Tamara Karsavina in "Petrouchka." Photo in Comoedia Illustre (1914)
Tamara Karsavina began her professional career with Russia's Imperial Ballet in 1902, at age 17, and rose quickly through the ranks to become a leading ballerina. She began traveling to Paris in 1910 to dance with the Ballets Russes. Her most famous roles were in the ballets of Michel Fokine, her most famous being the title role in the "Firebird." Tamara Karsavina helped establish England's Royal Ballet and was a founding member of the Royal Academy of Dance.
Petrushka [French: Petrouchka] premiered June 13, 1911 at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris with costume and scenery design by Alexandre Benois, music by Igor Stravinsky and choreography by Michel Fokine. The ballet is set in Admiralty Square in St. Petersburg, just before Lent in 1830, during the annual Butter Week Festival.
“An old and dastardly showman, the Charlatan, demonstrates his lifelike puppets—sad and ugly Petrouchka, a rag doll; the beautiful but vapid Ballerina and the Moor, a brutish exhibitionist—to an eager crowd of boulevardiers, colourful peasantry and other performers. Between their performances the puppets are imprisoned in rooms in the Charlatan’s booth. Both Petrouchka and the Moor are in love with the Ballerina. Petrouchka’s advances towards her provoke the Moor to attack and kill him with a scimitar. This tragic scenario unfolds in front of the shocked and horrified spectators. The Charlatan hastens to disprove the events by demonstrating that Petrouchka is only a doll filled with sawdust. However, after the crowd leaves the square the ghost of the marionette appears above the booth, menacing the horrified Charlatan.
“Petrouchka reflects a brilliant fusion of the creativity of Stravinsky, Benois and Nijinsky. Developed from Stravinsky’s 1910 piano work, Petrouchka’s cry, the ballet reflected the interest of the miriskusniki in street theatre, mime, puppet shows (balagani), and the traditions of commedia dell’arte. The use of puppets, particularly in the implicit racism of the depiction of the black Moor and the vapidity of the Ballerina, allowed Stravinsky and Fokine to exploit racial stereotypes within the changing cultural and ethnic landscape of nineteenth-century Russia. In the role of the lifeless Petrouchka, animated and annihilated by love, Nijinsky gave his most memorable and accomplished performance, not least because his grotesque characterisation of the controlled and brutalised puppet was deliberately at odds with his usual feline grace on stage.” [Synopsis by the National Gallery of Australia]
This comic ballet as it was conceived by Stravinsky, Fokine and Benois may be viewed on Youtube. Here are the links:
Part 1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbWDG3LU4bc
Part 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmf5T57sFHw
Part 3: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wekV-tQb-xs
Part 4: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSssKEYzRJY
Tamara Karsavina in "Petrouchka." Photo in Comoedia Illustre (1914)
Tamara Karsavina began her professional career with Russia's Imperial Ballet in 1902, at age 17, and rose quickly through the ranks to become a leading ballerina. She began traveling to Paris in 1910 to dance with the Ballets Russes. Her most famous roles were in the ballets of Michel Fokine, her most famous being the title role in the "Firebird." Tamara Karsavina helped establish England's Royal Ballet and was a founding member of the Royal Academy of Dance.
Petrushka [French: Petrouchka] premiered June 13, 1911 at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris with costume and scenery design by Alexandre Benois, music by Igor Stravinsky and choreography by Michel Fokine. The ballet is set in Admiralty Square in St. Petersburg, just before Lent in 1830, during the annual Butter Week Festival.
“An old and dastardly showman, the Charlatan, demonstrates his lifelike puppets—sad and ugly Petrouchka, a rag doll; the beautiful but vapid Ballerina and the Moor, a brutish exhibitionist—to an eager crowd of boulevardiers, colourful peasantry and other performers. Between their performances the puppets are imprisoned in rooms in the Charlatan’s booth. Both Petrouchka and the Moor are in love with the Ballerina. Petrouchka’s advances towards her provoke the Moor to attack and kill him with a scimitar. This tragic scenario unfolds in front of the shocked and horrified spectators. The Charlatan hastens to disprove the events by demonstrating that Petrouchka is only a doll filled with sawdust. However, after the crowd leaves the square the ghost of the marionette appears above the booth, menacing the horrified Charlatan.
“Petrouchka reflects a brilliant fusion of the creativity of Stravinsky, Benois and Nijinsky. Developed from Stravinsky’s 1910 piano work, Petrouchka’s cry, the ballet reflected the interest of the miriskusniki in street theatre, mime, puppet shows (balagani), and the traditions of commedia dell’arte. The use of puppets, particularly in the implicit racism of the depiction of the black Moor and the vapidity of the Ballerina, allowed Stravinsky and Fokine to exploit racial stereotypes within the changing cultural and ethnic landscape of nineteenth-century Russia. In the role of the lifeless Petrouchka, animated and annihilated by love, Nijinsky gave his most memorable and accomplished performance, not least because his grotesque characterisation of the controlled and brutalised puppet was deliberately at odds with his usual feline grace on stage.” [Synopsis by the National Gallery of Australia]
This comic ballet as it was conceived by Stravinsky, Fokine and Benois may be viewed on Youtube. Here are the links:
Part 1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbWDG3LU4bc
Part 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmf5T57sFHw
Part 3: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wekV-tQb-xs
Part 4: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSssKEYzRJY