Les Sylphides

Les Sylphides is a short, non-narrative ballet blanc to piano music by Frédéric Chopin, selected and orchestrated by Alexander Glazunov.

The ballet, described as a "romantic reverie",[1][2] is frequently cited as the first ballet to be simply about mood and dance.[1] Les Sylphides has no plot but instead consists of several white-clad sylphs dancing in the moonlight with the "poet" or "young man" dressed in white tights and a black tunic.

Its original choreography was by Michel Fokine, with Chopin's music orchestrated by Alexander Glazunov. Glazunov had already set some of the music in 1892 as a purely orchestral suite, under the title Chopiniana, Op. 46.[3] In that form, it was introduced to the public in December 1893, conducted by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Subsequently, the choices of Chopin pieces and the orchestrations have been revised several times by a variety of composers.

Performance history

Revision history

Original production

Chopiniana, staged by Fokine, had a different musical composition. Also, Chopiniana was originally a compilation of dramatic or character dances set to Chopin's piano music. The Glazunov suite upon which this original version was based had only four Chopin pieces; Fokine wanted to use a waltz as an addition to the suite and was able to get Glazunov to orchestrate this to create his ballet, also called Chopiniana.

The newly orchestrated waltz would be Fokine's inspiration to re-choreograph the ballet into its nearly final form, selecting different Chopin pieces to go with it and getting these orchestrated by the Maryinsky répétiteur Maurice Keller.

1) Polonaise in A major, Op. 40, No. 1
2) Nocturne in F major, Op. 15, No. 1
3) Mazurka in C♯ minor, Op. 50, No. 3
4) Waltz in C♯ minor, Op. 64, No. 2, as added by Michel Fokine[10]
5) Tarantella in A♭ major, Op. 43

Ballets Russes production

When Fokine's ballet premiered in Paris as part of Diaghilev's "Saison Russe" in 1909, Diaghilev commissioned re-orchestrations of all the dances, except for the Glazunov-orchestrated Waltz, by Anatoly Lyadov, Sergei Taneyev, Nikolai Tcherepnin and Igor Stravinsky.[10] This version, now titled Les Sylphides, was first staged at the Théâtre du Châtelet on 2 June 1909.[10]

Standard version

The canonical version of the ballet Les Sylphides includes:

1) Polonaise in A major (Military), Op. 40, No. 1 (some companies substitute the Prelude in A major, Op. 28, No. 7 instead)
2) Nocturne in A♭ major, Op. 32, No. 2
3) Waltz in G♭ major, Op. 70, No. 1
4) Mazurka in D major, Op. 33, No. 2
5) Mazurka in C major, Op. 67, No. 3
6) Prelude in A major, Op. 28, No. 7
7) Waltz in C♯ minor, Op. 64, No. 2
8) Grande valse brillante in E♭ major, Op. 18

New York City Ballet production

The New York City Ballet (NYCB) produced its own staging of the standard version, omitting the Polonaise in A major (and leaving the Prelude in A major in its original position), under the original title, Chopiniana. The NYCB premiere was staged by Alexandra Danilova and took place 20 January 1972, at the New York State Theater, Lincoln Center. The original cast included Karin von Aroldingen, Susan Hendl, Kay Mazzo, and Peter Martins.

choreographer	Mikhail Fokine
composer	Frédéric Chopin, Alexander Glazunov
based on	Chopiniana
premiere	(as Chopiniana): 1907, Mariinsky Theatre, Saint Petersburg, Russia (as Les Sylphides): 2 June 1909, Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris
ballet company	Ballets Russes
characters	the poet, sylphs
designer	Alexandre Benois (set) Léon Bakst (costumes)
created for	Tamara Karsavina, Vaslav Nijinsky, Anna Pavlova, and Alexandra Baldina
genre	Ballet blanc
type	Romantic reverie

Performance history

Revision history

Original production

Ballets Russes production

Standard version

New York City Ballet production

Other orchestrations

See also

Sources

External links

References