Léon Minkus

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Ludwig Minkus (Russian Людвиг Минкуза) AKA Léon Fedorovich Minkus (Russian Lеон Федорович Минкуза) (March 23, 1826 - December 7, 1917, was a composer of ballet music and a violin virtuoso. Born Aloisius Ludwig Minkus in Velké Meziříčí (German: Grossmeseritsch), near Brno, Moravia, Austrian Empire, {today the Czech Republic}. He is most noted for the ballets he wrote while serving as the Romanov First Imperial Ballet Composer to the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres from 1870 until 1886, though he continued composing for the company until 1891. Minkus created nearly all of his scores for the works of the great Balletmasters Arthur Saint-Léon and Marius Petipa, the most celebrated being La Source (1866, composed jointly with Léo Delibes); Don Quixote (1869, revised 1871); and La Bayadère (1877). Among Minkus' most celebrated material is his additional music for Petipa's 1881 revival of Paquita - the Grand Pas Classique, Pas de Trois (AKA Minkus Pas de Trois), and the Children's Polonaise and Mazurka; his music for the Grand Pas de Deux from Petipa's Don Quixote (often extracted to be performed independently); and his music for the scene The Kingdom of the Shades from Petipa's La Bayadère (also performed independently on occasion). Minkus is also noted for his re-orchestration (1884) and additional music for Petipa's revivals of Giselle (1867, 1884, 1887), most of which have become part of Adolphe Adam's score and are now performed by all ballet companies. Today, Minkus' ballet music is some of the most popular and performed in all of ballet, and is a most integral part of the traditional classical ballet repertory.

Contents 1 Life 2 Postscript 3 Minkus' Music 4 The Works of Léon Minkus 5 Sources

[edit] Life

Minkus was one of the most popular and performed composers of ballet music during the late 19th century, and remains one of the most performed composers of his genre in theatres all over the world. In ballet schools worldwide, teachers still use the memorable melodies from his ballets. By the close of the 19th century in Imperial Russia, the unrivalled center of classical ballet at that time, Minkus was hailed universally as the master of ballet music - even after the so called "symphonic" innovations from such composers as Tchaikovsky and Glazunov. Such was a distinction he held until his works became relagated only to performance in Soviet Russia. As a result, detailed information on his life is often very hard to come by, even among various encyclopedias of musicians and composers, where he is usually given only a very vague article, or is merely referred in an article about another composer. Even studies of the classical ballet during the late 19th century in Imperial Russia, of which Minkus was an important figure, give very vague and often contradictory information about his nationality, his place or date of birth, his place or date of death, and even his forename.

Regarding his own family life, his wife is only referred to in any easily accessible source as Madame Minkus, and only one child, a daughter named Lyubov, is known. It is unknown what influences led the young Minkus in the direction of music, but in his childhood or early teens Minkus began studying the violin, an instrument at which he excelled. At some point, either during his childhood or teens, he relocated to Vienna, where he remained for some years. In his late teens he began studying composition at the Vienna Conservatory, and began composing seriously, showing ample talent for scoring salon pieces for the violin, five of which were published from 1846-1847. It was around this time he began to try his hand at conducting.

In early 1846 the 19-year-old Minkus relocated to Paris, where he made a career as a violinist and conductor. In 1853 he emigrated to St. Petersburg, Russia, becoming conductor of the private orchestra of Prince Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov until 1856 (the great-grandfather of the infamous Felix Yusupov). From 1856 until 1861 Minkus served as lead violinist in the orchestra of the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre, and soon after was given the prestigious dual position of both conductor and lead violinist for the Imperial Italian Opera of that theatre. In 1861 Minkus was appointed Concertmaster at the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre, as well as professor of violin at the newly established Moscow Conservatory. In 1864 he was appointed Inspector of the Imperial Theatre Orchestras. Many historians have argued that such appointments clearly demonstrate a talent which in modern times is often not acknowledged.

It has been assumed that it was during his early years in Russia that Minkus changed his name from Aloisius Ludwig Minkus to Léon Fedorovich Minkus, yet in Russia he has always been referred to as Ludwig Minkus, and not Léon Fedorovich Minkus. It seems likely that when first in Russia Minkus merely dropped his forename of Aloisius in favor of his middle name, Ludwig, as contemporary press reports and various libretti of ballets he scored during the 1870s and 1880s refer to him always as either Mr. Minkus, L. Minkus, or Ludwig Minkus. Another reason that might explain the common thought of Minkus being renamed Léon Fedorovich during his first years in Russia is the 19th century Russian practice of naming non-Russian-natives with a more localized version of one's original name. The name of Fedor (or Fyodor) would often suffice if no Russian equivalent of the name exsisted, hence the name 'Fedorovich'. It could be that Minkus' father's name was Feodor, as in Russia the middle name is usually a patronymic, yet this speculation does not explain the origins of the name Léon. It is also likely that Minkus did not change his name from Ludwig Minkus to Léon Fedorovich Minkus until after he left Russia in late 1891, which would explain why he is known as Léon Fedorovich Minkus mainly outside of Russia. Another likely explanation for the change of name is that it is possible Minkus converted to Russian Orthadoxy soon after his arrival in Russia, for which he would have been given a Russian name, perhaps maintaing the name for religious purposes while still carrying on with the name of Ludwig Minkus as a professional name. It could very well be that Léon Fedorovich is merely just an error passed on from source to source to the present day, and that the composer never once had such a name during his lifetime.

Through his appointment as Inspector of the Imperial Theatre Orchestras and lead violinist with the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre, Minkus developed a close friendship with the French Balletmaster Arthur Saint-Léon, who in 1862 commissioned the composer to score an entr'acte for his revival of the 1852 Coralli/Adam ballet Orfa, which the Balletmaster staged quite successfully for the Ballet of the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre. At that time Saint-Léon was one of the most celebrated balletmasters in Europe - in 1860 he was appointed Maître de Ballet (First Balletmaster/Chief Choreographer) to the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg, a position which required the Balletmaster to stage the occasional work for the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre (Saint-Léon stayed in Minkus's apartment in Moscow during the winter of 1865-1866 when engaged at the Bolshoi Theatre).

The entr'acte Minkus scored for Saint-Léon's revival of Orfa was the composer's first composition for the ballet. Many sources incorrectly state that Minkus' first venture into this genre of music was an 1846 collaboration with the composer Edouard Deldevez on the score for Joseph Mazilier's ballet Paquita, staged for the Ballet of the Académie Royale de Musique in Paris (today the company is known as the Paris Opera Ballet). Contemporary press reports (one being from Théophile Gautier), as well as Deldevez's own memoirs do not credit Minkus at all concerning the work. When a piano and violin reduction of the 1846 score for Paquita was unearthed for Pierre Lacotte's 2001 revival of the work for the Paris Opera Ballet, the manuscript was written in Deldevez's own hand. In fact Minkus would not have any association with the music of Paquita until 1881, when he scored additional music for Marius Petipa's revival of the work in St. Petersburg.

Saint-Léon then called upon Minkus to score various supplemental Pas and variations, as the composer showed great facility for creating the Musique Dansante then in fashion. In March of 1863 Saint-Léon commissioned Minkus to score his first full-length score for the ballet, the so-called Ballet Fantastique titled The Flame of Love or The Salamander (AKA Fiametta), which premiered on November 12, 1863 to great success at the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre. Saint-Léon then mounted the ballet in a new staging under the title Fiametta or the Devil in Love in St. Petersburg at the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre, then principle theatre of the Imperial Ballet, premiering February 13, 1864 again to great success. Minkus later accompanied Saint-Léon to mount this work for the Ballet of the Académie Royale de Musique, Paris, premiering July 11, 1864. For the Paris staging the title of the ballet was changed yet again, this time as Nemea or The Avenged Love. The change of titles of this work has caused much confusion among historians, many of which have claimed that each of these productions were completely different works.

During this time Saint-Léon was engaged as Guest Balletmaster to the Académie Royale de Musique (AKA the Paris Opera) in Paris. In 1866 Saint-Léon called upon Minkus to score music for the ballet La Source, which was written jointly with the composer Léo Delibes (Minkus wrote the whole of Act I and the second scene of Act III, while Delibes wrote the whole of Act II and the first scene of Act III). Surviving documents and contemporary press reports do not give an an explanation as to why the score was shared between the two composers, though it is believed that it was due to the fact that Delibes was inexperienced as a composer of ballet music. La Source premiered on November 12, 1866 to a modest success.

Minkus scored two more ballets for Saint-Léon, both for the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg - the fantastical La Poisson Doré (The Golden Fish) in 1867, based on Alexander Pushkin's 1835 poem The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish , and the oriental extravaganza Le Lys (The Lily) in 1869, for which Minkus utilized sections of his part of the score for La Source (some sources incorrectly maintain that these works were first mounted in Paris). Both of these ballets proved to be utter failures.

Through his association with Saint-Léon, Minkus came to the attention of the great choreographer Marius Petipa. Petipa arrived in the Imperial capital in 1847, where he was engaged as Premiere Danseur to the Imperial Ballet, as well as assistant to the great Balletmaster Jules Perrot, who was Maître de Ballet to the company from 1850-1859. Perrot left Russia forever in 1859, and Petipa had been named second Balletmaster after the success of his ballet The Pharaoh's Daughter, set to the score of Cesare Pugni. Minkus' first collaboration with Petipa was on the ballet Don Quixote, staged for the Ballet of the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre, premiering on December 14, 1869 to a resounding success.

The failure of both Le Poisson Doré, and Le Lys proved to be costly for Saint-Léon. When his contract expired in 1869 it was not renewed, and he soon left for Paris where he died in September of 1870. Not long before Saint-Léon's death Petipa was named Maître de Ballet, and in January of 1870 Petipa's chief collaborator, the composer Cesare Pugni, died. Petipa then staged a new version of his Don Quixote for the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg, and for this production Minkus completely reworked his score. This staging of Don Quixote premiered on November 9, 1871, and instantly became a classic, earning Minkus great acclaim for his effective music, with its variety of Spanish-style melodies. The success of the music earned for Minkus the post of First Imperial Ballet Composer to the Imperial Ballet (for a modest salary of 2,000 roubles a year, which was doubled in the 1880s). Don Quixote marked the beginning of a productive collaboration between Minkus and Petipa, who went on to create a series of masterpieces throughout the 1870s and 1880s, including one of Minkus' greatest scores and one of Petipa's ultimate masterworks - La Bayadère in 1877.

For the rest of the 1870s and into the 1880s Petipa and Minkus enjoyed success. In 1886 the director of the Imperial Theatres, Ivan Vsevolozhsky, initiated drastic reforms for the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres. The changes made by Vsevolozhsky for which he is most known today were his relocation of the Imperial Ballet and Opera from the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre (declared unsafe in 1886) to the Mariinsky Theatre, and the abolition of the post of First Imperial Ballet Composer. The last score Minkus wrote as First Imperial Ballet Composer was for Petipa's The Magic Pills, which was also the first new ballet to be produced at the Mariinsky Theatre.

Soon after the abolition of Minkus' post, Vsevolozhsky began to commission more musically sophisticated (or "symphonic") composers to provide ballet music for new works, though at the time this was not considered very successful by audiences and critics. The first "non-specialist" composer to score music for the Imperial Ballet was Baron Boris Fitinhof-Schell, who in 1887 scored music for the ballet The Haarlem Tulip, choreographed by Petipa's Second Balletmaster Lev Ivanov. The second was the Italian composer Riccardo Drigo, who scored the music for Ivanov's The Enchanted Forest in 1887, and for Petipa's The Talisman in 1888 (Drigo had been engaged as musical director of the Imperial Italian Opera, as well as chief conductor of both the Imperial Ballet and Opera since 1878). The third composer to be commissioned by Vsevolozhsky was Mikhail Ivanov, who scored the music for Petipa's 1888 ballet The Vestale, set in ancient Rome, which premiered to great success. And finally there was Tchaikovsky who scored music for Petipa's The Sleeping Beauty in 1890. Contrary to popular belief, Petipa still preferred to work with composers who specialized in scoring ballet music (of which Minkus was considered one of the best), as the general view was that symphonic composers did not make good composers of ballet music.

Even after the great success of The Vestale in 1888 and The Sleeping Beauty in 1890, Petipa called upon Minkus to score music for his ballet Kalkabrino, which premiered on February 13, 1891. The music was hailed as a masterpiece of ballet music, and was considered to be the composer's greatest score (the only part of this score still heard today is a variation orchestrated for solo harp which often turns up in the Kirov Ballet's celebrated staging of the Paquita Grand Pas Classique). In spite of the success of Kalkabrino, it was to be Minkus' last score for the Imperial Ballet, as well as his last known composition. Minkus retired in the summer of 1891, and was given a lavish benefit performance where excerpts from his many ballets were performed. The Minister of the Imperial Court Baron Fredericks gave Minkus a modest pension that the composer felt was far to little for nearly 30 years of faithful and successful Imperial service, and thanks to the intervention of Vsevolozhsky and Petipa the amount was doubled. Minkus left Russia forever later that year, relocating to Vienna, and leaving behind a daughter, Lyubov Minkusovna, who danced in the Corps de Ballet of the Imperial Ballet until four years before her death in 1910. Minkus lived out his years in Vienna on a pension from the Imperial treasury until the events of World War I and the Russian Revolution cut off his finances, leaving him in utter poverty until his death from pneumonia on December 7, 1917, at the age of 91.

[edit] Postscript

Although the post of First Imperial Ballet Composer was abolished, the Italian composer Riccardo Drigo essentially succeeded Minkus as chief composer of ballet music to the Imperial Ballet. Though he was by no means a "symphonic" composer, his music was by far more sophisticated than that of Minkus and Pugni regarding orchestration, counterpoint, and melody. His most revered scores - The Talisman (1889) (a score that even the great Tchaikovsky found admirable), The Awakening of Flora (1894), and Harlequin's Millions (1900), clearly demonstrate the evolution of the music of the so-called "specialist ballet composer", an artform which became completely extinct due to the events following the Revolution of 1917.

[edit] Minkus' Music

The fact that Minkus the composer fell into obscurity has much to do with the way ballet music was created and handled during his time as First Imperial Ballet Composer in Tsarist Russia. There, as in other parts of Europe, the Balletmaster had full reign over the scores provided him by the composer. Ballets of the 19th century were a marriage of dance and mime. The music provided for ballets had to be above all "dansante", with light, rich, lively melody, and an uncomplicated, regularly phrased rhythmic and orchestral structure, capable of accenting the movements of classical ballet. The music provided for the mime scenes/scenes of action had to set the mood of the drama, and accompany the action as with a silent film. Minkus was contracted to compose ballet music on demand - he was obliged to score a new ballet every season, along with the constant revision of the music of already existing works for Petipa's numerous revivals.

Like many of the specialist ballet composers before him, Minkus outlined the majority of his scores during rehearsals, as well as putting to use the detailed instructions from the Balletmaster - scoring music "to order" (even Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker were scored "to order" with detailed instructions from the maestro Petipa, the former being edited a great deal for the original production). Often Minkus would write four to five melodic passages for a particular variation or Pas to be chosen by the choreographer, as well as tailoring the music to fit any changes. Many of Minkus' original scores contain numerous optional repeats of various phrases, anticipating cuts in production. There were instances where Minkus would compose music for a large ensemble dance in sections - an opening, four or five melodic passages, and an ending - to be assembled by the Balletmaster depending on how much music was needed. Even more interesting, there were times where the music had to be composed for a Pas that had already been choreographed! Minkus was often required to interpolate the music from other composer's ballets into his own works, always at the behest of a Ballerina wanting to dance her favorite Pas or variation from another work. These interpolations often required Minkus to tailor the music of any surrounding numbers for smooth transitions.

Most of the numbers in Minkus' ballets are in either double or triple time, rarely, if ever, straying to a different time signature (2/4, 4/4, 3/4, 6/8, and 12/8 are the majority of the time signatures Minkus most often utilized, though occasionally he composed dances in 5/4, 7/4, and even alternating from 4/4 and 3/4, as in his Dance of the Slaves from his 1877 score of La Bayadère). 3/4 was the time siganture that purveyed over the majority of his scores - hindu temple maidens, under-water nymphs, gypsies, Spanish bull-fighters, young rajahs, farm girls, magical fairies, gods and goddesses, princes and princesses, king and queens - whether they were alive or were ghosts, all danced to waltz rhythm.

One of Minkus' strengths was his ability to create a variety of melodies (the principal element on which ballet music was judged in the 19th century). The ballet historian Konstantin Skalkovsky tells in his study In the Theatre World of how "Minkus' march from (his 1878 ballet), 'Roxana, the Beauty of Montenegro' was the favorite piece of Tsar Alexander II, who in general did not love music. Several units of the Russian Army stormed the Plevna (during the liberation of Bulgaria during the Russo-Turkish War) to the music of this march." Minkus' other celebrated talent was in composing for solo violin, an instrument he himself excelled in, and also his ability to write solos for the harp, of which most of his compositions have a great deal (Minkus' violin and harp solos were written with the talents of the famous violinist Leopold Auer and harpist Albert Zabel in mind, who both served as lead violinist and harpist in the orchestra of the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre and Mariinsky Theatre throughout the late 19th century).

Minkus' orchestra was large - one of his scores from Imperial Russia calls for strings, flutes, piccolo, clarinets, cornet, oboes, bassoons, contrabassoon, three trombones, bass trombone, 2 english horns, four french horns, trumpets, tuba, often 2 concert harps, drums (snare drum and bass drum), timpani, triangle, tambourine, and glockenspiel. Occasionally Minkus found uses for the gong, piano, and castanets. Even with such a large ensemble passages for full orchestra are rare, with Minkus almost always using the same combination of instruments unless it was required a special mood be set in the music, while only exploiting the brass or woodwind sections only to thicken the music when needed. The majority of the main melody in all of his compositions is almost always given to the first violin and flute sections, often doubled up with second violins and violas, giving two-part writing (oftentimes 2 violinists sharing the same manuscript would take turns playing so that the other could turn the pages!). Minkus was also quite fond of the bass drum, as well as pizzicato for double bass, used mostly for marking time (his original orchestration for The Kingdom of the Shades scene from his 1877 ballet La Bayadère is filled pizzicato for double bass and bass drum). Such writing is not at all a testament to any lack of imagination on the part of Minkus - he simply wrote this way because it was faster, as he often had very little time to orchestrate after what was needed musically was decided by the Balletmaster, not to mention that a more complex musical structure would have been rejected by both the Balletmaster and dancers alike.

In Russia Minkus is much respected for his ablitlies with ballet music, though in the west this is mostly a recent thing, as many musicians have been known to have little respect for the genre of 19th century ballet music. Many western ballet companies have chosen to perfom Minkus' music in various reorchestrations done by a number of musicians, most notably by the composer/conductor John Lanchbery. In recent times more and more ballet companies have been making a considerable efforts to go as close to the original sources as possible when staging ballets, and in that process the music of the old specialist ballet composers is beginning to gain respect.

In 2001, the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet (the former Imperial Ballet) mounted a reconstruction of the Petipa/Minkus La Bayadère, which was staged using the Stepanov Choreographic Notation of the Petipa's last revival of the work in 1900, part of the Sergeyev Collection housed in the Harvard University Library. For this reconstruction the Mariinsky Ballet unearthed Minkus' original hand-written score, thought for many years to have been lost. This antiquated score was hailed as a masterpiece of its genre as well as a phenomenal example of a long-vanished era in the history of ballet music.

[edit] The Works of Léon Minkus

Note: It is nearly impossible to list every piece of music Minkus ever composed, as he was always called upon to score supplemental Pas and variations, as well as to revise other composer's scores. Here is a full list of his original ballets, as well as his most major and important revisions, or additions, to already exsisting scores. All dates are given in the old style of the Julian calendar as used in Imperial Russia until after the Russian revolution of 1917, being twelve days behind the rest of the world in the 19th century.

Note: Until 1886, the principle theatre of the Imperial Ballet was the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre in St. Petersburg (this is a separate theatre from the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow). After 1886, Ivan Vsevolozhsky relocated both the ballet and opera companies to the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, where both companies remain to the present day.

Original Ballets

• The Flame of Love or The Salamander (AKA Fiametta) (1863)

• La Source

• Le Poisson Doré (The Golden Fish) (1866)

• Le Lys (The Lily) (1869)

• Don Quixote (1869)

• Camargo (AKA La Camargo) (1872)

• Le Papillon (The Butterfly) (1874)

• The Bandits (1875)

• The Adventures of Peleus (1876)

• La Bayadère (1877)

• Roxana, the Beauty of Montenegro

• The Daughter of the Snows (AKA Snegurochka) (1879)

• Frizak the Barber (AKA The Double Wedding) (1879)

• Mlada (1879)

• Zoraiya, the Moorish Girl in Spain (1881)

• Night and Day (AKA La Nuit et le Jour) (1883)

• The Magic Pills (1886)

• The Sacrifices of Cupid (AKA L'Offrandes à l'Amour or The Offerings to Cupid or The Offerings to Love or Happiness is Loving)

• Kalkabrino

Revisions & supplemental material

• Ondine (presented in 1851 by the Imperial Ballet as The Naiad and the Fisherman) -Fantastic Ballet in 3 Acts/5 Scenes. Choreography by Marius Petipa after Jules Perrot. Original score by Cesare Pugni -1843 with revisions and additions by Léon Minkus -1874. Revival premiered October 27, 1874 at the St. Petersburg Imperial Bolshoi Kammeny Theatre by the Imperial Ballet. NOTE - This ballet was originally produced by Jules Perrot to the score of Cesare Pugni for the Ballet of Her Majesty's Theatre, London, on June 22, 1843. The ballet was first presented in Russia as The Naiad and the Fisherman on January 30, 1851, staged by Jules Perrot with revisions and additions by Cesare Pugni at the St. Petersburg Imperial Bolshoi Kammeny Theatre for the Imperial Ballet. Marius Petipa presented a one-act version of the ballet on January 25, 1867 for a gala performance at Peterhof with revisions and additional music (including 2 new variations composed especially for the Prima Ballerina Ekaterina Vazem for the Pas de l'Ombre) by Cesare Pugni. Petipa then presented his revision of the complete ballet on October 27 1874, with revisions and additional music by Léon Minkus. In 2000 Pierre Lacotte presented a revival of this ballet for the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet based on Perrot's original 1843 production, with Pugni's score restored from a violin reduction.

• A Midsummer Night's Dream -Fantastic Ballet in 1 Act/1 Scene. Choreography by Marius Petipa. Music by Felix Mendelssohn, with additions by Léon Minkus. Premiered July 14, 1876 at the St. Petersburg Imperial Bolshoi Kammeny Theatre by the Imperial Ballet. NOTE - the music for this production was adapted by Minkus from Mendelssohn's original music, which was composed for a German production of the Shakespeare play.

• The Sobeshchanskaya Pas de Deux -Supplemental Pas de Deux composed by Minkus especially for the Prima Ballerina of the Bolshoi Theatre Anna Sobeshchanskaya (a standard classicalPas de Deux, consisting of a short Entrée, an Adagio, variation for the Danseur, variation for the Ballerina, and a Coda). Choreography by Marius Petipa. Premiered circa April, 1877. NOTE - On April 26, 1877 the Prima Ballerina Anna Sobeshchanskaya made her debut in the original 1877 production of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake at the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre. The Ballerina dis-liked the dances of the ballet's original choreographer Julius Reisinger, as well as Tchaikovsky's score. The Ballerina then traveled to St. Petersburg so that the choreographer Petipa could arrange for her a Pas de Deux to new music composed especially for her performance by Lèon Minkus. The Pas would be interpolated into Act III of Swan Lake in substitution of Tchaikovsky's original Grand Pas de Six. When Tchaikovsky received news that another composer's music was to be put into his ballet in substitution of his original Pas (standard practice in 19th century ballet) he protested, and agreed to write the Ballerina another Pas de Deux in place of the one arranged by Petipa to the music of Minkus. However, the Ballerina had no wish to change Petipa's choreography, and so Tchaikovsky agreed to write a Pas for her that would correspond bar for bar, and note for note with Minkus's music, allowing the Ballerina to retain Petipa's choreography even without rehearsals. It has been said by some historians/musicologists that the music was simply re-orchestrated by Tchaikovsky, and not re-written "bar for bar and note for note". Of Tchaikovsky's work on the Minkus scored Pas, all that is known for certain is that the composer made no revision of any kind to the first variation (for the Danseur), leaving Minkus' original music untouched. Regarding the second variation (for the Ballerina), Tchaikovsky only re-orchestrated it.
  

  

  Mathilde Kschessinska in the title role in the Minkus/Petipa ballet Mlada, St. Petersburg, 1900
  As to what extent Tchaikovsky revised the Entrée, Adagio, and Coda, is not known. This Pas de Deux was thought to be lost for many years. A rèpètiteur of the music was re-discovered in 1953 in the archives of the Bolshoi Theatre. George Balanchine utilized this music in 1960 for a Pas de Deux he arranged for the Ballerina Violette Verdy, and the Danseur Conrad Ludlow under the title Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, as it is still known today. What became of Minkus's original version of the Pas is not known.

• La Fille du Danube (AKA The Daughter of the Danube) (Revival) - Ballet in 2 Acts-4 Scenes. Choreography by Marius Petipa after Filippo Taglioni. Original music by Adolphe Adam -1836, Additions and revisions by Léon Minkus -1880. Revival premiered February 24, 1880 at the St. Petersburg Imperial Bolshoi Kammeny Theatre by the Imperial Ballet. NOTE -This ballet was originally produced by Filippo Taglioni premiering September 21, 1836, staged for the Ballet of the Académie Royale de Musique. The ballet's first production in Russia was presented on January 29, 1838 in a staging by Marie Taglioni and Filippo Taglioni at the St. Petersburg Imperial Bolshoi Kammeny Theatre for the Imperial Ballet. In 1999, the Balletmaster Paul Chalmers revived Taglioni's original version of this ballet for the Verona Ballet of Verona, Italy.

• Paquita -Grand Ballet in 2 Acts/3 Scenes. Choreography by Marius Petipa after Joseph Mazilier & Pierre Frédéric Malavergne. Original score by Edouard Deldevez -1846. Music re-orchestrated by Konstantin Liadov -1847. Additions by Léon Minkus -1881. Revival premiered December 27, 1881 at the St. Petersburg Imperial Bolshoi Kammeny Theatre by the Imperial Ballet. NOTE - This ballet was originally produced by Joseph Mazilier premiering April 1, 1846, staged for the Ballet of the Académie Royale de Musique. The ballet's first production in Russia was presented on September 26, 1847, staged by Marius Petipa and Pierre Frédéric Malavergne with the score of Deldevez re-orchestrated by Konstantin Liadov at the St. Petersburg Imperial Bolshoi Kammeny Theatre for the Imperial Ballet. Petipa added new dances to Minkus' music for his revival of 1881 - for the first act, a Pas de Trois (known today as the Minkus Pas de Trois or the Paquita Pas de Trois), and for the second act, a Children's Polonaise & Mazurka for students from the Imperial Ballet School, and an elaborate Grand Pas Classique.

• Pâquerette -Grand Ballet in 4 Acts/7 Scenes. Choreography by Marius Petipa after Arthur Saint-Léon. Original score by Fracois Burnoist -1851. Additions by Cesare Pugni -1860. Additions by Léon Minkus -1882. Premiered January 10, 1882 at the St. Petersburg Imperial Bolshoi Kammeny Theatre by the Imperial Ballet. NOTE - This ballet was originally produced by Arthur Saint-Léon to the music of Fracois Burnoist for the Ballet of the Académie Royale de Musique, premiering January 15, 1860. The ballet's first production in Russia was presented on January 28, 1860, staged by Arthur Saint-Léon with additional music by Cesare Pugni at the St. Petersburg Imperial Bolshoi Kammeny Theatre by the Imperial Ballet. Marius Petipa added new dances to Minkus' music for his revival of 1882.

• Giselle -Fantastic Ballet in 2 Acts/2 Scenes. Choreography by Marius Petipa after Jean Coralli & Jules Perrot. Original score by Adolphe Adam with additions by Frédéric Bergmüller -1841. Revisions, re-orchestrations, and additions by Léon Minkus -1884. Revival premiered February 5, 1884. NOTE - This ballet was originally produced by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot for the Ballet of the Académie Royale de Musique to the score of Adolphe Adam with additions by Frédéric Bergmüller, premiering June 28, 1841. The ballet's first production in Russia was presented on December 18, 1842, staged by the Balletmaster Antoine Titus at the St. Petersburg Imperial Bolshoi Kammeny Theatre by the Imperial Ballet. Jules Perrot then mounted his own version of the ballet, premiering December 15, 1848. In 1850, Marius Petipa produced another revival of the ballet based on the indications of Perrot for the Ballerina Carlotta Grisi, while adding new choregraphic elements of his own (specifically to the Grand Pas des Wilis).
  

  

  Students of the Imperial Ballet School in the Minkus/Petipa Children's Polonaise and Mazurka from the ballet Paquita, St. Petersburg, circa 1885
  In 1866 Petipa revised Giselle for the Ballerina Adèle Grantzow, for which Minkus composed Giselle's famous waltz variation in the Grand Pas de Deux of Act II (this variation is based on Adam's original lietmotive sometimes called the Love Theme for Giselle and Albrecht). On February 5, 1884, what is today condsidered to be Petipa's definitive revival of Giselle premiered. For this revival Petipa commissioned Minkus to tailor and re-orchestrate much of Adam's original score, as well as compose an additional Pas de Deux for the characters Giselle and Albrecht. In 1887 Petipa again revised Giselle, this time for the Ballerina Emma Bessone. For this occasion Minkus composed a new variation for the Ballerina, the famous Pas Seul, or Variation of Giselle for Act I of the ballet. This variation was lost for some time, but was resurrected by the Ballerina Olga Spessivtseva in the 1910s for her own performances in Giselle. Aside from the Pas de Deux Minkus composed for Act I, all of his interpolations are still retained as part of Adam's score in every production of Giselle around the world. In Russia most companies (particularly the Bolshoi Ballet and the Kirov/Mariinksy Ballet) still perform Adolphe Adam's score as revised/re-orchestrated by Minkus in 1884. For the Joffrey Ballet the choreographer Gerard Arpino used the rarely heard 1884 Pas de Deux for Giselle & Albrecht by Minkus for his ballet L'air d'spirit in 1978.

• La Diable à Quatre (presented in 1885 by the Imperial Ballet as The Willful Wife) -Grand Ballet in 4 Acts/5 Scenes. Choreography by Marius Petipa after Joseph Mazilier and Jules Perrot. Original score by Adolphe Adam -1845, with additions by Cesare Pugni -1851, and with additions/revisions by Léon Minkus -1885. Premiered January 23, 1885 at the St. Petersburg Imperial Bolshoi Kammeny Theatre by the Imperial Ballet. NOTE - This ballet was originally produced by Joseph Mazilier for the Ballet of the Académie Royale de Musique to the score of Adolphe Adam, premiering August 11, 1845. The ballet's first production in Russia was presented on November 15, 1881, staged by Jules Perrot with additional music by Cesare Pugni at the St. Petersburg Imperial Bolshoi Theatre for the Imperial Ballet. Marius Petipa added new dances to Minkus' music for his revival of 1885. NOTE - The male variation from Minkus' Pas de Trois from Paquita was originally composed by Adolphe Adam and comes from this ballet

[edit] Sources

• Anderson, Keith. CD Liner notes. Léon Minkus. Don Quixote. Nayden Todorov Cond. Sofia National Opera Orchestra. Naxos 8.557065/66.
• Guest, Ivor. CD Liner notes. Adolphe Adam. Giselle. Richard Bonynge Cond. Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Decca 417 505-2.
• Guest, Ivor. CD Liner notes. Léon Minkus & Léo Delibes. La Source. Richard Bonynge Cond. Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Decca 421 431-2.
• Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet. Program from La Bayadère. Mariinsky Theatre, 2001.
• Petipa, Marius. The Diaries of Marius Petipa. Trans. and Ed. Lynn Garafola. Published in Studies in Dance History. 3.1 (Spring 1992).
• Royal Ballet. Program from La Bayadere. Royal Opera House, 1990.
• Stegemann, Michael. CD Liner notes. Trans. Lionel Salter. Léon Minkus. Don Quijote. Boris Spassov Cond. Sofia National Opera Orchestra. Capriccio 10 540/41.
• Stegemann, Michael. CD Liner notes. Trans. Lionel Salter. Léon Minkus. Paquita & La Bavadere. Boris Spassov Cond. Sofia National Opera Orchestra. Capriccio 10 544.
• 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. Tchaikovsky's Ballets.