Sleeping Beauty Ballet
Sponsored by Banner Bank, Wheatland Village, WW Symphony 2nd Century Club
Guest Artist Sponsor: Walla Walla General Hospital Sleep Center
Saturday, March 27, 2010, 7:30 pm - Wine Sponsor: Syzygy
Sunday, March 28, 2010, 3:00 pm
- Wine Sponsor: Yellow Hawk Cellar
Cordiner Hall, Whitman College Campus
►
Get
a map and directions
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Sleeping Beauty
Born: May 7, 1840. Kamsko-Votkinsk, Russia
Died: November 6, 1893. St. Petersburg, Russia
In his own words...
"How can one express the indefinable sensations that one experiences while writing an instrumental composition that has no definite subject? It is a purely lyrical process. It is a musical confession of the soul, which unburdens itself through sounds just as a lyric poet expresses himself through poetry... As the poet Heine said, 'Where words leave off, music begins.' "
Russian composer. Tchaikovsky is best known for his ballets and symphonies.
In many ways, Tchaikovsky's life and career placed him uncomfortably between different worlds, and this conflict was a central aspect of his creative life. Perhaps this can be seen most clearly in his position as a Russian composer. Russia had a long history of cultural contact with the West. The very European city of St. Petersburg is the greatest example of this dynamic. Tchaikovsky's musical training at the newly founded St. Petersburg conservatory was likewise influenced by European ideals. His success in his studies there landed him a job as a teacher in the new Moscow conservatory. As a member of the musical elite of Russia, he found that his music pleased few. It was too advanced and modern for his Western-trained peers, and at the same time too Western in its outlook to please the growing and influential champions of a Russian national style.
He did begin to find favor with the Russian public, especially with his first symphonies. At the same time, his homosexuality also placed him in an untenable position. Unable to come to terms with it, he married an admirer, hoping to resolve his problems in domestic life. This proved a bitter failure, and in desperation he fled both the marriage and his post at the conservatory. He was fortunate to have at this time the support of the eccentric Nadezhda von Meck, allowing him to recover emotionally and continue his career, touring Europe and America. This period of despair is framed by two periods of great creativity. Before the crisis, he had written many of his most famous works, including his first three symphonies, the ballet Swan Lake, and his Romeo and Juliet overture. During the time of his greatest difficulty, he completed his monumental Fourth Symphony and the opera Eugene Onegin. But the next years brought little.
In 1884, spurred by the composer Balakirev, Tchaikovsky entered a final productive period, completing his last three symphonies and the ballets The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker. His final work, the Sixth Symphony, deals powerfully with nothing less than the ideas of life, struggle and death. Nine days after its premiere, Tchaikovsky died. The circumstances of his death are still a matter of conjecture.
From essentialsofmusic.com
Composition history
Tchaikovsky was approached by the Director of the Imperial Theatres in St. Petersburg, Ivan Vsevolozhsky on 25 May 1888 about a possible ballet adaptation on the subject of the story of Undine. It was later decided that Charles Perrault's La Belle au bois Dormant would be the story for which Tchaikovsky would compose the music for the ballet. Tchaikovsky did not hesitate to accept the commission, although he was aware that his only previous ballet, Swan Lake, met with little enthusiasm at that stage of his career. The ballet scenario that Tchaikovsky worked on was based on the Brothers Grimm's version of Perrault's work entitled 'Dornröschen'. In that version, the Princess's parents (the King and the Queen) survived the 100-year sleep to celebrate the Princess's wedding to the Prince. However, Vsevolozhsky incorporated some of Perrault's characters from other stories into the ballet, such as Puss in Boots and Little Red Riding Hood. Regardless, Tchaikovsky was happy to inform the Director of the Imperial Theatre that he had great pleasure studying the work and had come away with adequate inspiration to do it justice.
The choreographer was Marius Petipa, ballet master of the Imperial Ballet, who wrote a very detailed list of instructions as to the musical requirements. Tchaikovsky worked quickly on the new work at Frolovskoye; he began initial sketches in the winter of 1888 and began orchestration on the work on 30 May 1889.
The ballet's focus was undeniably on the two main conflicting forces of good (the Lilac Fairy) and evil (Carabosse); each has a leitmotif representing them, which run through the entire ballet, serving as an important thread to the underlying plot. Act III of the work, however, takes a complete break from the two motifs and instead places focus on the individual characters of the various court dances.
The ballet's premiere received more favorable accolades than Swan Lake from the press but Tchaikovsky never had the luxury of being able to witness his work become an instant success in theatres outside of Russia. He died in 1893. By 1903, The Sleeping Beauty was the second most popular ballet in the repertory of the Imperial Ballet (the Petipa/Pugni The Pharaoh's Daughter was first), having been performed 200 times in only 10 years.
A production mounted at the La Scala in Milan did not arouse much interest and it was not until 1921 that, in London, the ballet finally gained wide acclaim and eventually a permanent place in the classical repertoire. In 1999, the Kirov Ballet reconstructed the original 1899 production, including reproductions of the original sets and costumes. Although the 1951 Kirov production by Konstantin Sergeyev is available on DVD/Video, the 1999 "authentic" version is only available in short excerpts as of 2007.
The Sleeping Beauty is Tchaikovsky's longest ballet, lasting nearly four hours at full length - counting the intermissions. Without intermissions (as it appears on several CD sets), it lasts nearly three hours. It is nearly always cut.
At the premier Tsar Alexander III summoned Tchaikovsky to the royal box The Tsar made the simple remark 'Very nice,' which seemed to have irritated Tchaikovsky, who had likely expected a more favorable response.
From Wikipedia
Synopsis
Prologue
King Florestan the XXIVth declares a grand christening ceremony to be held in honor of the birth of his daughter, Princess Aurora named after the dawn. An entourage of six fairies are invited to the Christening to be godmothers to the child. They are the Candide Fairy, the Coulante Fairy, the Miettes Fairy, the Canari Fairy, the Violente Fairy and—most importantly—the Lilac Fairy, who is the last to arrive (the names of fairies and their gifts vary in productions). As the fairies are happily granting gifts of honesty, grace, prosperity, song and generosity, they are suddenly interrupted by the arrival of the wicked fairy Carabosse, who is furious at the King's failure to invite her to the ceremony. The King and Queen begin to remonstrate, and the Master of Ceremonies, Catallabutte, intervenes to take responsibility, whereupon Carabosse rips off his wig, laughing. With spite and rage, Carabosse declares her curse on Princess Aurora: she will prick her finger on her sixteenth birthday and die. But all is not lost: the Lilac Fairy, fortunately, has not yet granted her gift to the Princess. She acknowledges that Carabosse's power is immense and she cannot completely reverse the curse. However, she declares, though the Princess shall indeed prick her finger, she will not die, but instead sleep for 100 years until she is awakened by the kiss of a prince. Carabosse departs, and the curtain falls as the good fairies surround the cradle.
Act I
It is Princess Aurora's sixteenth birthday. Celebrations are already underway: the atmosphere is festive, made complete with a waltz danced by the villagers with garlands. There are women knitting close by: Catallabutte orders them taken away to prison lest their needles precipitate calamity. The king angrily agrees, as he has decreed. After entreaties by the four princes, the women are reprieved amidst rejoicing. Aurora receives her four royal suitors and their gifts of exquisite roses. Soon after, Aurora is presented with a spindle as a gift from a disguised Carabosse—an object which she has never before seen. Carelessly, she dances with it despite her mother and father's warnings before accidentally pricking herself. She faints. To the horror of all, Carabosse immediately reveals her true wicked self triumphantly, vanishing before the princes can vanquish her. The princes and their attendants depart for their native countries in fear. At that very moment, the Lilac Fairy appears as she had promised. She reminds the remaining guests and the King and Queen of her gift—Aurora will not die, but merely sleep. She then casts a spell of slumber upon the entire kingdom so that they will only awake when Aurora does.
Act II
One hundred years later, Prince Florimund (in the original production, it is Désiré) is at a hunting party with his companions. He is not happy and his hunting party try to cheer him up with a game of blind man's bluff and a series of dances. Still unhappy, he asks to be alone and the hunting party depart. Suddenly, Florimund sees the Lilac Fairy who presents him with a vision of Aurora and he is entranced by her beauty. The Prince pleads with the Lilac Fairy to bring him to see Princess Aurora, to which the latter consents. The Prince discovers the castle, which is now overgrown in thick vines. His first act is to defeat Carabosse. Once past her and inside the castle, the Prince finds Aurora and awakens her with a kiss. The entire kingdom awakes with her. The Prince then declares his love for Aurora and proposes to her. The King and the Queen are happy to give their blessings.
Act III
Preparations for the wedding are made. On the day of the festivities, different fairies are invited. These are the fairies to bless the marriage - The Gold Fairy, the Silver Fairy, the Sapphire Fairy and the Diamond Fairy. The Lilac Fairy also makes an appearance. Many fairytale characters, such as Puss in Boots and the White Cat, are also among the guests. A golden chain of dances is held, including a Pas de Quatre for the four precious jewel and metal fairies, a dance for Puss in Boots and the White Cat, a Pas de Deux for the Bluebird and Princess Florine, a dance for Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, a dance for Cinderella and Prince Fortune (usually omitted), a Sarabande (usually omitted), a Pas de Deux for Aurora and Florimund and finally a mazurka. The Prince and the Princess are wed, and the Lilac Fairy blesses their marriage. The ballet ends with an apotheosis (apothéose) where all the characters make a final bow.
From Wikipedia
Watch a YouTube clip of Sleeping Beauty/ Aurelie Dupont in Aurora variation from second act
Guest artist sponsor
Wine Sponsors
