Sebastian

I have had the privilege of receiving an early copy and am impressed. Not finished reading yet but I am sure the book will be well reviewed. Based on substantial research and many interviews, the biography (running into the autumn of 2022) comes in at over 400 pages. Recommended. 

Thank you very much. I have just sent you a private message (if you don’t know this system, have a look at the little envelope at the top right of this page). 
 

Best wishes, Sebastian 

On 31/07/2023 at 04:33, loveclassics said:

If there's anything ballet-related that was shown on UK TV  in the last 25-30 years I probably have a DVD recording of it.  I'm downsizing and have a ginormous collection of recordings i want to donate so if there's anything in particular you'd like to see, please pm me.

I'm not selling but am happy to give stuff to ballet-lovers, rather than add to landfill.

 

Linda

Hello again Linda, how very thoughtful of you. I have just dropped you a private note by email. Best wishes and thank you, Sebastian

My company once had the privilege of working with her. Here is what we tweeted last night.

33 minutes ago, Sebastian said:

One more source. For those who would be interested in a recent academic discussion of the music and the choreography (including what cymbals might signify at the climax of the work) Davinia Caddy has a detailed chapter in her book “The ballets russes and beyond”, published in 2012 by Cambridge University Press: “Nijinsky’s Faune revisited“.

Apologies, I should have checked before. This book, despite being only ten years old, is also available to read online for free via the Internet Archive, truly an extraordinary resource. 

One more source. For those who would be interested in a recent academic discussion of the music and the choreography (including what cymbals might signify at the climax of the work) Davinia Caddy has a detailed chapter in her book “The ballets russes and beyond”, published in 2012 by Cambridge University Press: “Nijinsky’s Faune revisited“.

3 hours ago, Sebastian said:

And here is a useful recent scholarly discussion:

 

https://www.alastairmacaulay.com/all-essays/utkeiypp64xvbxlj2pykvqm6inm2p1

 

 

This online discussion, although it contains several of the famous de Meyer 1912 photographs of Nijinsky dancing the role, is missing a key image from the series. De Meyer also photographed the controversial final gesture of the ballet, an Image which is held by the New York Public Library.
 

This photograph is reproduced in “The Art of Enchantment”, a collection of essays on the Ballets Russes edited by Nancy van Norman Baer and published in 1988. A scan of the book (the catalogue to an exhibition in San Francisco) can be found online via the Internet Archive. We do not know if the gesture is exactly what was seen on stage but one gets the general idea. 

And here is a useful recent scholarly discussion:

https://www.alastairmacaulay.com/all-essays/utkeiypp64xvbxlj2pykvqm6inm2p1

What an interesting discussion. Recapturing what did (and did not) happen on stage in 1912 is difficult. There is a supposed quote by Nijinsky himself, to be found on the internet but not (so far as I can find) anywhere else so I won’t quote it.

It is well-known that the editor of Le Figaro newspaper, Gaston Calmette, was scandalised by the performance so gave his front page over to an attack on the work. Here is what he published (in a translation from the 1930s):-

A FAUX PAS

Our readers will not find in its accustomed place under "Theatre," the criticism of my worthy collaborator Robert Brussel, upon the first performance of L'Après-midi d'un Faune, choreographic scene by Nijin-sky, directed and danced by that astonishing artist.

I have eliminated that review.

There is no necessity for me to judge Debussy's music, which, besides, does not of itself constitute a novelty, as it is nearly ten years old.

But I am persuaded that all the readers of Figaro who were at the Châtelet yesterday will not object if I protest against the most extraordinary exhibition which they presumed to serve us as a profound production, performed with a precious art and a harmonious lyricism.

Those who speak of art and poetry apropos of this spectacle make fun of us. It is neither a gracious epilogue nor a profound production. We have had a faun, incontinent, with vile movements of erotic bestiality and gestures of heavy shamelessness. That is all. And the merited boos were accorded the too-expressive pantomime of the body of an ill-made beast, hideous, from the front, and even more hideous in profile.

These animal realities the true public will never accept.

9 hours ago, Scheherezade said:

If anyone is interested in one of the cheap £18 seats in row W of the amphi, let me know as I may be able to oblige since the person due to come with me will most likely not be able to make it, although I won’t know for certain until tomorrow. 

Just sent you a private message on behalf of a friend, in case this comes free. 

Last ticket gone now

Ticket gone back to the box office.

ROH TROVATORE 29th June - BB1 - £19

Please PM as well as posting here if interested. 

Many thanks. 

(Bumping this up as the show is next Thursday now - one good cheap seat for Trovatore)

Please PM as well as posting here if interested. 

Date changed again, now to August:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Petersburg-Noverre-Marius-Petipa-Russia/dp/1839984163

Here is the view of a very experienced opera lover (I am seeing this show later in the run):

>>Just back from an invigorating Trovatore. I am pretty much with The Guardian - I have reservations about Jamie Barton. It isn't that Azucena needs a Stephanie Blythe voice - Anne Mason did very well with a voice that verged on soprano territory - but it calls for a uniformity of depth through the range of the part, which she couldn't quite manage. The best bits in the second half were rivetting but there were duff passages. Hieronymus Bosch antics for the  chorus and the leaping ghouls provide a refreshing way of dealing with what can be stodgy, and the blocking is superb. All cabaletta repeats and cuts elsewhere opened up. The antics did not hinder a very clear presentation of  the narrative. All helped by some striking lighting. Barton reservations aside, the singing was all good, not of the highest quality (Rodvanovsky and Hvorostovsky are too fresh in the memory for that). Wonderful work from the chorus and in the pit. I am not often moved  by Trovatore but I was tonight.

Many years ago I studied this opera as part of an undergraduate course. This insight into its mathematical secrets has not helped me grow close to what even those who like it find a bleak and exhaustingly demanding work, and some years back I gave up going to see it.

However it is only fair to point out that some people have a completely different relationship with the work. Here is a recent personal response to this ROH production by an online writer. That anyone can be sentimental about Wozzeck amazes me but this is clearly a sincerely held view:

https://boulezian.blogspot.com/2023/05/wozzeck-royal-opera-19-may-2022.html

4 hours ago, Emeralds said:

Durante replaced her at short notice, and was, as always, impeccable, beautiful and elegant in the role with a new partner. 

+1

1 hour ago, Fonty said:

Does the synopsis still say she is celebrating her 16th birthday, I can't remember.  

To be clear, the original source material, the Perrault story, has Aurora at 16. However when Vsevolozhsky and Petipa produced the ballet in 1890 they changed her age for her first scene to 21.
 

I do not know a source which tells us when (and why) her age became younger again in subsequent British productions.

Returned to the box office.

Bouncing up these cheap but good tickets for this Wednesday Naghdi/Ball. If no interest I’ll give them to the box office on Monday. 

On 17/05/2023 at 14:15, LinMM said:

I know it’s not a nice thing to do but a little bit harsh to condemn somebody to death for being a cad!! 
Giselles Forgiveness in the ballet  makes more sense to me as from there you can move onwards and upwards as the saying goes….and hopefully not get caught out again. 
Best to see things through and LIVE and learn! ( next time around for Giselle lol!) 

Albrecht has a chance to learn too from being saved when he could have been killed…so also progressive ….if he takes the opportunity of course! 

Also worth remembering - as Giselle’s mother does - that the Wilis are on the look out for just such men. Some years ago we had an interesting discussion here about the Wilis and who they are. Here is my last post on that subject, maybe interesting to look back:

https://www.balletcoforum.com/topic/14339-english-national-ballet-mary-skeapings-giselle-london-coliseum-2017/?do=findComment&comment=200100

Only one ticket left now - TROVATORE 29th June - BB1 £19

On 09/05/2023 at 10:03, Sebastian said:

More sold. So this is now what is available:

 

- One ticket CC1 for Aida 20th May

 

- One ticket BB1 for Trovatore 29th June

For clarity, Aida seat is £17, Trovatore £19.

More sold. So this is now what is available:

- One ticket CC1 for Aida 20th May

- One ticket BB1 for Trovatore 29th June