Cinderella (Fitinhof-Schell)

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Cinderella (AKA Zolushka) - ballet-féerie in 3 Acts, with choreography by Enrico Cecchetti (Act I and Act III) and Lev Ivanov (Act II), with the production being supervised under the counsel and instruction of Marius Petipa. Music by Baron Boris Fitinhof-Schell. Libretto by Lydia Pashkova and Ivan Vsevolozhsky.

First presented by the Imperial Ballet on December 5/17 (Julian/Gregorian calendar dates), 1893 at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. Principal Dancer - Pierina Legnani (as Cnderella), Pavel Gerdt (as Prince Chariming), Anna Johansson (as the Fairy Godmother/Good Fairy), Mathilde Kschessinskaya (as Odette, the stepsister), Mariia Anderson (as Aloisa, the stepsister), Claudia Kulichevskaya (soloist in the Grand Pas d'action of Act II), Nikolai Aistov (as the King), and Alexei Bulgakov (as the Chamberlain).

[edit] Revivals/Restagings

• Restaging by Lev Ivanov for the Ballet of the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre. First presented on July 19/31, 1898.

• Revival by Lev Ivanov for the Imperial Ballet (Act II only). First presented on January 23, 1900 at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre for the farewell benefit performance of Pierina Legnani.

[edit] Notes

• The famous variation in polka rhythm danced in the Russian version of the Le Corsaire Pas de Deux is from Fitinhof-Schell's score for Cinderella, originally danced by Pierina Legnani when the Pas de Deux was added to Petipa revival of Le Corsaire.

• Although the scenario of this work was greatly criticised by the St. Petersburg critics for putting more emphasis on spectacle and dancing than on drama and story-telling, the production was still and enormous success, particulalrly with the début of the Italian Ballerina Pierina Legnani, who according to one critic "..swept all before her..". The most celebrated scene was the Ball in the Prince's castle in the second act, which included an elaborate Grand Pas d'action in the typical 19th century style for Cinderella, the Prince, soloists, and the corps de ballet.

• The premiere of this work in 1893 has the distinction of being the first performance of a ballet to ever have a Ballerina perform 32 fouettés en tournant - performed by Pierina Legnani who danced the title role. The ballet historian Konstantin Skalkovsky, the dance critic for the St. Petersburg Gazette, reported on Legnani's feat - "...in the last act Legnani positively outdid herself. When Emma Bessone danced the lead in 'The Haarlem Tulip' she did 14 fouettés. In her variation Legnani performed 32 of them without stopping, and without travelling one inch! The public delightedly applauded the Ballerina and compelled her to repeat this variation as well. On the repitition she nevertheless did 28 fouettés. To count them became the favourite occupation of the public."