**Thumbnail: caricature of Mikhail Fokine as Mercury in "Le Réveil de Flore" by the brothers Nikolai & Sergei Legat. Sergei Vikharev's reconstruction of Marius Petipa & Riccardo Drigo's 1894 ballet "Le Réveil de Flore" (Пробуждение Флоры). 2008. The ballet has been almost completely reconstructed from the choreographic notation held in Harvard University's Sergeyev Collection. Unfortunately, 2 variations that Petipa added after the 1894 premiere have not been included. Choreography - Marius Petipa**, reconstructed by Sergei Vikharev Music - Riccardo Drigo (1894) Décor - Mikhail Bocharov (1894), reproduced by Mikhail Shishliannikov Costumes - Yevgeny Ponomarev (1894), reproduced by Irina Korovina **The Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet has erroneously credited the choreography of this ballet jointly to both Petipa & Lev Ivanov due to an error in the original theatre program & other materials dating from 1894. Soon after the premiere, Petipa wrote a letter to a major St. Petersburg newspaper to correct this. In this letter the Ballet Master stated that the choreography belonged to him exclusively, & that Ivanov had no part in its creation. --Cast-- Flora, Goddess of Spring - Ekaterina Osmolkina Zephyr, God of the gentle West Wind - Andrian Fadeyev Apollo, God of Light & the Sun - Viktor Baranov Aurora, Goddess of the Dawn - Yana Selina Diana, Goddess of the Moon & the hunt - Elena Vassyukovich Cupid, God of Erotic Love - Elena Vasyukovich Aquilon, the Northern Wind - Pavel Sotnikov Mercury, messenger of the Gods - Alexei Timofeyev Hebe, the Goddess of Youth & cupbearer of the Gods - Ekaterina Petina Ganymede, beloved of Jupiter & cupbearer of the Gods - Salikh Bikchurin --Résumé of dances & scenes-- 01 Prélude 02 Nocturne: L'apparition de Diane (2:34) 03 Le vent du Nord: L'apparition d'Aquilon (6:40) 04 Scherzo: Scène et danse de la rosée (7:43) 05 L'apparition d'Aurore (11:55) 06 Valse (13:44) 07 L'apparition d'Apollon (17:31) 08 Entrée de Zéphyr (18:51) 09 Pizzicato: Entrée de Cupidon suivi des petits amours (19:39) 10 Grand Pas d'action --a. Grand adage (violin solo for Leopold Auer) (21:05) --b. Variation de Zéphyr (28:07) --c. Variation de Flore (harp solo for Albert Zabel) (29:19) --d. Grande valse (32:00) 11 Entrée de Mercure (37:55) 12 Entrée de Ganymède et de Hébé (39:07) 13 Bacchanale: Grand cortège (40:36) 14 Grand pas (45:58) 15 Galop générale (50:44) 16 Apothéose: La révélation d'Olympe (53:57) --Notes-- At some point after the 1894 premiere, Petipa added 2 variations to new music by Drigo for the characters Hebe & Aurora, respectively. One of these variations turns up in the various productions of "Don Quixote" during the Grand pas de deux. It is a Viennese-style waltz danced by a female soloist. Interestingly, the solo also turns up in the scene "Le Jardin animé" of American Ballet Theatre's production of "Le Corsaire" as a solo for Medora. It is the variation danced in this clip - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcFfrXDhcuA&t;=39m12s. I believe that this solo was originally intended for the Goddess Aurora, but this is just a guess. The other of these 2 variations has recently turned up in Yuri Burlaka's gala "The Golden Age of the Russian Imperial Ballet", originally staged for the ballet company of Chelyabinsk, & subsequently for the Bolshoi Ballet. It is the pizzicato solo seen here, originally for the Goddess Hebe, danced by Elena Andrienko - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xInhO_M_ztc&t;=1m16s. --History-- This ballet was originally created for the celebrations held at Peterhof in honor of the wedding of the Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna (daughter of Tsar Alexandr III & sister of Tsar Nicholas II) to the Grand Duke Alexandr Mikhailovich. Premiered 9 August [O.S. 28 July] 1894, with Mathilde Kschessinakaya as Flora. For reasons unknown to me, Drigo's score is being performed by about half of the Mariinsky's orchestra (about 30-40 pieces). Although the score was surely performed by a small ensemble for the premiere at the smaller theatre at Peterhof, the music was certainly performed by the full orchestra once the ballet was transferred to the main stage of the Mariinsky. In light of this small ensemble, Drigo's score sounds a bit thin. Even worse, the dancers of this film are maintaining tempi that entirely to slow, which causes the reconstructed choreography to drag in many places.

• published: 11 Sep 2013
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