Romantic dream. Chopiniana

The desire for the Ideal, the dream of Love, the longing of the soul for inexpressible Beauty and the meeting with it... The young choreographer Mikhail Fokin tried to convey all this in his production of Chopiniana...

Chopiniana
romantic dream

In 1907, V. E. Dandre invited Mikhail Fokin, a young St. Petersburg choreographer, to stage a performance for a charity evening. Fokin chose for new production“Chopiniana” - a suite from Chopin’s works, orchestrated by A. Glazunov. The choreographer planned to turn each piece from the suite into an independent dance picture. And he also asked Glazunov to orchestrate the Waltz in C sharp minor. He needed this Chopin waltz because most other numbers required staging character dances: polonaise, mazurkas, tarantellas - and Fokine wanted, among others, to create a special romantic dance on pointe shoes and in long tunics.

When composing his waltz, Fokine was inspired by the famous years XIX century with the ballet La Sylphide, in which main role performed by the brilliant Maria Taglioni. The ballet is based on a fairy tale about the love of the beautiful Sylphide, the disembodied spirit of the air, for an earthly youth. The light, airy dance conveyed the subtlest movements of the heroine’s soul, her deepest experiences. Taglioni amazed the viewer not with virtuosity, but with her talent for expressing the inexpressible - the purity and transparency of a being from another, upper world, the call of dreams and the thrill of the soul, its eternal striving for the ideal. The part of the La Sylphide was devoid of any technical effects, but despite this, the audience experienced a genuine shock at the performances.

Fokin followed Taglioni's path. The staging of the waltz differed from other ballet pas de deux in the absence of tricks. The choreographer was guided by the music: it was impossible to imagine any kind of fast rotation or high jumps to Chopin’s most poetic waltz. Fokine did not set himself any rules or prohibitions, did not think about whether this lyrical duet would evoke applause, whether it would satisfy the audience or the ballerina, did not think about techniques that would guarantee success, did not think about success at all. That's why he was rewarded...

1810 - 1849
Polish composer and virtuoso pianist, teacher

1880 - 1942
Russian ballet soloist, Russian and American choreographer,
founder of modern classical romantic ballet

In February 1907, the dance suite “Chopiniana” was presented to the public. The waltz was performed by Anna Pavlova and Fokina's friend ballet school Mikhail Obukhov. Pavlova appeared on stage dressed as Taglioni. It was drawn by Bakst from engravings of the 1840s. Obukhov was dressed in a romantic black velvet suit, also based on a design by Bakst.

"The Sylph - winged hope - flies into the illuminated moonlight romantic garden. A young man is chasing her. It was a dance in the style of Taglioni, in the style of that long-forgotten time when poetry dominated the art of ballet, when the dancer stood on pointe shoes not to demonstrate her steel toe, but in order to create an impression with her dances, barely touching the ground. the lightness of something unearthly, fantastic. There was not a single pirouette or trick in this dance, but how poetic, how charming and captivating this duet in the air was! The audience was captivated, and so was I,” recalled Mikhail Fokin.

Pavlova's dance had such an effect on him strong impression, that he decided to stage a whole ballet in the same style - a ballet of light-winged sylphs fluttering around a lonely young man in love with Beauty.

And at the beginning of 1908, viewers saw the second Chopiniana. A corps de ballet, unprecedented at that time, appeared on the stage. Twenty-three Taglioni surrounded the choreographer before the start of the performance. Fokine gave the final instructions, checking that all the ballerinas had their hair neatly parted, just as they had done in Taglioni's La Sylphide. And he never tired of repeating: “Don’t dance for the public, don’t show yourself, don’t admire yourself... you should see not yourself, but the light sylphs around you, you look at them when you dance, admire them, reach out to them.”

Tamara Karsavina - La Sylphide, Vaslav Nijinsky - youth (1908)

The cast of performers was magnificent: Pavlova, Preobrazhenskaya, Karsavina, Nijinsky. Light sylphs appeared on the stage one after another - the personified dreams of a lonely young man. Pavlova flew across the stage in a mazurka. The waltz performed by Karsavina was unusually poetic. Preobrazhenskaya in the Prelude froze on the toes of one foot and in a dance almost devoid of jumps, she became airy. The role of the young man was played by Nijinsky. Although the ballet did not have a plot or action, Nijinsky managed to surprisingly subtly and deeply convey what the director intended poetic image a young dreamer, striving for something different, better, living in the world of his dreams.

“Romantic Dreams” - this is how the young choreographer called his new “Chopiniana”. And therefore the main gesture in her was a rush into some other, fantastic beautiful world, a dream, nostalgia of the soul for an unknown Beauty.

A few years later, this ballet entered the repertoire of the Russian Seasons in Paris under the name La Sylphide, and since then the new name of Chopiniana has been firmly entrenched in the foreign ballet repertoire.

In my "ReverieRomantique” (a romantic dream, as I called my “Chopiniana”), I tried not to surprise with novelty, but to return the conventional ballet dance.

By the time it highest development. I don’t know if our ballet ancestors danced like this. And no one knows. But in my dreams they danced just like that. I choreographed a series of individual Chopin pieces as solo dances and ensembles. They were orchestrated by Maurice Keller. I inserted the waltz orchestrated by A.K. Glazunov from the 1st Chopiniana into the ballet. Twenty-three Taglioni surrounded me..."

From the book by M. Fokin "Against the Current"

“Chopiniana” is a ballet suite to the music of Fryderyk Chopin. The ballet does not have a specific, developing plot, that is, it does not contain a story about certain events that happened with actors. In the dances of this suite the language plastic images the moods characteristic of Chopin's music are expressed: from romantic dreaminess and melancholic sadness to bright, radiant joy. The dance, following Chopin's melody, introduces the viewer into the poetic world of the composer.

The first version of Chopiniana, staged by the choreographer

M. M. Fokin in 1906, had almost nothing in common with the current Chopiniana. Then Fokin used for his production A. K. Glazunov’s orchestral suite of four piano pieces by Chopin: polonaise, nocturne, mazurka and tarantella. At the request of Fokin, A.K. Glazunov additionally instrumentalized a cis-moll waltz, which was included in the suite. Each of these plays was designed by the choreographer as an independent scene: the polonaise was performed in Polish costumes against the backdrop of the ballroom scenery. To the music of the nocturne, Chopin himself was brought onto the stage: he fought against nightmares in the ruins ancient monastery, and here his muse appeared to him. The Mazurka was decided like a Polish wedding: a girl is forcibly married to an old man, but she runs away with her lover. To the music of the tarantella, performers in Italian costumes danced against the backdrop of Vesuvius. The cis-minor waltz was composed as a duet between two soloists. The waltz was performed by Anna Pavlova and Mikhail Obukhov. Here is what Fokin says about their performance: “Sylphide - winged hope - flies into a romantic garden illuminated by moonlight. A young man is chasing her. It was a dance in the style of Taglioni, in the style of that long-forgotten time when poetry dominated the art of ballet, when the dancer stood on pointe shoes not to demonstrate her steel toe, but in order to create an impression with her dance, barely touching the ground. lightness, something unearthly, fantastic... The audience was captivated, and so was I. Pavlova made such a strong impression on me that I thought about whether to stage a whole ballet in the same style. And so, for the day of the next benefit performance, I prepared the ballet “La Sylphide” for Pavlova! ( Under this title “Chopiniana” was performed during the Russian ballet’s tour in Paris in 1909 and is still performed abroad.)

If she had not performed Chopin’s waltz so wonderfully, so delightfully, I would never have created this ballet.”

Thus, in 1908-1909, the ballet “Chopiniana” was born, in which Fokine, abandoning the original plan of composing separate plot dances for Chopin’s plays, created a stylistically unified choreographic composition.

The waltz that Pavlova performed was the key to creating a ballet that was extremely integral in its choreographic and musical unity.

"Chopiniana" in its final edition consists of eight pieces by Chopin. The introduction to the ballet is a solemn polonaise in A major. Then it includes a nocturne As-dur, a waltz Ges-dur, two mazurkas (G-dur and D-dur), a prelude in A-dur, a waltz cis-moll. The ballet ends with a general waltz in B major.

Polonaise serving as an introduction, waltz cis-minor orchestrated

A. Glazunov, the rest of Chopin's plays included in “Chopiniana” - by M. Keller and others.

The author of "Chopiniana" Mikhail Fokin (1880-1942) is a famous Russian choreographer. The beginning of Fokin's production activities dates back to the first years of the 20th century. This was an era of great reforms in the field of theater; search life truth and stylistic unity found expression in the activities Art Theater, in performances of Mamontov's opera. It is completely natural that ballet also began to explore new paths at that time. Fokine never denied the achievements of Russian ballet of the past, but (at the same time, he was one of the first to fight against everything that was dilapidated and outdated in ballet at the end of the 19th century. He sought to overcome the decades-old cliche of constructing a performance with the obligatory pas de deux of the leading dancers, or as they call them called “the first plots”, against the backdrop of an impersonal corps de ballet. He looked for special means of expression for each performance. story performances he rebelled against the conventional gestures that existed at that time, against the fact that the action was revealed through “silent conversations”, and dances existed independently of the events reflected.

Believing that ballet needs to turn to first-class music, Fokine composed his productions to the music of M. Glinka, P. Tchaikovsky, N. Rimsky-Korsakov, F. Chopin, R. Schumann, staged ballets by M. Ravel, I. Stravinsky; collaborated with major artists - A. Golovin, L. Benois, L. Bakst. Fokine was the first to speak out against the traditional fluffy skirts of ballerinas - “tutus”, which pass from performance to performance, regardless of where and when the ballet took place. He sought to create costumes in the ballet that corresponded to the style of the reflected era.

created by Fokin large number ballets: this is the Armida Pavilion

N. Cherepnina, “Firebird” and “Petrushka” by I. Stravinsky, “Scheherazade” by N. Rimsky-Korsakov, “Egyptian Nights”

A. Arensky, “Aragonese Jota” by M. Glinka and many others. He also staged the world-famous “Polovtsian Dances” in the opera “Prince Igor” by A. Borodin and created especially for Anna Pavlova the no less famous concert number “The Dying Swan” to the music of C. Saint-Saens. "Chopiniana" belongs to the most famous Fokine ballets.

When staging Chopiniana, Fokine was aware that the success of the performance depended on whether he would be able to create dance images close to musical images Chopin. The dances in this ballet should be perceived as music that has come to life and become “visible”: Chopin’s romantic music seems to bring to life the images of light-winged dancers of the era of romantic ballet - Maria Taglioni, Fanny Elsler, Carlotta Grisi...

In an effort to reproduce in “Chopinian” the style of the romantic ballet of the 30s and 40s of the 19th century, the choreographer voluntarily adopted self-restraint in dance technique, abandoning the ones that appeared in late XIX centuries of virtuoso pirouettes and other spectacular steps. However, the choreographic language of “Chopiniana” does not look impoverished at all: only by mastering all the riches of ballet technique can a choreographer create dances that are distinguished by such noble simplicity and grace. In “Chopinian” everything is logical and strictly subordinated to musical thought, namely thought, precisely the meaning of music, and not just its form - and this is Fokine’s merit.

Fokin shows exceptional musicality, subtle taste and ingenuity not only in developing solo dance movements, but also in group dances. The movements and groupings of ballet dancers are inextricably linked with the dance of the soloists. Combinations of movements moving from one group to another are always beautiful and logically follow from one another.

Despite the apparent simplicity of the choreographic language, “Chopiniana” is a very difficult performance; it requires from the artists not only confident performance, but above all a sense of style, musicality, and extreme ease of dance. Otherwise, the charm of this captivating “romantic dream” to Chopin’s music, as the choreographer called it, will be irretrievably lost.

In 1909, a few months after the St. Petersburg premiere of Chopiniana, this ballet was shown in Paris. The most outstanding dancers of Russia took part in the performance: Anna Pavlova, Tamara Karsavina, Vaslav Nijinsky. The famous poster dedicated to the tour of the Russian ballet in Paris, made according to a sketch by the artist V. Serov, depicts Anna Pavlova in Chopinian. The performance was very popular great success. Parisian critics unanimously expressed admiration for its choreography, design, and performers.

Anna Pavlova and other Russian ballerinas danced Chopiniana not only in France, but also in England, the USA and other countries. Later, under the name “La Sylphides,” this ballet entered the repertoire of all ballet troupes peace. Our “Chopiniana” was performed with constant success in the pre-revolutionary years in St. Petersburg, then in Soviet era in Leningrad and Moscow. All the famous Russians and soviet ballerinas: O. Preobrazhenskaya, M. Kshesinskaya, O. Spesivtseva, later E. Luke, E. Gerdt and others. An outstanding performer of “Chopiniana” was Galina Ulanova. In 1928, in Leningrad, she performed for the first time in this ballet, captivating everyone with her lyricism, spirituality and sincerity of performance. “Chopiniana” was, as it were, a harbinger of the ballerina’s future achievements in the most complex lyrical roles of the ballet repertoire.

IN Bolshoi Theater USSR Chopiniana was first staged in 1932. In 1958, the ballet was resumed on this stage by E. Heidenreich.

The significance of “Chopiniana” in the history of Russian and world ballet art is great. She opened the way for choreographers to use ballet performances classical music, not originally intended to be expressed through dance.

One after another, “Listiana”, “Mozartiana”, “Straussiana”, ballets to the music of P. Tchaikovsky, E. Grieg, A. Lyadov, R. Strauss began to appear in the production of other choreographers, and finally, ballet suites based on music revolutionary songs. In our time, ballets to the music of symphonies, instrumental and piano pieces by classical composers have become very widespread, especially in the West. Thus, ballet art was enriched with new genres, and many musical works, successfully resolved in dance, have become more accessible, understandable, closer to the wide circles spectators

Elizaveta Surits

Teachers-tutors: honored artists. Russia Yuri Burlaka And Olga Kokhanchuk.

Photo

Prepared by Yulia Yakovleva

Marius Petipa directed the St. Petersburg ballet for almost fifty years. When he was fired, no one knew what to do next. They needed a person who would lead the troupe and assign work to trained, well-trained dancers - that is, someone who could freely compose in the language of classical dance.

In 1907, the dancer Mariinsky Theater Mikhail Fokine showed his ballet Chopiniana, and it became clear to everyone: this is the choreographer they have been waiting for. The music of the ballet was composed by Fokine from piano works by Chopin and orchestrated by Alexander Glazunov. It was enough for one act. And Fokine didn’t need more: he immediately realized that the age of three- or four-act performances in the spirit of Petipa had passed. Just like the century of Petipa’s favorite virtuoso ballerinas, whose standard was Pierina Legnani - short, short-haired, strong, with a bravura, precise and bold style of dancing.

Fokine yearned for the ballet 1830s, for the times of "" and the ballerina Maria Taglioni, Chopin's contemporary. Fokin studied the available engravings of that time and ordered costumes for the entire corps de ballet for a pittance. In Petipa's ballets, costumes were made of silk and velvet, decorated with gold embroidery and incredibly inflated the production budget. In “Chopinian” all the dancers, from ballerinas to corps de ballet, wore simple white bodices with cambric puffed sleeves, lush long skirts and wreaths of roses. Fokin saw the same costume in Maria Taglioni’s engravings. He asked the dancers in “Chopinian” to move in a low voice, or even in a whisper, wanting to recreate the impression that, according to the memoirs, Taglioni made on the public. And he achieved it. The audience was shocked, it became clear to everyone that the soloists of “Chopiniana” - Anna Pavlova, Tamara Karsavina, Vaslav Nijinsky - were stars, and stars of a completely new type.

But the main discovery of Fokine and “Chopiniana” was not even them, not the manner of dancing in a low voice, as if shading the dance pattern, but the fact that in “Chopiniana” there were demonstratively no heroes. The program simply said “Youth” and “La Sylphides”. The dance performed on its own, one on one with the music. And as it turned out, this did not at all prevent the ballet from remaining fascinating, interesting, and complex.