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    • Sleeping Beauty ballet short description. Chaikovsky. Ballet "Sleeping Beauty" (for kids). Ballet in our time

    15.10.2022

    "Sleeping Beauty" - ballet by P. I. Tchaikovsky to the libretto by I. Vsevolozhsky and Marius Petipa based on the plot of the fairy tale of the same name by Charles Perrault; consists of three acts, a prologue and an apotheosis. Written in 1889, presented to the public in 1890.

    Prologue.

    There is a great celebration in the castle of King Florestan - the daughter Princess Aurora is born to the king and queen. The whole beau monde of beautiful fairies gathers for the christening of the princess. Each of them prepared a gift for the young princess. But suddenly the fun ends. It turned out that they forgot to invite the evil fairy Carabosse to the holiday, and now the evil Carabosse with all her retinue appeared herself with her gifts. But her gifts are terrible. She foretells the princess that she will die from a needle prick (in the original version of the tale - a spindle) at the age of 16. The guests drive out the evil sorceress and rush to reassure the worried parents: after all, they, good sorceresses, can also do something - and Aurora will be revived. But the king is seriously puzzled and issues a decree to destroy all the knitting needles...
    First action.

    The princess is 16 years old. But on the same day, the master of ceremonies discovers four women who continue to knit, despite the ban that has been in effect for 16 years. Criminals are saved from the death penalty only by a holiday in honor of the birthday of the princess. Guests come to the palace, among them beautiful princes who are in love with Aurora. A new guest appears - an old lady, giving Aurora a bouquet of flowers. Aurora takes the bouquet, but a knitting needle is hidden among the flowers - the princess pricks herself with it and dies. The Lilac Fairy is in a hurry to calm the unfortunate king and queen: she cannot completely cancel the insidious witchcraft, but promises that in a hundred years the beautiful prince will find and kiss the princess - then the evil spell will dissipate and she will wake up. And with it, the whole royal court will fall asleep and wake up. And the whole park surrounding the royal castle is overgrown with lilac bushes.
    Second action.

    A hundred years pass. Near the old abandoned royal castle with his retinue, the young beautiful prince Desire (in the western version Prince Florimund) hunts for birds. The Lilac Fairy approaches him and puts the young man to sleep. But this dream is unusual. The prince is dancing with Aurora in a dream, but the evil fairy Carabosse appears, kidnaps the princess and takes her to her castle. The prince, awakened from a magical dream, sees the old royal castle and rushes there. And there he finds the sleeping princess Aurora from his dream. The young man kisses the princess. And suddenly the witchcraft goes away - everything in the castle starts to move, life returns.
    Third action.

    The wedding of the prince and the princess is solemnly and merrily, everyone participates in it - both servants, and fairies, and fabulous animals and birds, and heroes of other fairy tales: Princess Florina and the Blue Bird, Puss in Boots and the White Cat, Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella , Prince Fortune, fairies of Diamonds, Sapphires, Gold, Silver ...
    Apotheosis.

    General rejoicing accompanies the appearance of the Lilac Fairy - the personification of the all-conquering and triumphant goodness.



    P.I. Tchaikovsky ballet "Sleeping Beauty"

    The Sleeping Beauty ballet is a fabulous performance, a delightful extravaganza that captures the viewer as its bright and solemn visual component, coupled with the musical theme of the authorship of the great Tchaikovsky , and deep philosophical overtones. The ballet in three acts is staged according to the plot of Charles Perrault's fairy tale, known to everyone since childhood, about a princess who fell asleep for a hundred years, who was awakened from her magical sleep only by the kiss of a handsome prince.

    Creating the score for this production, Tchaikovsky fully revealed his legendary talent, elevating the music for the ballet from the rank of a “subordinate state” accompanied by dance to a complex and opening up new horizons work. Magnificent music, excellent dances and festive decorations return the viewer to the magical world of childhood for two and a half hours.

    A summary of Tchaikovsky's ballet "The Sleeping Beauty" and many interesting facts about this work, read on our page.

    Characters

    Description

    Princess Aurora young beauty, daughter of the king and queen
    King Florestan XIV Aurora's father
    Queen King's consort and mother of Aurora
    Carabosse evil fairy
    Desiree Prince Charming
    Catalabutte chief butler of the king of Florestan
    Princes wooing Aurora Sheri, Sharman, Fleur de Poix, Fortuné
    six good fairies Lilac (godmother of Aurora), Candide, Fleur-de-Farin, Bread Crumb, Canary, Violant

    Summary


    Behind the opened curtain, the viewer is awaited by a magnificent celebration arranged by King Florestan in his palace on the occasion of the christening of the newborn Princess Aurora. Among the guests there are six good fairies who have arrived to reward the little daughter of the king with magical gifts. However, the general fun is suddenly replaced by horror when the evil and powerful fairy Carabosse bursts into the ballroom, furious that they forgot to invite her to the royal celebration. She wants to take revenge and casts a terrible spell on little Aurora, according to which the princess, on the day of her majority, will fall asleep forever, pricking her finger with an ordinary weaving spindle. After the departure of Carabosse, the godmother of Aurora, the Lilac Fairy, tries to soften the gloomy spell, telling the saddened royal couple that there is hope for a favorable outcome of the case and their daughter will fall asleep not forever, but for 100 years, and the kiss of the handsome prince can wake her up.

    On the day of Aurora's coming of age, King Florestan again arranges a magnificent celebration in the garden of his palace. The butler of Catalabute reads the decree of the ruler, stating that anyone who brings a spindle or other sharp objects into the castle will go to prison. Court weavers, who ended up in the palace with their working tools, barely manage to avoid severe punishment.

    During the holiday, numerous noble and wealthy grooms, who are handsome, come from royal families, are gallant and worthy, woo the beautiful princess. But none of them is able to captivate the heart of a young girl. Suddenly, Aurora notices an old woman in the corner of the garden, in whose hands is a spindle. The girl runs up to her, takes the spindle in her hands and begins to spin with him in a dance, imagining that she is dancing with her lover. Carelessly touching the sharp end of the spindle, Aurora falls unconscious and falls into a deep sleep. The princes summoned to the ball rush to seize the culprit of the misfortune, but the old woman, whom, as it turns out, the evil fairy Carabosse turned into, laughs loudly and disappears, pleased with the accomplished atrocity. The Lilac Fairy Godmother decides to help the royal family in this unimaginable grief and puts the entire court to sleep along with Aurora for a whole 100 years so that everyone can witness the promised miraculous awakening of the princess.

    A century has passed, and now, making his way through dense thickets while hunting, the handsome prince Desire finds himself with his retinue in an abandoned garden. Hunters and escorts start dancing and having fun here. Suddenly, on a majestic boat, the Lilac Fairy, already familiar to the viewer, floats up the river. Appearing to the prince, she shows him the way to the castle, where the king and queen, servants and courtiers froze for a century, where the same young Aurora rests peacefully. The prince in amazement examines the picture that has opened before him - people frozen without movement. He calls out to the king, the butler, but does not receive an answer, and then notices the sleeping beauty Aurora. The prince is so amazed by the amazing beauty of the girl that he immediately leans down to kiss her. From a gentle kiss, the princess wakes up, and the castle and all its inhabitants come to life at the same moment. Prince Desire asks for the hand of Aurora from her royal father. The tale ends with a solemn wedding ceremony for the newlyweds.

    A photo:





    Interesting Facts

    • Each act of the ballet is an independent work, like a part of a symphony - closed and complete in its form.
    • The performance has a deep philosophical meaning, opposing the Lilac fairy and the Carabosse fairy, which personifies the eternal struggle between good and evil, and the result of the fairy tale is the all-conquering power of the pure love of Aurora and Desiree.
    • Before Tchaikovsky, this fairy tale was staged in the form of a ballet by the French composer Herold, who created a production called “ La Belle au bois dormant"("Beauty of the Sleeping Forest") in 1829.
    • The ballet became one of the most expensive premieres of the Mariinsky Theater - 42 thousand rubles were allocated for it (a quarter of the annual budget of St. Petersburg theaters).
    • The scenography for the 2011 ballet in Moscow was staged by Ezio Frigerio, an Oscar-winning artist for his work on the set of Cyrano de Bergerac.
    • The name of King Florestan XIV is in honor of King Louis XIV of France, who is considered the founder of the ballet genre.
    • The author wrote music for the ballet while traveling around Europe, and while working on The Sleeping Beauty he visited Paris, Marseille, Tiflis, Constantinople, and then, returning to Moscow, provided the finished work.
    • Vsevolzhsky decided to stage a ballet based on a French fairy tale for political reasons, ardently supporting the course of Tsar Alexander III towards rapprochement with France.
    • Marius Petipa was born in Belgium and from the age of 9 he took part in productions staged by his father. From 1847 until the end of his life he lived and worked in Russia.
    • In Matthew Bourne's 2013 modernist production, Aurora is in love with a royal gardener named Leo, and the source of evil is the son of an evil witch who wants to avenge his mother.
    • In 1964, the Soviet film-ballet The Sleeping Beauty was filmed, where the choreographer Sergeev was involved. The main role in the film was played by the ballerina Alla Sizova, for which she was awarded the French Dance Academy Prize.

    Popular numbers

    Waltz from act I (listen)

    Pas d'action adagio (listen)

    Lilac Fairy (listen)

    Puss in boots and white cat(listen)

    Music

    Despite the fact that the ballet was created on the basis of an old French fairy tale, the music written by Tchaikovsky, in its lyrical component and emotional richness, is absolutely Russian. In this ballet, each musical movement is a brilliant masterpiece, evolving from scene to scene and culminating in the apotheosis of the triumph of love in the form of a grand adagio at the end of the performance.

    With his work, Tchaikovsky not only describes the plot, he reflects the contradictions of the inner world of a person, that eternal struggle of light and darkness that goes on in the soul of everyone, regardless of era and country. Musical accompaniment becomes the finishing touch of the story, its integral part.

    The music of the great maestro has undergone various changes over the decades of productions of The Sleeping Beauty. The exact chronology of these changes during the existence of the ballet in the imperial theater could only be reconstructed from posters. So, almost immediately after the start of the show, the third act lost the slow Sarabande, and a little later - the variations of the Lilac fairy, and the minuet was excluded from the peasant dance suite. In the 20s of the 20th century, in the prologue, the scene of the appearance of the Carabosse fairy and the scenes of hunters' dances were reduced.

    Each director of the ballet "Sleeping Beauty" changes the original score in one way or another in accordance with their own ideas.

    Ballet extravaganza in 3 acts (with prologue and apotheosis).

    Characters:

    • King Florestan XIV
    • Queen
    • Princess Aurora, their daughter
    • Prince Sheri
    • Prince Sharman
    • Prince Fleur de Poix
    • Prince Fortune
    • Catalabutte, Senior Butler to the King of Florestan
    • Prince Desiree
    • Lilac Fairy
    • Good Fairies: Canary Fairy, Violante Fairy (violent), Crumb Fairy (breadcrumb scatterer), Candide Fairy (purehearted), Fleur de Farin Fairy (blooming ears fairy)
    • Carabosse, the evil fairy
    • Ladies, seniors, pages, hunters, servants, spirits from the retinue of fairies, etc.

    The action takes place in a fairy-tale country in fairy-tale times with an interval of one hundred years.

    Prologue. Hall of the palace of King Florestan XIV. The christening of Princess Aurora is celebrated here. Fairy sorceresses are invited, each of them endows her goddaughter with various spiritual qualities. However, the main godmother, the Lilac Fairy, does not have time to approach the cradle, when the most evil and powerful Fairy Carabosse bursts into the hall with a noise. They forgot to invite her, and she is furious! In vain the King and Queen beg her to forgive the mistake of Master of Ceremonies Catalubute. Carabosse only taunts them. “So that the happiness of the princess, which my sisters have bestowed on her, is never interrupted, she will fall into eternal sleep as soon as she pricks her finger.” With these words, the evil fairy utters magic spells. The fun of the triumphant Carabosse and her ugly retinue is interrupted by the Lilac Fairy. She predicts Aurora not eternal, but only a long sleep. “The day will come, the prince will come and wake you up with a kiss on the forehead.” Enraged, Carabosse disappears, and the rest of the fairies surround the cradle.

    1. Aurora is 20 years old. The beginning of the holiday in the palace park is overshadowed by the scene with the villagers. They found needles banned near the palace. The king wants to punish them severely, but is it worth spoiling the celebration? General fun, dancing peasants. Aurora exit. She dances with four suitors, not giving preference to any of them. Everyone admires the young princess. Aurora notices an old woman with a spindle, curiously snatches it from her hands and, waving it, continues the dance. The sudden pain from the spindle prick frightens the princess. She thrashes from side to side and then falls down, lifeless. Everyone is horrified. The old woman throws off her cloak - this is the triumphant Carabosse. In vain the suitors draw their swords, the fairy disappears. The fountain at the back of the stage is illuminated by magical light, and the Lilac Fairy appears. According to her instructions, the princess is taken to the castle, followed by the courtiers. The sorceress waves her wand and everything freezes. Lilac bushes close the castle, creatures subject to the fairy guard its peace.

    2. A hundred years have passed. Prince Desire hunts on the bank of a wide river. During breakfast in nature, his retinue have fun. Archery, dancing. The prince is tired and orders to continue hunting without him. A luxurious boat appears on the river. From it comes the fairy Lilac - the godmother of the Prince. Desire confesses to her that his heart is free. By the sign of the fairy wand, the sleeping Aurora is visible in the rock. Together with her friends, the ghost of the princess appears on the stage. With their dances they captivate the young man. The prince is delighted, but the shadow eludes him and disappears into the rock. Desire begs the Lilac Fairy to tell him where to find this celestial being. They sit in the boat and swim. The landscape is getting wilder (panorama). A mysterious castle appears in the light of the moon. The Fairy leads the Prince through the closed gate, sleeping horses and people are visible. Quiet music is heard.

    Sleeping Beauty Castle. A layer of dust and cobwebs cover the room where Aurora sleeps, surrounded by her parents and retinue. As soon as Desiree kisses the Princess on the forehead, everything changes. The dust of centuries disappears, a fire flares up in the fireplace. The prince begs the awakened father to agree to the marriage with his daughter. “This is her fate,” the King replies and joins the hands of the young.

    3. Wedding of Aurora and Desiree. Esplanade of the Florestan Palace. Entry of the King, Queen, newlyweds with retinue and fairies of Diamonds, Gold, Silver and Sapphires. Heroes of fairy tales march in a large polonaise. Here is Bluebeard and his wife, Puss in Boots, Marquis de Carabas, Golden-haired beauty and Prince Avenant, Donkeyskin and Prince Sharman, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella and Prince Fortuné. Following are the Blue Bird and Princess Florina, the White Cat, the Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, Prince Hohlik and Princess Aime, the Thumb Boy and his brothers, the Ogre and the Ogre, the Carabosse fairy on a wheelbarrow driven by rats, as well as the good fairies led by the Lilac Fairy . A big divertissement where fairies and fairy-tale characters dance. Pas de de Aurora and Desiree. Final common code.

    The initiative for the appearance on the St. Petersburg stage of a ballet based on the famous fairy tale by Perrault came from the director of the Imperial Theaters, Ivan Vsevolozhsky. This nobleman was educated in Europe, composed plays, drew well, received a good musical education. In August, Tchaikovsky received a detailed script for the future ballet, which he liked. The script, which in many respects coincided with the final libretto cited above, differed favorably from Perrault's fairy tale in many details: new characters appeared, scenes of action were outlined more advantageously on the stage. The authors of the script (it was unsigned) were Marius Petipa and, probably, the director himself.

    In February 1889, Petipa sent Tchaikovsky a detailed order plan for the prologue and all three acts. In this amazing document, the desired music was painted down to the number of measures. It is amazing how the venerable choreographer saw his performance in detail, not yet hearing a single musical phrase, not composing a single movement. For example, Aurora's reaction to an injection was described as follows: “2/4, fast. Terrified, she no longer dances - this is not a dance, but a dizzying, crazy movement, as if from a tarantula bite! Finally, she collapses lifeless. This frenzy should last no more than 24 to 32 bars." Tchaikovsky, formally following all the instructions of the choreographer, created a unique composition, "raising the bar" for ballet music for many years to come.

    On the cover of the program released for the premiere, it was written: "The content is borrowed from the fairy tales of Perrault." Firstly, it was deliberately not indicated by whom it was borrowed, that is, who the author or authors of the script were. Only later did the co-authorship of Petipa and Vsevolozhsky begin to be indicated (the latter also owned sketches for the costumes of the performance, which, apparently, only the initiates should have known). Secondly, among the characters of the final act there are heroes of fairy tales not only by Perrault (from the famous "Puss in Boots" to "Donkey Skin" and "Riquet with a Tuft"), but also Madame d "Onua (The Blue Bird and Princess Florina, Golden-haired Beauty, Prince Avenant) and Leprince de Beaumont (Beauty and the Beast).

    All the best forces of the troupe were busy. Aurora was danced by Carlotta Brianza, one of the Italian ballerinas who served under contract at the Mariinsky Theater in the 1890s, and who performed the leading roles in the ballets of Tchaikovsky and Glazunov. Desire - Pavel Gerdt, Lilac Fairy - Maria Petipa, Carabosse - Enrique Cecchetti (Italian artist, choreographer and teacher, who also virtuoso performed the part of the Blue Bird). Estimates of the premiere of "Sleeping Beauty" turned out to be different. Notebook balletomanes grumbled that the music was "unsuitable for dancing", that ballet was "a fairy tale for children and old people." However, the theater was filled with other spectators who knew and loved Tchaikovsky's music from his operas and symphonic compositions. During the first two seasons, the ballet was performed about 50 times.

    “The luxurious juicy ballet The Sleeping Beauty has the same meaning in the development of Russian ballet as Ruslan and Lyudmila has in the opera” (Boris Asafiev). Thanks to the music of Tchaikovsky, the "children's" fairy tale became a poem about the struggle between good (the Lilac fairy) and evil (the Carabosse fairy). At the same time, in its mood, The Sleeping Beauty is unique in the composer's work. The ballet, written between the Fifth Symphony and The Queen of Spades - compositions full of fatal beginnings and condensed drama, is full of light and lyrics. It is not for nothing that the Sleeping Beauty is called the ballet symbol of St. Petersburg. The malice and envy of any Carabosse are insignificant in the face of the unreal light of white nights, filled with the smell of lilacs.

    The musical material of individual numbers is developed into a wide symphonic canvas. The prologue is monumental and solemn. The first act is the active, dramatic center of the ballet. The second is romantic lyrics, especially impressive in extended musical intermissions. The final act is a celebration of triumphant joy. Tchaikovsky's famous waltzes in The Sleeping Beauty are diverse - from dancing fairies in the prologue to an extensive festive Peisan waltz and a short waltz episode of Aurora's dance with a spindle. It is known that the magnificent music of the ballet went far beyond the stage. The best conductors perform it in concerts and record it on audio CDs. Not without reason, the composer, always dissatisfied with himself, wrote in a letter to a friend: “The Sleeping Beauty is perhaps the best of all my compositions.”

    Slender in architectonics, the ballet amazes with the splendor of various choreographic colors. At the same time, the designs of the acts are artistically thought out. First, a short pantomime episode (knitters in the first act) or a genre dance (Desire's hunt). This is followed by an extensive dance fragment (the fairy sextet in the prologue, the peasant waltz of the first act, court dances in the second). And, finally, the classical dance ensemble (pas d "axion) - Aurora dancing with four suitors, or the scene of nymphs. We note in parentheses that this scene of Desire's temptation is mistakenly called "dances of the Nereids." There was no such name, and it could not to be with Petipa, for he knew that Nereids "are found" only in the sea, and not on the banks of the river. In the last act, the inventive genius of Petipa dazzles the audience with a bizarre pattern of diverse dances, the top of which is the solemn pas de deux of heroes.

    As always, the ballerina is at the center of every Petipa performance. The choreographic image of Aurora is characterized by a masterful selection of movements and, at the same time, a rare plastic expressiveness in the dynamics of plot collisions. A young girl, lightly and naively perceiving the world around her, in the first act. A beckoning ghost, summoned from a long-term dream by the Lilac fairy, in the second. The happy princess who found her betrothed is in the finale. It was not for nothing that Petipa was considered a master of female variations. In Sleeping Beauty, these are dancing portraits of good fairies. By tradition, male images, with the exception of the Blue Bird, are less impressive. The choreographer did not consider it necessary, for example, to give Aurora's suitors any dance characteristic, except for the support of the desired princess. In general, the "Sleeping Beauty" by Petipa - Tchaikovsky is called "an encyclopedia of classical dance."

    The stage life of the play at the Mariinsky Theater continued actively into the 20th century. In 1914 it was decided to replace the original scenography, this was entrusted to the famous artist Konstantin Korovin. In 1922/23, when after the turbulent revolutionary years it was necessary to "repair" the ballet, changes were already made to the choreography. In the second act, Fyodor Lopukhov restored the symphonic intermission, composed court dances on the hunt missed by Petipa and the painting "Dream", edited some scenes of the final act. Almost all of this later on came to be seen as inseparable from Petipa's choreography.

    In the post-war years, the splendor of Sleeping Beauty seemed to have faded. In 1952, Konstantin Sergeev carried out a major choreographic and director's revision of the old ballet, "aimed at a more complete and profound disclosure of the ideological and artistic concept of the composer and director." The images of the Lilac Fairy, who parted with high-heeled shoes and a magic wand, and Desire, who received new variations in the second and third acts, became more danceable. Some numbers have been re-staged: the entrance of the fairies in the prologue, the farandole of the second act, the procession of the characters and the sextet of the fairies in the last act. The stylish scenery and costumes of Simon Virsaladze evoked admiration.

    In 1999, the Mariinsky Theater decided on a seemingly crazy idea - to reconstruct the "Sleeping Beauty" of the 1890 model. By this time, the collection of the former chief director of the pre-revolutionary Mariinsky Theater Nikolai Sergeev, now stored at Harvard University, became available. Sergei Vikharev, choreographer and director of the reconstruction, wrote: “When I got acquainted with Nikolai Sergeyev’s recordings, it became clear that The Sleeping Beauty can be restored as close as possible to Petipa’s original. ... And most importantly - dance combinations ... ".

    The scenery and costumes were restored based on materials from St. Petersburg museums. The performance turned out to be festively bright, a real “grand feast” for the eyes, but rather contradictory.

    The stage history of Sleeping Beauty began abroad in 1921 in London. Diaghilev decided to show Europe an example of the old Petersburg school that formed the foundation of his troupe. The scenery and costumes (more than 100!) for the luxurious production were commissioned by the famous Lev Bakst. True, Diaghilev treated the work of Tchaikovsky and Petipa in his own way. He deleted from the score everything that seemed boring to him and supplemented it with other music by the same composer. He asked Igor Stravinsky to re-orchestrate something.

    Nikolai Sergeev showed the choreography to the troupe, but then Bronislava Nijinska supplemented it with new numbers. The most famous of them - "The Dance of the Three Ivans" - crowned the divertissement of fairy tales. The premiere was danced by Petrograd guest performer Olga Spesivtseva and former premier of the Mariinsky Theater Pyotr Vladimirov. Diaghilev invited Carlotta Brianza, the first performer of the Aurora party in 1890, to play the role of Carabosse. The troupe, despite 105 performances, failed to justify the colossal expense. The investor took all the scenography on account of the debt, and Bakst received his fee only through the court.

    The times of big plot ballets in the West came later. Nowadays, most of the major ballet companies have The Sleeping Beauty in their repertoire in very different stage and choreographic versions.

    A. Degen, I. Stupnikov

    History of creation

    The director of the imperial theaters, I. Vsevolozhsky (1835-1909), an admirer of Tchaikovsky's work, who highly appreciated Swan Lake, in 1886 tried to interest the composer in a new ballet theme. He proposed the plots of "Ondine" and "Salambo". The composer, who was then working on the opera The Enchantress, immediately refused Salammbo, but Ondine interested him: an early opera was written on this plot, and Tchaikovsky was not averse to returning to it. He even asked Brother Modest, a well-known librettist, to take over the script. However, the version presented by M. Tchaikovsky (1850-1916) was rejected by the theater management, and Vsevolozhsky mastered another idea - to create a magnificent performance in the style of ballets at the court of Louis XIV with a quadrille from Perrault's fairy tales in the divertissement of the last act. On May 13, 1888, he wrote to Tchaikovsky: “I decided to write a libretto for “La belle au bous dormant” based on a fairy tale by Perrault. I want to make a mise en scene in the style of Louis XIV. Here a musical fantasy can play out and you can compose melodies in the spirit of Lully, Bach, Rameau, etc., etc. If you like the idea, why not take up composing music? In the last act, we need a quadrille of all Perrault's fairy tales - there should be a cat in boots, a boy with a finger, and Cinderella, and a Blue beard, etc. The script was written by him in close collaboration with M. Petipa (1818-1910) based on the fairy tale by Charles Perrault (1628-1697) "The Beauty of the Sleeping Forest" from his collection "Tales of Mother Goose, or Stories and Tales of Past Morals with Teachings" (1697 ). Having received it in the second half of August, Tchaikovsky, in his words, was fascinated and delighted. “It suits me perfectly, and I don’t want anything better than to write music for this,” he answered Vsevolozhsky.

    Tchaikovsky composed with passion. On January 18, 1889, he completed the outlines of the prologue and two acts, work on the third act was in the spring and summer, partly during the long journey undertaken by the composer along the route Paris - Marseille - Constantinople - Tiflis (Tbilisi) - Moscow. In August, he was already finishing the instrumentation of the ballet, which was eagerly awaited in the theater: rehearsals were already underway there. The composer's work proceeded in constant interaction with the great choreographer Marius Petipa, who constituted an entire era in the history of Russian ballet (he served in Russia from 1847 until his death). Petipa provided the composer with a detailed order plan. As a result, a completely new type of ballet emerged in terms of musical embodiment, far removed from the more traditional in musical and dramatic terms, although beautiful in terms of music, Swan Lake. The Sleeping Beauty has become a genuine musical and choreographic symphony, in which music and dance are merged into one.

    “Each act of the ballet was like a part of a symphony, closed in form and could exist separately,” writes the famous ballet researcher V. Krasovskaya. - But each expressed one of the sides of the general idea, and therefore, as part of a symphony, could be fully appreciated only in connection with other acts. The stage action of "Sleeping Beauty" outwardly repeated the plan of the script. But next to the climaxes of the plot and, in fact, crowding them out, new peaks arose - musical and dance action .... "Sleeping Beauty" is one of the outstanding phenomena in the history of world choreography of the 19th century. This work, the most perfect in Petipa's work, sums up the difficult, not always successful, but persistent searches of the choreographer in the field of ballet symphonism. To a certain extent, it also sums up the whole path of the choreographic art of the 19th century ... "

    The premiere of The Sleeping Beauty took place at the St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theater on January 3 (15), 1890. Throughout the 20th century, the ballet was staged more than once on many stages, and the performance was always based on Petipa's choreography, which became a classic, although each of the choreographers who turned to The Sleeping Beauty brought something of his own personality.

    Music

    Despite the fact that The Sleeping Beauty is a French fairy tale, its music, due to its spontaneous emotionality and penetrating lyricism, is deeply Russian. It is distinguished by spirituality, light romance, clarity and festivity. By its nature, it is close to one of Tchaikovsky's opera gems - Iolante. The music was based on the opposition and symphonic development of the themes of Lilac and Carabosse as antitheses of Good and Evil.

    The Grand Waltz of Act I is one of the brightest numbers in the ballet. The famous musical Panorama of Act II illustrates the path of the magic boat. The musical interlude, connecting the first and second scenes of Act II, is a violin solo, intonation of beautiful melodies of love and dreams. The gentle sound of the violin is answered by the oboe and the English horn. In Act III, Pas de deux of Aurora and the Prince is a great Adagio that sounds like the apotheosis of love.

    L. Mikheeva

    The circumstances that accompanied the production of "Swan Lake" could not help but have a cooling effect on Tchaikovsky. Only thirteen years later, he again turned to the ballet genre, having received an order to compose music for the ballet The Sleeping Beauty based on Perrault's fairy tale for a production at the Mariinsky Theater. The new ballet was created in completely different conditions. By the end of the 80s, Tchaikovsky, who was in the period of the highest creative maturity, achieved universal recognition in his homeland and in a number of foreign countries as one of the most outstanding Russian composers. The success enjoyed by many of his works on the concert stage and in the opera prompted the director of the imperial theaters, I. A. Vsevolozhsky, to turn to him to create a richly furnished, fascinating performance that amazes the audience with enchanting luxury, variety and brightness of colors. Showing special concern for the staging level of the performances of the largest metropolitan theater, Vsevolozhsky wanted to impress the audience with novelty and brilliance in The Sleeping Beauty, surpassing anything that she could see before. For this purpose, ordinary ordinary ballet music was not suitable and the participation of a composer of Tchaikovsky's scale was needed.

    Petersburg Ballet had a strong troupe headed by one of the most prominent choreographers of the 19th century, Marius Petipa. A representative of the classical school, not prone to any bold innovations, he was not only a brilliant master with great imagination and delicate taste, but also a thoughtful and interesting artist. “One of the great merits of Petipa,” the researcher writes, “was his desire to return to classical dance, at least the first plots, his former expressiveness and psychological richness, this is perhaps the most valuable property of the old ballet, long ago reduced to nothing ".

    Tchaikovsky wrote the music for The Sleeping Beauty in close collaboration with the scriptwriter and director Petipa, who, taking advantage of Vsevolozhsky's general wishes, developed a detailed ballet plan indicating the nature and quantity (size and number of bars) of music for each individual number. Tchaikovsky tried to take into account all the instructions contained in Petipa's plan with maximum accuracy, but at the same time he did not just fulfill the wishes of the theater director and choreographer, but independently interpreted the plot, creating an internally complete, holistic work permeated with the unity and continuity of symphonic development. Sometimes the composer went against the intentions of the script writers. Vsevolozhsky imagined the music of The Sleeping Beauty as an elegant stylization in the spirit of the 17th - early 18th centuries. Addressing Tchaikovsky with a proposal to take on this work, he wrote: “Here a musical fantasy can break out and compose melodies in the spirit of Lully, Bach, Rameau, etc., etc.” However, Tchaikovsky resorts to such stylization only in a few separate episodes, but in general his music is distinguished by extraordinary richness, fullness and brightness of colors, using all the riches of harmony and orchestral writing of the second half of the 19th century.

    Often the creative thought of the symphonist led him to such an expansion of scale and complexity of texture that it puzzled the choreographer, who was not accustomed to such developed musical forms and such a degree of "densification" of the material. A number of eyewitnesses testify to the difficulties experienced by Petipa in obtaining finished pieces of music from Tchaikovsky. (“Tchaikovsky’s music created considerable difficulties for Petipa,” writes one of the memoirists. “He was used to working with full-time ballet composers - my grandfather Puni and Minkus, who were ready to endlessly change the music of certain numbers<...>Therefore, it was quite difficult for Petipa to work on Sleeping Beauty. He confessed this to me.). “Petipa,” notes N. I. Nosilov, “was the greatest master of composing ballet dances to non-dance music, but he had not yet had to deal with the disclosure of ideas and images embedded in the symphony by choreographic means.” Therefore, with all the brilliance of the production, carried out by a venerable choreographer, she still did not reveal Tchaikovsky's scores in all the depth and significance of its content.

    For Petipa, The Sleeping Beauty was a fairy-tale choreographic act, which made it possible to unfold a wide colorful panorama of pictures and images captivating the imagination, to demonstrate all the richness of the means of classical and characteristic dance. Tchaikovsky, on the other hand, needed the main motive, a through guiding idea that unites all this motley series of scenes and episodes. Laroche found a mythological basis in the fairy-tale story about the sleeping beauty, which is widespread among many peoples - "one of the countless incarnations of the earth, resting in winter and waking up from the kiss of spring." A similar thought was expressed by the inspector of St. Petersburg theaters, V.P. Pogozhev, in a letter to Tchaikovsky dated September 24, 1888, when the idea of ​​The Sleeping Beauty was only maturing with the composer: “The program, in my opinion, is very successful; sleep and awakening (winter and spring) - a magnificent canvas for a musical picture. Perhaps these words turned out to be a hint to Tchaikovsky to some extent and strengthened his decision to write music on a plot that he did not like very much at first: winter and spring, sleep and awakening, life and death - these antitheses often converge in folk art and are interchangeable. Such an understanding of the plot made it possible to connect it with the main problems of Tchaikovsky's work.

    The images of the evil fairy Carabosse and the good, beautiful fairy Lilac personify the antagonistic principles in The Sleeping Beauty, the struggle of which determines both the eternal cycle in nature and the fate of human life. Both of them are characterized by constant musical themes, which receive a wide symphonic development in the ballet. These two themes are in sharp contrast. The theme of the fairy Carabosse is distinguished by its sharpness, "prickly" pattern, harmonic dissonance and mobility of the tonal plan. (Asafiev draws attention to the “method of mixing tonal colors” used here by Tchaikovsky, which was found by Glinka in the flight scene of Chernomor from Ruslan and Lyudmila.).

    The Lilac Fairy is depicted by a smooth, unhurriedly unfolding melodious barcarolle-type melody with evenly pulsating accompaniment, evoking a feeling of clear serene peace.

    Unlike the subtly changeable Carabosse theme, it steadily retains its melodic pattern and undergoes only external textural changes.

    The dramatic knots, the centers of interweaving of the main acting forces are the finals of the prologue and the first act, as well as the big picture of the Lilac fairy and the prince in the second act. The unexpected appearance of the fairy Carabosse in the prologue at the celebration of the christening of the newborn Princess Aurora and her ominous prediction about the eternal sleep of the princess causes general confusion. In this scene, the theme of Carabosse is widely developed, taking on grotesque outlines; jerky sounds of woodwinds give it a special deathly cold hard flavor. But after this, a light, bewitchingly affectionate theme of the Lilac fairy appears; the dream will not last forever, she says, and Aurora will wake up from the kiss of the handsome prince. The prologue ends with the triumphant sound of this theme, in which only separate fragments of the Carabosse theme, leaving the palace in anger, are woven.

    The finale of the first act is more dramatic, where again the forces of good and evil, personified by two powerful fairies, collide. Immediately preceding the finale is the dance of Aurora, already a young beauty, whose hands are sought by noble cavaliers. Graceful, slightly flirtatious dance (Designated in the score as Aurora Variation No. 8 c.) begins in the movement of a leisurely waltz, but gradually becomes faster and faster. Noticing an old woman with a spindle, Aurora grabs it and accidentally pricks her finger: a formidable prediction has come true: Aurora is spinning in despair, bleeding ("Danse vertige" - a dizzying dance or dance of madness), and, finally, falls dead. At this moment, the Carabosse theme resounds menacingly on the horns and trombones in a rhythmic increase (Attention is drawn to the similarity of this variant with the beginning of development in the first movement of the Sixth Symphony.),

    expressing the triumph and jubilation of the evil sorceress. The horror and despair of all those present subside when the Lilac Fairy appears, accompanied by her leitmotif in the same thick and bright key of E major, in which it is set out in the orchestral introduction and finale of the prologue. With a wave of a magic wand, the fairy plunges everyone into a deep sleep, and the “sleep chords” sound powerful and commanding in the orchestra, which are nothing more than a softened version of the Carabosse fairy theme.

    The second act, consisting of two scenes, is a tightly welded chain of dance and pantomime scenes that directly pass one into the other. An atmosphere of goodness, love and joy dominates here - evil lurks, only occasionally reminding of itself, and by the end of the action it is completely defeated. After the first divertissement scenes of hunting, games and dances of Prince Desire and his court, some kind of magical light seems to spread over the stage, leading to a mysterious unknown distance. From the moment the Lilac Fairy appears, the color of the music changes, becomes indefinitely shimmering, fantastic - she awakens a thirst for love in the prince and shows him a vision of Aurora. The lyrical Adagio of Aurora and Desiree with an expressive cello solo, the scene of the prince's passionate entreaty to introduce him to the beauty, the panorama of the journey of Desiree and the fairies sailing on a boat to the enchanted kingdom, and, finally, the dream picture, remarkable for the subtlety of orchestral writing - these are the most important strongholds of everything this big stretch of action (The score also contains an orchestral intermission with a large violin solo, connecting the two scenes of the second act, but this is usually omitted during the performance of the ballet. Meanwhile, this intermission is important for the development of the internal action: an expressive lyrical theme close to the theme of love from The Queen of Spades , expresses the power of the Prince's passion, forcing him to break through all obstacles and dangers to the beauty that captivated him.). Once again, but quietly, muffled, “chords of sleep” sound from the woodwinds, fragments of the themes of the Carabosse fairy and the Lilac fairy are heard, and all this is as if shrouded in a light transparent haze. The kiss of the prince, making his way through the fog and dense thickets of the forest, awakens Aurora from a long sleep: love and courage defeat the evil spell of witchcraft (The moment of "breaking the spell" is marked by a tom-tom strike - the only one in the entire score.). This, in essence, ends the development of the action - the final third act (the wedding of Aurora and Desiree) is a large luxurious divertissement.

    The unity and integrity of the symphonic concept are combined in The Sleeping Beauty with an extraordinary richness and variety of dance forms. In every action we find a kind of parade of dances that create a colorful backdrop for the unfolding of the dramatic plot. Separate dances are combined into larger structures according to the principle of rhythmic and expressive contrast, forming cyclic forms of the suite type. In itself, this principle was not new for classical ballet, but in The Sleeping Beauty the choreographer and composer abandoned the impersonal general dance formulas that have no connection with a particular situation and therefore are easily transferable from one work to another: in each a certain characteristic image is captured from the dances. Such are the variations of the fairies in the prologue, the rural dance and the “waltz of reconciliation” in the first act, a group of ancient dances (minuet, gavotte, farandole) in the second act, and almost the entire third act - this, according to Asafiev’s definition, “a holiday that constantly unfolds in its magical flowering dance."

    A number of miniature characteristic scenes are remarkable, in which familiar characters from Perrault's fairy tales appear. Genuine masterpieces of brilliant sound-painting skills are such episodes as “Puss in Boots and a White Cat” with “meowing” oboes and bassoons, “The Blue Bird and Princess Florina”, where the “overflows” of the flute and clarinet create the illusion of singing some unprecedented outlandish birds , “Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf”, in the music of which one can hear the timid steps of a little girl, turning into a quick hasty run, and a formidable wolf roar (tirats of violas and cellos). At the end of the third act, after the festive procession of fairy-tale characters ends, the main characters Aurora and Desire reappear. Their Adagio (followed by obligatory quick variations) sounds light, even triumphant, expressing the joy and fullness of the achieved happiness.

    The premiere of The Sleeping Beauty at the Mariinsky Theater on January 3, 1890 became an event in the artistic life of the Russian capital. Despite the usual attacks of conservative criticism, the novelty and scale of the phenomenon were obvious to everyone. Evaluating the music of the ballet, Laroche put it on a par with the best works of Tchaikovsky as "the highest point to which the Glinka school has so far reached, the point at which the school is already beginning to free itself from Glinka and open new horizons, still unexplained."

    The departure from the usual clichés, the unusualness of the performance that presented itself to their ears and eyes, most of all worried the balletomanes, who criticized the production of The Sleeping Beauty precisely from this position. At the same time, Tchaikovsky's ballet evoked an enthusiastic reaction from the figures of the younger generation, who were destined in the near future to bring a new refreshing stream to Russian art. Young A. N. Benois, having visited one of the first performances of The Sleeping Beauty, was especially delighted with the music of Tchaikovsky, finding in it “ the same, what am I always somehow waiting”, “something infinitely close, dear, something that I would call my music.” “The admiration for The Sleeping Beauty,” he wrote already in his declining years, “returned me in general to ballet, to which I had cooled off, and with this ignited passion I infected all my friends, who gradually became“ real balletomaniacs ”. Thus, one of the main conditions was created that in a few years moved us ourselves to activity in the same field, and this activity brought us world success.

    This confession of one of S. P. Diaghilev’s closest associates in organizing the Russian Seasons in Paris, who directly collaborated with Stravinsky and other composers of the same circle, is convincing evidence of the outstanding role played by The Sleeping Beauty in the renewal of the ballet theater at the turn of the 19th century. and XX centuries.


    Fantastic ballet in three acts
    Author of the libretto (based on the fairy tale of the same name by C. Perrault) and choreographer M. Petipa. First performance: St. Petersburg, Mariinsky Theatre, January 3, 1890
    Characters
    Florestan XIV. Queen. Princess Aurora, their daughter. Prince Fleur de Pois, Prince Cherie, Prince Charmand, Prince Fortuné are contenders for the hand of Aurora. Catalabutte, senior butler to the King of Florestan. Prince Desire. Galifron, his mentor. Good Fairies: Lilac Fairy, Candide Fairy, Fleur de Farin Fairy, Fairy
    Violant, Canary Fairy, Breadcrumb Fairy. Fairy Carabosse. Ladies, lords, pages, hunters, huntresses, bodyguards, lackeys. Spirits from the retinue of fairies and others.
    Prologue
    Picture one    . Christening of Princess Aurora.
    The main hall in the castle of King Florestan XIV. On the right is an elevation for the king, queen and fairies - the godparents of Princess Aurora. In the depths - the door
    from the hallway.
    Ladies and gentlemen stand in groups in the hall, waiting for the appearance of the king and queen. The stewards of the festival indicate to each his place, asking him to strictly adhere to the planned order during the ceremony of congratulations and
    expressing their wishes to the king, queen, as well as influential fairies invited to the holiday as godparents.
    Catalabutte, surrounded by courtiers, checks the list of fairies to whom invitations have been sent. Everything is done the way the king wanted. Everything is ready for the holiday - the king and queen can enter the front hall; the whole yard is assembled, and they are waiting for the appearance of fairies any minute.
    Fanfare. Enter the King and Queen, preceded by pages, followed by the nannies and wet nurses of the Princess Aurora, carrying a cradle in which the royal child sleeps.
    The king and queen have hardly taken their places on the dais on either side of the cradle, when the stewards announce that the fairies have arrived.
    The appearance of fairies. The fairies Candide, Farin, Violante, the Canary Fairy and the Breadcrumbs Fairy enter the hall first. The king and queen stand up to meet them and
    invited to rise to the top.
    The Lilac Fairy appears - the main godmother of Princess Aurora. She is surrounded by her retinue - good spirits carrying large fans,
    incense and supporting the train of their mistress.
    At a sign from Catalabute, pages and maidens appear, bearing gifts on brocade cushions that the king has prepared for his daughter's godparents.
    Having formed beautiful groups, they indicate to each fairy the gifts intended for her.
    The fairies descend from the dais to in turn bestow gifts on their goddaughter.
    It is the turn of the Lilac Fairy, but as soon as she wants to go to the cradle to present her gift to Aurora, a loud noise is heard in the hallway.
    A page runs in and informs Catalabute that a new fairy has arrived, who was forgotten to be invited to the feast, and she is at the gates of the castle. This is the fairy Carabosse, the most powerful and most evil in the country.
    Catalabutte is confused. How could he forget about it - he, precision itself! All trembling, the butler approaches the king and confesses his guilt.
    The king and queen are very worried. The oversight of the main butler can cause great misfortune and affect the fate of their dear daughter. The fairies also seem concerned.
    Carabosse appears in a wagon drawn by six large rats. Ugly, absurdly dressed pages accompany her. The king and queen beg the fairy
    forgive the forgetful Catalabute. They are ready to subject him to any punishment that Carabosse deigns to indicate. Catalabutte, neither alive nor
    dead, throws himself at the feet of an evil fairy - let her save his life, and he is ready to faithfully serve her until the end of his days.
    Carabosse laughs wickedly and amuses himself by tearing out Catalabutte's hair and throwing it to the rats, who immediately devour it. Soon Catalabutte's head becomes bald.
    - I'm not Aurora's godmother, - says Carabosse, - but still I want to present her with my gift.
    The good fairies persuade Carabosse to forgive the involuntary guilt of the butler, begging him not to poison the happiness of the best of kings, but in response, Carabosse only laughs angrily, her page monsters and even rats laugh with her. The good fairies turn away from their sister indignantly.
    - The gifts of the six godparents of Princess Aurora, - says Carabosse, - will help her become the most beautiful, most captivating and most intelligent princess in the whole world. But so that nothing could overshadow her happiness - you see how kind I am - the very first time the princess pricks her finger or hand, she will fall asleep, and this dream will be eternal.
    The king, queen and all the courtiers are horrified.
    Carabosse holds out his magic wand to the cradle and pronounces magic spells. Then, rejoicing that she managed to trick her sisters, the good fairies, she bursts into laughter. The retinue of Carabosse rejoices uncontrollably.
    But then the Lilac Fairy, who had not yet had time to bestow gifts on her goddaughter and stood unnoticed behind the cradle of Aurora, leaves her shelter. carabosse
    looks at her with disbelief and anger.
    The good fairy leans over the cradle.
    “Yes, you will fall asleep, my little Aurora, as our sister Carabosse wished,” said the Lilac Fairy, but not with eternal sleep. The day will come - and the prince will appear, who, having fallen in love with your beauty, will kiss you, and you will wake up from a long sleep to become the prince's girlfriend and live in happiness and joy.
    Enraged, Carabosse gets into her wagon and disappears. Good fairies gather around the cradle, as if protecting their goddaughter from an evil sister.
    Act one
    Picture two. Four suitors of Princess Aurora.
    Florestan castle park XIV. To the right of the audience is the entrance to the castle, the first floors of which are hidden behind the foliage of trees. In the middle of the stage - marble
    fountain in the style of the XVII century.
    Aurora is twenty years old. Florestan, seeing that the predictions of the fairy Carabosse do not come true, is full of joy. Catalabutte - whose hair is so
    not grown up, and he wears a funny wig - he is going to fine several villagers who sat down with needlework in front of the castle. He points
    them to an announcement stating the prohibition of the use of needles or knitting needles in the district of a hundred leagues from the royal residence. The butler orders them to be taken under guard to the prison.
    The king and queen appear on the balcony of the castle. They are accompanied by four princes - contenders for the hand of Aurora. The king asks what
    the crime was committed by the villagers, who are being escorted to prison. Catalabutt reports the reason for the arrest and shows physical evidence. The king and queen are horrified:
    “May they be punished roughly for their crime, and may they never see the light of day.
    Princes Sharman, Cherie, Fleur de Pois and Fortuné plead for mercy on the guilty. Not one tear shall be shed in the kingdom of Florestan a day
    twentieth anniversary of Aurora. The king allows himself to be persuaded. The villagers are forgiven, but their needlework will be burned by the executioner in the square.
    Everyone rejoices. Village dances and round dances begin. Long live King Florestan! Long live Princess Aurora!
    The four princes have never seen Princess Aurora, but each of them has a medallion with a portrait of the king's daughter. Each prince is seized with a passionate desire to be loved by her, and they express this desire to Florestan and the queen. They answer that they give their daughter complete freedom and the right to choose. Whoever she loves will be their son-in-law and heir to the kingdom.
    Aurora appears. She runs in, accompanied by ladies-in-waiting carrying bouquets and wreaths. The four princes are shocked by her beauty. Each one tries
    like her. But Aurora does not favor anyone. She dances surrounded by her fans.
    A scene of rivalry between princes and coquetry of Aurora follows.

    The king and queen persuade their daughter to opt for one of the contenders for her hand.

    I'm still young, - Aurora answers, - let me enjoy life and freedom.
    “Do as you please, but remember that the interests of the kingdom require that you marry and give the country an heir. We do not cease to worry, thinking about the predictions of Carabosse.
    - Calm down, father. In order for her prediction to come true, I need to prick my hand or finger. But after all, I have never held a needle or a knitting needle in my hand; I sing, I dance, I have fun, but I never work.
    Four princes surround Aurora, begging her to dance in front of them, for they have heard that there is no girl in the world more graceful than a princess.
    Aurora willingly grants their wish. She dances to the sounds of the lute and violins played by her ladies-in-waiting and pages.
    The four princes take turns approaching the princess to express their delight and earn her attention. The dance becomes more graceful and lively. Not
    only princes - the whole court admires her; the population of the city and the surrounding villages - both old and young - follow her every step with curiosity. All in
    delighted. The general dance begins. Suddenly, Aurora notices some old woman who is sitting at the spinning wheel and spindle and seems to be beating the time of her light steps.
    Aurora seizes the spindle and, now waving it like a scepter, now imitating the work of a spinner, causes a new delight of her four admirers. But suddenly the dance is interrupted - the princess looks at her hand, pierced by a spindle and stained with blood. Beside herself with horror, she no longer dances, but rushes about as if in a fit of madness. She rushes one way, then the other, and finally falls dead. King and queen
    they rush to their beloved daughter and, seeing a bloody hand, understand the full measure of misfortune. And then the old woman with the spinning wheel suddenly throws off the cloak covering her, and everyone recognizes the fairy Carabosse. She laughs at the despair of Florestan and the queen. The four princes draw their swords from their scabbards and rush to hit the fairy with them, but Carabosse with hellish laughter disappears in a whirlwind of fire and smoke. The princes and their retinue flee in terror. At this moment, in the depths of the stage, a fountain begins to glow with magical light, and among the beating jets the Lilac Fairy appears.
    - Take comfort, - the fairy says to the heartbroken parents, - the princess sleeps and will sleep for a hundred years. But so that nothing disturbs her happiness upon awakening, you will sleep with her. When she wakes up, you will wake up too. Return to the castle. I will keep you safe.
    The sleeping princess is placed on a stretcher and carried away. She is followed by the king, queen and chief courtiers.
    Seniors, pages and bodyguards bow low before the procession approaching them. The fairy points with her magic wand to the castle. And the people standing on the porch and on the stairs suddenly turn to stone. Everything falls asleep, even the flowers, even the water in the fountain. Suddenly grown ivy and creepers hide the castle and sleeping people from sight. Trees and dense thickets of lilacs, which have risen at the wave of the hand of a powerful fairy, turn the royal park into an impenetrable forest. Spirits from her retinue gather around the Lilac Fairy. The fairy orders them to strictly ensure that no outsider approaches the castle and disturbs the peace of her pet.
    Action two
    Picture three. Prince Desire's Hunt.
    At the back of the stage, against the backdrop of a dense forest, a wide river winds. To the right of the audience is a rock covered with vegetation. The merry sun illuminates this
    landscape.
    The curtain rises, no one is on the stage. The sounds of hunting horns are heard. This is Prince Desire's hunt for wolves and lynxes in the neighboring forests. Come out
    hunters and huntresses are located on the grass to rest and refresh
    their strength.
    Soon Prince Desire appears with his mentor Galifron and several seniors, courtiers of his father the king. Prince and his companions
    serving a meal. Hunters and huntresses, in order to entertain the young prince, dance, shoot from a bow and come up with all sorts of games. Galifron
    he persuades his pupil to join the entertainment of the courtiers, and most importantly, to be more kind to the ladies, for he will have to choose a spouse from among the most noble girls in the country. The kings of neighboring states have only sons, but no daughters. Therefore, Galifron takes the opportunity to present to the prince the most worthy of his attention brides during the hunt.
    Duchess dance. Dance of the Marquis. Dance of the princesses. Baroness dance.
    All the girls try to please the prince at all costs, but Desire, holding a glass of wine in her hand, only chuckles at the futile efforts of these
    beautiful girls. His heart is silent - he has not yet met the woman of his dreams. The prince does not marry until he meets the one he is looking for.
    The huntsmen come and report that they have overlaid the bear in the den. If the prince pleases, it is enough for him to make only one shot.
    But the prince feels tired.
    “Hunt without me,” he says to the courtiers, “I still want to rest. I like it here. The hunters and courtiers retire, and Galifron, who
    drank more than one bottle of champagne, falls asleep next to the prince.
    As soon as everyone has disappeared, a mother-of-pearl boat appears on the river, decorated with gold and precious stones. From it emerges the Lilac Fairy, who is the godmother of Prince Desiree. The Prince kneels before her; the fairy raises him favorably and begins to ask about matters of the heart.
    - Have you fallen in love with anyone yet? she asks.
    “No,” replies the prince, “the noble maidens of my country have not captivated my heart; it is better to remain a bachelor than to marry only for the sake of the interests of the state
    - If so, - says the fairy, - I will show you your future wife; she is the most beautiful, captivating and intelligent princess in the whole world.
    But where can I see her?
    - I'll show you her shadow now. See if you like the princess and if you can love her.
    The Lilac Fairy turns her magic wand towards the rock, which suddenly opens up, and Aurora and her friends are seen sleeping in the depths. The fairy waves her wand and Aurora wakes up. Together with her ladies-in-waiting, the princess rushes to the stage. rays of the setting sun
    illuminate it with pink light. Desiree is amazed, overwhelmed with delight; he relentlessly follows Aurora, but each time eludes him. her dance,
    now languid, now passionate, more and more admires him. He wants to hug the girl, but she slips away to suddenly appear where the prince is not
    expecting to see her, now swinging on the branches of trees, now swimming in the river, now resting among the flowers. Finally, she again finds herself in the depths of the rock - and
    immediately disappears. Mad with love, Desiree throws herself at the feet of her godmother.
    - Where is this divine creature that you showed me? Take me to her, I want to see her, I want to press her to my heart!
    - Let's go to! - says the fairy. She tells the prince to get into her boat, which begins to slowly descend the river. Galifron continues to sleep in a sweet dream.
    The boat is moving fast, the landscape is becoming more and more deserted. It gets dark, soon the night falls - the silver light of the moon illuminates the path of the boat.

    A castle appears in the distance and disappears again around the bend of the river. But finally, the castle is the goal of the trip. The prince and the fairy get out of the boat.
    With a movement of the magic wand, the fairy orders the doors of the castle to open. You can see the entrance hall, where bodyguards and pages sleep sweetly.
    Prince Desire rushes there, accompanied by a fairy.
    The scene is shrouded in thick fog. Quiet music plays.
    Musical intermission.
    Picture four. Sleeping Beauty Castle.
    When the fog clears, the audience sees the chambers where Princess Aurora sleeps on a large bed, under a canopy. King Florestan and the queen sleep in
    armchairs by the daughter's bed. The court ladies, lords and pages, leaning against each other, are also fast asleep. Thick layers of dust and cobwebs cover furniture and people. The flame of candles sleeps, the flame in the fireplace sleeps. As if phosphorescent light illuminates the whole picture.
    The door opens on the left - Desiree and the fairy entered the sanctuary.
    Desire rushes to the bed of Aurora, but no matter how much he calls the princess, no matter how much he tries to wake the king, the queen and Catalabutte, who is sleeping on
    stool at the feet of the king, they do not wake up. The fairy calmly looks at Desiree's despair.
    Finally, the prince rushes to the Sleeping Beauty, kisses her on the forehead.
    And now the spell is broken. Aurora wakes up. The courtiers awaken with her. Dust and cobwebs disappear, candles light up the room again
    the fire crackles merrily in the fireplace.
    Desire begs the king to give him the hand of his daughter.

    This is her fate, - the king answers and joins the hands of young people.
    Act Three
    Picture five. Desiree and Aurora's wedding.
    Esplanade like the one in front of the Palace of Versailles. The king appears, accompanied by his retinue and groom. They are greeted by the courtiers.
    Divertissement.
    Ballet exit.
    Turkish quadrille. Ethiopian quadrille. African quadrille. American quadrille. Procession of characters of fairy tales.
    Big polonaise.
    It includes:
    1. Bluebeard and his wife.
    2. Puss in boots. (The Marquis de Carabas appears in his sedan chair, accompanied by servants.)
    3. Cinderella and Prince Fortune.
    4. Beauty and the Beast.
    5. Bluebird and Princess Florina.
    6. White cat. (She is carried on a scarlet velvet pillow
    ke four high servants.)
    7. Beauty with golden hair and Prince Avenan.
    8. Donkey skin and Prince Sharman.
    9. Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf.
    10. Rike-Crest and Princess Aime.
    11. A boy with a finger and his brothers.
    12. Cannibal and Cannibal.
    13. Fairy Carabosse (in her wagon drawn by rats).
    14. Good fairies (from the prologue).
    15. Lilac Fairy and her retinue.
    16. Four fairies: Pure Gold Fairy, Silver Fairy, Sapphire Fairy, Diamond Fairy.
    Everyone passes in front of the king and groom, bowing to them.
    Everyone is dancing a quadrille.
    Apotheosis. Great Fountains of Versailles, or Glory.

    , Konstantin Sergeev , Yuri Grigorovich

    History of creation

    Before Tchaikovsky, the French composer Ferdinand Gerold addressed the same plot, composing a ballet with the same name (literally: Beauty in a sleeping forest - La Belle au bois dormant) to a libretto by Eugène Scribe. This ballet first took place on the stage of the Paris Opera on April 27, 1829, staged by choreographer J.-P. Omer with the participation of Maria Taglioni, Liz Noble and others.

    The new version by Tchaikovsky and Petipa was recognized as outstanding and the ballet took its place among the world's masterpieces of ballet art.

    The main characters of the ballet: King Florestan, Queen, Princess Aurora; seven fairies: Lilac, Candide (Sincerity), Fleur-de-Farin (Flowering ears), Bread Crumb, Canary, Violant (Passion) and Carabosse; Prince Desire.

    List of numbers (in accordance with the clavier of P. I. Tchaikovsky)

    The further fate of music

    Already in the process of working on the first production, the score of P. I. Tchaikovsky underwent some changes. In the author's edition, the music of the prologue and the first act of the ballet was performed. Separate omissions and rearrangements were made in the second and third acts. In the suite of dances of hunters, huntresses and peasants, a minuet was stopped (at about the beginning of the 20th century, the situation changed to the opposite - instead of the previously existing dances, a minuet and the final farandole scene were performed). The variation of Aurora in "Nereids" was set to the music of the variation of the Gold Fairy from the third act (subsequently, a number of choreographers returned the original variation). The violin interlude preceding the second scene of this action was skipped (in a number of productions it was restored, in R. Nureyev's version it was used for Prince Desire's monologue before the appearance of Aurora's vision, there are also cases when the adagio "Nereid" was set to this music). In the third act, the Pas de quatre of the jewel fairies was cut. There was no variation of the Gold fairy (which sounded earlier in the dance of Aurora), the variation of the Sapphire fairy was also cropped. In its final form, Pas de quatre took the form of a soloist dance (Diamond) accompanied by three dancers. In the entre, the dance of the troika was replaced by the entrance of the solo fairy. Then there was a variation of the three fairies to the music of Silver, a solo variation of the Diamond and a common coda. This number has not been performed in the author's musical version in any of the many productions. Closest to her came R. Nureyev, who returned the variation of Sapphire (performed by a dancer also included in the Antre fey). The variation of Gold in the version by K. M. Sergeev is included in the part of the Lilac Fairy (with choreography choreographed by Petipa for Aurora) and is performed before the Jewels Ensemble, although most choreographers do not make such a rearrangement even if Tchaikovsky specially composed solo music is used in Nereids. In the Pas de deux of the main characters, the dance of the fairies of Gold and Silver was performed to the music of Antre (according to some evidence, with the participation of some "pages" - there is no unambiguous information about whether these were pupils or adult dancers).

    On the imperial stage, the performance underwent gradual changes, the exact sequence of which can be established from the posters. Almost immediately after the premiere, the slow Sarabande that preceded the final mazurka fell out of the third act. By the beginning of the 20th century, the above changes were made in the hunting scene, the prologue was missing the variations of the Lilac Fairy. By the 20s of the 20th century, a large amount of original choreography was cut: in the Prologue, the entry of Carabosse was reduced, in the first act - the scene of knitters and some fragments of the finale, in the second - dancing on the hunt.

    In 1922-23, F. Lopukhov set himself the task of objectively reproducing the production of M. I. Petipa, restoring its choreographic and musical dramaturgy as fully as possible. However, in the process of work, he made a number of changes, thereby initiating a wide practice of revising the musical side of the performance.

    Today, almost every choreographer who carries out a new edition of The Sleeping Beauty also creates a new version of its score.

    Productions

    In Russia

    Mariinskii Opera House

    Premiere
    • January 3 - choreographer M. I. Petipa, artists G. Levot, I. P. Andreev, K. M. Ivanov, M. A. Shishkov, M. I. Bocharov (sets), I. A. Vsevolozhsky (costumes) , conductor R. Drigo; Aurora - K. Brianza, Desiree - P. A. Gerdt, Lilac Fairy - M. M. Petipa, Puss in Boots - A. F. Bekefi
    Renewals
    • February 16 - choreographer N. G. Sergeev, artist K. A. Korovin, conductor R. Drigo.
    • October 8 - choreographer F. V. Lopukhov, artists K. A. Korovin, P. Ya. Ovchinnikov, V. S. Yakovlev, S. I. Petrov, N. A. Klodt, conductor V. A. Dranishnikov; Aurora - E. P. Gerdt, Desire - M. A. Dudko, Lilac fairy - M. Yu. Piltz, Carabosse fairy - A. I. Chekrygin.
    • March 25 - choreographer K. M. Sergeev, art. S. B. Virsaladze, conductor B. E. Khaikin; Aurora - N. M. Dudinskaya, Desire - K. M. Sergeev, Lilac fairy - A. Ya. Shelest, Carabosse fairy - B. V. Shavrov; the play was filmed (1964).
    • - choreographers K. M. Sergeev and N. M. Dudinskaya, artist S. B. Virsaladze, conductor J. E. Dalgat.
    • - choreographer S. G. Vikharev, an attempt at reconstructing an 1890 performance.

    big theater

    • January 17 - transfer of the production of M. Petipa at the Mariinsky Theater, choreographer A. A. Gorsky, artists A. F. Geltser, K. F. Waltz, conductor A. F. Arends; Aurora - L. A. Roslavleva, Prince Desire - I. N. Khlyustin, Lilac fairy - M. I. Grachevskaya, Carabosse fairy - V. F. Geltser.
    • May 24 - choreographer V. D. Tikhomirov (staged by Petipa), artist A. F. Geltser, conductor Yu. F. Fayer; Aurora - E. V. Geltser, Desire - V. D. Tikhomirov, Lilac fairy - M. V. Vasilyeva, Carabosse fairy - V. A. Ryabtsev.
    • March 20 - choreographers A. M. Messerer, A. I. Chekrygin, director B. A. Mordvinov, artist I. M. Rabinovich, conductor Yu. F. Fire; Aurora - M. T. Semyonova, Desire - V. D. Golubin, Lilac fairy - G. P. Petrova, Carabosse fairy - G. A. Lerhe.
    • April 9 - choreographer M. M. Gabovich, A. M. Messerer, artists M. Obolensky (sets), L. N. Silich (costumes), conductor Yu. F. Fire; Aurora - O. V. Lepeshinskaya, Desire - V. A. Preobrazhensky, Lilac fairy - L. K. Cherkasova, Carabosse fairy - E. S. Vanke.
    • December 7 - choreographer Yu. N. Grigorovich (new composition and edition based on Petipa's production), artist S. B. Virsaladze, conductor B. E. Khaikin; Aurora - M. M. Plisetskaya, Desire - N. B. Fadeechev, Lilac Fairy - R. K. Karelskaya, Carabosse Fairy - E. A. Kholina, Princess Florina - E. S. Maksimova, Blue Bird - V. V. Vasiliev.
    • May 31 - choreographer Yu. N. Grigorovich (new edition), production designer S. B. Virsaladze, conductor A. A. Kopylov; Aurora - E. S. Maksimova, Desire - V. V. Vasiliev; Lilac fairy - M. K. Leonova, Carabosse fairy - V. A. Levashov.
    • November 18 - choreographer Yu. N. Grigorovich (new version in two acts), production designer Ezio Frigerio, costume designer Frank Squarchapino, conductor Vasily Sinaisky Actors:
    • Princess Aurora - Svetlana Zakharova, (then Nina Kaptsova, Maria Alexandrova, Ekaterina Krysanova, Anna Nikulina, Evgenia Obraztsova)
    • Prince Desire - David Holberg, (then Alexander Volchkov, Nikolai Tsiskaridze, Semyon Chudin, Artyom Ovcharenko, Ruslan Skvortsov, Dmitry Gudanov)
    • Fairy Carabosse - Alexey Loparevich, (then Igor Tsvirko)
    • Lilac Fairy - Maria Allash, (then Ekaterina Shipulina, Olga Smirnova)
    • White cat - Yulia Lunkina, (then Victoria Litvinova, Maria Prorvich)
    • Puss in Boots - Igor Tsvirko, (then Alexander Smolyaninov, Alexei Matrakhov)
    • Princess Florina - Nina Kaptsova, (then Daria Khokhlova, Anastasia Stashkevich, Chinara Alizade, Kristina Kretova)
    • Blue bird - Artyom Ovcharenko, (then Vladislav Lantratov, Vyacheslav Lopatin)
    • Little Red Riding Hood - Anastasia Stashkevich, (then Ksenia Pcholkina, Maria Mishina)
    • Gray wolf - Alexey Koryagin, (then Anton Savichev, Alexander Vorobyov)
    • Cinderella - Daria Khokhlova, (then Ksenia Kern, Anna Tikhomirova)
    • Prince Fortune - Karim Abdullin, (then Klim Efimov, Artyom Belyakov)

    Mikhailovsky Theater

    • November 11 of the year - choreographer N. N. Boyarchikov (choreography by Marius Petipa, revised by Fyodor Lopukhov, Konstantin Sergeev, Pyotr Gusev), production designer Vyacheslav Okunev, costume designer Irina Press, music director and conductor Andrei Anikhanov. Characters:
    • Princess Aurora - Regina Kuzmicheva, (then Olga Shestakova)
    • Prince Desire - Yuri Petukhov, (then Sergei Basalaev)
    • Lilac Fairy - Galina Laricheva
    • Fairy Carabosse - Gennady Sudakov
    • Princess Aurora - Irina Perren, (then Svetlana Zakharova, Natalia Osipova)
    • Prince Desire - Leonid Sarafanov, (then Ivan Vasiliev)
    • Lilac Fairy - Ekaterina Borchenko
    • Fairy Carabosse - Rishat Yulbarisov
    • Princess Florina - Sabina Yapparova
    • Blue bird - Nikolai Korypaev

    In other theaters

    • Saratov Opera and Ballet Theater - 1941, choreographer K. I. Salnikova; 1962, choreographer V. T. Adashevsky.
    • Yekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theater - 1952, choreographer M. L. Satunovsky; 1966, choreographer S. M. Tulubyeva; 1989, edited by K. M. Sergeev, choreographer T. Soboleva.
    • Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater - 1952, choreographers V. I. Vainonen; 1967, choreographers K. M. Sergeev and N. M. Dudinskaya; 1987, choreographer G. T. Komleva.
    • Nizhny Novgorod Opera and Ballet Theater - 1953, choreographer G. I. Yazvinsky; 1973, choreographer Yu. Ya. Druzhinin.
    • Perm Opera and Ballet Theater - 1953, choreographer Yu. P. Kovalev; 1968, choreographer N. S. Markaryants.
    • Samara Opera and Ballet Theater - 1955, choreographer N. V. Danilova; 1970, choreographer E. X. Tann, 1977, renewed by I. A. Chernyshev; 2011, choreographer G. T. Komleva.
    • Voronezh Opera and Ballet Theater - 1983, choreographer K. M. Ter-Stepanova.

    Abroad

    Russian Ballet Diaghilev

    In the early 1920s, experiencing serious financial difficulties, Diaghilev was looking for ways to commercialize art. Looking back on the musical comedy's many years of stage success, Chu Chin Chou”, he decided to “invent a ballet that would go on all the time”: “That would be happiness!”. At first, Grigoriev told him that this was not only impossible, but would bore him to death. Nevertheless, Diaghilev decided to put on a magnificent multi-act production, which was supposed to make daily gatherings in London throughout the winter season. As such a "commercial" performance, he chose "Sleeping Beauty" in the choreography of the "retrograde" Petipa, for which during the "World of Art" he showed only contempt. Now, the ballet, prepared by a team of Russian émigrés, was supposed to be "a grandiose laudatory ode to the art of pre-revolutionary tsarist Russia." Diaghilev signed a contract with Nikolai Sergeev, who in the year resumed the performance at the Mariinsky Theater and had the notation of the performance, and engaged Olga Spesivtseva, who lived in Riga, to play the main part. The production was to be staged by Bronislava Nijinska, who had fled Kyiv and now lived in Paris. She agreed to take on the job, but the revival of Sleeping Beauty seemed to her "an absurdity, a failure in the past ... it seemed to be a refutation of the fundamental "religion" of the troupe ... a refusal to search for new forms." "I started my first job overwhelmed with protest against myself," she wrote.

    Probably Diaghilev changed the title from The Sleeping Beauty to The Princess ( The Sleeping Princess) with an eye on the fashion for the highest aristocracy after the revolution. At the same time, it is known that when asked why he did this, he allegedly replied that he "did not have beauties."

    Diaghilev decided to entrust the design to André Derain, but he was not interested in the project; the second candidate, Alexandre Benois, decided to stay in Petersburg, devoting himself to the Hermitage. Then Diaghilev turned to Bakst. The artist, who had to complete more than 200 sketches for more than 100 costumes and scenery for three acts in two months, in order to financially secure himself, made it a condition to give him the next avant-garde, as he considered, production - Igor Stravinsky's The Mavra, which later led Diaghilev to litigation and even greater losses.

    Diaghilev made serious cuts to the score and included in it a variation of the Pellet fairy from the ballet The Nutcracker. At the same time, Stravinsky orchestrated a previously unperformed intermission. To the original choreography by Marius Petipa, Nijinska added several of her own fragments, including the hopak "Three Ivans", which became one of the most popular numbers, dances of the Marquis,

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