- The Vestal
:"For the
geometer moth , see "Rhodometra sacraria ."The Vestal" - "Grandballet " in 3 Acts-4 Scenes, with choreography byMarius Petipa and music by Mikhail Ivanov.The ballet was first presented by the
Imperial Ballet on February 17/29, 1888 at theImperial Mariinsky Theatre inSt. Petersburg, Russia . "Principal Dancers -"Elena Cornalba (as Amata),Pavel Gerdt (as Lucio),Mariia Gorshenkova (as Claudia),Felix Kschessinsky (as Julius Flac), andNikolai Aistov (as the High Priest).Notes
*This ballet was a phenomenal success for the choreographer Petipa, and among ballet historians it is considered the predecessor of Petipa/Tchaikovsky "The Sleeping Beauty". Many critics who saw the premiere commented unanimously that the work was the epitome of the "Ballet à Grand Spectacle". Set in
Ancient Rome , the ballet was built on fantastical themes, complete with gods and goddesses, Emperors, and the like. The sets, costumes, and props were considered the best yet seen on the Imperial stage. Mikhail Ivanov's music proved to be the first successful score for the ballet that was provided by a symphonic composer.*Sections of this ballet were interpolated by Petipa into his 1899 revival of "
Le Corsaire ", and were subsequently documented in the method of Stepanov Choreographic Notation (along with the rest of Petipa's 1899 production of "Le Corsaire") by the Imperial Ballet's régisseur Nicholas Sergeyev. Today the notations are included in theSergeyev Collection , which documents the Imperial Ballet's repertory at the turn of the 20th century.
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