COLLABORATION: COMPOSERS/CHOREOGRAPHERS PETIPA enjoyed working with the composers of his period. The most famous composer he collaborated with was PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY. The partnership produced spectacular ballets such as SLEEPING BEAUTY, THE NUTCRACKER, and SWAN LAKE. Petipa was very precise in what he wanted musically for his ballets. For the SLEEPING BEAUTY, he would send detailed notes to Tchaikovsky telling him exactly when and how many bars of music he wanted for specific scenes. Instead of Tchaikovsky getting his feelings hurt or getting upset with Petipa, he took it as a challenge and SLEEPING BEAUTY is now considered to be one of Tchaikovskys greatest scores. The first performance of THE NUTCRACKER in 1892 was a failure – both the critics and the audience disliked it. Much of the criticism focused on the featuring of children so prominently in the ballet. Now THE NUTCRACKER is arguably the most popular ballet in the world, although it almost didnt cross Russian borders: the Vic-Wells Ballets (later the Royal Ballet) first performance in 1934 was based on choreographic notations that had been smuggled out of Russia. Perhaps Petipa’s greatest accomplishment working with Tchaikovskys ballets was the production of SWAN LAKE, which debuted on 15th January 1895 at the Mariinsky Theatre. The production was put together after the composers death. Working with his assistant, Lev Ivanov, Petipa covered acts I, III and Ivanov acts II, IV. The Italian composer Riccardo Drigo worked on the musical arrangement.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 10:07:19 +0000
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