The Little Humpbacked Horse (ballet)

The Little Humpbacked Horse, or The Tsar Maiden (aka Konyok Gorbunok ili Tsar-Devitsa, or Le Petit cheval bossu, ou La Tsar-Demoiselle) is a ballet in four Acts and eight scenes with apotheosis. The original choreography was by Arthur Saint-Léon, and was set to music by Cesare Pugni. The libretto is by Arthur Saint-Léon, based on the fairy tale The Little Humpbacked Horse by Pyotr Yershov. The ballet was first presented by the Imperial Ballet on December 3/15 (Julian/Gregorian calendar dates), 1864 at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. The principal dancers were Marfa Muravieva (as the Tsar Maiden) and Timofei Stukolkin (as Ivanushka).

Revivals, restagings and alternate versions

• Restaging by Arthur Saint-Léon for the Ballet of the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre, with Cesare Pugni revising his original score. First presented on November 26, 1866 at the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia. Principal Dancers - Marfa Muravieva (as the Tsar Maiden) and Timofei Stukolkin (as Ivanushka).

• Revival by José Mendez for the Ballet of the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre. First presented at the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre on December 26, 1893 in Moscow, Russia.

• Revival under the title The Tsar Maiden by Marius Petipa for the Imperial Ballet, with musical additions and revisions to Pugni's score by Riccardo Drigo. First presented on December 6–18, 1895 at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. Principal Dancers - Pierina Legnani (as the Tsar Maiden), Alexander Shirayev (as Ivanushka) and Felix Kschessinsky (as the Khan).

• Revival by Alexander Gorsky for the Ballet of the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre, with additional music by Anton Simon, Boris Asafiev, Pyotr Tchaikovsy, Antonín Dvořák, Alexander Glazunov, Brahms and Franz Liszt. First presented at the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre on November 25, 1901 in Moscow, Russia. Principal Dancers - Lyubov Roslavleva (as the Tsar Maiden) and Alexander Gorsky (as Ivanushka).

• Restaging by Alexander Gorsky of his 1901 revival for the Imperial Ballet, with musical additions and revisions to Pugni's score by Riccardo Drigo. First presented at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre on December 16, 1912. Principal Dancers - Tamara Karsavina (as the Tsar Maiden) and Nikolai Legat (as Ivanushka).

• Revival of Gorsky's 1912 production by Feodor Lopukhov for the Kirov Ballet. First presented at the Kirov State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet in 1945.

Notes

• In an effort to appeal to the tastes of his Imperial Russian audience, Saint-Léon concluded the ballet with a Grand divertissement celebrating all the different nations of Russia, beginning with a Grand cortège to a march by the composer titled The Peoples of Russia. The Grand divertissement included the choreographer's own balletic version of Russian national dance.

• Petipa's 1895 revival included a new prologue and apotheosis, as well as additional variations for the Ballerina Legnani written by Riccardo Drigo.

• Alexander Radunsky choreographed his own version to a score by Rodion Shchedrin for the Bolshoi Ballet, Moscow, in 1960. The choregrapher Igor Belsky utilized Schedrin's score in his staging for the Maly Theatre in Leningrad in 1963. The Radunsky—Shchedrin version was filmed in 1961 with Maya Plisetskaya as the Tsar Maiden and Vladimir Vasiliev as Ivanushka.

External links

• Video of "The Little Humpbacked Horse" at the Mariinsky Theater