The Sleeping Beauty (ballet)

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Ballets and revivals of Marius Petipa

*Paquita (1847, *1881)

*Le Corsaire (1858, 1863, 1868, 1885, 1899)
The Pharaoh's Daughter (1862, *1885, *1898)
Le Roi Candaule (1868, *1891, *1903)
Don Quixote (1869, *1871)
La Bayadre (1877, *1900)
*Giselle (1884, 1899, 1903)
*Copplia (1884)
*La fille mal garde (1885)
*La Esmeralda (1886, 1899)
The Talisman (1889)
The Sleeping Beauty (1890)
The Nutcracker (1892)
Cinderella (1893)
Le Rveil de Flore (1894)
*Swan Lake (1895)
*The Little Humpbacked Horse (1895)
Raymonda (1898)
The Seasons (1900)
Harlequinade (1900)
* revival

The Sleeping Beauty (Russian: / Spyashchaya krasavitsa) is a ballet in a

prologue and three acts, first performed in 1890. The music was composed by Peter Ilyich
Tchaikovsky (his opus 66). The score was completed in 1889, and is the second of his three
ballets. The original scenario was conceived by Ivan Vsevolozhsky, and is based on Charles
Perrault's La Belle au bois dormant. The choreographer of the original production was Marius
Petipa.
The premiere performance took place at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg on January
15, 1890. The work has become one of the classical repertoire's most famous ballets. [1]
Contents
[hide]

1 History
o

1.1 Composition history

1.2 Performance history

2 Roles and original cast

3 Instrumentation

4 Roles

5 Synopsis

6 Structure

7 Versions by other hands

o

7.1 Piano arrangements

7.2 Aurora's Wedding by Sergei Diaghilev

8 Trademark controversy

9 References

10 External links
o

10.1 Video Samples

10.2 Scores

10.3 History

History[edit]
Composition history[edit]
Tchaikovsky was approached by the Director of the Imperial Theatres in St. Petersburg, Ivan
Vsevolozhsky on 25 May 1888 about a possible ballet adaptation on the subject of the story
of Undine. It was later decided that Charles Perrault's La Belle au bois dormant would be the
story for which Tchaikovsky would compose the music for the ballet. Tchaikovsky did not
hesitate to accept the commission, although he was aware that his only previous ballet, Swan
Lake, met with little enthusiasm at that stage of his career. The ballet scenario that Tchaikovsky
worked on was based on the Brothers Grimm's version of Perrault's work entitled
'Dornrschen'. In that version, the Princess's parents (the King and the Queen) survived the
100-year sleep to celebrate the Princess's wedding to the Prince. However, Vsevolozhsky
incorporated Perrault's other characters from his stories into the ballet, such as Puss in
Boots, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Bluebird, Ricky of the Tuft and Tom Thumb. Other
French fairy tale characters to be featured are Beauty and the Beast, Pretty
Goldilocks and The White Cat. Regardless, Tchaikovsky was happy to inform the Director of
the Imperial Theatre that he had great pleasure studying the work and had come away with
adequate inspiration to do it justice.[citation needed]

The choreographer was Marius Petipa, ballet master of the Imperial Ballet, who wrote a very
detailed list of instructions as to the musical requirements. Tchaikovsky worked quickly on the
new work at Frolovskoye; he began initial sketches in the winter of 1888 and began
orchestration on the work on 30 May 1889.
The ballet's focus was undeniably on the two main conflicting forces of good (the Lilac Fairy)
and evil (Carabosse); each has a leitmotif representing them, which run through the entire
ballet, serving as an important thread to the underlying plot. Act III of the work, however, takes
a complete break from the two motifs and instead places focus on the individual characters of
the various court dances.

Performance history[edit]
Ballets by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Swan Lake (1876)

Sleeping Beauty (1889)
The Nutcracker (1892)
List of all compositions

V
T
E

St. Petersburg premiere (world premiere)

Date: 15 January 1890

Place: Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg

Balletmaster: Marius Petipa

Conductor: Riccardo Drigo

Scene Designers: Henrich Levogt (Prologue), Ivan Andreyev (Act 1), Mikhail
Bocharov (Acts 1 & 2), Matvey Shishkov (Act 3)
Costumes: Ivan Vsevolozhsky

Moscow premiere

Date: 17 January 1899

Place: Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre

Balletmaster: Aleksandr Gorsky

Conductor: Andrey Arends

Scene Designers: Anatoliy Geltser, Karl Valts (Waltz)

Other notable productions

1896, Milan, La Scala, staged by Giorgio Saracco, Carlotta Brianza as Aurora

1921, London, Alhambra Theatre, as The Sleeping Princess, Diaghilev production,
staged by Nikolay Sergeyev, scenes by Lon Bakst
1937, Philadelphia, staged by Catherine Littlefield
1946, London, Royal Opera House. Staged by Ninette de Valois, this production
marked The Royal Ballet's debut at the Royal Opera House, where it has remained as the
resident ballet company. A television adaptation of this production was presented in the
U.S. by NBC in 1955 as part of their anthology series Producers' Showcase. A revival of
this production, with somewhat revised scenery and costumes, was staged in 2006 and is
available on DVD.
1968, London, with the London Festival Ballet at the Royal Festival Hall

1990, San Francisco, with San Francisco Ballet as choreographed by Helgi

Tmasson in tribute to Tchaikovsky, and with a focus on maintaining the Russian-French
connection[2]

1992, Basel Theater Basel reworked by Youri Vmos with new narrative involving the
life of Anna Anderson and her claim to be Grand Duchess Anastasia. The order of musical
numbers has been slightly changed, some numbers omitted with other music
by Tchaikovsky added and major set pieces of Petipa's choreography retained, but now
placed in different narrative context - often performed as Anderson's "memories". This
version has been performed by a number of central European ballet companies over the
past two decades.

Roles and original cast[edit]

Original cast members costumed for Act I. At center is Carlotta Brianza as Aurora.
(Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, 1890)

Role

Mariinsky 1890

Bolshoi 1899

King Florestan

Feliks Krzesiski (Mathilde Kschessinskas father)

Queen

Giuseppina Cecchetti

Aurora

Carlotta Brianza

Lyubov Roslavleva

Lilac Fairy

Marius Petipa

M. Grachevskaya

Carabosse

Enrico Cecchetti [3]

Vasiliy Geltser

Prince Dsir

Pavel Gerdt

Ivan Khlyustin

Bluebird

Enrico Cecchetti [3]

Princess Florine

Varvara Nikitina

The ballet's premiere received more favorable accolades than Swan Lake from the press but
Tchaikovsky never had the luxury of being able to witness his work become an instant success
in theatres outside of Russia. He died in 1893. By 1903, The Sleeping Beauty was the second
most popular ballet in the repertory of the Imperial Ballet (the Petipa/Pugni The Pharaoh's
Daughter was first), having been performed 200 times in only 10 years.

A production mounted at the La Scala in Milan did not arouse much interest and it was not until
1921 that, in London, the ballet finally gained wide acclaim and eventually a permanent place
in the classical repertoire. In 1999, the Mariinsky Ballet reconstructed the original 1899
production, including reproductions of the original sets and costumes. Although the 1951 Kirov
production by Konstantin Sergeyev is available on DVD/Video, the 1999 "authentic" version is
only available in short excerpts as of 2007.
The Sleeping Beauty is Tchaikovsky's longest ballet, lasting nearly four hours at full length counting the intermissions. Without intermissions (as it appears on several CD sets), it lasts
nearly three hours. It is nearly always cut.
At the premiere Tsar Alexander III summoned Tchaikovsky to the imperial box. The Tsar made
the simple remark 'Very nice,' which seemed to have irritated Tchaikovsky, who had likely
expected a more favorable response.[4]

Instrumentation[edit]

Strings: Violins I, Violins II, Violas, Cellos, Double Basses

Woodwinds: Piccolo, 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, Cor Anglais, 2 Clarinets (B-flat, A), 2 Bassoons

Brass: 4 Horns (F), 2 Cornets (B-flat, A), 2 Trumpets (B-flat, A), 3 Trombones, Tuba

Percussion: Timpani, Triangle, Tambourine, Side Drum, Cymbals, Bass Drum, Tamtam, Glockenspiel

Other: 2 Harps, Piano

Roles[edit]
The Royal Court:

King Florestan XXIV

Queen

Princess Aurora, their daughter

Catalabutte, the master-of-ceremonies

Courtiers, maids of honor, pages, lackeys

The Fairies:

Candide (Candor)

Coulante, Fleur de farine (Flowing, Wheat flour)

Miettes qui tombent (Falling breadcrumbs)

Canari qui chante (Singing canary)

Violente (Force)

The Lilac Fairy

Carabosse

The Gold, Silver, Sapphire, and Diamond Fairies

The Four Suitors:

Prince Chri

Prince Charmant

Prince Fortun

Prince Fleur de Pois

The Prince's Hunting Party:

Prince Dsir (Florimund)

Gallifron, Prince Dsir's tutor

The Prince's friends, duchesses, baronesses, countesses, and marchionesses

Fairy-Tale Characters:

Puss-in-Boots

The White Cat

Cinderella

Prince Charming

Princess Florine

Bluebird

Little Red Riding Hood

The Gray Wolf

Hop-o'-My-Thumb, his brothers, and the Ogre

Synopsis[edit]
Setting

Time: Baroque

Place: Europe

The bad fairy Carabosse by Lon Bakst, who created the dcor and about 300 costume designs in 2
months for Diaghilev's lavish 1921 production of The Sleeping Princess in London.

Prologue (The Christening)

King Florestan the XXIVth and his Queen have welcomed their first child, Princess Aurora, and
declare a grand christening ceremony to honor her. Six fairies are invited to the ceremony to
bestow gifts on the child. Each fairy represents a virtue or positive trait, such as beauty,
courage, sweetness, musical talent, and mischief (the names of fairies and their gifts vary in
productions). The most powerful fairy, the Lilac Fairy, arrives with her entourage, but before
she can bestow her gift, the palace grows dark. With a clap of thunder, the evil fairy Carabosse
arrives (typically played by a female character dancer, or a male dancer in drag) with her
minions (generally several male dancers depicted as rats or insects). Carabosse furiously asks
the King and Queen why she had not received an invitation to the christening. The blame falls
to Catallabutte, the Master of Ceremonies who was in charge of the guest list. Carabosse
gleefully throws his wig off and beats him with her staff, before placing a curse upon the baby
princess as revenge: Aurora will indeed grow up to be a beautiful, virtuous and delightful young
lady, but on her sixteenth birthday she will prick her finger on a spindle and die. The King and
Queen are horrified and beg Carabosse for mercy, but she shows none. However, the Lilac
Fairy intervenes. Though she does not have enough power to completely undo the curse, she
alters it, allowing the spindle to cause a peaceful 100-year sleep for the princess, rather than
death. At the end of those 100 years, she will be woken by the kiss of a handsome prince.
Relieved that Aurora's life will ultimately be spared, the court is set at ease.
Act I (The Spell)
It is the day of Princess Aurora's sixteenth birthday. Celebrations are underway, though the
King is still unsettled by Carabosse's omen. Catallabutte discovers several peasant ladies
knitting nearby (a forbidden activity, as it involves spindles potentially harmful to the princess)
and alerts the King, who initially sentences the women to a harsh punishment. The Queen
gently persuades him to spare the innocent citizens, and he agrees. The townsfolk perform an
elaborate waltz with flower garlands, and Princess Aurora arrives afterwards. She is introduced
to four suitors by her doting parents. Aurora and the suitors perform the famous Rose Adagio,
one of the most notoriously difficult sequences in all of ballet. Presently, a cloaked stranger
appears and offers a gift to the princess: a spindle. Having never seen one before, Aurora

curiously examines the strange object as her parents desperately try to intervene. As
predicted, she pricks her finger on the spindle (in some versions, the "gift" is a nonthreatening
bouquet of flowers with the spindle hidden within). While initially appearing to recover quickly,
she falls into a swoon and collapses. The cloaked stranger reveals herself to be Carabosse,
who believes that her curse still stands and that the princess is dead. Once again, the Lilac
Fairy quells the hubbub and reminds the King and Queen that Aurora is merely asleep. The
princess is carried off to bed, and the Lilac Fairy casts a spell of slumber over the entire
kingdom, which will only be broken when Aurora awakens. She then uses her magic to cover
the castle in layers of vines and brambles.

Carlotta Brianza as Princess Aurora and Pavel Gerdt as Prince Dsir, costumed for the Grand
Procession of Act III in Petipa's original production ofThe Sleeping Beauty.
(Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, 1890)

Act II (The Vision)

One hundred years later, Prince Dsir is at a hunting party with his companions. He is in a
mopey mood, unhappy with his bossy countess girlfriend. His friends try to cheer him up with a
game of blind man's bluff and a series of dances. Still unhappy, he asks to be alone and the
hunting party departs. Alone in the forest, he is met by the Lilac Fairy, who has chosen him to
awaken Aurora. She shows him a vision of the beautiful princess, and the prince is immediately
smitten. The Lilac Fairy explains the situation, and Dsir begs to be taken to the princess. The
Lilac Fairy takes him by boat to the castle and guides through the deep forest until at last, they
reach the hidden castle. Once inside the castle, Dsir awakens Aurora with a kiss. The rest of
the court wakes as well, and the King and Queen heartily approve when the prince proposes
marriage and the princess accepts.
Act III (The Wedding)
The royal wedding is underway. Guests include the Jewel Fairies: Diamond, Gold, Silver and
Sapphire, the Lilac Fairy and even Carabosse. Fairytale characters are in attendance,
including Puss in Boots and The White Cat, Princess Florine and the Bluebird, Little Red
Riding Hood and the Wolf, Cinderella and Prince Charming, Beauty and the Beast, and others.
Aurora and Dsir perform a grand Pas de Deux, and the entire ensemble dances a mazurka.
The prince and princess are married, with the Lilac Fairy blessing the union.
The ballet ends with a grand apotheosis (apothose) where all the characters come together
with a tableau depicting Apollo and King Louis XIV.

Structure[edit]

Alexandra Ansanelli as Princess Auroraand David Makhateli as Prince Florimund in a Royal

Ballet production of Sleeping Beauty, 29 April 2008.

Titles of all of the numbers listed here come from Marius Petipa's original scenario, as well as
the original libretto and programs of the first production of 1890. Major changes which were
made to the score for Petipa's original production are mentioned, and help explain why the
score is often heard in different versions in theatres today.
All libretti and programs of works performed on the stages of the Imperial Theatres were titled
in French, which was the official language of the Emperor's Court, as well as the language in
which balletic terminology is derived.
Prologue Le baptme de la Princesse Aurore
No.1-a Introduction
No.1-b Marche de salon
No.2-a Entre des fes
No.2-b Scne dansante
No.3 Grand pas d'ensemble (a.k.a. Pas de six)
a. Grand adage. Petit allgro
b. Variation - Candide
c. Variation - CoulanteFleur de farine
d. Variation - Miettesqui tombent (a.k.a. breadcrumb)
e. Variation - Canariqui chante
f. Variation - Violentechevele
g. Variation - La Fe des lilasvoluptueuse
h. Coda gnrale
No.4 Scne et final
a. Entre de Carabosse
b. Scne mimique de Carabosse
c. Scne mimique de la Fe des lilas
Act I Les quatre fiancs de la Princesse Aurore
No.5-a Introduction
No.5-b Scne des tricoteuses
No.6 Grande valse villageoise (a.k.a. The Garland Waltz)
No.7 Entre d'Aurore
No.8 Grand pas d'action

a. Grand adage la rose (opening harp cadenza possibly extended by either the
harpist Albert Heinrich Zabel or Riccardo Drigo)
b. Danse des demoiselles d'honneur et des pages
c. Variation d'Aurore (coda edited by an unknown hand, possibly Riccardo Drigo)
d. Coda
No.9 Scne et final
a. Danse d'Aurore avec le fuseau
b. Le charme
c. L'arrive de la Fe des lilas
Act II
Scene I La chasse du Prince Dsir
No.10-a Entr'acte
No.10-b Scne de la chasse royale
No.11 Colin-Maillard
No.12 Danses des demoiselles nobles
a. Scne
b. Danse des duchesses
c. Danse des baronesses (likely cut by Petipa from the original production)
d. Danse des comtesses (likely cut by Petipa from the original production)
e. Danse des marquises (likely cut by Petipa from the original production)
No.13 CodaFarandole
No.14-a Scne et dpart des chasseurs
No.14-b Entre de la Fe des lilas
No.15 Pas d'action
a. Entre de l'apparition d'Aurore
b. Grand adage (opening harp cadenza possibly extended by either the harpist Albert
Heinrich Zabel or Riccardo Drigo)
c. Valse des nymphesPetit allgro coquet