Le Papillon (ballet)

Emma Livry as Farfalla in the Taglioni/Offenbach Le Papillon, Paris, 1861

Le Papillon (The Butterfly) is a "fantastic ballet" in 4 acts/4 scenes, with choreography by Marie Taglioni and music by Jacques Offenbach. Libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges (1861), and revised by Marius Petipa (1874).

First presented by the Ballet of the Académie Royale de Musique on November 26, 1861, in Paris, France. Principal Dancers - Emma Livry (as Farfalla/the Butterfly), and Louis Mérante (as Prince Djalma), Louise Marquet (as the Fairy Hamza), and Mme. Simon (as the Diamond Fairy).

Revival by Marius Petipa for the Imperial Ballet, with Léon Minkus making additions and adapting Offenbach's score. First presented on January 7/19 (Julian/Gregorian calendar dates), 1874 at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. Principal Dancers - Ekaterina Vazem (as Farfalla/the Butterfly), Lev Ivanov (as Prince Djalma), Pavel Gerdt(as Patimate), Mathil'da Madaeva (as the Fairy Hamza), and Lubov Radnina (as the Diamond Fairy).

For his revival of 1874, Petipa added a variation to the Grand Pas des Papillons to a waltz by Luigi Venzano especially for the Prima Ballerina Ekaterina Vazem - this variation became quite celebrated among the St. Petersburg balletmomanes and became known as the Pas Vazem.

Another of Petipa's additions to this ballet for his revival of 1874 was a variation composed by Minkus known as the Variation of Prince Djalma. When Petipa revived La Bayadère in 1900, the Premiere Danseur Nikolai Legat (who performed all of the classical variations for the aging Pavel Gerdt, who performed as Solor) interpolated this variation into the Grand Pas d'action of the ballet's last scene. Today, this famous variation is still performed as a variation for Solor in the Grand Pas d'action of La Bayadère.

Another of Petipa's additions to Le Papillon in 1874 was Minkus' Persian March. In 1948, the Danseur of the Kirov Ballet Nikolai Zubkovsky utilized this music for a character variation known as Bazhok, or The Golden Idol, which he added to the ballet La Bayadère. The composer Pavel Feldt edited the music for Zubkovsky, and this solo remains one of the most celebrated passages of La Bayadère today.