Marcial_Fernandez

Amelia, I think everything I needed was provided by you. Then the version danced by Bogatyrov in 1969 must be the original because Tsiskaridze was born in 1973, four years later. It is great to have those contacts. And I would love to have the Russian Ballet Encyclopedia that you were referring to. Who is the author?

Amelia, this might be redundant and pedantic on my part, and I apologize for that. I watched last night a performance of "Paquita" that took place on June 19, 2018 at the Bolshoi Theater. However, the dancers were not from the Bolshoi Ballet but the graduates from the Vaganova Academy, who were invited to celebrate in Moscow the 280th anniversary of the foundation of the Vaganova Academy (1738), with the exception of the two main dancers who were the famous Svetlana Zakharova and Denis Rodkin from the Bolshoi. The music was credited to Édouard Deldevez, Ludwig Minkus and Riccardo Drigo, and the choreography to Yuri Burlaka and Nikolai Tsiskaridze (2017). The variation that originated this post, which was danced in this performance by Denis Rodkin, reads between parentheses: “variation from the ballet ‘La Source’, music by R. Drigo”, which I've learned from you. And this is the same variation that Tsiskaridze danced himself in 2010 when he was still with the Bolshoi. In that 2010 performance that I know also thanks to you, the credits are in Russian, but I could read the information related to Tsiskaridze’s variation: “Music: R. Drigo. Choreography: L. Lavrovsky, N. Tsiskaridze”. So they rightfully credit the original choreography to Leonid Lavrovsky but it was adapted by Tsiskaridze to his own taste or dancing abilities, I think. Dancers and choreographers make changes to the original music and choreographies all the time as they please. The music for this variation was not an exception. The one I brought to the forum, danced by Bogatyrov, responds to the ternary structure, or A-B-A, meaning that there is an initial musical theme followed by a different, central theme, then returning to the original theme. But in this variation danced by both Tsiskaridze and Rodkin, someone arranged the music turning it into an A-B-C structure. The first and second musical themes are identical to the one danced by Bogatyrov, but instead of going back to the initial musical theme, the variation ends with a third theme, which is a mazurka. Which one is the original music, the A-B-A or the A-B-C? We will probably never know. I am sorry, I just didn’t want to keep this new information to myself. Thanks again for everything.

Amelia, I was not thinking of “La Source” for two reasons: 1) the composers were Delibes and Minkus, not Drigo, and 2) I was focused on another translation to “La Source”, which is “The Spring”, but “The Stream” could be just as good. So if this is the case, the variation in question, composed by Riccardo Drigo, was inserted in the premiere at the Mariinsky in 1902, conducted by no other than Riccardo Drigo himself. So it is easy to imagine that Nikolai Legat requested a variation and Drigo pleased him by adding this variation that he composed for this occasion (or that he had already written and saved with other scores in a “box”, as composers used to do in the XIX century). Actually, the ballet “La Source” was revived at the Paris Opera in the year 2011 in a new version by Jean-Guillaume Bart, which followed the original music by Delibes and Minkus, arranged by Marc-Olivier Dupin, with libretto by Clément Hervieu-Léger and Jean-Guillaume Bart. In order to simplify the complexity of the story, some characters were eliminated, among them Morgab and Sinjar, and for these changes Bart included music fragments from other works by Delibes. This revival was filmed in that year 2011 and distributed (DVD and blu-ray) by Naxos just this year 2022, eleven years after it was filmed! I have this blu-ray set and, of course, the variation by Drigo is not there because it was inserted in the Mariinsky version, now included in "Paquita", at least in the performance that you showed us yesterday danced by Nikolay Tsiskaridze. Again, thank you very much for all this information.

Amelia, it is so amazing what you have showed me. Your knowledge is extraordinary, particularly all those details that are unknown to the general ballet audience. I have been a ballet lover and researcher for several decades, but this is something that was out of my world. The first time I paid attention to that variation was when Bogatyrov danced it in the Moscow Competition in 1969. I never thought of it again until now, when a friend brought it again, but neither of us could identify the composer or the choreographer. I have sent emails to the Bolshoi Ballet and to the Moscow International Ballet Competition. In each case I addressed my emails to the "Info"and to the "Press" but no one responded. I even provided them with the same clip I brought to this forum. Total silence, that's what I got from Russia. Either they don't know about it, which I doubt, or they have no time for this type of questions. So do you know what happened to the original ballet "The Stream" by Riccardo Drigo? I guess it didn't survive, with the exception of that variation. Nor did I find any reference in the Drigo's catalogue or any other source. Thanks a million for sharing your knowledge with me (with us).

Sim, thank you for your message. I have been in the ballet world for 60 years now! This is a great forum.

This is what I am looking for, an audio recording based on the information provided by Amelia: "This was a variation from “Paquita" by the choreographer Leonid Lavrovsky. Music was written by the Italian composer Riccardo Drigo for Nikolai Legat in the ballet “The Stream”. In the XX century Lavrovsky included it in “Paquita".·

Can anyone reading this post help me find an audio recording of this variation identified by Amelia 4 replies above, please?

Sim, you are absolutely correct. This is only my second day in this forum, but from what I have seen in 48 hours or so, what you can find in here, you cannot find it anywhere else. That's a fact.

Amelia, your information is most valuable to me. You have no idea how much time I had spent trying to identify this music, but all my efforts have been in vain. Does this variation still exist in "Paquita"? I have the full length ballet by the Paris Opera, which includes the famous Divertimento, and we all have (YouTube) this Divertimento that was added by Minkus when the ballet was brought from Paris to Russia. So I am assuming that the variation was included by Lavrovsky (1905-1967) in the Divertimento and then removed at a later date. And yes, it's a pitty that the great Bogatyrov (Александр Богатырёв) dies when he was only 40. Do you know if a recorded (music or video) of this variation can be found anywhere? I would love to have it. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

Almost all variations, male and female, in the ballet classical repertoire are known to me, but this particular one, although the music sounds familiar, is evading me. It is danced by the famous Alexander Bogatyrov at the First International Competition in Moscow, 1969. He was 20 years old and won a bronze medal. Does anyone recognize this variation... What ballet is from, who is the composer and the choreographer? I tried several music recognition Apps but each one of them failed to identify it because of the intrusive voice of the narrator almost all over the variation, who only speaks of the dancer but makes no mention of what he is dancing. Your help on this issue will be much appreciated. I just posted the video clip on YouTube. This is the link: