Ludwig Minkus

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Ludwig Minkus
Maestro Ludwig Minkus. Paris, circa 1870
Maestro Ludwig Minkus. Paris, circa 1870
Background information
Born March 23, 1826(1826-03-23)
Velké Meziříčí, Austrian Empire
Died December 7, 1917 Vienna, Austro-Hungarian Empire
Genre(s) Romantic
Occupation(s) Composer, violinist
Years active c.1846 - 1891?


Ludwig Minkus (ru. Людвиг Минкус) aka Léon Fyodorovich Minkus (born Aloisius Ludwig Minkus on March 23, 1826 in Velké Meziříčí (German: Grossmeseritsch), Austrian Empire, {today the Czech Republic}; died on December 7, 1917 in Vienna, German Austria) was a composer of ballet music and a violin virtuoso.

He is most noted for the ballets he composed while serving as the First ballet composer to the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres, a post which he occupied from 1871 until its abolition in 1886. He continued composing music regularly for the Imperial Theatres until 1891, when he retired to Vienna. Minkus wrote nearly all of his music for the works of the great ballet masters Arthur Saint-Léon and Marius Petipa, the most celebrated being La Source (1866, composed jointly with Léo Delibes), Don Quixote (1869); and La Bayadère (1877).

Among Minkus's 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's 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

[edit] Life

Although he is less highly regarded in countries outside Russia, there Ludwig Minkus remains one of the most popular and performed composers of ballet music of his time. Even in ballet schools worldwide, it is difficult not to encounter a melody from one of his scores being played on the piano during a ballet class. By the close of the 19th century in Imperial Russia, the unrivaled 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 relegated only to performance in Soviet Russia, and western audiences knew of no other ballet music than those who came after him. Detailed information on the life of Minkus 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 simply 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.

(clockwise from left) Erin Joseph, Patricia Barker, Bathurel Bold, and Kimberley Davey in the Pacific Northwest Ballet's production of the Petipa/Minkus Grand Pas Classique from Paquita, Seattle, 1998
(clockwise from left) Erin Joseph, Patricia Barker, Bathurel Bold, and Kimberley Davey in the Pacific Northwest Ballet's production of the Petipa/Minkus Grand Pas Classique from Paquita, Seattle, 1998

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 Felix Yusupov). From 1856 until 1861 Minkus served as lead violinist in the orchestra of the Moscow Imperial 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.

Through his appointment as Inspector of the Imperial Theatre Orchestras and lead violinist with the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre, Minkus developed a close friendship with the French ballet master 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 Saint-Léon staged quite successfully for the Ballet of the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre. At that time Saint-Léon was one of the most celebrated ballet masters in Europe. In 1860 Saint-Léon was appointed Premier Maître de Ballet (First Ballet Master and Choreographer/Artistic Director) to the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres, a position which required the Ballet Master to stage the occasional work for the Moscow Imperial 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 composed for Saint-Léon's revival of Orfa was the composer's first venture composition for the ballet. Many sources incorrectly state that Minkus's 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 Théâtre de l'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. Minkus would not have any association with the music of Paquita until 1881, when he scored additional material for Marius Petipa's revival of the work in St. Petersburg, whic included the famous Paquita Grand pas classique.

In March 1863, Saint-Léon commissioned Minkus to compose his first full-length score for the ballet, the Ballet fantastique titled The Flame of Love or The Salamander (aka Fiametta), which premiered on 12/24 November 1863 (Julian/Gregorian calendar dates) to great success at the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre. Saint-Léon then mounted the work in a new staging under the title Fiametta or the Devil in Love in St. Petersburg for the Imperial Ballet, premiering 13/25 February 1864 to great success at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre. Minkus later accompanied Saint-Léon to mount this work for the Théâtre Impérial de l'Opéra in Paris, premiering July 11, 1864. For the Paris staging the title of the ballet was changed yet again, this time as Neméa. The change of titles of this work has caused much confusion among historians, many of whom have claimed that each of these productions were completely different works.

Leonid Sarafanov in the Grand Procession from Act II of the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet's reconstruction of the Minkus/Petipa La Bayadère, St. Petersburg, 2001
Leonid Sarafanov in the Grand Procession from Act II of the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet's reconstruction of the Minkus/Petipa La Bayadère, St. Petersburg, 2001

Through his association with Saint-Léon and the St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet, Minkus came to the attention of the great choreographer Marius Petipa. Petipa arrived in the imperial capital in 1847, where he was engaged as Premier danseur to the Imperial Theatres, as well as assistant to the great ballet master Jules Perrot, who served as Premier Maître de Ballet to the company from 1850-1859. Perrot left Russia forever in 1859, and Petipa had been named second ballet master after the success of his Grand ballet The Pharaoh's Daughter, set to the score of the Italian composer Cesare Pugni. Pugni had served as Ballet Composer to Imperial Theatres since 1850, a post which was created especially for him when he accompanied Perrot to Russia. By the mid 1860s the composer was nearing the end of his life and prolific career, and as the decade drew to a close he became increasingly unreliable due to his severe alcoholism, often putting off composing to the last minute and supplying music of an incresingly poor and banal quality. Saint-Léon and Petipa were becoming more and more frustrated with him, and began to turn to Minkus when supplemental material was required for already existing works.

In the fall of 1866 Saint-Léon was invited to Paris to stage a new work for the Théâtre Impérial de l'Opéra. Saint-Léon called upon Minkus to accompany him to the french capital so that he may write music for the new work. This was La Source, which was written by Minkus 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 any 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 an inexperienced composer of ballet music. La Source premiered on November 12, 1866 to a modest success.

In 1869 the Ballet Master Petipa was called to Moscow to stage a ballet on the subject of Cervantes's Don Quixote for the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre. For the music Petipa turned to Minkus, who supplied a score filled with a great variety of Spanish-style melodies. Petipa's Don Quixote premiered on December 14, 1869, and was a resounding success, and went on to become a celebrated work in the classical ballet repertory, surviving well into modern times.

Minkus composed two more ballets for Saint-Léon, both for the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg — the fantastical Le Poisson d'or (The Golden Fish) in 1867 (a work 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 works proved to be catastrophic failures for Saint-Léon — when his contract expired in 1869 it was not renewed, and he soon left for Paris where he died in September 1870.

Not long before Saint-Léon's death, Petipa was named Premier Maître de Ballet to the St. Peterbsurg Imperial Theatres, and in January 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. The success of the music earned for Minkus the post of Ballet Composer to the Imperial Theatres (for a modest salary of 2,000 roubles a year, which Emperor Alexander II ordered to be doubled in 1878). 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's greatest scores and one of Petipa's ultimate masterworks, the exotic La Bayadère in 1877.

Edvardas Smalakys as Basilio and Miki Hamanaka as Kitri in the Moreño Dance from Vladimir Vasiliev's production of the Minkus/Petipa Don Quixote for the National Ballet of Lithuania, Vilnius, 2000
Edvardas Smalakys as Basilio and Miki Hamanaka as Kitri in the Moreño Dance from Vladimir Vasiliev's production of the Minkus/Petipa Don Quixote for the National Ballet of Lithuania, Vilnius, 2000

During this time, Minkus continued playing violin in professional capacities. For example, he was the second violin in the ensemble that premiered Tchaikovsky's String Quartet No. 1 in D, Op. 11, in Moscow on 28 March 1871. [1]

In May 1883 Minkus wrote the music for Petipa's Night and Day, a grand pièce d'occasion staged for the celebrations held at the Imperial Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow in honor of the coronation of Emperor Alexander III. The Emperor, a fanatic balletomane, bestowed upon Minkus the Order of Saint Stanislaus for his score. During the ceremony the newly crowned Emperor told Minkus " ... you have reached perfection as a ballet composer ...".

In 1886 Minkus wrote what would prove to be his last score for Petipa as the official ballet composer of the Imperial Theatres. The Magic Pills, which premiered on February 9/21 at the Imperial Ballet and Opera's new venue, the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, was a grand piece that included comedy, singing, and dance. Minkus naturally supplied the music for Petipa's danced passages that made up three fantastical tableaux which caused a sensation among the St. Petersburg balletomanes and critics. Nevertheless Ivan Vsevolozhsky, director of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres, abolished Minkus's post in an effort to diversify the music supplied for the ballet. Minkus officially retired soon after, and on November 9/21, 1886 was given a lavish farewell benefit performance.

Contrary to popular belief, Petipa still preferred to work with composers who specialized in scoring ballet music, as the general view of the time was that symphonic composers did not make good composers of ballet music. Even after the great success of such works as The Vestal in 1888 and The Sleeping Beauty in 1890, Petipa called upon Minkus to compose music for his ballet Kalkabrino, which premiered on February 13/25, 1891. The music was hailed as a masterpiece of ballet music by the critics of the day, 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 is included 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's last score for the Imperial Ballet, as well as one of his last known compositions.

Minkus left Russia forever in the summer of 1891, relocating to Vienna, and leaving behind his daughter, Lyubov Minkusovna, who danced as a coryphée with the Imperial Theatres 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.

Maestro Ludwig Minkus, St. Petersburg, circa 1880
Maestro Ludwig Minkus, St. Petersburg, circa 1880

[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 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 art form which became completely extinct due to the events following the Revolution of 1917.

[edit] Minkus's name

There has been great confusion concerning Minkus's forename and middle name. In Russia and many parts of eastern Europe the composer is known as Ludwig Minkus, while in the west (i.e. outside of Russia and eastern Europe) he is known commonly as Léon Feodorovich Minkus.

He was born Aloisius Ludwig Minkus—a name which has been debated among historians, given the fact that both Alois and Ludwig can be translated as Louis, thus making the name Louis Louis Minkus. By the time he attained the position of lead violinist to the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre in 1856, his name appeared as Ludwig Minkus. All Imperial era libretti of the works for which he wrote music, as well as contemporary press reports, all credit him as either Mr. Minkus, L. Minkus, or Ludwig Minkus. His death certificate dating from 1917 in Vienna gives his name as Ludwig Minkus, composer.

The first known appearance of Minkus's name as Léon Feodorovich appears on the orchestral parts for the Paquita Grand pas classique used by Anna Pavlova's company in the 1910s and 20s, which was obtained by the Library of Congress and the Tchaikovsky Foundation at some point in the 1930s. At that time this music was one of only a few of the available compositions of Minkus outside of Soviet Russia, and we may conjecture that Minkus's forename and middle name came to be known as Léon Feodorovich from this manuscript score, thus spreading from source to source.

[edit] Minkus's 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 Ballet Composer in tsarist Russia. There, as in other parts of Europe, the ballet master 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 and scenes of action had to set the mood of the drama, and accompany the action. 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 whilst the Ballet Master choreographed his dance fantasies, as well as putting to use the detailed instructions that the Ballet Master would provide, often known as composing 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).

Minkus was well-known for having a cache of already-composed music in his home, divided into categories such as waltzes, polkas, adages, etc. which he would then select for a new work and orchestrate accordingly. 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's 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 ballet master 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 composers' 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.

Cover of a piano reduction of Minkus' score for Don Quixote in its 5 Act St. Petersburg Edition of 1871. Published by Stellowsky, Zurich, 1902
Cover of a piano reduction of Minkus' score for Don Quixote in its 5 Act St. Petersburg Edition of 1871. Published by Stellowsky, Zurich, 1902

Most of the numbers in Minkus's ballets are in either double or triple time (2/4, 4/4, 3/4, 6/8, and 12/8 are the majority of the time signatures Minkus used, though occasionally he composed dances in 5/4, 7/4, and even alternating from 4/4 and 3/4, as in the Danse des esclaves from his 1877 score of La Bayadère). 3/4 was the time signature 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's most revered strengths was his ability to create a vast 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's march from (his 1878 ballet), 'Roxana' was the favorite piece of Tsar Alexander II, who in general did not love music. Several units of the our troops stormed the Plevna to the music of this march." Minkus's other celebrated talent was in composing for solo violin and solo harp, of which most of his compositions have a great deal (Minkus's 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 Imperial Theatres throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries).

Minkus's 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 a special mood was required, 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 (often 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 scene The Kingdom of the Shades from his 1877 score for La Bayadère is filled with 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 ballet master, not to mention that a more complex musical structure would have been rejected by both the ballet master and dancers alike.

In Russia Minkus remains much respected for his abilities with ballet music, though in the west this is mostly a recent occurrence, 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 perform Minkus's 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 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's 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.

Maria Tallchief, Andrè Eglevsky, and Rosella Hightower in George Balanchine's staging of the Minkus/Petipa Pas de Trois from the ballet Paquita (or Minkus Pas de Trois), New York City, 1951
Maria Tallchief, Andrè Eglevsky, and Rosella Hightower in George Balanchine's staging of the Minkus/Petipa Pas de Trois from the ballet Paquita (or Minkus Pas de Trois), New York City, 1951

[edit] The Works of Maestro Ludwig Minkus

Original Ballets

Revisions & supplemental material

Students of the Imperial Ballet School in the Minkus/Petipa Children's Polonaise and Mazurka from the ballet Paquita, St. Petersburg, circa 1885
Students of the Imperial Ballet School in the Minkus/Petipa Children's Polonaise and Mazurka from the ballet Paquita, St. Petersburg, circa 1885
  • 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 classical pas 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 Sobeshchanskaya made her debut in the original 1877 production of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake at the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre. The ballerina disliked 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 Marius Petipa could arrange for her a pas de deux to new music composed especially for her performance by Ludwig 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's original music untouched. Regarding the second variation (for the ballerina), Tchaikovsky only re-orchestrated it. 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.
  • 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 Burgmüller, 1841. Revisions, re-orchestrations, and additions by Ludvig 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 Burgmüller, premiering June 28, 1841. The ballet's first production in Russia was presented on December 18, 1842, staged by the ballet master 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). 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 leitmotive 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 that 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 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.

[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", translated and edited by Lynn Garafola. Studies in Dance History 3.1 (Spring 1992)[citation needed].
  • Royal Ballet. Program from La Bayadere. Royal Opera House, 1990.
  • Stegemann, Michael. CD Liner notes, translated by 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.
  • Warrack, John. Tchaikovsky. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1973. ISBN 0684135582
  • Wiley, Roland John. "Dances from Russia: An Introduction to the Sergeyev Collection". The Harvard Library Bulletin, 24.1 January 1976.
  • Wiley, Roland John, ed. and translator. A Century of Russian Ballet: Documents and Accounts, 1810-1910. Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 1990. ISBN 0193164167
  • Wiley, Roland John. Tchaikovsky's Ballets: Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker. Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 1985. ISBN 0193153149

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ John Warrack, Tchaikovsky, p. 275