Le diable à quatre (ballet)

Frontispiece from a piano reduction of pieces taken from the Mazilier/Adam Le diable à quatre. 1845. The frontispiece depicts, from left to right - Lucien Petipa, Jean Coralli, Carlotta Grisi, Maria Mazilier, and Joseph Mazilier.

Le diable à quatre (aka The Devil to Pay) is a ballet in 2 acts / 3 scenes (or three acts^[1]), with choreography by Joseph Mazilier and music by Adolphe Adam, libretto by Adolphe de Leuven, first presented by the Ballet of the Académie Royale de Musique on August 11, 1845. Principal dancers were Carlotta Grisi (as Mazourka) and Lucien Petipa (as Count Polinski).

Revivals/Restagings

Restaging by the ballerina Ekaterina Sankovskaya for the Ballet of the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre, first presented December 15/27 (Julian/Gregorian calendar dates), 1846 in Moscow, Russia.

Restaging by Jules Perrot for the Imperial Ballet in 4 Acts/5 Scenes, with Cesare Pugni extensively revising and adapting Adam's score. First presented on November 14–26, 1850 at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Revival by Marius Petipa for the Imperial Ballet under the title La femme capricieuse, with Ludwig Minkus revising Adam's score in Pugni's 1850 revision. First presented on January 23/February 4, 1885 at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. For this revival Petipa changed the name of the principal Ballerina's role from Mazourka to Countess Berta. Principal dancers - Eugeniya Sokolova (as Mazourka), Mariia Gorshenkova (as the Basket Maker wife), and Pavel Gerdt (as Count Polinski).

Notes

The male variation from the famous Paquita pas de trois (aka Minkus pas de trois) is set to a variation from Adam's score for Le diable à quatre.
The male variation taken from the famous Flower Festival in Genzano pas de deux is set to a variation from Adam's score for Le diable à quatre.

Gallery

Marie Surovshchikova-Petipa as Mazourka, St. Petersburg, 1861
Act II-Scene 3, with Carlotta Grisi and Lucien Petipa, Paris, 1845

Recordings

Richard Bonynge conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in a recording of an 1850 edition of Adolphe Adam's score for Le diable à quatre as staged in Beriln. The recording was released on the label Decca on both CD and LP.

References

↑ Oxford Dictionary of Dance: Le Diable à quatre

The ballets and *revivals of Marius Petipa in Russia

1847–59	Paquita (1847) Le Diable amoureux (as "Satanella") (1848) Leda, the Swiss Milkmaid (1849) Giselle (1850, 1884, 1899, 1903) The Star of Granada (1855) The Rose, the Violet, and the Butterfly (1857) Le Corsaire (1858, 1863, 1868, 1885, 1899) A Marriage During the Regency (1858) The Parisian Market (1859, *1861)

1860–79	The Blue Dahlia (1860) Terpsichore (1861) The Pharaoh's Daughter (1862, 1885, 1898) The Beauty of Lebanon (1863) The Traveling Dancer (1864) Florida (1866) Titania (1866) Faust (1867) The Benevolent Cupid (1868) The Slave (1868) Le Roi Candaule (1868, 1891, 1903) Don Quixote (1869, 1871) Trilby* (1870) Catarina (1870) The Two Stars (1871) La Péri (1872) Camargo (1872) Le Papillon (1874) Ondine (as "The Naiad and the Fisherman") (1874) The Bandits (1875) The Adventures of Peleus (1876, 1897) A Midsummer Night's Dream* (1876) La Bayadère (1877, 1900) Roxana* (1878) Ariadne (1878) The Daughter of the Snows (1879) Frizak the Barber (1879) Mlada (1879, *1896)

1880–99	La Fille du Danube (1880) Zoraiya (1881) La Vivandière (as "Markitenka") (1881) Pâquerette (1882) The Night and the Day (1883) Pygmalion (1883) Coppélia (1884) Le Diable à Quatre (as "The Willful Wife") (1885) La Fille Mal Gardée (1885) The Magic Pills (1886) The King's Command (1886, 1887, 1900) La Esmeralda (1886) The Sacrifices to Cupid (1886) * Fiametta (1887) The Vestal (1888) The Talisman (1889) The Caprices of a Butterfly (1889, 1895) The Sleeping Beauty* (1890) Nénuphar (1890) Kalkabrino (1891) A Fairy Tale (1891) La Sylphide (1892) The Nutcracker (1892) Cinderella (1893) The Awakening of Flora (1894) Swan Lake (1895) The Little Humpbacked Horse (as "The Tsar Maiden") (1895) The Calvary Halt (1896) The Pearl (1896) Bluebeard (1896) Raymonda (1898)

1900–03	Les Ruses d'Amour or The Trial of Damis (1900) The Seasons (1900) Harlequinade (1900) The Heart of the Marquis (1902) The Magic Mirror (1903) The Romance of the Rosebud and the Butterfly (never presented)

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