Ballet "Raymonda": content, interesting facts, videos, history

A. Glazunov ballet "Raymonda"

Raymond is one of the most colorful and spectacular performances of the ballet theater. The romantic plot of the ballet is inspired by medieval legends about a girl who is waiting for her lover from a knightly campaign. For ballet director Marius Petipa "Raymond" was the last big work. For the composer Alexander Glazunov, on the contrary, it was the first experience of turning to the ballet genre, which later proved to be the most successful in his work.

The era of the Middle Ages comes to life in the images of "Raymonda", but thanks to the captivating music and vivid choreography, the ballet characters are perceived not as frozen historical figures, but as living people who can selflessly rejoice, deeply suffer and genuinely love.

The summary of the ballet Glazunov Raymond and many interesting facts about this work read on our page.

Summary

The ballet takes place in medieval Provence. The lovely Raymond, who lives in the castle of an elderly aunt, is engaged to the Hungarian knight-crusader Jean de Brienne. But the happiness of the girl darkens the separation - her fighter, who was named as part of the troops of the Hungarian ruler Andrei II, is going on a military campaign. One night, Raymond sees a dream that plunges her into total confusion - instead of the groom she dreams of, a formidable Saracen sheikh comes to her, pursuing her love. This dream deprives the girl of rest, and soon she will have to make sure that he is prophetic.

At the celebration, arranged in honor of the birthday of Raymonda, she is represented by the Saracen knight Abderakhman. Overwhelmed by unkind premonitions, the girl tries to avoid his company, but Abderakhman, struck at the very heart by the beauty of Raimonda, is following her everywhere. He promises to throw at her feet all his power and the innumerable treasures that he owns if she agrees to marry him, but Raymond proudly rejects the terrible Saracen. The girl’s refusal enrages him, and with the help of his retinue, he tries to steal the object of his passion, but Jean de Brien returning from the march suddenly appears on his way. In a fair fight, he defeats Abderakhman and marries Raymond.

A photo:

Interesting Facts:

• The first performer of the role of Raymonda was the famous Italian Pierina Legnani.
• "Raymonda" was the swan song of the great choreographer Petipa, who staged more than 40 performances in his life.
• On the title page of the Raimonda score, the author wrote that he dedicated his first ballet opus to Petersburg ballet artists.
• Raymonda's party in the ballet world is considered one of the most difficult to perform. She has seven solo variations, so for ballerinas this role is “aerobatics”.
• Glazunov’s contemporary Elizaveta Gerdt was considered the unsurpassed Raymonda. She possessed a truly regal bearing characteristic of the image of Raymonda, and was so organic in this role that it seemed as if this ballet was written specifically for her.
• There are several screen versions of "Raymonda". In 1973, a television version of the play staged by L. Lavrovsky was released. Exactly 10 years later, Yves Andre Hubert shot the full version of the play in color for display on French television. In 1989, the ballet “Raymonda” was edited by Y. Grigorovich, which starred N. Bessmertnov, Y. Vasyuchenko and G. Taranda.
• Yuri Slonimsky, who wrote the Raymonda libretto for Vainonen, literally turned the original story upside down. The bridegroom of Raymonda in the version of Slonim is called Koloman, and it is he who is the treacherous traitor, while the Saracen knight Abderakhman appears as the embodiment of nobility.
• In 1999, a series of 6 commemorative coins dedicated to Raymond was issued in Russia. It includes three silver coins of 3, 10 and 25 rubles and three gold values ​​of 25, 50 and 100 rubles, which depict various fragments from "Raymonda".
• About 19-year-old Maya Plisetskaya theatrical world started talking just after her performance in "Raymond". The photo of the ballerina in this role was published in the popular magazine Ogonyok in the victorious 1945.
• At the premiere of "Raymonda", staged at the Bolshoi Theater Grigorovich, was the adoptive daughter of the ballet author E. Glazunov-Günther. New reading of the famous ballet led the guest of honor in admiration. "This is the Russian "Raymond". There are those deep thoughts in her that my father laid in music"she concluded.
• Petipa's original production has not disappeared forever. The director of the Imperial Ballet, Nikolai Sergeev, thoroughly recorded it according to a special system invented by his teacher. In 1917, Sergeev was forced to emigrate and in his baggage he took away unique manuscripts of ballets, which he managed to record. Currently, this collection is the property of Harvard University.
• One of the brightest fragments of the ballet is the "Eastern Suite", sounding in the second act, and the Hungarian Grand Pas - the famous dance of four gentlemen.
• J. Balanchine considered the music of "Raymonda" one of the best ballet scores. He was so impressed with her that he created a one-act ballet to the music of Glazunov "Variations on the Themes of Raymonda". It includes waltz corps de ballet, adagio and 7 female variations.

Popular numbers:

Hungarian Grand Pas (listen)

Saracen exit (listen)

Spanish dance (listen)

History of creation

The libretto of "Raymonda" was born of the fantasy of Petersburg journalist and writer Lydia Pashkova. True, her works could not boast of the depth and originality of plot twists. So the future masterpiece of the Russian ballet scene from the beginning with the plot was not too lucky, it turned out to be confusing and contradictory. But, despite the apparent weakness of the script, the director of the Petersburg Imperial Theaters, I. Vsevolozhsky, who was concerned with expanding the ballet repertoire, made the fateful decision: the play - to be. He himself modified the libretto and in the spring of 1896 ordered Alexander Glazunov music for a new ballet. The composer had to cope with the task in a very short time - the premiere of the ballet was scheduled for the 1897/1898 season. Glazunov was working on the Sixth Symphony, but he agreed to take on "Raymond" - he was interested in the Middle Ages and knighthood from his youthful age. Without waiting for the libretto to be received, Glazunov, in his thoughts, had already begun to build the first numbers of the future ballet. In the summer the young composer went abroad. In Aachen, he completed the symphony and plunged into work on Raymond. The next resort where he went was Wiesbaden, where the first two ballet acts were born.

Parallel work on the symphony explains the originality of the music of "Raymonda". The ballet's score is distinguished by the abundance of the orchestral palette and the special breadth of the sound inherent in symphonic works.

Glazunov worked in close cooperation with the patriarch of the Russian ballet and the future director of Raymond Marius Petipa, carefully listening to the advice of the famous choreographer. Petipa tried to revive the libretto even more, making the dramatic lines of the ballet more complete and expressive. Two talented masters managed to compose a bright, expressive choreography and its brilliant musical embodiment to an absolutely unremarkable plot.

Productions

The premiere of "Raymonda" has become a real event in the theater world of St. Petersburg. It took place on January 7, 1898. This evening, on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater, the Italian Pierina Legnani was shining, and her partners were famous dancers Sergey Legat and Pavel Gerdt. The premiere show turned into a triumph for the ballet creators. The composer was presented with a laurel wreath of the winner, and the artists read out the congratulations written in his honor.

Two years later, Raymond moved A. Gorsky to the Moscow stage. Initially, he took advantage of Petipa’s choreographic discoveries, but in 1908 he presented an original ballet performance with Ekaterina Geltser in the main part.

In 1938, choreographer V.Vainonen and the famous theatrical figure Y. Slonimsky, who completely reworked the plot of the ballet, undertook to update "Raymonda" on the stage of the Mariinsky. In this version, the play was included in the repertoire of the famous Galina Ulanova and Natalia Dudinskaya, Konstantin Sergeyev and Vakhtang Chabukiani became their partners in the scene in the new "Raymonde".

On April 7, 1945, the Bolshoi Theater presented the audience with the ballet Glazunov edited by L. Lavrovsky, who used the choreographic findings of his predecessors, Petipa and Gorsky.

A special place is occupied by "Raymond" in the works of the modern master of choreography Y. Grigorovich. The former chief choreographer Bolshoi addressed this ballet twice - in 1984 and 2003. For the performance he created not only his choreography, but also his own libretto. He took the choreographic legacy of Petipa carefully, but he shortened the plot, replacing the pantomime scenes, of which there were quite a lot of dance scenes in Petipa's ballet. The stage solution of both performances belongs to the artist S. Virsaladze. If in the 1984 production, white color prevailed in costumes and decorations, in a later version, the design of “Raymonda” is sustained in blue tones. Because of this, the names "white" and "blue" were fixed in the ballet environment for the two editions.

In the mid-20s of the last century, "Raymond" gained fame abroad. The famous choreographer J. Balanchine showed selected numbers from the ballet Glazunov to the New York public. But the ballet gained real popularity among the foreign audience thanks to Rudolf Nureyev. Raymond was his first big job on the western scene. In 1964, Nureyev began working with the British Royal Ballet on Raymond for a ballet festival show in Italy. First of all, he tried to find the original literary opus of the librettist Pashkova, but was a fiasco. The famous dancer and choreographer had no choice but to rely on his own memory and experience - at the very beginning of his career he danced a royal suite knight in Raynombe Vainonen. The rest was completed by the artist’s fantasy. In 1965, the premiere was held, during which Nureyev danced the role of de Brien with brilliance. The following year he brought Raymond to the stage of the Australian Ballet, in 1972 he staged for the Zurich ballet troupe, in 1975 a slightly modified version of Glazunov's masterpiece was presented to them at the American Ballet Theater in Boston. In 1983, Nureyev was invited to the post of director of the Paris Opera Ballet. He started his activity in the collective of the Paris Opera from “Raymonda”.

In October 2012, in the Milan Theater "La Scala", director Sergei Vikharev, in close collaboration with the archival research coordinator Pavel Gershenzon, tried to restore "Raymond" Petipa in its original form, based on the recordings of director Nikolay Sergeyev. The performance was not only one of the most successful, but also one of the most expensive ballet productions in history. His budget was a million dollars.

"Raymonda" and today remains one of the most difficult performances for any ballet troupe. Her rich choreography demands virtuosity and physical endurance from all performers. For artists, this is an opportunity to show all the facets of the classical dance technique. For the audience - to enjoy the spectacular spectacle of ballet. For this “Raymond” is appreciated by ballet fans all over the world. The music of "Raymonda" is included in the treasury of masterpieces of Russian musical art. The struggle between good and evil, the victory of beauty and fortitude over the dark sides of human nature contribute to the ballet a life-affirming beginning, and the colorful fireworks of the brightest dance numbers leave in the soul of every viewer a jubilant holiday feeling.

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