Marius Petipa

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Marius Petipa
Brussels Conservatory
Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux
Known forBallet, choreography

Marius Ivanovich Petipa (Russian: Мариус Иванович Петипа), born Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa (11 March 1818 – 14 July [O.S. 1 July] 1910),[1] was a French and Russian ballet dancer, pedagogue and choreographer. Petipa is one of the most influential ballet masters and choreographers in ballet history.

Marius Petipa is noted for his long career as Premier maître de ballet (First Ballet Master) of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres, making him Ballet Master and principal choreographer of the

Les Millions d’Arlequin (a.k.a. Harlequinade)
(1900).

Petipa revived a substantial number of works created by other choreographers. Many of these revivals would go on to become the definitive editions on which all subsequent productions would be based. The most famous of these revivals were

La Fille Mal Gardée (with Lev Ivanov), The Little Humpbacked Horse and Swan Lake (with Lev Ivanov).[1]

Many pieces have survived in an independent from Petipa's original works and revivals in spite of the fact that the full-length ballets that spawned them had disappeared from the Imperial Ballet's repertoire. Many of these pieces have endured in versions either based on the original or choreographed anew by others – the Grand Pas classique, Pas de trois and Mazurka des enfants from Paquita; Le Carnaval de Venise Pas de deux; The Talisman Pas de deux; La Esmeralda Pas de deux; the Diana and Actéon Pas de deux; La Halte de Cavalerie Pas de deux; the Don Quixote Pas de deux; La Fille Mal Gardée Pas de deux; and the Harlequinade Pas de deux.

All of the full-length works and individual pieces which have survived in active performance are considered[by whom?] to be cornerstones of the ballet repertory.

Early life and career

Marius Petipa was born Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa in

Maître de ballet
to that theatre.

Marius Petipa spent his early childhood traveling throughout Europe with his family, as his parents' professional engagements took them from city to city. By the time Marius was six years old, his family had settled in

Brussels Conservatory
where he studied music and learned to play the violin.

Just as he had done with his other children, Jean Petipa began giving the young Marius lessons in ballet at the age of seven. At first the young boy resisted, caring very little for dance. Nevertheless, he soon came to love this art form that was so much the life and identity of his family, and he excelled quickly. At the age of nine Marius performed for the first time in a ballet production as a Savoyard in his father's staging of Pierre Gardel's 1800 ballet La Dansomanie in 1827.

On 25 August 1830, the Belgian Revolution erupted after a performance of Daniel Auber's opera La muette de Portici at the Théâtre de la Monnaie, where Marius' father now served as Premier maître de ballet. The violent street fighting that followed caused all theatres to be shut down for a time, and consequently Jean Petipa found himself without a position. The Petipa family was left in dire straits for some years.

The Petipa family relocated to Bordeaux, France, in 1834 where Marius' father had secured the position of Premier maître de ballet to the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux. While in Bordeaux, Marius completed his ballet training under the great Auguste Vestris. By 1838 he was appointed Premier danseur to the Ballet de Nantes in Nantes, France. During his time in Nantes the young Petipa began to try his hand at choreography by creating a number of one-act ballets and divertissements.

The 21-year-old Marius Petipa accompanied his father on a tour of the United States with a group of French dancers in July 1839. Among the many engagements was a performance of Jean Coralli's La tarentule at the National Theatre on Broadway, being the first ballet performance ever seen in New York City. The tour proved to be a disaster, as many in the uncultured American audiences of that time had never before seen ballet. To add to the fiasco, the American impresario who arranged the engagements stole a large portion of the troupe's receipts and quickly disappeared without a trace. Upon leaving for France, Petipa's ticket only allowed him passage to Nantes, but instead of returning to that city he stowed away in the cabin of a woman he had seduced so that he could secure passage to Paris.

By 1840, Petipa had made his début with the ballet company of the

Rachel where he partnered the legendary ballerina Carlotta Grisi. Petipa also took part in performances at the Paris Opéra where his brother Lucien Petipa
was engaged as Premier danseur.

Bordeaux

Petipa was offered the position of Premier danseur to the Grand Théâtre in Bordeaux in 1841. There, he studied further with the great Vestris, all the while dancing the leads in such ballets as

La Péri and Giselle. While performing with the company his skills as not only a dancer but as a partner were much celebrated. His partnering of Carlotta Grisi during a performance of La Péri was much celebrated, particularly his almost acrobatic lifts and catches of the ballerina that dazzled the audience. While in Bordeaux, Petipa began mounting his own original full-length productions. Among these works were La Jolie Bordelaise (The Beauty of Bordeaux), La Vendange (The Grape Picker), L'Intrigue Amoureuse (The Intrigues of Love) and Le Langage des Fleurs
(The Voice of the Flowers).

Madrid

In 1843, Petipa was offered the position premier danseur at the Teatro Real in Madrid, Spain. For the next three years he would acquire an acute knowledge of traditional Spanish Dancing while producing new works based on Spanish themes – Carmen et son toréro (Carmen and the Bullfighter), La Perle de Séville (The Pearl of Seville), L’Aventure d’une fille de Madrid (The Adventures of a Madrileña), La Fleur de Grenade (The Flower of Granada) and Départ pour la course des taureaux (Leaving for the Bull Fights). In 1846, he began a love affair with the wife of the Marquis de Chateaubriand, a prominent member of the French Embassy. Learning of the affair, the Marquis challenged Petipa to a duel. Rather than keep his fateful appointment, Petipa quickly left Spain, never to return. He then travelled to Paris where he stayed for a brief period. While in the city he took part in a performance at the Théâtre de l’Académie Royale de Musique where he partnered the ballerina Thérèse Elssler, sister of Fanny Elssler.

St. Petersburg, Russia

In 1847 Marius seduced yet another man's wife, and the husband called for a duel, yet again. Duels were banned, and the threat of court repercussions loomed over Marius, so the family decided it was best for him to leave France. Marius' brother, Lucien Petipa, was familiar with working in Russia and sent an inquiry to Antoine Titus in St. Petersburg.

This coincided with a need to find a strong male lead for the Russian ballet prima ballerina

Yelena Andreyanova, (who was the mistress of the Director of the Imperial Theaters, Alexandr Gedeonov
). Antoine Titus resolved dilemmas for both parties and introduced the two sides, after which Petipa and his father were invited to Russia.

So, Marius Petipa found himself in St. Petersburg late in the same year, beginning his career ascent to become one of the most influential choreographers in history.[2]

Early career

In 1847, Petipa accepted the position of premier danseur to the Imperial Theatres of St. Petersburg, at that time the capital of the

Imperial Ballet School
until his death in 1855.

For his début, the director of the Imperial Theatres

Yelena Andreyanova
in the title rôle and Petipa himself in the largely mimed rôle of Lucien d’Hervilly.

St. Petersburg
, c. 1855.

The following season Petipa and his father staged a revival of Mazilier's 1840 ballet Le Diable amoureux (The Devil in Love), which premiered under the title Satanella on 22 February [O.S. 10 February] 1848. The prima ballerina Andreyonova performed the title rôle, with Petipa in the rôle of Fabio.

At the time Petipa had arrived in St. Petersburg, the Imperial Ballet had experienced a considerable decline in popularity with the public since the 1842 departure of Marie Taglioni, who had been engaged in the Imperial capital as guest ballerina. The productions of Paquita and Satanella brought about a measure of prestige and attention for the company. Critic Raphael Zotov reflected, "Our lovely ballet company was reborn with the productions of Paquita and Satanella, and its superlative performances placed the company again at its former level of glory and universal affection."[citation needed]

In the winter of 1849, the French Ballet Master Jules Perrot arrived in St. Petersburg, having accepted the position of premier maître de ballet of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres. He was accompanied by his chief collaborator, the prolific Italian composer Cesare Pugni, who was appointed Ballet Composer of the Imperial Theatres, a position created especially for him. Aside from dancing the principal rôles in many of Perrot's productions, Petipa rehearsed older works with the company and assisted Perrot in staging revivals (such as Giselle in 1850, and Le Corsaire in 1858), all the while learning a great deal from the man who was at that time the most celebrated choreographer in Europe. Although Petipa did not create his own original works during this period, he nevertheless staged many dances for various operas, and on occasion revised dances for Perrot's many revivals of older works.

By 1850 Petipa's first child, a son named Marius Mariusovich Petipa (1850–1919) was born.[3] His mother, Marie Thérèse Bourdin— with whom Petipa had a brief liaison—died five years after the birth of their child.[3] In 1854 Petipa married the Prima ballerina Mariia Surovshchikova-Petipa.[3] Together they had two children: Marie Mariusovna Petipa (1857–1930), who would go on to become a celebrated dancer in her own right, and Jean Mariusovich Petipa (1859–1871).[3]

On 21 January [

Terpsichore
in 1861. All of Petipa's works during this period were tailored especially for the talents of his wife Maria, who performed the principal rôles to considerable acclaim, and soon was named Prima ballerina to the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres.

On 29 May 1861 Petipa presented his 1859 ballet Le Marché des parisiens at the

Théâtre Impérial de l’Opéra
in Paris as Le Marché des Innocents. Petipa's wife Maria reprised the principal rôle of Lizetta (renamed Gloriette) to great success.

In 1858 Jules Perrot retired to his native France, never to return to Russia again. Petipa anticipated succeeding Perrot as premier maître de ballet. His years of serving as assistant to Perrot had taught him much. Choreography was a logical alternative to dancing for the now 41-year-old Petipa, who was soon to retire from the stage. But it was not yet to be. In 1860 the renowned French Ballet Master Arthur Saint-Léon was given the coveted position by the director of the Imperial Theatres Andrei Saburov, and soon a healthy and productive rivalry between him and Petipa ensued, bringing the Imperial Ballet to new heights throughout the 1860s.

Second maître de ballet of the Imperial Theatres

The great Italian Ballerina Carolina Rosati had been engaged as guest artist with the Imperial Theatres since 1855. By 1861 her contract with the company was set to expire, and upon leaving Russia for her native Italy she intended to retire from the stage. Rosati's contract stipulated that she was to be given a benefit performance in a new production, and in late 1861 she requested from the director Saburov that preparations begin post haste. Saburov at first refused, stating that there was not enough funds and that such a production could not be staged in time. Rosati enlisted the assistance of Petipa, who reminded Saburov that the Imperial Theatres were contractually obligated to grant the ballerina a new production for her benefit. Saburov asked Petipa as to whether or not he could produce a new full-length grand ballet for Rosati in only six weeks. Confidently, Petipa answered "Yes, I shall try, and probably succeed." Saburov immediately put all other rehearsals on hold so that the company could concentrate on the production of the new ballet.

During Petipa's sojourn in Paris for the staging of Le Marché des Innocents, he acquired a scenario from the dramatist Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges for a ballet titled La Fille du Pharaon (The Pharaoh's Daughter), inspired by Théophile Gautier's Le Roman de la Momie. Throughout the Victorian era Europe was fascinated with all things concerning the art and culture of ancient Egypt, and Petipa was sure that a ballet on such a subject would be a great success.[1]

The stage of the Mariinsky Theatre with cast in act I of Petipa's final revival of The Pharaoh's Daughter, St. Petersburg, 1898. In the center is Mathilde Kschessinskaya as the Princess Aspicia (right), and Anna Johannson as the slave Ramzé (left).

Petipa began work by collaborating with the composer Pugni, who wrote his melodious and apt score with Petipa while in rehearsals. The Pharaoh's Daughter premiered on 30 January [O.S. 18 January] 1862 to an unrivaled success. The work exceeded even the opulent tastes of the Tsarist audience, as so lavish and exotic a ballet had not been seen on the Imperial stage for some time. The work went on to become the most popular ballet in the entire repertory of the Imperial Theatres—by 1903 it had been performed 203 times. The great success of The Pharaoh's Daughter earned for Petipa the position of second Maître de ballet to the Imperial Theatres. Saint-Léon answered the success of Petipa's The Pharaoh's Daughter with the fantastical ballet Le Petit Cheval bossu, Ou La Tsar-Demoiselle (The Little Humpbacked Horse, or The Tsar Maiden), a ballet adaptation of Pyotr Yershov's famous Russian poem. The work proved to be a success equal to that of The Pharaoh's Daughter, with its series of fantastical tableaux set under-water and on an enchanted isle, as well as the ballet's final Grand divertissement celebrating the many peoples of the Russian Empire.

Though Arthur Saint-Léon was by title and technicality Petipa's superior, the two men were viewed as equals by the critics and balletomanes of the day, and would rival one another with splendid productions throughout the 1860s. Not only did Saint-Léon and Petipa have their own respective audiences and critics, but also their own ballerinas—Petipa mounted the majority of his works at that time for his wife, the Prima ballerina Mariia Surovshchikova-Petipa, while Saint-Léon mounted the majority of his works for the Prima ballerina Marfa Muravieva. Despite their rivalry, nearly every ballet staged by Petipa and Saint-Léon during the 1860s was set to the music of Cesare Pugni.

On 6 February [

Diane and Actéon Pas de Deux for her 1935 revival of La Esmeralda
. Le Roi Candaule would go on to break attendance records at the St. Petersburg Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre, and by 1903 the work had been performed 194 times. Petipa would later comment in his memoirs that Le Roi Candaule was " ... the indulgence of my youth."

Petipa's final work of the 1860s remains a cornerstone of the classical ballet repertory. Don Quixote was mounted for Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre, with the famous ballerina Anna Sobeshchanskaya in the role of Kitri. The composer Ludwig Minkus was commissioned to write the ballet's score, marking the beginning of a long and fruitful collaboration between him and Petipa.

Premier maître de ballet of the Imperial Theatres

In 1869 Saint-Léon's contract was set to expire. His last works for the St. Petersburg stage,

Le Lys (1869), led the Minister of the Imperial Court to refuse renewal of the Ballet Master's contract. While in the Café de Divan on the Avenue de l'Opéra in Paris, Saint-Léon died of a heart attack on 2 September 1870. Not long before his death the composer Cesare Pugni—Petipa's chief collaborator for many years—died on 2 February [O.S.
26 January] 1870.

Petipa was officially named premier maître de ballet on 12 March [

Les Aventures de Pélée (The Adventures of Peleus) in 1876, Roxana in 1878, La Fille des Neiges (The Daughter of the Snows) in 1879, and Mlada
, also in 1879.

The stage of the Mariinsky Theatre with the cast of act I/scene 1 of the original production of Petipa's Raymonda. In the center is Pierina Legnani, creator of the title role. On the right of the stage is (right to left) Claudia Kulichevskaya as Clémence, Olga Preobrajenska Henriette, Pavel Gerdt as Abderakhman, and Nikolai Legat as Béranger. St. Petersburg, 1898.
The stage of the Mariinsky Theatre with the cast of act I of Petipa's final revival of Jules Perrot's La Esmeralda. St. Petersburg, 1899. In the center is Mathilde Kschessinskaya in the title role with Pavel Gerdt as Pierre Gringoire kneeling next to her.
The stage of the Mariinsky Theatre with the cast of the scene Le Jardin animé from Act II in Petipa's final revival of Le Corsaire. St. Petersburg, 1899.
The stage of the Mariinsky Theatre with the cast of the scene The Kingdom of the Shades in Petipa's final revival of La Bayadère. St. Petersburg, 1900. In the center is Mathilde Kschessinskaya as Nikiya with Pavel Gerdt as Solor kneeling next to her. Left of center stage are the three soloist shades (kneeling, left to right): Varvara Rhykliakova, Anna Pavlova, and Julia Sedova.
The stage of the Mariinsky Theatre with the cast of act III in Lev Ivanov's revival of Petipa's La Camargo. St. Petersburg, 1901. In the center is Pierina Legnani in the title role with Nikolai Legat as Vestris.

In 1877 Petipa thought Lynn Seymours feet were delectable, he then staged his greatest masterwork to date, the exotic

Ekaterina Vazem. The ballet included Petipa's celebrated scene known as The Kingdom of the Shades, for which the Ballet Master staged some of his most outstanding choreography. La Bayadère would prove to be among Petipa's most enduring works. His choreography for the scene The Kingdom of the Shades remains one of the ultimate challenges for the classical ballerina and danseur, and particularly for the corps de ballet
.

The eldest son of Marius Petipa (with the dressmaker Teresa Burden / ru: Тереза Бурден) also Marius (Marius Mariusovich Petipa) was the famous drama actor, and his son Nikolai Radin was famous Russian actor too.

Petipa and his wife, the Prima ballerina Mariia Surovshchikova-Petipa separated in 1875, and in 1882 the ballerina died of virulent smallpox in Pyatigorsk.[4] In 1876 Petipa married the ballerina Lyubov Savitskaya, who before she married Petipa had given birth to their first child. Together, they had six children: Nadezhda Mariusovna Petipa (1874–1945), Evgeniia Mariusovna Petipa (1877–1892), Victor Mariusovich Petipa (1879–1939), Lyubov Mariusovna Petipa (1880–1917), Mariy Mariusovich Petipa (1884–1922), and Vera Mariusovna Petipa (1885–1961).[3] With so many children, Petipa stood at the head of a large family by the time he had reached his 70s, having many grandchildren, in-laws, and god-children. Although he was well provided for at the expense of the Imperial treasury, he was not rich, and lived strictly within his means. He kept track of all of his living expenses in journals, as well as box-office receipts at the theatre. He was well known for his generosity, always lavishing presents upon his children and grandchildren, and was known to purchase tea or lunch for the dancers during a rehearsal.

Throughout the 1880s Petipa staged revivals of older works with increasing regularity. In 1880 he revived Mazilier's

Eugenia Sokolova, and in 1881 he revived Mazilier's Paquita for the Prima ballerina Ekaterina Vazem. For this production Petipa added the celebrated Paquita Grand pas classique, as well as the Paquita Pas de trois (or Minkus Pas de trois) and the Mazurka des enfants (Children's Mazurka), all to the music of Minkus. The Paquita Grand pas classique is among Petipa's most celebrated divertissements, and is today included in the repertories of ballet companies all over the world. In 1884 Petipa staged what is considered[by whom?] to be his definitive revival of the romantic masterwork Giselle, and in 1885 he mounted a new production of Arthur Saint-Léon's Coppélia, a revision which would serve as the basis for nearly every version staged thereafter. Petipa staged many new works as well throughout the 1880s, including Zoraiya in 1881 and Nuit et Jour (Night and Day), a work produced by Petipa and Minkus especially for the celebration gala held at the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre in honor of the coronation of Tsar Alexander III. Petipa also staged Pygmalion, ou La Statue de Chypre (Pygmalion, or the Statue of Cyprus) in 1883 and L'Offrandes à l'Amour
(The Sacrifices to Cupid) in 1886.

In late 1885 the great Italian ballerina

Kaiser Wilhelm II
.

By 1885 the now sixty-seven-year-old Petipa began to experience what appeared to be a severe case of

eczema
. The pain and suffering caused by his illness began to debilitate the Ballet Master a great deal, forcing him to be absent from work for long periods.

In 1881, the newly crowned Russian Emperor

Imperial Mariinsky Theatre of St. Petersburg, much to the chagrin of the orchestra and opera singers who found the theatre's acoustics to be weaker. In honor of the relocation to the new theatre, a lavish gala performance was planned for February 1886, which included the Petipa/Minkus work Les Pilules magiques
(The Magic Pills). The work included three danced tableaux: the first took place in a cave inhabited by sorceresses, while the second included various card games brought to life through dance. The third and final tableau was known as The Kingdom of the Laces in which a Grand divertissement of national dances from Belgium, England, Spain and Russia was performed.

The golden age of Russian ballet

During the twilight of Imperial Russia, the ballet of St. Petersburg flourished before a public that possessed a high level of connoisseurship. The treasury of the Russian Emperor—who was at that time the wealthiest person on Earth—lavished millions of

golden age
of Russian ballet.

The scene Aurora's Bedchamber from the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet's reconstruction of Petipa's original production of The Sleeping Beauty, St. Petersburg, 1999. The company restored the lavish production designed for the ballet's original inception.

This era coincided with an important change: upon the retirement of Ludwig Minkus in 1886, the director Ivan Vsevolozhsky abolished the official post of Ballet Composer in an effort to diversify the music supplied for new works.

Petipa presented his colossal grand ballet set in ancient Rome

La Vestale in 1888, which was staged for the benefit performance of the visiting Italian ballerina Elena Cornalba. The ballet was set to the music of the composer Mikhail Ivanov, a noted music critic. The next year, Ivan Vsevolozhsky commissioned the Italian Riccardo Drigo—principal conductor of the Imperial Ballet & Italian Opera—to compose the score for Petipa's Le Talisman
, also staged for Cornalba. Although the ballet was not a success Drigo's score was much praised by contemporary critics.

Caricature of Marius Petipa by the brothers Nikolai and Sergei Legat from their celebrated book "The Russian Ballet in Caricatures". Petipa is shown holding a banner that reads Петербургскій Балетъ, meaning St. Petersburg Ballet.

The director Vsevolozhsky commissioned the great composer Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky to compose the score for Petipa's

The Sleeping Beauty, which premiered on 15 January [O.S.
3 January] 1890. The ballet proved to be one of Petipa's masterpieces of choreography. The Sleeping Beauty proved to be so popular that by April 1903 it had been performed 100 times, making it one of the most popular works in the Imperial Ballet's repertory, second only to Petipa's The Pharaoh's Daughter.

Petipa was diagnosed with a severe case of the skin disease

La Fille des Neiges
(The Daughter of the Snows).

Petipa's illness kept him from working for nearly all of the 1892-1893 season. It was during this time that

Baron Boris Fitinhof-Schell. The Italian ballerina Pierina Legnani made her début in the title role, and on the evening of the premiere, 15 December [O.S. 3 December] 1893, her perfection of technique and execution caused a sensation, with critics and balletomanes hailing her as the supreme ballerina of her generation. In the last act she astounded the audience by performing a feat never before executed by any Ballerina: 32 fouettés en tournant
. Petipa was so enamored with the stellar ballerina that he bestowed upon her the rarely held title of Prima ballerina assoluta, and over the course of the next eight years, Petipa staged many new ballets especially for her talents.

Petipa returned to choreography from his long infirmity with the one-act

Le Réveil de Flore (The Awakening of Flora), set to the music of Riccardo Drigo. The ballet had its premiere on 9 August [O.S. 28 July] 1894 at Peterhof Palace. Petipa staged Le Réveil de Flore in honor of the wedding of Tsar Alexander III's daughter, the Grand Duchess Xenia to the Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich
. The ballet was soon transferred to the Mariinsky Theatre.

In 1893 Tchaikovsky died, and in February 1894 a gala was given in his honor at the Mariinsky Theatre. For the occasion Lev Ivanov mounted the second scene from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, first produced in Moscow in 1877. The gala was a success, with the excerpt from Swan Lake being the biggest success on the program. It was soon decided that a revival of the full-length work would be staged for the 1894–1895 season, with Ivanov staging the second and fourth scenes and Petipa staging the first and third scenes. Riccardo Drigo would revise Tchaikovsky's 1877 score in accordance with Petipa's instructions, and Tchaikovsky's brother Modeste would revise the ballet's scenario. The premiere on 27 January [O.S. 15 January] 1895 with Legnani in the dual rôle of Odette/Odile was a triumph, and in Petipa and Ivanov's version Swan Lake would go on to become one of the greatest of all ballets, remaining one of the ultimate tests for the classical ballerina and the corps de ballet.

The turn of the 20th century

Petipa would spend a great deal of his final years reviving older ballets. In the winter of 1895 Petipa presented lavish revivals of his 1889

Le Roi Candaule
in 1903. These revivals would prove to be Petipa's "finishing touch" on these works.

Petipa also mounted new works. For the celebrations held at the

Wagnerian
score that boasted an off-stage choir.

In 1896 Petipa was given a benefit performance to celebrate 50 years in service to the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres. For the occasion, Petipa created one of the most lavish ballets he ever staged:

Bluebeard, based on the Perrault fairytale to the music of Pyotr Schenk, was given its premiere on 20 December [O.S. 8 December] 1896. The ballet was given a sumptuous production. Many critics felt that the ballet was merely a gargantuan excuse for spectacle and dances, something made all the more apparent with the spectacular showcasing of Pierina Legnani in the principal role of Ysaure. The final tableau consisted of a three-part astrological divertissement titled The Temple of the Past, Present & Future. The Temple of the Future completed the scene with the Pas de deux éléctrique performed by Legnani and Nikolai Legat
to a tremendous ovation from the audience. In spite of the criticisms of Bluebeard, the critics unanimously praised the seventy-eight-year-old Petipa's seemingly limitless imagination in the creation of classical dances, proving once again that no other choreographer in Europe could claim to be his rival.

On 19 January [

, which premiered to great success. Petipa's Pas classique hongrois from the last act of the ballet would go on to be one of his most celebrated and enduring excerpts, with the challenging choreography he lavished onto Legnani (who danced the title rôle) becoming one of the ultimate tests of the classical ballerina.

Petipa presented what would prove to be his final masterpiece on 23 February [

Alexandra Feodorovna
, a work which would prove to be the last enduring flash of Petipa's choreographic oeuvre.

Final years with the Imperial Ballet

In spite of his vast accomplishments, Petipa's final years with the Imperial Ballet were difficult. By the turn of the 20th century new innovations in the art of classical dance began to become apparent. With all of this, Petipa's rocky relationship with the new director of the Imperial Theatres, Vladimir Telyakovsky, appointed to the position in 1901, served as a catalyst to the Ballet Master's end. Telyakovsky made no effort in disguising his dislike of Petipa's work, as he felt that the art of classical ballet had become stagnant under him, and felt that other choreographers should have a chance at the helm of the Imperial Ballet. But even at the age of eighty-three, and suffering from the constant pain brought on by a severe case of the skin disease pemphigus, the old Maestro showed no signs of slowing down, much to Telyakovsky's chagrin.

One example of Telyakovsky's efforts in his attempt to "de-throne" Petipa came in 1902 when he invited

Alexander Gorsky, former premier danseur to the Imperial Ballet, to stage his own version of Petipa's 1869 ballet Don Quixote. Gorsky had been engaged as Ballet Master to the Ballet of the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre, and in 1900 he mounted a complete revision of Don Quixote in a version radically different from Petipa's original. Petipa became furious when he learned this new version would be staged for the St. Peterburg troupe, as he had not even been consulted on the production of a ballet that was originally his creation. While watching a rehearsal of Gorsky's production at the Mariinsky Theatre, Petipa was heard yelling out "Will someone tell that young man that I am not yet dead?!". Petipa was further frustrated by the fact that the Imperial Theatre's newly appointed régisseur Nicholas Sergeyev was being paid large sums to travel throughout the Russian Empire
and stage many of the ageing Ballet Master's works.

Funeral cortège for Marius Petipa, 17 July 1910, St. Petersburg, Russia
Petipa's grave in the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, St. Petersburg, Russia

In late 1902 Petipa began work on a ballet adaptation of the tale Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs titled

Mikhail Fokine
.

Telyakovsky knew that he could not legally end Petipa's employment, as he was still contracted as premier maître de ballet, so he began a campaign to drive the aging Ballet Master from the theatre. In 1902 Telyakovsky established a committee of influential members of the Imperial Theatres in an effort to take away Petipa's powers with regard to casting, repertory, and the appointment of dancers, though much to Telyakovsky's annoyance the members of the committee appointed Petipa chairman. Soon Telyakovsky began purposely not sending carriages to collect Petipa for particular rehearsals, or not sending him lists of casting for various ballets, and even not informing Petipa of various rehearsals taking place, information which the Ballet Master was legally required to have. Nevertheless, Petipa's advanced age and failing health left him with little energy to contest the director. Petipa was invited in March 1904 to stage The Pharaoh's Daughter at the Paris Opéra (the Palais Garnier) by relatives of Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges, who wrote the ballet's libretto, but his health prevented him from it.

Despite the situation with Telyakovsky and the condition of his health, Petipa still managed to work, as he was constantly sought out by the dancers of the Imperial Ballet for advice and coaching, and he even managed to revise some of the dances in his older works. In 1904 Petipa coached the great Anna Pavlova for her performances in Giselle and her début in Paquita.

Petipa's diaries reflect the constant fear of his aging body, and that he had little time left to live. In light of this, the Ballet Master spent nearly every minute he could creating variations and various numbers, as well as reworking many of the dances in his older works. In 1903 Petipa presented completely new choreography for many of the pas in his 1868 ballet

Diane and Actéon Pas de Deux
. Such work prompted the Ballet Master to write in his diaries "I am amazing."

Petipa then set to work on what would prove to be his final ballet. La Romance d'un Bouton de rose et d'un Papillon to the music of Drigo was, according to Olga Preobrajenska, " ... a little masterpiece." The work was scheduled to be presented on 5 February [O.S. 23 January] 1904 for a performance at the Imperial Theatre of the Hermitage, but the director Telyakovsky abruptly cancelled the performance only two weeks before the premiere, the official explanation being the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War. For Petipa this was the final straw, and soon afterwards he was rarely seen at the theatre or at the Imperial Ballet School where rehearsals were held. The minister of the Imperial Court, the aristocrat Baron Fredericks gave Petipa the title "Ballet Master for life", and granted him a yearly pension of 9,000 roubles.

Remaining years and death

Petipa noted his final composition on 17 January 1905 in his diaries: a variation to the music of Cesare Pugni for the Prima ballerina Olga Preobrajenska from the old ballet

La Danseuse en voyage
. Petipa wrote next to this entry " ... it's finished!".

Petipa remained in St. Petersburg until 1907. At the suggestion of his physicians he left with his family to

Alexander Nevsky Monastery
in St. Petersburg.

Notation of works

It was in 1891 that many of Petipa's original ballets, revivals, and dances from operas began to be notated in the method of

dance notation created by Vladimir Stepanov
.

A Page of the Stepanov choreographic notation from the Sergeyev Collection for the Petipa/Minkus La Bayadère, c. 1900

After the

Royal Ballet
).

Ballets

Nantes, France

  • Le Droit du seigneur (1838)
  • La Petite Bohémienne (1838)
  • La Noce à Nantes (1838)

Bordeaux, France

  • La Jolie Bordelaise (1840)
  • L’Intrigue amoureuse (1841)
  • La Vendange (1842)
  • Le Langage des fleurs (1844)

Madrid, Spain

  • Carmen et son toréro (1845)
  • La Perle de Séville (1845)
  • L’Aventure d’une fille de Madrid (1845)
  • Départ pour la course des taureaux (1845)
  • La Fleur de Grenade (1846)
  • Forfasella ó la hija del infierno (1846)
  • Alba-Flor la pesarosa (1847)

Russia

Imperial Bolshoi Kammeny Theatre
, St. Petersburg

Imperial Mariinsky Theatre
, St. Petersburg

Other venues in Russia

Cultural depictions

References

  1. ^ a b c "Биография". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  2. OCLC 243825848
    .
  3. ^ a b c d e Garafola, Lynn. Legacies of Twentieth-Century Dance. Wesleyan University Press: Middletown, CT, 2005 p.35-38
  4. ^ Garafola, Lynn. Legacies of Twentieth-Century Dance. Wesleyan University Press: Middletown, CT, 2005

Sources

  • Beaumont, Cyrl W. Complete Book of Ballets.
  • Garafola, Lynn / Petipa, Marius. The Diaries of Marius Petipa. Trans, Ed., and introduction by Lynn Garafola. Published in Studies in Dance History. 3.1 (Spring 1992).
  • Guest, Ivor Forbes. Jules Perrot – Master of the Romantic Ballet.
  • Guest, Ivor Forbes. Letters from a Ballet Master – The Correspondence of Arthur Saint-Léon. Introduction by, and Edited by Ivor Guest.
  • Nekhendzi, A. (comp.) "Marius Petipa, Materials, recollections, articles" (Marius Petipa, Materialy, vospominaniya, stat'i) Ed. Yuri Slonimsky et al. (Leningrad State Theater Museum 1971).
  • Petipa, Marius. Memuary Mariusa Petipa solista ego imperatorskogo velichestva i baletmeistera imperatorskikh teatrov (The Memoirs of Marius Petipa, Soloist of His Imperial Majesty and Ballet Master of the Imperial Theatres).
  • Wiley, Roland John. Dances from Russia: An Introduction to the Sergeyev Collection Published in The Harvard Library Bulletin, 24.1 January 1976.
  • Wiley, Roland John, ed. and translator. A Century of Russian Ballet: Documents and Eyewitness Accounts 1810–1910.
  • Wiley, Roland John. The Life and Ballets of Lev Ivanov.
  • Wiley, Roland John. Tchaikovsky's Ballets.
  • Biographical/analytical article on Petipa

External links