variation has been substituted out quite often. Nevertheless her variation is still considered the "traditional" solo for the character Medora in the Le Corsaire pas de deux. The origins of the music for the coda is unknown, though it is typically credited to Riccardo Drigo.
In 1931, Agrippina Vaganova
revised the choreography of the 1915 Pas d'action. She transformed the piece into an athletic duet for the graduation performance of her pupil, Natalia Dudinskaya
, who was partnered by the danseur Konstantin Sergeyev. In 1939 Vaganova's version was inserted into the Kirov Ballet's 1936 production of the full-length Le Corsaire, with the dancers Galina Ulanova
and Nikolai Zubkovsky in the principal roles.
It was the noted Premier danseur of the Kirov Ballet Vakhtang Chabukiani
who had the most influential hand in refashioning the male dancing of the Le Corsaire pas de deux. During his performances in the pas during the 1930s he gave the male role more athletic and virtuoso choreographic elements. His interpretaion of the male role became, in essence, the standard, and it has remained so to the present day.
When Pyotr Gusev staged his 1955 revival of the full-length Le Corsaire for the Maly Theatre in Leningrad, he restored the Le Corsaire pas de deux to its original form, with the opening adage being performed by three persons.
On 5 November 1962, Rudolf Nureyev
performed the Le Corsaire pas de deux with Margot Fonteyn
for the first time at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London. Nureyev called upon John Lanchbery
to create a new orchestration of the music, which are still in use by many ballet companies. It is Nureyev's staging of the pas de deux that helped make it a major repertory staple with ballet companies all over the world.
. This variation is by the composer Anton Simon, originally titled as Souvenir du bal and features a solo for violin in triple time. When Rudolf Nureyev staged Le Corsaire pas de deux at the Royal Opera House in 1962, Margot Fonteyn performed this variation, which is still retained by many ballerinas today (the variation is often erroneously credited to Minkus)
Another variation which is often danced in the Le Corsaire pas de deux by the ballerina is taken from modern stagings of Marius Petipa's 1877 ballet La Bayadère
, and is traditionally danced by the character Gamzatti in that ballet. The variation is by Riccardo Drigo, and was originally written as an interpolation for the celebrated Pas de Vénus from Petipa's 1968 ballet Le Roi Candaule (a.k.a. Tsar Candavl).
for Slave). By the time the Kirov Ballet's Premier danseur Vakhtang Chabukiani danced the role in the 1930s, the character wore a costume which consisted of baggy pants and chains strapped around a shirt-less torso. When Pyotr Gusev staged his revival of Le Corsaire for the Maly Theatre in 1955, the Rhab character was named Ali, and was given a more prevalent part in the ballet's action. This change in the character from a mere suitor to a slave also gave rise to revisions in the choreography of the Le Corsaire pas de deux, with many of the dancers who performed in the role adding in more athletic and exotic elements of choreography.
On Alexander Gorsky—Premier Maître de Ballet of the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre—presented his revival of Le Corsaire, with Ekaterina Geltzer as Medora and Vasily Tikhomirov
as Conrad. For this revival Gorsky supervised a substantially revised edition of Adam's score that included a myriad of new dances. The airs of such composers as Edvard Grieg
, Anton Simon, Reinhold Glière
, Karl Goldmark
, Frédéric Chopin
, Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Antonín Dvořák
were fashioned into dansante accompaniment for new scenes, pas, variations, and the like. Among the most notable scenes added by Gorsky was a dream sequence set to a Nocturne
by Chopin, in which the character Medora dreams of her beloved Conrad. Another interpolation of note was a divertissement for Turkish, Persian and Arabian slave-women that took place during the scene in the bazaar of the first act. Even with the production's large number of interpolated pieces, Gorsky chose to retain many of the additional pas as included in the ballet by Mazilier and Petipa.
Perhaps the most striking interpolation Gorsky included in his 1912 production of Le Corsaire was the pas de deux
that would one day be known as the Tchaikovsky Pas de deux. This piece was originally adapated by Tchaikovsky from a supplemental pas de deux composed by Ludwig Minkus for the original 1877 production of Swan Lake
. This pas de deux was thought to be lost for many years by ballet historians and musicologists. The fact that Gorsky included this piece in his version of Le Corsaire led to its accidental re-discovery in 1953, when it was found in the archives of the Bolshoi Theatre among the orchestral parts used for Gorsky's 1912 production. Upon learning of the existence of this music, George Balanchine
subsequently choreographed the piece as the Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux for the dancers Violette Verdy
and Conrad Ludlow
. Today it is quite popular with companies all over the world.
Gorsky's revival of Le Corsaire remained in the repertory of the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre until 1927. Although the company regularly performed extracts from Le Corsaire for many years thereafter, the full-length work was not given again until Konstantin Sergeyev staged his version for the company in 1992.
. Burlaka utilized the choreographic notation of the Sergeyev Collection
, as well as materials found in the Bibliothèque nationale de France
, the Bakhrushin Theater Museum and the St.Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music to assist in mounting a historically informed production. This version of Le Corsaire proved to be the most expensive production of a ballet ever mounted, estimated at $1.5 million USD.
until 1928 (after the 1917 Russian Revolution the ballet company was known as the State Petrograd Ballet, and later the State Academic Ballet, before it was renamed the Kirov Ballet). By 1928 Le Corsaire had been performed 224 times since 1899 at the Mariinsky Theatre.
Agrippina Vaganova
, the revered pedagogue of Russian Ballet, supervised the first noted post-revolution revival of Le Corsaire for the Kirov Ballet, first performed on 15 May 1931. In 1936 another revival of Le Corsaire was given by the Kirov Ballet, with Natalia Dudinskaya
as Medora, Mikhail Mikhailov as Conrad, and Vakhtang Chabukiani
as the Slave (or Rhab, as the character was known in Russia). This was the first production of the full-length work to include Vaganova's 1931 revision of Le Corsaire pas de deux as staged for Dudinskaya's graduation performance. Over time, Konstantin Sergeyev—artistic director and chief choreographer of the Kirov Ballet from 1951–1955 and 1960-1970—added various new pieces, including a duet known as the Pas de deux de la chambre (Bedroom Pas de deux) for Dudinskaya, set to Riccardo Drigo's music for the Grand pas from Petipa's 1894 ballet Le Réveil de Flore (The Awakening of Flora). The 1936 revival of Le Corsaire remained in the Kirov Ballet's regular repertory until 1941. From 1941 the production was only given on rare occasions until it was totally removed from the repertory in 1956.
of Leningrad in 1955. This production used a modified version of the original libretto, written by Gusev and the ballet historian Yuri Slonimsky. A new character was also included — known as the slave Ali — a role which evolved out of the Slave who took part in Le Corsaire pas de deux in early Soviet productions of the full-length work at the Mariinsky Theatre.
Gusev opted to include a completely new version of the ballet's score. Although the Ballet Master retained the traditional interpolations as handed down from Petipa's Imperial-era productions, he opted to discard nearly all of Adam's original score in favor of a score arranged by the conductor Eugene Kornblit from airs found in Adam's 1852 opera Si j'étais roi
and his score for the 1842 ballet La Jolie fille du Gand. With this new music, leitmotif
s were created for the ballet's main characters. Additional dances were also added: a pizzicato
taken from Riccardo Drigo's additional music for Petipa's 1899 revival of La Esmeralda
was used to accompany a dance for coryphées in the scene Le jardin animé. Gusev also added dances for Turkish, Persian, and Arabian slave-women for the scene in the bazaar.
Gusev also created a new prologue
in his revival, which included the famous shipwreck transferred from the last scene. There followed a scene set on a beach where Gusev staged a pas for the characters Medora, Gulnare and ten coryphées, followed by a scene in which the heroine and her companions are abducted by the character Lanquedem and his cohorts in order to be sold as harem slaves.
Gusev's revival premiered on 31 May 1955, and went on to become the most popular version of Le Corsaire in Russia. In 1977 the director of the Kirov Ballet, Oleg Vinogradov staged Gusev's version for the company, who still retain the production in their repertory. The Novosibirsk Ballet also includes Gusev's version in their repertory. In 2009 the Mikhailovsky Theatre Ballet
staged Gusev's version as revised by artistic director of ballet, Farouk Ruzimatov
.
The Kirov Ballet's staging of Gusev's version of Le Corsaire was given a new production in 1989 for the company's engagement at New York's
Metropolitan Opera House
. A performance of the new production was filmed that same year at the Mariinsky Theatre with the ballerina Altynai Asylmuratova
as Medora, Yevgeny Neff as Conrad, Konstantin Zaklinsky as Lankendem, Yelena Pankova as Gulnare and Farouk Ruzimatov
as Ali. This film has been released onto DVD/video.
Sergeyev's revival was pulled from the Kirov Ballet's repertory after only nine performances. It has been said that the Ballet Master had fallen into disfavor with the Soviet government due to the recent defections from the U.S.S.R. of Natalia Makarova
and Mikhail Baryshnikov
, events which caused his dismissal from the post of artistic director in 1970.
The full-length Le Corsaire was not performed again by the Kirov Ballet until 1977 when Oleg Vinogradov (the Kirov Ballet's artistic director from 1977) staged Pyotr Gusev's 1955 version. In 1989 the Kirov Ballet decided to present a revival of Le Corsaire for its upcoming world tour. There was much debate as to whether Vinogradov's staging of Gusev's version would be retained or whether Sergeyev's version would be reinstated. In the end the company chose to retain the Gusev version, which the company still performs regularly.
In 1992 Yuri Grigorovich, director of the Bolshoi Ballet of Moscow, invited Sergeyev to mount his 1973 revival of Le Corsaire for the company. This production—which included a heavily re-edited and re-orchestrated score by the Bolshoi Theatre's conductor Alexander Sotnikov—premiered on 11 March 1992 to great success, but after only seven performances Grigorovich decided to pull the production from the repertory. After witnessing the success of Sergeyev's production, Grigorovich decided to stage his own version, which premiered on 16 February 1994. Grigorovich's production was then taken out of the repertory after the director left the company in 1995. In 2005 the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Yuri Tkatchenko recorded the version of the score used for Grigorovich's 1994 production, which was released by the publishing company Shinshokan
.
for almost five years. At the suggestion of Sergeyev's wife, Natalia Dudinskaya
, Anna-Marie Holmes staged Sergeyev's 1992 production for the Boston Ballet
(with the assistance of Dudinskaya, Tatiana Terekhova, Sergei Berezhnoi, Tatiana Legat, and Vadim Disnitsky).
The music for this production was copied from the conductor's score used for Sergeyev's production in Sotnikov's orchestration, as well as additional parts taken from the Mariinsky Theatre Library which were interpolated throughout the score. The Boston Ballet music librarian Arthur Leeth, the company pianist Marina Gendal, and conductor Jonathan McPhee performed a cut-and-paste operation on the score as the choreography was adapted for the new staging. New transitional passages were composed by Kevin Galiè, who also reorchestrated passages of the score. This production premiered on 27 March 1997 with the Ballerina Natasha Akhmarova as Medora, to great success.
Nearly one year later, American Ballet Theatre rented the Boston Ballet's production of Le Corsaire. The staging went through even more revisions both choreographically and musically, with modifications performed by American Ballet Theatre conductor Charles Barker and the company pianist Henrietta Stern.
With regard to the plot, a crucial revision was made by the transformation of French Corsair
s into Caribbean Pirates. This production premiered on 19 June 1998, with Nina Ananiashvili
as Medora, Ashley Tuttle
as Gulnare, Giuseppe Picone
as Conrad, Jose Manuel Carreño
as Ali, and Vladimir Malakhov
Lankendem. The ABT production was later filmed at the Orange County Performing Arts Center
in Costa Mesa, California
by PBS for Great Performances
in 1999, with Julie Kent as Medora, Paloma Herrera
as Gulnare, Ethan Stiefel
as Conrad, Angel Corella
as Ali, and Vladimir Malakhov as Lankendem. The film has since been released onto DVD/video.
in Seattle presented a reconstruction of Petipa's choreography for the scene Le jardin animé, taken directly from the notation of the Sergeyev Collection
. It was staged by the dance historian and Stepanov notation expert Douglas Fullington, and Manard Stewart, former principal dancer of the Pacific Northwest Ballet.
.
. The staging proved to be the most expensive production of a ballet ever mounted, estimated at $1.5 million USD.
Adam's original score as performed for Mazilier's 1867 revival was obtained from the archives of the Bibliothèque nationale de France
. The production also made use of a violin répétiteur
used for Petipa's production obtained from the Sergeyev Collection
. The répétiteur halped to restore much of the original music that accompanied Petipa's additional dances and to reconstruct the original mise-en-scène. Music taken from Riccardo Drigo's score for Lev Ivanov
's 1887 ballet La Forêt enchantée (The Enchanted Forest) was utilized to accompany a Grand pas for the ballet's last act. This Grand pas also included three rarely heard classical variations
for the principal dancers set to Drigo's music from such works as Petipa's Pygmalion, ou La Statue de Chypre
and his Le Miroir magique.
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
typically presented in three acts, with a libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
originally created by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges loosely based on the poem The Corsair
The Corsair
The Corsair was a semi-autobiographical tale in verse by Lord Byron in 1814 , which was extremely popular and influential in its day, selling ten thousand copies on its first day of sale...
by Lord Byron. Originally choreographed by Joseph Mazilier
Joseph Mazilier
Joseph Mazilier was a 19th-century French dancer, balletmaster and choreographer. He was most noted for his ballets Paquita and Le Corsaire...
to the music of Adolphe Adam
Adolphe Adam
Adolphe Charles Adam was a French composer and music critic. A prolific composer of operas and ballets, he is best known today for his ballets Giselle and Le corsaire , his operas Le postillon de Lonjumeau , Le toréador and Si j'étais roi , and his Christmas...
, it was first presented by the ballet of the Théâtre Impérial de l´Opéra in Paris on 23 January 1856. All modern productions of Le Corsaire are derived from the revivals staged by the Ballet Master Marius Petipa
Marius Petipa
Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa was a French ballet dancer, teacher and choreographer. Petipa is considered to be the most influential ballet master and choreographer of ballet that has ever lived....
for the Imperial Ballet
Mariinsky Ballet
The Mariinsky Ballet is a classical ballet company based at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in the 18th century and originally known as the Imperial Russian Ballet, the Mariinsky Ballet is one of the world's leading ballet companies...
of St. Petersburg throughout the mid to late 19th century.
The ballet has many celebrated passages which are often extracted from the full-length work and performed independently: the scene Le jardin animé, the Pas d'esclave, the Pas de trois des odalisques, and the so-called Le Corsaire pas de deux, which is among classical ballet's most famous and performed excerpts.
Today Le Corsaire is performed chiefly in two different versions: those productions derived from the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet's 1977 production (initially staged by Pyotr Gusev
Pyotr Gusev
Pyotr Andreyevich Gusev was a ballet dancer, teacher and choreographer. He was born on 29. December, 1904 in St. Petersburg. He studied at the St. Petersburg School of Choreography under Alexandr Shiryayev. He was a friend of George Balanchine and joined his Young Ballet group. He graduated in...
for the Maly/Mikhailovsky Theatre
Mikhaylovsky Theatre
The Mikhaylovsky Theatre is one of the oldest opera and ballet houses in Russia. It was founded in 1833 and is situated in a historical building on the Arts Square in St. Petersburg...
of Leningrad in 1955); and those derived from the Ballet Master Konstantin Sergeyev's production (initially staged for the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet in 1973, and later for the Bolshoi Ballet
Bolshoi Ballet
The Bolshoi Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia. Founded in 1776, the Bolshoi is among the world's oldest ballet companies, however it only achieved worldwide acclaim by the early 20th century, when Moscow became the...
in 1992). The most well-known production derived from Sergeyev's version is American Ballet Theatre
American Ballet Theatre
American Ballet Theatre , based in New York City, was one of the foremost ballet companies of the 20th century. It continues as a leading dance company in the world today...
's 1998 staging.
The score for Le Corsaire contains a substantial amount of additional material, primarily acquired by way of revivals staged by Marius Petipa during the mid to late 19th century in St. Petersburg. By the turn of the 20th century, the Imperial Ballet's edition of Adolphe Adam's score included musical contributions from ten composers: Cesare Pugni
Cesare Pugni
Cesare Pugni was an Italian composer of ballet music, a pianist and a violinist. In his early career he composed operas, symphonies, and various other forms of orchestral music. Pugni is most noted for the ballets he composed while serving as Composer of the Ballet Music to Her Majesty's Theatre...
, Prince Pyotr Georgievich of Oldenburg, Léo Delibes
Léo Delibes
Clément Philibert Léo Delibes was a French composer of ballets, operas, and other works for the stage...
, Riccardo Drigo
Riccardo Drigo
Riccardo Eugenio Drigo , a.k.a. Richard Drigo was an Italian composer of ballet music and Italian Opera, a theatrical conductor, and a pianist....
, Baron Boris Vietinghoff-Scheel, Yuli Gerber, Albert Zabel, Ludwig Minkus
Ludwig Minkus
Ludwig Minkus a.k.a. Léon Fyodorovich Minkus was an Austrian composer of ballet music, a violin virtuoso and teacher.Minkus is most noted for the music he composed while serving as Ballet Composer of the St...
, Mikhail Ivanov
Mikhail Ivanov (composer)
Mikhail Mikhailovich Ivanov was a Russian composer, critic and writer on music.-Biography:Mikhail Mikhailovich Ivanov was born in Moscow in 1849. He studied at the Technological Institute, St Petersburg, then at the Moscow Conservatory for a year, under Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Alexandre...
, and an unknown composer known as Zibin. Nearly all modern productions retain the music of these composers, though their contributions typically go uncredited. Although many modern stagings credit Léo Delibes jointly with Adolphe Adam for the score, it is Cesare Pugni who has the greater musical contribution aside from that of Adam.
Origins
Lord Byron's 1814 poem The Corsair appears to have served as the inspiration for at least six known ballet productions concerning pirates, buccaneerBuccaneer
The buccaneers were privateers who attacked Spanish shipping in the Caribbean Sea during the late 17th century.The term buccaneer is now used generally as a synonym for pirate...
s, etc., during the 19th century. The first production was staged by Giovanni Galzerani
Giovanni Galzerani
Giovanni Galzerani was an Italian choreographer, ballet dancer, and composer who was active in major theatres throughout Italy from 1808-1853.-References:...
in 1826 for the ballet of La Scala
La Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
.
On 12 August 1835 a second work on a similar subject was presented by the Paris Opera Ballet
Paris Opera Ballet
The Paris Opera Ballet is the oldest national ballet company in the world, and many European and international ballet companies can trace their origins to it...
at the Salle Le Peletier under the title L´Ile des pirates. The ballet featured the legendary ballerina Fanny Elssler
Fanny Elssler
Fanny Elssler - 27 November 1884), born Franziska Elßler, was an Austrian ballerina of the 'Romantic Period'.- Life :Daughter of Johann Florian Elssler, a second generation employee of Prince Esterhazy in Eisenstadt. Both Johann and his brother Josef were employed as copyists to the Prince's...
in the principal role of Mathilde (the velvet toque worn by the Ballerina during her performances in the ballet caused a small fashion craze among Parisian women). L´Ile des pirates was mounted by the Ballet Master Louis Henri to a libretto drafted by the noted singer/dramatist Adolphe Nourrit
Adolphe Nourrit
Adolphe Nourrit was a French operatic tenor, librettist, and composer. One of the most esteemed opera singers of the 1820s and 1830s, he was particularly associated with the works of Gioachino Rossini....
. The score—a pastiche
Pastiche
A pastiche is a literary or other artistic genre or technique that is a "hodge-podge" or imitation. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.-Hodge-podge:...
typical of the early Romantic ballet—was assembled and adapted by the Opéra's resident composer of ballet music Casimir Gide from the airs of Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
, Gioachino Rossini and Luigi Carlini. L′Ile des pirates was received with a measure of indifference by the balletomanes and critics, and was given twenty-four performances over the course of three years before being removed from the Opéra's repertory.
The third ballet concerning pirates, etc. was staged by the Ballet Master Ferdinand Albert Decombe (known to history simply as Albert), for the ballet of the King's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre, in Haymarket, City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the theatre...
in London. The score was the work of the French harpist Nicholas Bochsa. Albert's work, staged under the title Le Corsaire, was first presented to the public on 29 June 1837 with the ballerina Hermine Elssler in the role of Medora, Pauline Duvernay
Pauline Duvernay
Pauline Duvernay or Yolande Marie-Louise Duvernay or Yolande Marie Louise de Varnay was a noted French dancer.-Biography:...
as Gulnare and Albert himself in the role of Conrad. Apart from the choreography, Albert was also responsible for creating the libretto in a version based on Byron's poem. Albert presented a revival of the work on 30 September 1844 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
, in which he reprised the role of Conrad. The great ballerina Clara Webster performed the role of Medora, and Adèle Dumilâtre—famous for creating the role of Myrtha in Giselle
Giselle
Giselle is a ballet in two acts with a libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Théophile Gautier, music by Adolphe Adam, and choreography by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot. The librettist took his inspiration from a poem by Heinrich Heine...
in 1841—performed the role of Gulnare.
The Ballet Master Filippo Taglioni
Filippo Taglioni
Filippo Taglioni was an Italian dancer and choreographer and personal teacher to his own daughter, the famous Romantic ballerina Marie Taglioni. He is the son of Carlo and father of both Marie and Paul...
presented the fourth 19th century ballet inspired by pirates. Taglioni's work, set to the music of Herbert Gärich, premiered on 13 March 1838 at the Prussian Court Opera of the Königliches Opernhaus
Semperoper
The Semperoper is the opera house of the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden and the concert hall of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden . It is located near the Elbe River in the historic center of Dresden, Germany.The opera house was originally built by the architect Gottfried Semper in 1841...
in Berlin.
During his one and only season with the Imperial Ballet
Mariinsky Ballet
The Mariinsky Ballet is a classical ballet company based at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in the 18th century and originally known as the Imperial Russian Ballet, the Mariinsky Ballet is one of the world's leading ballet companies...
in St. Petersburg, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, the renowned Ballet Master Joseph Mazilier
Joseph Mazilier
Joseph Mazilier was a 19th-century French dancer, balletmaster and choreographer. He was most noted for his ballets Paquita and Le Corsaire...
staged L′Écumeur de mer (The Pirate), known in Russian as Morskoĭ Razboĭnik, a ballet in 2 acts and 5 tableaux, for the great Marie Taglioni
Marie Taglioni
Marie Taglioni was a famous Italian/Swedish ballerina of the Romantic ballet era, a central figure in the history of European dance.-Biography:...
, who was engaged in the Imperial capital at that time. The music was composed by Adolphe Adam
Adolphe Adam
Adolphe Charles Adam was a French composer and music critic. A prolific composer of operas and ballets, he is best known today for his ballets Giselle and Le corsaire , his operas Le postillon de Lonjumeau , Le toréador and Si j'étais roi , and his Christmas...
, who accompanied Mazilier to Russia to compose for the court of Tsar Nicholas I. L'Écumeur de mer premiered at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre on .
The sixth 19th century ballet on the subject of pirates was also staged by Mazilier, again to the music of Adam, and proved to be one of the most enduring ballets ever created. Le Corsaire was first presented on 23 January 1856 by the ballet of the Théâtre Impérial de l´Opéra. The work was the brainchild of François Crosnier, director of the Théâtre Impérial de l´Opéra, and of the Empress Eugénie
Eugénie de Montijo
Doña María Eugenia Ignacia Augustina de Palafox-Portocarrero de Guzmán y Kirkpatrick, 16th Countess of Teba and 15th Marquise of Ardales; 5 May 1826 – 11 July 1920), known as Eugénie de Montijo , was the last Empress consort of the French from 1853 to 1871 as the wife of Napoleon III, Emperor of...
, wife of Emperor Napoleon III
Napoleon III of France
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the President of the French Second Republic and as Napoleon III, the ruler of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I, christened as Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte...
, who also made several suggestions concerning the ballet's scenario.
An accomplished literary man was commissioned to write the libretto. Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges, who fashioned a scenario loosely based on Byron's poem, crafted libretti for many noted ballets throughout the 19th century. Among these works: Giselle
Giselle
Giselle is a ballet in two acts with a libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Théophile Gautier, music by Adolphe Adam, and choreography by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot. The librettist took his inspiration from a poem by Heinrich Heine...
in collaboration with Théophile Gautier
Théophile Gautier
Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, art critic and literary critic....
in 1841, and later for Marius Petipa's The Pharaoh's Daughter
The Pharaoh's Daughter
The Pharaoh's Daughter , is a ballet choreographed by Marius Petipa, to the music of Cesare Pugni, with libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges from Théophile Gautier's Le Roman de la Momie...
in 1862. The libretto for Le Corsaire went through many changes during the long months of the ballet's preparation, requiring Vernoy to be paid an additional 3,000 francs for the work.
Le Corsaire was created primarily for the talents of the famous Italian ballerina Carolina Rosati, who was then the Opéra's reigning Prima. The role of Conrad—which contained no dancing in Mazilier's original staging—was created by the Italian Domineco Segarelli. Although he was an accomplished dancer, it was Segarelli's abilities as a mime artist
Mime artist
A mime artist is someone who uses mime as a theatrical medium or as a performance art, involving miming, or the acting out a story through body motions, without use of speech. In earlier times, in English, such a performer was referred to as a mummer...
that won him the many roles he created on the stage of the Opéra. It would not be until many years later that the role of Conrad included any dancing.
Le Corsaire premiered to a resounding success, with Carolina Rosati's interpretation of the heroine Medora becoming the talk of Paris. The ballerina Claudina Cucchi received laurels for her performance of the character Gulnare, as did Domineco Segarelli for his portrayal of the hero Conrad. Mazilier's choreography and his arrangement of the mise en scène
Mise en scène
Mise-en-scène is an expression used to describe the design aspects of a theatre or film production, which essentially means "visual theme" or "telling a story"—both in visually artful ways through storyboarding, cinematography and stage design, and in poetically artful ways through direction...
were highly praised by the balletomanes and critics. Among the ballet's most notable passages was the Pas des Éventails of the second scene of act I—an elaborate Grand pas that featured passages in which the heroine Medora and the corps de ballet created a "kaleidoscope effect" of sorts reminiscent of a male peafowl
Peafowl
Peafowl are two Asiatic species of flying birds in the genus Pavo of the pheasant family, Phasianidae, best known for the male's extravagant eye-spotted tail, which it displays as part of courtship. The male is called a peacock, the female a peahen, and the offspring peachicks. The adult female...
's extravagant plumage. The stage effects—designed by the master machinist Victor Sacré—were hailed as the best yet seen on the stage of the Opéra. Sacré's realistic execution of the sinking corsair ship of the final act became immortalized by Gustave Doré
Gustave Doré
Paul Gustave Doré was a French artist, engraver, illustrator and sculptor. Doré worked primarily with wood engraving and steel engraving.-Biography:...
's drawing.
In attendance for the first three performances were Emperor Napoleon III and his wife, the Empress Eugénie, both of whom were fanatic balletomanes. So moved by Le Corsaire was the Empress that she exclaimed "In all my life I have never seen, and probably never shall see again, anything so beautiful or so moving."
Adam's score was highly praised for its melodiousness, orchestration, and dramatic intensity. It was to be the composer's last work for the ballet—he died of a heart attack on 3 May 1856, nearly four months after the premiere of Le Corsaire. On the evening of the day of his death, Le Corsaire was given at the Opéra with the royal family in attendance with their guest of honor, King William I of Württemberg
William I of Württemberg
William I was the second King of Württemberg from October 30, 1816 until his death.He was born in Lüben, the son of King Frederick I of Württemberg and his wife Duchess Augusta of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel .-First marriage:...
. As equally moved by the ballet as was the Empress Eugénie, Emperor Napoleon III gave orders that all of the evening's box office receipts, totaling some 10,000 francs, be given to the composer's widow.
Mazilier's original production of Le Corsaire was given forty-three performances at the Opéra with only Rosati in the role of Medora. Her interpretation was considered by all to be incomparable, and after her departure from Paris in 1859 the ballet was taken out of the repertory. Not long afterwards the Ballet Master Mazilier retired.
The first production
Le Corsaire was first staged in Russia for the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg by Jules PerrotJules Perrot
Jules-Joseph Perrot was a dancer and choreographer who later became Balletmaster of the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia...
, the renowned Ballet Master of the Romantic Ballet
Romantic ballet
The Romantic ballet is defined primarily by an era in ballet in which the ideas of Romanticism in art and literature influenced the creation of ballets. The era occurred during the early to mid 19th century primarily at the Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique of the Paris Opera Ballet and Her...
, who served as Premier Maître de Ballet of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres from 1849 until 1858. Le Corsaire was performed for the first time on at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre, with the Prima ballerina Ekaterina Friedbürg as the heroine Medora, and the young Marius Petipa as the corsair Conrad. For this production Petipa assisted Perrot in rehearsals, and even revised a few of the ballet's key dances, the most noted being the Pas des Éventails and the Scène de séduction of act II-scene 1.
Marius Petipa's revivals
Over the course of his long career Petipa presented four revivals of Le Corsaire, each time adding a substantial number of new pas, variations and incidental dances. His first revival was staged especially for his wife, the Prima Ballerina Maria Surovshchikova-Petipa, with the Premier danseur Christian JohanssonChristian Johansson
Christian Johansson was a teacher, choreographer and coaching balletmaster for the Russian Imperial Ballet. Born Pehr Christian Johansson in Stockholm, Sweden, he moved to Russia as a dancer and stayed on as one of the most important teachers in Russian history...
as Conrad. The production premiered on , and included a score supplemented and revised by the composer Cesare Pugni.
Four years later Joseph Mazilier came out of retirement to mount a revival of Le Corsaire in honor of the 1867 Exposition Universelle
Exposition Universelle (1867)
The Exposition Universelle of 1867 was a World Exposition held in Paris, France, in 1867.-Conception:In 1864, Emperor Napoleon III decreed that an international exposition should be held in Paris in 1867. A commission was appointed with Prince Jerome Napoleon as president, under whose direction...
, given that year in Paris. The celebrated ballerina Adèle Grantzow performed the role of Medora, and Adolphe Adam's former pupil, Léo Delibes, composed new music especially for her performance. The revival premiered on 21 October 1867, and was given thirty-eight performances with Grantzow as the heroine Medora. After the ballerina's departure from Paris in 1868 Le Corsaire was again taken out of the Opéra's repertory, never to be performed by the Parisian ballet again.
In the winter of 1867, Granztow was invited to perform with the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg by Emperor Alexander II
Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...
. For her début, Petipa staged a revival of Le Corsaire, which was given for the first time on . For the production Petipa again called upon Cesare Pugni to compose music for new dances.
Petipa's third revival of Le Corsaire was staged especially for the Russian Ballerina Eugeniia Sokolova, given for the first time on .
Petipa's final and most important revival of Le Corsaire premiered on , at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre. This production was mounted especially for the benefit performance of Pierina Legnani
Pierina Legnani
Pierina Legnani was an Italian ballerina, a terre-à-terre virtuosa extraordinaire, considered one of the greatest ballerinas of all time.-Career:...
, Prima ballerina assoluta of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres. The Prima ballerina Olga Preobrajenskaya performed the role of Gulnare, and the Imperial Theatre's Premier danseur Pavel Gerdt
Pavel Gerdt
Pavel Andreyevich Gerdt, also known as Paul Gerdt , was the Premier Danseur Noble of the Imperial Ballet, the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre, and the Mariinsky Theatre for 56 years, making his debut in 1860, and retiring in 1916...
performed the role of Conrad.
The notation of Petipa's 1899 revival
In 1894 the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres began a project by which the choreography of the ballet company's repertory would be documented in the method of choreographic notation devised by Vladimir Stepanov. The scene Le jardin animé from Le Corsaire was among the first pieces to be notated not long after the project began, and by 1906 nearly all of the choreography for the danced numbers of Petipa's production of Le Corsaire were documented. After the Russian revolution of 1917Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
the Imperial Ballet's régisseur Nicholas Sergeyev brought the choreographic documentation out of Russia, and used it to stage such classics as The Sleeping Beauty
The Sleeping Beauty Ballet
The Sleeping Beauty is a ballet in a prologue and three acts, first performed in 1890. The music was by Pyotr Tchaikovsky . The score was completed in 1889, and is the second of his three ballets. The original scenario was conceived by Ivan Vsevolozhsky, and is based on Charles Perrault's La...
, Swan Lake
Swan Lake
Swan Lake ballet, op. 20, by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, composed 1875–1876. The scenario, initially in four acts, was fashioned from Russian folk tales and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger...
, and The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto is adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann's story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King". It was given its première at the Mariinsky Theatre in St...
, as well as Petipa's definitive staging of Giselle
Giselle
Giselle is a ballet in two acts with a libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Théophile Gautier, music by Adolphe Adam, and choreography by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot. The librettist took his inspiration from a poem by Heinrich Heine...
and the Imperial Ballet's production of Coppélia
Coppélia
Coppélia is a sentimental comic ballet with original choreography by Arthur Saint-Léon to a ballet libretto by Saint-Léon and Charles Nuitter and music by Léo Delibes. It was based upon two macabre stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, Der Sandmann , and Die Puppe...
for the first time in the west primarily for the Vic-Wells Ballet (today the Royal Ballet). From there these ballets went on to be staged all over the world. In 1969 Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
purchased this collection, where it now resides as the Sergeyev Collection
Sergeyev Collection
The Sergeyev Collection is a collection of choreographic notation, music, photos, décor and costume designs, theatre programs and various other materials relating to the repertory of the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg, Russia at the turn of the 20th century...
.
In 2007, the Bavarian State Ballet utilized the notation to reconstruct 25 dances from Le Corsaire for their new production. The Bolshoi Ballet made use of the notations as well when the company staged their production of Le Corsaire in 2007.
Notable additional pieces
A myriad of supplemental pas, variationsVariation (ballet)
Variation or Classical Variation in ballet is a solo dance. As with an Aria in opera, which allows the singer to demonstrate his or her interpretive skills, the variation in ballet has the same function...
and various other dances were added to Le Corsaire throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, primarily by Marius Petipa. Below is a list of the origins of the most notable of these pieces, many of which are still performed today.
Overture
For his revival of 1858 Jules Perrot commissioned the composer Cesare Pugni to revise and make additions to Adolphe Adam's score. For his revival of 1863 Marius Petipa again called upon Pugni to revise the score further. Among the new numbers added was a miniature overtureOverture
Overture in music is the term originally applied to the instrumental introduction to an opera...
which opened the first scene.
The Bolshoi Ballet's 2007 revival of Le Corsaire restored Pugni's overture of 1863.
Pas d’esclave
In 1858 Petipa interpolated a pas de deuxPas de deux
In ballet, a pas de deux is a duet in which ballet dancers perform the dance together. It usually consists of an entrée, adagio, two variations , and a coda.-Notable Pas de deux:...
into the first scene of Le Corsaire to the music of Emperor Paul I's
Paul I of Russia
Paul I was the Emperor of Russia between 1796 and 1801. He also was the 72nd Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta .-Childhood:...
grandson, the composer Prince Pyotr Georgievich of Oldenburg. Petipa titled the piece as the Pas d’Esclave. The music was likely taken from the ballet La Rose, la Violette et le Papillon
La Rose, la violette et le papillon
La Rose, la violette et le papillon is a ballet divertissement in one act, with choreography by Marius Petipa, and music by Prince Pyotr Georgievich of Oldenburg . The libretto was by Jules Perrot.First presented by the Imperial Ballet on . , for the Imperial court at the theatre of Tsarskoe Selo,...
, the only ballet ever set to music by the Prince Pyotr Georgievich of Oldenburg, which premiered only four months prior to the 1858 revival of Le Corsaire.
Petipa arranged the Pas d’Esclave as a Pas d’action for two dancers, where a slave girl was presented to the potential buyers of the Turkish bazaar by a slave suitor. In Soviet Russia the slave girl and her suitor were replaced by the characters Gulnare and Lanquedem
As was standard practice during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the original variations of the Pas d’Esclave were substituted at the behest of various dancers. The traditional variations which are performed in modern productions of Le Corsaire have been included in the Pas d’Esclave since the early 20th century. The first variation, traditionally danced by the character Lanquedem in modern productions, was inserted into the Pas d’Esclave by the danseur Pierre Vladimirov in 1914. The Mariinsky Theatre's score for Le Corsaire titles the solo as 21/12/1914; Variation pour Vladimirov, and credits the music to an unknown composer named only as Zibin. Today the variation is performed with choreography created by Vakhtang Chabukiani
Vakhtang Chabukiani
Vakhtang Chabukiani was a Georgian ballet dancer, choreographer and teacher highly regarded in his native country as well as abroad. He is considered to be one of the most influential male ballet dancers in history, and is noted for creating the majority of the choreography of the male variations...
in 1931.
The music of the female variation, which is traditionally performed by the character Gulnare in many modern productions, is by Riccardo Drigo. This solo was originally created as an additional variation for the ballerina Maria Gorshenkova when she performed the role of Claudia in Marius Petipa and composer Mikhail Ivanov's 1888 grand ballet La Vestale
The Vestal
The Vestal - Grand ballet in 3 Acts-4 Scenes, with choreography by Marius Petipa and music by Mikhail Ivanov.The ballet was first presented by the Imperial Ballet on February 17/29, 1888 at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia...
. Today the variation is performed with choreography created by the Ballet Master Pyotr Gusev, which he arranged circa 1940.
The Sergeyev Collection
Sergeyev Collection
The Sergeyev Collection is a collection of choreographic notation, music, photos, décor and costume designs, theatre programs and various other materials relating to the repertory of the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg, Russia at the turn of the 20th century...
contains choreographic documentation of the Pas d’Esclave among the notations for Le Corsaire as it was performed at the turn of the 20th century by the Imperial Ballet. The notations document a 1905 performance as danced by the ballerina Vavara Rhyklyakova and the danseur Sergei Legat.
Finesse d'amour
In 1868 Petipa added a Scène dansante to the first scene of Le Corsaire which came to be known as Finesse d’amour. This piece, set to the music of Cesare Pugni, was originally created for the ballerina Praskovia Lebedeva's performance in the title role of Petipa's 1866 revival of Mazilier's SatanellaLe Diable amoureux (ballet)
Le Diable Amoureux is a Pantomime ballet in 3 acts, 7 scenes. Originally staged by Joseph Mazilier to the music of Napoléon Henri Reber and François Benoist...
(this ballet was originally staged as Le Diable amoureux at the Paris Opéra in 1840).
The scene Finesse d’amour took place during the first scene set in the Turkish bazaar, with the heroine Medora teasing the Sa`id Pasha while the slave-trader Lanquedem attempts to sell her. Today this piece is only retained in selected stagings of Le Corsaire. Boston Ballet
Boston Ballet
Boston Ballet, founded in 1963 by E. Virginia Williams, was the first professional repertory ballet company in New England. Boston Ballet’s national and international reputation developed under the leadership of Artistic Directors Violette Verdy , Bruce Marks , and Anna-Marie Holmes...
, American Ballet Theatre and the Bolshoi Ballet are among the companies who include this piece in their productions.
Pas de six
For his revival of 1868, Petipa replaced Mazilier's Pas des Éventails in the second scene of act I, with a Pas de six set to new music by Cesare Pugni. The pas was staged for the characters Medora, Conrad, and four coryphées, and included only one variation for the character Medora along with a dance for the coryphées.Le petit corsaire
For his revival of Le Corsaire in 1868, Petipa inserted a new Pas de caractéristique to the music of Pugni into the second scene of act I. This piece came to be known as Le petit corsaire (The Little Corsair). In this number the heroine Medora performs a dance with a prop megaphone while imitating and costumed as a corsair. During her dance, the character Medora uses mime to express the following: "I have no moustache, but nonetheless my heart is as strong as a man's!". The variation ended with the Ballerina shouting in French "Au bord!", a nautical command given by corsairs before plundering another vessel.Le petit corsaire went on to become one of the most celebrated passages of Le Corsaire. In her famous biography Theatre Street, the legendary ballerina Tamara Karsavina
Tamara Karsavina
Tamara Platonovna Karsavina was a famous Russian ballerina, renowned for her beauty, who was most noted as a Principal Artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and later the Ballets Russes of Serge Diaghilev...
(who made her début in the role of Medora at the Mariinsky Theatre in 1909) gives an account of this dance:
A performance of Le petit corsaire was one of the first pieces of the art of ballet to ever be filmed. It was Alexander Shiryaev (1867–1941)—famous character dancer and Ballet Master to the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres—who was responsible for filming the anonymous dancer in this piece during the early 20th century. Shiryaev was the grandson of Cesare Pugni, who composed the music for Le petit corsaire.
Pas de trois des odalisques
In 1858 the Pas des odalisques from act II of Le Corsaire was expanded. Originally this number consisted only of Adolphe Adam's waltzWaltz
The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in time, performed primarily in closed position.- History :There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim...
. For the revival the pas was expanded into a classical pas de trois
Pas de trois
Pas de trois. French term usually referring to a dance in ballet between three people. Typically a Pas de trois in ballet consists of 6 parts -#The Entrée...
, consisting of an entrée (being Adam's original waltz), 3 variations, and a coda. The first two variations and the coda were set to new music by Cesare Pugni, while the third variation was transferred from another part of Adam's original score. The expanded Pas de trois des odalisques was first performed by the danseuses Nadezhda Amosova, Anastasia Amosova and Anna Prikhunova.
Danse des forbans
In 1868 Petipa added a new mazurkaMazurka
The mazurka is a Polish folk dance in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo, and with accent on the third or second beat.-History:The folk origins of the mazurek are two other Polish musical forms—the slow machine...
into the first scene of act I titled as the Danse des forbans, set to new music by Cesare Pugni. The Ballet Master choreographed the mazurka to be led by the character Birbanto, who made his entrance with two prop musket
Musket
A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth bore long gun, fired from the shoulder. Muskets were designed for use by infantry. A soldier armed with a musket had the designation musketman or musketeer....
s which he "fired" on stage to the musical accents. The mazurka proceeded with the male corps de ballet dancing with their prop sabers. For his revival of 1899 Petipa transferred the Danse des forbans to the second scene of act I, where it is still retained in many modern productions of Le Corsaire.
Le jardin animé
Joseph Mazilier revived Le Corsaire in honor of the Exposition UniverselleExposition Universelle (1867)
The Exposition Universelle of 1867 was a World Exposition held in Paris, France, in 1867.-Conception:In 1864, Emperor Napoleon III decreed that an international exposition should be held in Paris in 1867. A commission was appointed with Prince Jerome Napoleon as president, under whose direction...
held in Paris in 1867. For this production, the Ballet Master inserted a new Grand pas known as the Pas des fleurs into the second act especially for the ballerina Adèle Grantzow, who performed the role of Medora. Mazilier commissioned Léo Delibes—a pupil of Adolphe Adam—to compose the required music.
In 1868 Grantzow was invited to perform with the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg. For the occasion, Marius Petipa prepared a revival of Le Corsaire, which included an elaborately staged version of Mazilier's Pas des fleurs which was re-named as Le jardin animé. The composer Cesare Pugni arranged a new version of Delibes' music—he expanded the opening waltz in accordance with Petipa's new staging, and also composed new variations for the principal ballerinas.
Nearly all productions of Le Corsaire familiar to modern audiences contain an edition of the scene Le jardin animé as revised by the Ballet Master Pyotr Gusev. Gusev originally created his revival of the full-length Le Corsaire in 1955 for the Maly Theatre in Leningrad, a production that was later included in the repertory of the Kirov Ballet. Gusev's version of the scene Le jardin animé simplified Petipa's elaborate choreography, while omitting the additional passages added by Pugni to Delibes' music. Many ballet companies today perform this version of the scene Le jardin animé, notably American Ballet Theatre and the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet.
In 2004 the Pacific Northwest Ballet School
Pacific Northwest Ballet
Pacific Northwest Ballet is a ballet company based in Seattle, Washington in the United States. Founded in 1972 as part of the Seattle Opera and named the Pacific Northwest Dance Association, it broke away from the Opera in 1977 and took its current name in 1978. It is said to have the highest per...
presented a reconstruction of Marius Petipa's choreography as notated in the Sergeyev Collection
Sergeyev Collection
The Sergeyev Collection is a collection of choreographic notation, music, photos, décor and costume designs, theatre programs and various other materials relating to the repertory of the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg, Russia at the turn of the 20th century...
for the final performance at the end of the school year. Since the school did not have access to the music used in the late 19th century, the choreography had to be adjusted accordingly, and Richard Bonynge
Richard Bonynge
Richard Alan Bonynge, AO, CBE is an Australian conductor and pianist.Bonynge was born in Sydney and educated at Sydney Boys High School before studying piano at the Royal College of Music in London. He gave up his music scholarship, continuing his private piano studies, and became a coach for...
's recording of Adam's score for Le Corsaire was utilized.
In 2006 the Bavarian State Ballet included the reconstructed choreography for the scene Le jardin animé in their production of the full-length Le Corsaire, and in 2007, the Bolshoi Ballet also included the restored edition for their production, although the company did retain elements from other stagings.
Alternate variations in Le jardin animé
For Petipa's 1899 revival of Le Corsaire variations from other works were used in substitution for the characters Medora and Gulnare during the scene Le jardin animé. The first, danced by Olga Preobrajenskaya as Gulnare, was taken from the 1876 Petipa/Minkus ballet Les Aventures de Pélée. The second variation, danced by Pierina Legnani as Medora, was taken from the 1883 Petipa/Trubetskoi ballet Pygmalion, ou La Statue de Chypre. This variation is by the composer Riccardo Drigo, and was composed especially for Legnani when she performed the principal role in Pygmalion in 1895. Today, this variation is still retained in many productions of Le Corsaire, most notably the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet's staging.The variation danced in 1899 by Olga Preobrajenskaya as Gulnare is no longer performed in Le jardin animé, and has been replaced over time by a variation Petipa choreographed in 1880 for the Ballerina Eugenia Sokolova to the music of Albert Zabel (principal harpist in the orchestra of the St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre
Mariinsky Theatre
The Mariinsky Theatre is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces of Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov received their premieres. The...
during the latter half of the 19th and early 20th centuries). Today Sokolova's variation is retained in almost all productions of Le Corsaire during the scene Le jardin animé as a variation for the character Gulnare.
The Prima ballerina Natalia Dudinskaya
Natalia Dudinskaya
Natalia Mikhailovna Dudinskaya was a Russian prima ballerina who dominated the Kirov Ballet in the 1930s and 1940s.Dudinskaya's mother was Natalia Tagliori, a ballerina coached by Enrico Cecchetti. Trained by Agrippina Vaganova, Dudinskaya matriculated from her school in 1931. She danced all the...
preferred to dance a rarely heard variation taken from Ludwig Minkus's original score for Petipa's Don Quixote
Don Quixote (ballet)
Don Quixote is a ballet originally staged in four acts and eight scenes, based on an episode taken from the famous novel Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes. It was originally choreographed by Marius Petipa to the music of Ludwig Minkus and was first presented by the Ballet of the...
in substitution of Legnani's variation. This number is retained as a variation for the character Medora in the scene Le jardin animé in American Ballet Theatre's production of Le Corsaire.
Le Corsaire pas de deux
The so-called Le Corsaire pas de deux is one of the most popular and performed excerpts in all of classical ballet. Today this celebrated piece has become a major repertory staple of ballet companies all over the world, while many dancers select it for ballet competitions.On , Le Corsaire was presented in a new production at the Mariinsky Theatre. For this revival the Ballet Master Samuil Andrianov—who performed the role of Conrad—arranged a new Pas d'action for the second scene of act I.
The opening adage was staged by Andrianov for three dancers—the characters Conrad, Medora (performed by Tamara Karsavina
Tamara Karsavina
Tamara Platonovna Karsavina was a famous Russian ballerina, renowned for her beauty, who was most noted as a Principal Artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and later the Ballets Russes of Serge Diaghilev...
) and an additional suitor (performed by Mikhail Obhukov). Then followed variations for the each of the two principals characters, with the piece ending in a rousing coda.
As was the custom of the time, music from various sources was selected in order to serve as accompaniment: the adage was choreographed to a nocturne
Nocturne
A nocturne is usually a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night...
composed by Riccardo Drigo titled Dreams of Spring. The variation in triple time performed by the character Conrad was taken from the composer Yuli Gerber's score for Petipa's 1870 ballet Trilby
Trilby (ballet)
Trilby is a ballet in 2 acts and 3 scenes, with choreography by Marius Petipa and music by Yuli Gerber. Libretto by Marius Petipa, based on the 1822 novel Trilby, ou le lutin d'Argail by Charles Nodier, first presented by the Ballet of the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre on January 25/February 6 ,...
, while Tamara Karsavina performed a variation in polka rhythm taken from the composer Baron Boris Vietinghoff-Scheel's score for the 1893 ballet Cinderella
Cinderella (Fitinhof-Schell)
Cinderella - ballet-féerie in 3 Acts, with choreography by Enrico Cecchetti and Lev Ivanov , with the production being supervised under the counsel and instruction of Marius Petipa. Music by Baron Boris Vietinghoff-Scheel...
, originally staged by Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov
Lev Ivanov
Lev Ivanovich Ivanov was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer and later, Second Balletmaster of the Imperial Ballet....
and Enrico Cecchetti
Enrico Cecchetti
Enrico Cecchetti was an Italian ballet dancer, mime, and founder of the Cecchetti method. The son of two dancers from Civitanova Marche, he was born in the costuming room of the Teatro Tordinona in Rome. After an illustrious career as a dancer in Europe, he went to dance for the Imperial Ballet in...
. Since 1915, Karsavina's variation has been substituted out quite often. Nevertheless her variation is still considered the "traditional" solo for the character Medora in the Le Corsaire pas de deux. The origins of the music for the coda is unknown, though it is typically credited to Riccardo Drigo.
In 1931, Agrippina Vaganova
Agrippina Vaganova
Agrippina Yakovlevna Vaganova was an outstanding Russian ballet teacher who developed the Vaganova method - the technique which derived from the teaching methods of the old Imperial Ballet School under the Premier Maître de Ballet Marius Petipa throughout the mid to late 19th century, though...
revised the choreography of the 1915 Pas d'action. She transformed the piece into an athletic duet for the graduation performance of her pupil, Natalia Dudinskaya
Natalia Dudinskaya
Natalia Mikhailovna Dudinskaya was a Russian prima ballerina who dominated the Kirov Ballet in the 1930s and 1940s.Dudinskaya's mother was Natalia Tagliori, a ballerina coached by Enrico Cecchetti. Trained by Agrippina Vaganova, Dudinskaya matriculated from her school in 1931. She danced all the...
, who was partnered by the danseur Konstantin Sergeyev. In 1939 Vaganova's version was inserted into the Kirov Ballet's 1936 production of the full-length Le Corsaire, with the dancers Galina Ulanova
Galina Ulanova
Galina Sergeyevna Ulánova is frequently cited as being one of the greatest 20th Century ballerinas. Her flat in Moscow is designated a national museum, and there are monuments to her in Saint Petersburg and Stockholm....
and Nikolai Zubkovsky in the principal roles.
It was the noted Premier danseur of the Kirov Ballet Vakhtang Chabukiani
Vakhtang Chabukiani
Vakhtang Chabukiani was a Georgian ballet dancer, choreographer and teacher highly regarded in his native country as well as abroad. He is considered to be one of the most influential male ballet dancers in history, and is noted for creating the majority of the choreography of the male variations...
who had the most influential hand in refashioning the male dancing of the Le Corsaire pas de deux. During his performances in the pas during the 1930s he gave the male role more athletic and virtuoso choreographic elements. His interpretaion of the male role became, in essence, the standard, and it has remained so to the present day.
When Pyotr Gusev staged his 1955 revival of the full-length Le Corsaire for the Maly Theatre in Leningrad, he restored the Le Corsaire pas de deux to its original form, with the opening adage being performed by three persons.
On 5 November 1962, Rudolf Nureyev
Rudolf Nureyev
Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev was a Russian dancer, considered one of the most celebrated ballet dancers of the 20th century. Nureyev's artistic skills explored expressive areas of the dance, providing a new role to the male ballet dancer who once served only as support to the women.In 1961 he...
performed the Le Corsaire pas de deux with Margot Fonteyn
Margot Fonteyn
Dame Margot Fonteyn de Arias, DBE , was an English ballerina of the 20th century. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest classical ballet dancers of all time...
for the first time at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London. Nureyev called upon John Lanchbery
John Lanchbery
John Arthur Lanchbery OBE was an English, later Australian, composer and conductor, famous for his ballet arrangements.-Life:...
to create a new orchestration of the music, which are still in use by many ballet companies. It is Nureyev's staging of the pas de deux that helped make it a major repertory staple with ballet companies all over the world.
Alternate variations
Many variations have been used in substitution of the traditional female variation of the Le Corsaire pas de deux. One popular variation is the Variation de la Reine des Dryades taken from Alexander Gorsky's 1900 revival of Marius Petipa's Don QuixoteDon Quixote (ballet)
Don Quixote is a ballet originally staged in four acts and eight scenes, based on an episode taken from the famous novel Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes. It was originally choreographed by Marius Petipa to the music of Ludwig Minkus and was first presented by the Ballet of the...
. This variation is by the composer Anton Simon, originally titled as Souvenir du bal and features a solo for violin in triple time. When Rudolf Nureyev staged Le Corsaire pas de deux at the Royal Opera House in 1962, Margot Fonteyn performed this variation, which is still retained by many ballerinas today (the variation is often erroneously credited to Minkus)
Another variation which is often danced in the Le Corsaire pas de deux by the ballerina is taken from modern stagings of Marius Petipa's 1877 ballet La Bayadère
La Bayadère
La Bayadère is a ballet, originally staged in four acts and seven tableaux by French choreographer Marius Petipa to the music of Ludwig Minkus. La Bayadère was first performed by the Imperial Ballet at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, on...
, and is traditionally danced by the character Gamzatti in that ballet. The variation is by Riccardo Drigo, and was originally written as an interpolation for the celebrated Pas de Vénus from Petipa's 1968 ballet Le Roi Candaule (a.k.a. Tsar Candavl).
The Slave Ali
Originally, the additional danseur who participated in the piece known today as the Le Corsaire pas de deux merely served as suitor for the ballerina, and had no other purpose in the ballet's action. By 1937 when the Danseur Nikolai Zubkovsky performed the role at the Mariinsky Theatre, this suitor evolved into a character known as the Rhab (RussianRussian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
for Slave). By the time the Kirov Ballet's Premier danseur Vakhtang Chabukiani danced the role in the 1930s, the character wore a costume which consisted of baggy pants and chains strapped around a shirt-less torso. When Pyotr Gusev staged his revival of Le Corsaire for the Maly Theatre in 1955, the Rhab character was named Ali, and was given a more prevalent part in the ballet's action. This change in the character from a mere suitor to a slave also gave rise to revisions in the choreography of the Le Corsaire pas de deux, with many of the dancers who performed in the role adding in more athletic and exotic elements of choreography.
Moscow productions of Le Corsaire
In March 1858 Marius Petipa was dispatched to mount Jules Perrot's version of Le Corsaire for the Ballet of the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre (today known as the Bolshoi Ballet), who continued performing the ballet with some regularity for many years in various revivals. In 1888 Petipa supervised the creation of a new production of Le Corsaire for the company, which premiered to a resounding success. In 1894 the Bolshoi Theatre's newly appointed Ballet Master Ivan Clustine mounted his staging of Le Corsaire, which premiered on . Petipa would later allege that Clustine's production apparently plaigarised much of his own choreography, particularly for the scene Le jardin animé.On Alexander Gorsky—Premier Maître de Ballet of the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre—presented his revival of Le Corsaire, with Ekaterina Geltzer as Medora and Vasily Tikhomirov
Vasily Tikhomirov
Vasiliy Dmitriyevich Tikhomirov was a dancer and a choreographer with the Bolshoi Ballet of Moscow, Russia. His most distinguished production was The Red Poppy , with his wife Yekaterina Geltzer in the main role. He and Geltzer were buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery....
as Conrad. For this revival Gorsky supervised a substantially revised edition of Adam's score that included a myriad of new dances. The airs of such composers as Edvard Grieg
Edvard Grieg
Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt , and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces.-Biography:Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in...
, Anton Simon, Reinhold Glière
Reinhold Glière
Reinhold Moritzevich Glière was a Russian and Soviet composer of German–Polish descent.- Biography :Glière was born in Kiev, Ukraine...
, Karl Goldmark
Karl Goldmark
Karl Goldmark, also known originally as Károly Goldmark and later sometimes as Carl Goldmark; May 18, 1830, Keszthely – January 2, 1915, Vienna) was a Hungarian composer.- Life and career :...
, Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
, Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Antonín Dvořák
Antonín Dvorák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
were fashioned into dansante accompaniment for new scenes, pas, variations, and the like. Among the most notable scenes added by Gorsky was a dream sequence set to a Nocturne
Nocturne
A nocturne is usually a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night...
by Chopin, in which the character Medora dreams of her beloved Conrad. Another interpolation of note was a divertissement for Turkish, Persian and Arabian slave-women that took place during the scene in the bazaar of the first act. Even with the production's large number of interpolated pieces, Gorsky chose to retain many of the additional pas as included in the ballet by Mazilier and Petipa.
Perhaps the most striking interpolation Gorsky included in his 1912 production of Le Corsaire was the pas de deux
Pas de deux
In ballet, a pas de deux is a duet in which ballet dancers perform the dance together. It usually consists of an entrée, adagio, two variations , and a coda.-Notable Pas de deux:...
that would one day be known as the Tchaikovsky Pas de deux. This piece was originally adapated by Tchaikovsky from a supplemental pas de deux composed by Ludwig Minkus for the original 1877 production of Swan Lake
Swan Lake
Swan Lake ballet, op. 20, by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, composed 1875–1876. The scenario, initially in four acts, was fashioned from Russian folk tales and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger...
. This pas de deux was thought to be lost for many years by ballet historians and musicologists. The fact that Gorsky included this piece in his version of Le Corsaire led to its accidental re-discovery in 1953, when it was found in the archives of the Bolshoi Theatre among the orchestral parts used for Gorsky's 1912 production. Upon learning of the existence of this music, George Balanchine
George Balanchine
George Balanchine , born Giorgi Balanchivadze in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to a Georgian father and a Russian mother, was one of the 20th century's most famous choreographers, a developer of ballet in the United States, co-founder and balletmaster of New York City Ballet...
subsequently choreographed the piece as the Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux for the dancers Violette Verdy
Violette Verdy
Violette Verdy is a French ballerina who has worked as a director of dance companies and in other related capacities since her retirement from performing in the late 1970s. Verdy began dance training as a small child and performed with Les Ballets des Champs-Elysées beginning in 1945...
and Conrad Ludlow
Conrad Ludlow
Conrad Ludlow is a former principal dancer with New York City Ballet under George Balanchine. He also danced at San Francisco Ballet and founded and directed Ballet Oklahoma...
. Today it is quite popular with companies all over the world.
Gorsky's revival of Le Corsaire remained in the repertory of the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre until 1927. Although the company regularly performed extracts from Le Corsaire for many years thereafter, the full-length work was not given again until Konstantin Sergeyev staged his version for the company in 1992.
The Bolshoi Ballet's revival of 2007
On 21 June 2007 the Bolshoi Ballet presented a lavish revival of Le Corsaire staged by Yuri Burlaka and the company's director Alexei RatmanskyAlexei Ratmansky
Alexei Osipovich Ratmansky is a choreographer and former ballet dancer. He is artist in residence at the American Ballet Theatre and the former director of the Bolshoi Ballet. Ratmansky trained under Pyotr Pestov and Anna Markeyeva at the Bolshoi Ballet School...
. Burlaka utilized the choreographic notation of the Sergeyev Collection
Sergeyev Collection
The Sergeyev Collection is a collection of choreographic notation, music, photos, décor and costume designs, theatre programs and various other materials relating to the repertory of the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg, Russia at the turn of the 20th century...
, as well as materials found in the Bibliothèque nationale de France
Bibliothèque nationale de France
The is the National Library of France, located in Paris. It is intended to be the repository of all that is published in France. The current president of the library is Bruno Racine.-History:...
, the Bakhrushin Theater Museum and the St.Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music to assist in mounting a historically informed production. This version of Le Corsaire proved to be the most expensive production of a ballet ever mounted, estimated at $1.5 million USD.
Le Corsaire in Leningrad and the West
Petipa's 1899 revival of Le Corsaire—which was given its final production in 1915—remained in the repertory of the Mariinsky TheatreMariinsky Theatre
The Mariinsky Theatre is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces of Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov received their premieres. The...
until 1928 (after the 1917 Russian Revolution the ballet company was known as the State Petrograd Ballet, and later the State Academic Ballet, before it was renamed the Kirov Ballet). By 1928 Le Corsaire had been performed 224 times since 1899 at the Mariinsky Theatre.
Agrippina Vaganova
Agrippina Vaganova
Agrippina Yakovlevna Vaganova was an outstanding Russian ballet teacher who developed the Vaganova method - the technique which derived from the teaching methods of the old Imperial Ballet School under the Premier Maître de Ballet Marius Petipa throughout the mid to late 19th century, though...
, the revered pedagogue of Russian Ballet, supervised the first noted post-revolution revival of Le Corsaire for the Kirov Ballet, first performed on 15 May 1931. In 1936 another revival of Le Corsaire was given by the Kirov Ballet, with Natalia Dudinskaya
Natalia Dudinskaya
Natalia Mikhailovna Dudinskaya was a Russian prima ballerina who dominated the Kirov Ballet in the 1930s and 1940s.Dudinskaya's mother was Natalia Tagliori, a ballerina coached by Enrico Cecchetti. Trained by Agrippina Vaganova, Dudinskaya matriculated from her school in 1931. She danced all the...
as Medora, Mikhail Mikhailov as Conrad, and Vakhtang Chabukiani
Vakhtang Chabukiani
Vakhtang Chabukiani was a Georgian ballet dancer, choreographer and teacher highly regarded in his native country as well as abroad. He is considered to be one of the most influential male ballet dancers in history, and is noted for creating the majority of the choreography of the male variations...
as the Slave (or Rhab, as the character was known in Russia). This was the first production of the full-length work to include Vaganova's 1931 revision of Le Corsaire pas de deux as staged for Dudinskaya's graduation performance. Over time, Konstantin Sergeyev—artistic director and chief choreographer of the Kirov Ballet from 1951–1955 and 1960-1970—added various new pieces, including a duet known as the Pas de deux de la chambre (Bedroom Pas de deux) for Dudinskaya, set to Riccardo Drigo's music for the Grand pas from Petipa's 1894 ballet Le Réveil de Flore (The Awakening of Flora). The 1936 revival of Le Corsaire remained in the Kirov Ballet's regular repertory until 1941. From 1941 the production was only given on rare occasions until it was totally removed from the repertory in 1956.
Pyotr Gusev's revival of 1955
The Balletmaster Pyotr Gusev staged a new version of Le Corsaire for the Maly Theatre BalletMikhaylovsky Theatre
The Mikhaylovsky Theatre is one of the oldest opera and ballet houses in Russia. It was founded in 1833 and is situated in a historical building on the Arts Square in St. Petersburg...
of Leningrad in 1955. This production used a modified version of the original libretto, written by Gusev and the ballet historian Yuri Slonimsky. A new character was also included — known as the slave Ali — a role which evolved out of the Slave who took part in Le Corsaire pas de deux in early Soviet productions of the full-length work at the Mariinsky Theatre.
Gusev opted to include a completely new version of the ballet's score. Although the Ballet Master retained the traditional interpolations as handed down from Petipa's Imperial-era productions, he opted to discard nearly all of Adam's original score in favor of a score arranged by the conductor Eugene Kornblit from airs found in Adam's 1852 opera Si j'étais roi
Si j'étais roi
Si j'étais roi is an opéra-comique in three acts by Adolphe Adam. The libretto was written by Adolphe d'Ennery and Jules-Henri Brésil...
and his score for the 1842 ballet La Jolie fille du Gand. With this new music, leitmotif
Leitmotif
A leitmotif , sometimes written leit-motif, is a musical term , referring to a recurring theme, associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical idea of idée fixe...
s were created for the ballet's main characters. Additional dances were also added: a pizzicato
Pizzicato
Pizzicato is a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of a string instrument. The exact technique varies somewhat depending on the type of stringed instrument....
taken from Riccardo Drigo's additional music for Petipa's 1899 revival of La Esmeralda
La Esmeralda (ballet)
La Esmeralda is a ballet in 3 acts, 5 scenes, inspired by Notre Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo, originally choreographed by Jules Perrot; with music by Cesare Pugni and design by William Grieve , D. Sloman , Mme...
was used to accompany a dance for coryphées in the scene Le jardin animé. Gusev also added dances for Turkish, Persian, and Arabian slave-women for the scene in the bazaar.
Gusev also created a new prologue
Prologue
A prologue is an opening to a story that establishes the setting and gives background details, often some earlier story that ties into the main one, and other miscellaneous information. The Greek prologos included the modern meaning of prologue, but was of wider significance...
in his revival, which included the famous shipwreck transferred from the last scene. There followed a scene set on a beach where Gusev staged a pas for the characters Medora, Gulnare and ten coryphées, followed by a scene in which the heroine and her companions are abducted by the character Lanquedem and his cohorts in order to be sold as harem slaves.
Gusev's revival premiered on 31 May 1955, and went on to become the most popular version of Le Corsaire in Russia. In 1977 the director of the Kirov Ballet, Oleg Vinogradov staged Gusev's version for the company, who still retain the production in their repertory. The Novosibirsk Ballet also includes Gusev's version in their repertory. In 2009 the Mikhailovsky Theatre Ballet
Mikhaylovsky Theatre
The Mikhaylovsky Theatre is one of the oldest opera and ballet houses in Russia. It was founded in 1833 and is situated in a historical building on the Arts Square in St. Petersburg...
staged Gusev's version as revised by artistic director of ballet, Farouk Ruzimatov
Farouk Ruzimatov
Farukh Ruzimatov is a ballet dancer, the Artistic Director for ballet in Mikhaylovsky Theatre, Saint Petersburg. He was formerly the Principal Dancer and Assistant Artistic Director of the Kirov Ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg....
.
The Kirov Ballet's staging of Gusev's version of Le Corsaire was given a new production in 1989 for the company's engagement at New York's
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
Metropolitan Opera House
Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center)
The Metropolitan Opera House is an opera house located on Broadway at Lincoln Square in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Part of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the theater opened in 1966. It replaced the former Metropolitan Opera House at Broadway and 39th St...
. A performance of the new production was filmed that same year at the Mariinsky Theatre with the ballerina Altynai Asylmuratova
Altynai Asylmuratova
Altynai Asylmuratova is a former Soviet and Kazakhstaniprima ballerina with the Kirov Ballet/Mariinsky Theatre and a guest artist all over the world. Asylmuratova was born in Alma-Ata, Kazakstan, and after graduation from the Vaganova Choreographic Institute she joined the Kirov Ballet in 1978...
as Medora, Yevgeny Neff as Conrad, Konstantin Zaklinsky as Lankendem, Yelena Pankova as Gulnare and Farouk Ruzimatov
Farouk Ruzimatov
Farukh Ruzimatov is a ballet dancer, the Artistic Director for ballet in Mikhaylovsky Theatre, Saint Petersburg. He was formerly the Principal Dancer and Assistant Artistic Director of the Kirov Ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg....
as Ali. This film has been released onto DVD/video.
Konstantin Sergeyev's revival of 1973
In 1973, the Ballet Master of the Kirov Ballet, Konstantin Sergeyev, staged his own version of Le Corsaire that included new pieces and updated choreography. Sergeyev included a new variation for the characters Conrad and Birbanto in Act I fashioned from themes taken from Adam's original score. Sergeyev also included his Pas de deux de la chambre in the 1973 version.Sergeyev's revival was pulled from the Kirov Ballet's repertory after only nine performances. It has been said that the Ballet Master had fallen into disfavor with the Soviet government due to the recent defections from the U.S.S.R. of Natalia Makarova
Natalia Makarova
Nataliya Romanovna Makarova is the legendary Soviet-Russian-born prima ballerina. The History of Dance, published in 1981, notes that “Her performances set standards of artistry and aristocracy of dance which mark her as the finest ballerina of her generation.” She has also won awards as an...
and Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Nikolaevich Baryshnikov is a Soviet and American dancer, choreographer, and actor, often cited alongside Vaslav Nijinsky and Rudolf Nureyev as one of the greatest ballet dancers of the 20th century. After a promising start in the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad, he defected to Canada in 1974...
, events which caused his dismissal from the post of artistic director in 1970.
The full-length Le Corsaire was not performed again by the Kirov Ballet until 1977 when Oleg Vinogradov (the Kirov Ballet's artistic director from 1977) staged Pyotr Gusev's 1955 version. In 1989 the Kirov Ballet decided to present a revival of Le Corsaire for its upcoming world tour. There was much debate as to whether Vinogradov's staging of Gusev's version would be retained or whether Sergeyev's version would be reinstated. In the end the company chose to retain the Gusev version, which the company still performs regularly.
In 1992 Yuri Grigorovich, director of the Bolshoi Ballet of Moscow, invited Sergeyev to mount his 1973 revival of Le Corsaire for the company. This production—which included a heavily re-edited and re-orchestrated score by the Bolshoi Theatre's conductor Alexander Sotnikov—premiered on 11 March 1992 to great success, but after only seven performances Grigorovich decided to pull the production from the repertory. After witnessing the success of Sergeyev's production, Grigorovich decided to stage his own version, which premiered on 16 February 1994. Grigorovich's production was then taken out of the repertory after the director left the company in 1995. In 2005 the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Yuri Tkatchenko recorded the version of the score used for Grigorovich's 1994 production, which was released by the publishing company Shinshokan
Shinshokan
is a Japanese publishing company. It was established on June 14, 1961. In April 2009, the US publisher Digital Manga Publishing announced a co-branding operation with Shinshokan, to license yaoi and shōjo manga from Shinshokan's Wings, Dear and Dear+ anthologies under the DokiDoki imprint .-Manga...
.
Sergeyev's version is staged in the U.S.A.
The sets and costumes designed by Irina Tibilova for Konstantin Sergeyev's 1992 Moscow production sat unused in the archives of the Bolshoi TheatreBolshoi Theatre
The Bolshoi Theatre is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds performances of ballet and opera. The Bolshoi Ballet and Bolshoi Opera are amongst the oldest and most renowned ballet and opera companies in the world...
for almost five years. At the suggestion of Sergeyev's wife, Natalia Dudinskaya
Natalia Dudinskaya
Natalia Mikhailovna Dudinskaya was a Russian prima ballerina who dominated the Kirov Ballet in the 1930s and 1940s.Dudinskaya's mother was Natalia Tagliori, a ballerina coached by Enrico Cecchetti. Trained by Agrippina Vaganova, Dudinskaya matriculated from her school in 1931. She danced all the...
, Anna-Marie Holmes staged Sergeyev's 1992 production for the Boston Ballet
Boston Ballet
Boston Ballet, founded in 1963 by E. Virginia Williams, was the first professional repertory ballet company in New England. Boston Ballet’s national and international reputation developed under the leadership of Artistic Directors Violette Verdy , Bruce Marks , and Anna-Marie Holmes...
(with the assistance of Dudinskaya, Tatiana Terekhova, Sergei Berezhnoi, Tatiana Legat, and Vadim Disnitsky).
The music for this production was copied from the conductor's score used for Sergeyev's production in Sotnikov's orchestration, as well as additional parts taken from the Mariinsky Theatre Library which were interpolated throughout the score. The Boston Ballet music librarian Arthur Leeth, the company pianist Marina Gendal, and conductor Jonathan McPhee performed a cut-and-paste operation on the score as the choreography was adapted for the new staging. New transitional passages were composed by Kevin Galiè, who also reorchestrated passages of the score. This production premiered on 27 March 1997 with the Ballerina Natasha Akhmarova as Medora, to great success.
Nearly one year later, American Ballet Theatre rented the Boston Ballet's production of Le Corsaire. The staging went through even more revisions both choreographically and musically, with modifications performed by American Ballet Theatre conductor Charles Barker and the company pianist Henrietta Stern.
With regard to the plot, a crucial revision was made by the transformation of French Corsair
Corsair
Corsairs were privateers, authorized to conduct raids on shipping of a nation at war with France, on behalf of the French Crown. Seized vessels and cargo were sold at auction, with the corsair captain entitled to a portion of the proceeds...
s into Caribbean Pirates. This production premiered on 19 June 1998, with Nina Ananiashvili
Nina Ananiashvili
Nina Ananiashvili is a Georgian ballerina and artistic director of the State Ballet of Georgia.- Career :...
as Medora, Ashley Tuttle
Ashley Tuttle
Ashley Tuttle is an American musical theatre actress and dancer best known for her role in the musical Movin' Out, which earned her a Tony Award.-Biography:...
as Gulnare, Giuseppe Picone
Giuseppe Picone
Giuseppe Picone is an Italian ballet dancer. - Overview :Giuseppe Picone was born in Naples and trained at the Ballet School of Teatro San Carlo di Napoli and at twelve years old was chosen by Beppe Menegatti to dance the role of the young Nijinsky in the World Première of the ballet "Nijinsky"...
as Conrad, Jose Manuel Carreño
Jose Manuel Carreño
José Manuel Carreño is a retired Cuban ballet dancer, who performed as a principal dancer with the English National Ballet, Royal Ballet and American Ballet Theatre....
as Ali, and Vladimir Malakhov
Vladimir Malakhov (dancer)
Vladimir Malakhov , was a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre. In 2004 he became the artistic director and first soloist of the Staatsballett Berlin which was newly formed from the ballets of the three public opera houses.He began his dance training at the age of four at a small ballet...
Lankendem. The ABT production was later filmed at the Orange County Performing Arts Center
Orange County Performing Arts Center
The Orange County Performing Arts Center is a performing arts complex located in Costa Mesa, California, United States.The Center offers the world’s leading dance companies, Broadway shows, award-winning classical, jazz and cabaret artists, family entertainment, special events and year-round...
in Costa Mesa, California
Costa Mesa, California
Costa Mesa is a city in Orange County, California. The population was 109,960 at the 2010 census. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to a primarily suburban and "edge" city with an economy based on retail, commerce, and light...
by PBS for Great Performances
Great Performances
Great Performances, a television series devoted to the performing arts, has been telecast on Public Broadcasting Service public television since 1972...
in 1999, with Julie Kent as Medora, Paloma Herrera
Paloma Herrera
Paloma Herrera , is a principal ballet dancer with the American Ballet Theatre.Ms. Herrera was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and began studying ballet there at the age of seven with teacher Olga Ferri...
as Gulnare, Ethan Stiefel
Ethan Stiefel
Ethan Stiefel is a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre . His fiance is Gillian Murphy, also a principal dancer with ABT.-Biography:...
as Conrad, Angel Corella
Angel Corella
Ángel Corella is a Spanish dancer, currently the Artistic Director and principal dancer of Corella Ballet Castilla Y León as well as principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre...
as Ali, and Vladimir Malakhov as Lankendem. The film has since been released onto DVD/video.
Pacific Northwest Ballet School's reconstruction of Le jardin animé
In June 2004 the School of the Pacific Northwest BalletPacific Northwest Ballet
Pacific Northwest Ballet is a ballet company based in Seattle, Washington in the United States. Founded in 1972 as part of the Seattle Opera and named the Pacific Northwest Dance Association, it broke away from the Opera in 1977 and took its current name in 1978. It is said to have the highest per...
in Seattle presented a reconstruction of Petipa's choreography for the scene Le jardin animé, taken directly from the notation of the Sergeyev Collection
Sergeyev Collection
The Sergeyev Collection is a collection of choreographic notation, music, photos, décor and costume designs, theatre programs and various other materials relating to the repertory of the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg, Russia at the turn of the 20th century...
. It was staged by the dance historian and Stepanov notation expert Douglas Fullington, and Manard Stewart, former principal dancer of the Pacific Northwest Ballet.
Bavarian State Ballet's revival of Le Corsaire
In 2006, the Bayerisches Staatsballett (Bavarian State Ballet) presented a partial reconstruction of Petipa's 1899 revival of Le Corsaire. For this production, twenty-five of Petipa's original dances were reconstructed from the Stepanov Choreographic Notation of the Sergeyev CollectionSergeyev Collection
The Sergeyev Collection is a collection of choreographic notation, music, photos, décor and costume designs, theatre programs and various other materials relating to the repertory of the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg, Russia at the turn of the 20th century...
.
The Bolshoi Ballet's revival of 2007
On 21 June 2007 the Bolshoi Ballet presented a lavish revival of Le Corsaire, which included some reconstructed elements of Petipa's dances as staged for his 1899 revival reconstructed from the choreographic notation of the Sergeyev CollectionSergeyev Collection
The Sergeyev Collection is a collection of choreographic notation, music, photos, décor and costume designs, theatre programs and various other materials relating to the repertory of the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg, Russia at the turn of the 20th century...
. The staging proved to be the most expensive production of a ballet ever mounted, estimated at $1.5 million USD.
Adam's original score as performed for Mazilier's 1867 revival was obtained from the archives of the Bibliothèque nationale de France
Bibliothèque nationale de France
The is the National Library of France, located in Paris. It is intended to be the repository of all that is published in France. The current president of the library is Bruno Racine.-History:...
. The production also made use of a violin répétiteur
Répétiteur
Répétiteur , repetitore , or Korrepetitor / Repetitor , originally from the French verb répéter meaning "to repeat, to go over, to learn, to rehearse"....
used for Petipa's production obtained from the Sergeyev Collection
Sergeyev Collection
The Sergeyev Collection is a collection of choreographic notation, music, photos, décor and costume designs, theatre programs and various other materials relating to the repertory of the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg, Russia at the turn of the 20th century...
. The répétiteur halped to restore much of the original music that accompanied Petipa's additional dances and to reconstruct the original mise-en-scène. Music taken from Riccardo Drigo's score for Lev Ivanov
Lev Ivanov
Lev Ivanovich Ivanov was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer and later, Second Balletmaster of the Imperial Ballet....
's 1887 ballet La Forêt enchantée (The Enchanted Forest) was utilized to accompany a Grand pas for the ballet's last act. This Grand pas also included three rarely heard classical variations
Variation (ballet)
Variation or Classical Variation in ballet is a solo dance. As with an Aria in opera, which allows the singer to demonstrate his or her interpretive skills, the variation in ballet has the same function...
for the principal dancers set to Drigo's music from such works as Petipa's Pygmalion, ou La Statue de Chypre
Pygmalion, ou La Statue de Chypre
Pygmalion, ou La Statue de Chypre is a ballet in 4 Acts-6 Scenes, with choreography by Marius Petipa and music by Prince Nikita Trubestkoi....
and his Le Miroir magique.