Sebastian

The opposite is in fact probably the case Emeralds: happy for other barroom IP lawyers to disagree but I think there is no copyright in Soviet material of any kind. So unless a western company has gone through a process of somehow registering the production in a western country - and I am not even sure how that would or could work - its free and clear, analogous but different to so-called ‘orphan works’ in the US or UK. In any case it’s a fascinating enquiry. I will ask people in film archives and see what they know.

New readers might like to know of a wonderful (and most unusual) film of Dame Beryl dancing the Black Swan. Here is a link to the Forum discussion, which includes a clip:

Ticket spoken for now

With great regret I discovered yesterday I will now not be able to attend the General Rehearsal of Sleeping Beauty on Saturday 14 January at 11:30. My ticket - row E of the amphitheatre, aisle seat 34 - cost £23. Might someone be interested in this ticket?

Thank you very much for pointing to this article, undoubtedly more informative (and informed) than anything I have read from Britain. Here are links to the other two parts of the extended piece: https://parterre.com/2022/11/30/oh-thoughtless-crew-ye-know-not-what-ye-do/ https://parterre.com/2022/12/02/leveling-up-or-leveling-down/

Simon, just to let you know I have sent you a private message.

The evil fairy Carabosse is interesting. Although in the 1890 original production Carabosse was famously danced by a man, the programme for that first run of the ballet makes clear that the character is female (as are all the other fairies in the ballet). This is also the case with the character in the Perrault story from which the ballet derives. She is an old woman, with a humpback (some argue that her name derives from the French word "Bosse" for hump) and other stereotypical identifying characteristics. In modern parlance it could be said that the portrayal of Carabosse is sexist, ageist, disablist and racist. But one thing she is not is a man, oppressive or not. On the wider question of whether Aurora in Sleeping Beauty is oppressed or not, there has been some feminist rethinking about this character who spends a century asleep. One person who has written most interestingly about Aurora's agency - the entire ballet revolves around her, after all - is Laura Katz Rizzo in "Dancing the Fairy Tale".

In case they are interested Emeralds, here is a review of that show from The Stage in 1948:

Many thanks James (and apologies for misunderstanding what you meant Diandri).

Thank you very much Diandri. I am not sure I completely understand: the Sharman pictures held by the ROH all seem to be (unsurprisingly) of the Sadlers Wells / ROH productions, rather than of International Ballet. Have I misunderstood what you mean? And yes, there is now thankfully quite a lot of information available on Mona Ingelsby and International Ballet but I am searching specifically for photos of their Sleeping Princess production, along the lines of the stage shots I (perhaps wrong-headedly) included in my posts.

Thank you Jane S: the hunt for some photos continues!

I am looking for production stills of The Sleeping Princess, as performed by Mona Ingelsby’s company, International Ballet, which toured after the Second World War. In an anniversary programme from 1951, several photographs from the company’s repertoire are reproduced (without captions). Here are two of those images, one which seems almost certainly to be The Sleeping Princess (there is a fairytale castle in the distance) and one which might be. I’d be keen for any tips as to where other such stage shots can be found. (Spread across two posts because of upload limits)

This may be difficult to discover Alison. At the time of the letters’ rediscovery in 2015 a serious Viennese newspaper, apparently relaying the work of the archivists of the National Library, wrote that the family is “forgotten” today: https://www.wienerzeitung.at/nachrichten/kultur/mehr-kultur/766544-Ich-gehe-fidel-hinueber.html

Sensationally, Mary’s three letters of farewell - to her mother, her brother and her sister - turned up in a bank vault in 2015. For those with German (or access to Google Translate) here are the official transcriptions of the originals now held by the Austrian National Library: https://www.altertuemliches.at/files/abschiedsbriefe_wortlaut.pdf The letters, kept by her mother, are an indication of Mary’s state of mind in the hours before the tragedy. The PS is particularly heartbreaking.

Might I add a little about Maria/Mizzi/Mitzi Kaspar/Kasper/Casper/Caspar, perhaps of interest? But first a comment on spelling in the pre-computer era. As recently as the Nuremberg trials (ie the late 1940s) well-educated legal and military professionals from Britain and the US were entirely relaxed about how to spell names. For example some well-known defendants in those trials are spelled in a variety of ways – sometimes with significant variation, though not so if read phonetically – throughout the official papers. This is just one illustration among many. Only the arrival of computers – at which point Mizzi might be importantly different to Mitzi – forced the world to care about exact spelling. The people of Rudolf’s era certainly did not spell as a machine does. Here are some less-remembered points about Mitzi Casper (to use her ballet spelling): - who alerted the secret police to Rudolf’s talk of suicide (at which point she was threatened into silence) - with whom Rudolf spent his last night before leaving for Mayerling - who despite being his regular mistress for several years was only 24 years old when he died - after which she gave no interviews to anyone. She died some 18 years later, leaving (so far as we know) no letters or diaries, never mind memoirs, suggesting that the threats/inducements she received had worked. Incidentally, in addition to the King/Wilson book already mentioned, there is a nice short summary of her life (sadly only in German) in Philipp Vandenberg’s Die Frühstücksfrau des Kaisers.

Well spotted Dawnstar! In the ballet Archduchess Sophie has one significant function (apart from personifying court tradition by her costume and bearing): when the painting of the Emperor’s mistress is presented to him by his wife, only his mother Sophie objects. By the way there is a nice story here about the 85 year old Marcia Haydée taking the role of Sophie: https://www.tanznetz.de/de/article/2022/i-see-whole-picture-me

Thank you. The extensive bibliography covering the people and events of Mayerling goes back well over a century, indeed (if one includes suppressed or unsigned writings) as far back as the 1890s. The only substantial works I know which have been published since King/Wilson five years ago have not been in English. The little that is new in, for example, the more recent German works is of marginal interest but should anyone want to dive down those rabbit holes, feel free to send me a message.

As someone who spends several weeks every year just down the road from the village of Mayerling, I have tried to keep up with the many and various writings about this sad historical episode. Recently Greg King and Penny Wilson published their well-researched account (mentioned once before on this Forum although the poster got the name wrong) and this is the book I now recommend to people who want to know more. Here is a link to an informative Amazon review: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/customer-reviews/R1SWX0LUZGJJPU/

Very interesting. I wonder if “archive productions” means “previously available commercially” or whether they are planning also to share some of their unseen treasures.

Ticket taken now

(Bumping this up as it’s this week)

As you probably know Sim, these were the brainchild of Anthony Shaffer, later to write the West End and film hit Sleuth.

I was lucky enough to score one of the best cheap seats in the house but now can’t use it as I will be working abroad. Mayerling Saturday 8 October 2022, 7.30pm Amphitheatre Upper Slips, CC-1 £12.00 If interested please drop me a note as well as posting here.

This is interesting. The source for the ballet is unarguably Perrault's story from the late 17th century La Belle au bois dormant. Some older texts - Basile and earlier (which Perrault may have known but then again may not, the academic field of Perrault studies being heavily contested) - contain an assault but Perrault does not even have a kiss. The later Brothers Grimm version - Dornröschen - was used as a design source for the ballet (via the best known Russian translation which had illustrations by Doré) and this does contain a brief kiss, as does the printed libretto in the programme of the first production of the ballet in 1890 where the prince kisses Aurora on the forehead. Here is a translation of the relevant part of Perrault's story, which ends with what may be a sly French joke for the adults for whom it was written: Reclining upon a bed, the curtains of which on every side were drawn back, was a princess of seemingly some fifteen or sixteen summers, whose radiant beauty had an almost unearthly luster. Trembling in his admiration he drew near and went on his knees beside her. At the same moment, the hour of disenchantment having come, the princess awoke, and bestowed upon him a look more tender than a first glance might seem to warrant. "Is it you, dear prince?" she said. "You have been long in coming!" Charmed by these words, and especially by the manner in which they were said, the prince scarcely knew how to express his delight and gratification. He declared that he loved her better than he loved himself. His words were faltering, but they pleased the more for that. The less there is of eloquence, the more there is of love. Her embarrassment was less than his, and that is not to be wondered at, since she had had time to think of what she would say to him. It seems that the good fairy had beguiled her long slumber with pleasant dreams. To be brief, after four hours of talking they had not succeeded in uttering one half of the things they had to say to each other.