# Fairytales made Russian ballet



## Clouds Weep Snowflakes

I have Prokofiev's "Cinderella" and "Romeo and Juliet" and Tchaikovsky's "The Sleeping Beauty"; any similar Russian ballet based of fairytales/legends you could reveal to me/recommend me to get? I love any form of Russian ballet, but a story made music really touches me...


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## Becca

If you are going to restrict yourself to Russian then you will miss many great ballets.


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## jegreenwood

Becca said:


> If you are going to restrict yourself to Russian then you will miss many great ballets.


As Becca said. I'll be attending Balanchine's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" on Sunday. Music by Mendelssohn. And lots of fairies. Here's a video, but the picture quality is far from great.






There's actually a second great ballet version of the story: Frederick Ashton's "The Dream."


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## Clouds Weep Snowflakes

jegreenwood said:


> As Becca said. I'll be attending Balanchine's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" on Sunday. Music by Mendelssohn. And lots of fairies. Here's a video, but the picture quality is far from great.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There's actually a second great ballet version of the story: Frederick Ashton's "The Dream."


It doesn't _have_ to be Russian, and thanks; any more suggestions?


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## mbhaub

Then get the two great ballets by Leo Delibes: Sylvia, and Coppelia.

Glazunov wrote several fine ones, Raymonda is fairy tale based.
Khachaturian's Spartacus based on the legend.
Arensky's Egyptian Nights is hardly known, and that's too bad - it's beautiful.

Then a non-Russian Hugo Alfven wrote a ballet The Mountain King that is delightful. Alfven should be better known than he is. Beautiful, exciting, enchanting music.


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## Clouds Weep Snowflakes

mbhaub said:


> Then get the two great ballets by Leo Delibes: Sylvia, and Coppelia.
> 
> Glazunov wrote several fine ones, Raymonda is fairy tale based.
> Khachaturian's Spartacus based on the legend.
> Arensky's Egyptian Nights is hardly known, and that's too bad - it's beautiful.
> 
> Then a non-Russian Hugo Alfven wrote a ballet The Mountain King that is delightful. Alfven should be better known than he is. Beautiful, exciting, enchanting music.


Some more details about the composers please?


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## jegreenwood

How about Stravinsky's "Firebird"? Maybe "Petrushka," as well.


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## Clouds Weep Snowflakes

jegreenwood said:


> How about Stravinsky's "Firebird"? Maybe "Petrushka," as well.


Any details please?


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## jegreenwood

Clouds Weep Snowflakes said:


> Any details please?


"The Firebird" and "Petrushka" are the first two of a trilogy of ballets that revolutionized modern music at the beginning of the 20th century. (The third, the most famous, is "The Rite of Spring," but that's definitely not a fairy tale.)

The story of "The Firebird" is actually derived from Russian legend. Musically, it's closest to the works of other composers of the time, such as Rimsky-Korsokov.

There's a pretty active thread on "Petrushka" and "Rite" in this forum. It includes some opinions that differ from mine.


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## Becca

Clouds Weep Snowflakes said:


> Some more details about the composers please?


Look them up, the details aren't hard to find.


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## Larkenfield

If you want to understand Russian ballet, look into the productions by Serge Diaghilev and the Ballet Russes that were centered in Paris from 1907 until he died in 1929 … Look into his productions and the composers that he commissioned that continue to be performed today. Ballet would be unthinkable without him with Russian and non-Russian productions of every possible variety, including those based on myths and fairytales.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Diaghilev


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## jegreenwood

Larkenfield said:


> If you want to understand Russian ballet, look into the productions by Serge Diaghilev and the Ballet Russes that were centered in Paris from 1907 until he died in 1929 … Look into his productions and the composers that he commissioned that continue to be performed today. Ballet would be unthinkable without him with Russian and non-Russian productions of every possible variety, including those based on myths and fairytales.
> 
> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Diaghilev


I wouldn't overlook Marius Petipa. From Wikipedia:

Marius Petipa is noted for his long career as Premier maître de ballet (First Ballet Master) of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres, making him Ballet Master and principal choreographer of the Imperial Ballet (today known as the Mariinsky Ballet), a position he held from 1871 until 1903. Petipa created over fifty ballets, some of which have survived in versions either faithful to, inspired by, or reconstructed from the original. Among these works, he is most noted for The Pharaoh's Daughter (1862); Don Quixote (1869); La Bayadère (1877); Le Talisman (1889); The Sleeping Beauty (1890); The Nutcracker (likely choreographed by Lev Ivanov, perhaps with Petipa's counsel and instruction) (1892); Le Réveil de Flore (1894); La Halte de cavalerie (1896); Raymonda (1898); Les Saisons (1900), and Les Millions d'Arlequin (a.k.a. Harlequinade) (1900).

Petipa revived a substantial number of works created by other choreographers. Many of these revivals would go on to become the definitive editions on which all subsequent productions would be based. The most famous of these revivals were Le Corsaire, Giselle, La Esmeralda, Coppélia, La Fille Mal Gardée (with Lev Ivanov), The Little Humpbacked Horse and Swan Lake (with Lev Ivanov).[1]


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