Les Sylphides

Les Sylphides is a short, non-narrative ballet blanc. Its original choreography was by Michel Fokine, with music by Frédéric Chopin orchestrated by Alexander Glazunov. Glazunov had already set some of the music in 1892 as a purely orchestral suite, under the title Chopiniana, Op. 46. In that form it was introduced to the public in December 1893, conducted by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

The ballet, often described as a "romantic reverie",^[1][2] was indeed the first ballet ever to be simply that.^[1] Les Sylphides has no plot, but instead consists of many white-clad sylphs dancing in the moonlight with the poet or young man dressed in white tights and a black top.

Performance history

Locating even the 'premier' of the fuller ballet poses a challenge. One might say that it premiered in 1907 at the Maryinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg as Rêverie Romantique: Ballet sur la musique de Chopin. However, this also formed the basis of a ballet, Chopiniana, which took different forms, even in Fokine's hands.^[3] As Les Sylphides, what we consider the work was premiered by Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes on 2 June 1909 at Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris. The Diaghilev premier is the most famous, as its soloists were Tamara Karsavina, Vaslav Nijinsky (as the poet, dreamer, or young man), Anna Pavlova, and Alexandra Baldina. The London premier, in the first season of the Diaghilev Ballets Russes, was at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. With more sylph-like elusiveness, the North American premier might be dated by an unauthorized version in the Winter Garden, New York, on 14 June 1911 (featuring Baldina alone from the Diaghelev cast). However, its authorized premiere on that continent, by Diaghilev Ballets Russes, was at the Century Theater, New York City, 20 January 1916, with Lopokova (who also featured in the unauthorized production five years earlier). Nijinsky danced it with that company at the Metropolitan Opera, 14 April 1916, where it was paired with a similar work to a piano suite (by Robert Schumann), Papillons, also choreographed by Fokine. Fokine set the ballet also for several other companies, and he and his wife, Vera Fokina, danced its leading roles themselves for some years. In 1940, American Ballet Theatre^[1] took up the production, and opened it January 11 of that year at the Center Theatre in Rockefeller Center.^[2]

Revision history

Original production

Chopiniana, staged by Fokine, had a different musical composition. The Glazunov suite upon which this original version was based had only four Chopin pieces; Fokine wanted to use a Waltz as an addition to the Suite and was able to get Glazunov to orchestrate this to create his ballet, also called "Chopiniana".

1. Polonaise in A major, Op. 40, no. 1,
2. Nocturne in F major, Op. 15, no. 1,
3. Mazurka in C sharp minor, Op. 50, no. 3,
4. "Waltz in C sharp minor", Op. 64, no. 2, as added by Michel Fokine^[4]
5. Tarantella in A flat major, Op. 43.

The newly orchestrated Waltz would be Fokine's inspiration to re-choreograph the ballet into its nearly-final form, selecting different Chopin pieces to go with it and getting these orchestrated by the Maryinsky repetiteur Maurice Keller.

Ballets Russes production

When Fokine's ballet premiered in Paris as part of Diaghilev's "Saison Russe" in 1909, Diaghilev commissioned re-orchestrations of all the dances, except for the Glazunov-orchestrated Waltz, by Anatoly Lyadov, Sergei Taneyev, Nikolai Tcherepnin and Igor Stravinsky.^[4] This version, now titled Les Sylphides, was first staged at the Théâtre du Châtelet on 2 June 1909.^[4]

Standard version

The canonic version of the ballet Les Sylphides includes:

1. Polonaise in A major (some companies substitute Prelude in A Major instead)
2. Nocturne in A flat major (Op. 32, no. 2),
3. Valse in G Flat major (Op. 70, no. 1),
4. Mazurka in D major (Op. 33, no. 2),
5. Mazurka in C major (Op. 67, no. 3),
6. Prelude in A major (Op. 28, no. 7),
7. Valse in C sharp minor (Op. 64, no. 2),
8. Grande Valse in E flat major (Op. 18, no. 1)

New York City Ballet production

The New York City Ballet produced its own staging of the standard version, omitting the Polonaise in A major (and leaving the Prelude in A major in its original position), under the original title, Chopiniana. The NYCB premiere was staged by Alexandra Danilova and took place January 20, 1972, at the New York State Theater, Lincoln Center. The original cast included Karin von Aroldingen, Susan Hendl, Kay Mazzo, and Peter Martins.

Other orchestrations

A number of musicians have orchestrated the Chopin pieces for major ballet companies, including Benjamin Britten, Alexander Gretchaninov^[4] and Roy Douglas. However, most orchestrations are similar in their approach.

Notes

See also

• Classical music written in collaboration

External links

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