stravinsky and the ballets russes

An Evening of one-act ballets on the music by Igor Stravinsky

Composer: Igor Stravinsky
Musical Director and Conductor: Valery Gergiev
Choreography: Michel Fokine, Bronislava Nijinska, and Vaslav Nijinsky
Approimate Running Time – 1 hour, 45 minutes
Costume Designer: Tatiana Noginova
Lighting Designer: Vladimir Lukin
Orchestra: Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra
Featuring:Yekaterina Kondaurova and Alexandra Iosifidi

The Firebird
Choreography: Michel Fokine (1910)
Libretto: Michel Fokine
Reconstruction: Isabelle Fokine, Andris Liepa
Set and costume design: Anna and Anatoly Nezhny
after original sketches: Alexander Golovin, Leon Bakst and Michel Fokine
World premiere: 25 June 1910, The Ballets Russes de Serge de Diaghilev, Theatre de l’Opera, Paris
In the repertoire of the Mariinsky Theatre since 1994
Running time: 44 minutes
About The Firebird
A Russian folk tale in two scenes (premiered on 25 June 1910 in Paris – commissioned by Serge de Diaghilev).
Serge de Diaghilev heard Stravinsky for the first time on 6 February 1909, the day when his Fantastic Scherzo and Fireworks were created. Diaghilev was extremely impressed by this last work. Since his Ballets Russes had already performed for a season in Paris in 1909 and were a great success, he wished to repeat the experience the following year and include a brand new work inspired by the legend of the Firebird. He commissioned the young Stravinsky to write the music.
The ballet was an immediate success.The Ballets Russes enabled Fokine to fully realise his ideas since he shared the same vision of ballet with Diaghilev, perceiving it as a total work of art where every element must be in harmony with the artistic project. As for Diaghilev, he found in Fokine the choreographer who could bring his enterprise the right amount of novelty needed to captivate but not clash with the audience. It was a total success.
The Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du printemps)
Choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky
Scene plan: Igor Stravinsky and Nicholas Roerich
Reconstructed and staged: Millicent Hodson
Decor and costumes after Nicholas Roerich (1913)
Reconstructed and supervised: Kenneth Archer
World premiere: 29 May 1913, Ballets Russes de Diaghilev, Theatre des Champs-Elysees, Paris
Premiere at the Mariinsky Theatre: 9 June 2003 Running time: 40 minutes

About The Rite of Spring
Its première at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris, on 29 May 1913 caused a veritable scandal. The audience was shocked by the primitive violence of the ballet. It was so radically rejected that the ballet was cancelled after eight performances.
Although long forgotten, thanks to the relentless work of Millicent Hodson, Nijinsky's original choreography was recreated. After fifteen years' research, notably helped by Marie Rambert who had been Nijinsky's assistant, she managed to recreate the original Rite of Spring, which was performed by the Joffrey Ballet on 30 September 1987 in Los Angeles.
In this work, Igor Stravinsky further developed the rhythm and harmony, elements he had already experimented with in his first two ballets, the Firebird and Petrouchka.


The Wedding (Les Noces)
Scene plan, music and text: Igor Stravinsky (1923)
Staged: Howard Sayette Decor and Costumes: Natalia Goncharova (1923)
Decor reproduced: Boris Kaminsky
Costumes reproduced: Tatiana Noginova
World premiere: 13 June 1923, Ballet Russe de Serge de Diaghilev, Theatre de la Gaiete-Lyrique, Paris
Premiere at the Mariinsky Theatre: 9 June 2003 Running time: 20 minutes

About The Wedding
Igor Stravinsky started to compose The Wedding using folk texts that he adapted, relating the story of a Russian peasant wedding. The score for the first two scenes was finished in the spring of 1915 but the complete work was only finished two years later on 4 April 1917 in Morges.
Diaghilev decided to put these choreographic scenes on the program of his Ballets Russes in June 1923. The choreography was entrusted to Bronislava Nijinska, sister of the famous dancer.