La Esmeralda (ballet)

La Esmeralda is a ballet in 3 acts, 5 scenes, inspired by "Notre Dame de Paris" by Victor Hugo, originally choreographed by Jules Perrot; with music by Cesare Pugni and design by William Grieve (scenery), D. Sloman (machinery), Mme. Copere (costumes).

It was first presented by the Ballet of her Majesty's Theatre, London on March 9, 1844 with the Ballerina Carlotta Grisi as Esmeralda, Jules Perrot as Gringoire, Arthur Saint-Leon as Phoebus, Adelaide Frassi as Fleur de Lys, and Antoine Louis Coulon as Quasimodo.

Today the ballet is presented in its full-length form only in Russia and parts of Eastern Europe. Outside of Russia and Eastern Europe only excerpts are given - the "La Esmeralda Pas de Deux" and the "Pas de Six", but mostly the "Diane and Actéon Pas de Deux" is given, which in all actuality is not originally from the ballet (it is often miscredited as having been added by Petipa to his 1886 revival of "La Esmeralda").

Important revivals

*Jules Perrot for the Imperial Ballet. Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre, St. Petersburg, 2 January 1849. Revived especially for the Ballerina Fanny Elssler. Cesare Pugni revised his original score for the production.

*Marius Petipa for the Imperial Ballet in 4 acts and 5 scenes. Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, 17 December 1886. Revived especially for the Ballerina Virginia Zucchi. Musical revision and additional "pas" by Riccardo Drigo — the "Danse bohème" for Act I; a "Grand adage" for act 2-scene 1; the "Danse pour quatre danseuses" and a "Grand coda" for the "Pas de six" of act 2-scene 2.) Petipa added additional numbers in 1866 (a "Pas de deux" for the Ballerina Claudina Cucchi that became known as the "Pas Cucchi" to the music of Pugni), 1871 (a "Pas de dix" for the Ballerina Eugenia Sokolova to the music of Yuli Gerber), and 1872 (a "Pas de cinq" for the Ballerina Adèle Grantzow to music by an unknown composer).

*Marius Petipa for the Imperial Ballet in 4 acts and 5 scenes. Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, 21 November 1899. Revived especially for the "Prima Ballerina Assoluta" Mathilde Kschessinskaya. Petipa added a new "Pas d'action" for Kschessinskaya to the music of Riccardo Drigo and Cesare Pugni that became known as the "La Esmeralda Pas de Deux".

*Agrippina Vaganova for the Kirov Ballet in 3 acts. Kirov Theatre of Opera and Ballet, Leningrad, 3 April 1935. Revived especially for the Ballerina Tatiana Vecheslova. Vaganova added a "new" "Pas d'action" for the Ballerina Galina Ulanova and the Danseur Vakhtang Chabukiani, which she arranged from the "Pas de Diane" from Petipa's 1868 ballet "Tsar Kandavl" (a.k.a. "Le Roi Candaule") to music by Pugni and Drigo, which is known today as the "Diane and Actéon Pas de Deux".

*Pyotr Gusev for the Kirov Ballet in 3 acts. Kirov Theatre of Opera and Ballet, Leningrad, 1949.

*Tatiana Vecheslova and Nicolai Boyarchikov for the Mussorgsky Ballet. Mussorgsky State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet, 1981. A revival of Petipa's revival of 1899.

La Esmeralda Pas de Deux

For his revival of "La Esmeralda" in 1899 Petipa arranged a new "Pas d'action" for the Ballerina Mathilde Kschessinskaya. The "Pas d'action" consisted of an "Entrée", "adage", a variation for Kschessinskaya, and a "coda". The music was arranged by Drigo, "kapellmeister" to the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres. The "Entrée" and "'adage" were set to music Drigo had originally composed for Petipa's revival of "La Esmerlada" in 1886.

The variation danced by Kschessinskaya, is today referred to as the "tambourine variation", and is quite popular on the competition and gala circuit. The variation is taken from the composer Romualdo Marenco's score for Luigi Manzotti's 1877 ballet "Sieba", and first danced in "La Esmeralda" when the ballerina Virginia Zucchi performed the title role in St. Petersburg in 1886.

The "coda" was set to music taken from the "Marche du pharaon" from Pugni's score for Petipa's 1862 ballet "The Pharaoh's Daughter".

Long after the full-length "La Esmeralda" left the repertory of the Mariinsky Theatre, the "La Esmeralda Pas de Deux" continued being performed. By the 1930s the great Danseur Vakhtang Chabukiani was performing in the "Pas de deux", for which he added a new variation set to the music for the "Entrée d'Esmeralda" from act I of Pugni's original score. This is the variation danced by all male dancers in the "La Esmeralda Pas de Deux" today.

Today the "La Esmeralda Pas de Deux" is a popular repertory piece with companies all over the world, and is often performed on the ballet competition circuit. The standard version danced by most companies today is by the choregrapher Ben Stevenson, who arranged the "pas" for the dancers Janie Parker and William Pizzuto, who performed it for the first time at the International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi, on July 3, 1982.

Diane and Actéon Pas de Deux

See also

* Cesare Pugni — Composer
* Marius Petipa - Choreographer

Video

* [http://video.yahoo.com/video/profile?yid=balletclips2&mode=fav Excerpts from the Mussorgsky Ballet's production of "La Esmeralda"]