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Mayerling, Royal Ballet Autumn 2022


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17 minutes ago, JennyTaylor said:

 How I would have loved to be anticipating the debuts of Will Bracewell and Reece Clarke (for example) in this most stretching challenge for male dancers. 

I can really imagine Clarke in the role - there is something dark about his nature (not in a bad way) but can't imagine Bracewell.  I expect the latter would be a pleasant surprise, like Muntagirov.  Maybe one day we will find out!

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While I think it’s a pity to look to the future rather than celebrate (or otherwise comment on) Friday’s phenomenal performance, Calvin Richardson and Cesar Corrales will both, in time, be amazing Rudolfs also.

 

 

Edited by capybara
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And we still have some enticing debuts to come, Hayward’s Mary to name just one which I think many had hoped might have taken place one or two runs previously given her Manon performances. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we’ll have a few more very special performances this run, not only debuts but also performances from Morera (Mary) and Lamb (Larisch).

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Truly thrilled to hear of Vadim’s success and excited for his second show for which I have tickets.   
 

It’s such a wonderful role for accomplished male dancers which many aspire to do, and not all get the chance.   I doubt there have been any ‘under par’ performers of it, including at other companies … Paris (just getting started), Hungary, Scottish, Stuttgart.  
 

Personally I l’ll be keeping fingers crossed for William Bracewell and Calvin Richardson to be given the chance next time around at ROH.  
 

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I agree. (In response to John S) Think Hayward should have done Vetsera last time, and Corrales as Rudolf this run. Probs no MacRae or Hirano in next run, but that’ll be earliest  2025 unless they adjust the rota!

Edited by Vanartus
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9 minutes ago, Vanartus said:

I agree. (In response to John S) Think Hayward should have done Vetsera last time, and Corrales as Rudolf this run. Probs no MacRae or Hirano in next run, but that’ll be earliest  2025 unless they adjust the rota!


At the time of the last run, Francesca Hayward was involved in creating a new work with Alastair Marriott and then shifted across to the Cats movie.

 

Give the complex partnering in Mayerling, any AD would need to have that skill in the forefront of his mind when casting Rudolf. What’s surprising is that Cesar Corrales is not reprising First Hungarian Officer this time around.

 

Maybe one of the reasons that Ryoichi Hirano and Steven McRae have 5 and 4 shows respectively is that this year will see their last outings in the role.

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I'm still saddened Alex Campbell was not cast as Rudolf this time round. It now seems unlikely, if the next time is 2025 or indeed later if the three-year MacMillan rotation policy changes, that he will ever be given the chance to dance Rudolf.

 

I don't think this three-year rota can have been in place until 2014 at the earliest, as Mayerling was performed in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2009 and 2013 when Bennet Gartside who had covered the role ten years earlier got two shows: opening night plus one, both with Mara Galeazzi and because Johan Kobborg was carrying an injury.

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On 22/10/2022 at 08:30, MildConcern said:

 I was a bit less taken than others - her Mary didn’t have a driving sense of destiny, the idea that she was the one who rose to the challenge and became the final catalyst that actually pushed Rudolf to execute his plans. In the second scene in Act 3 (where Larisch sends in Mary to revive Rudolf from his stupor) and he shoves her face against the metal of the gun, you felt her terror and not that she was truly a participant in the pact. I was very close in the stalls but still unsure whether that impression was deliberate interpretation choice (maybe a young, unthinking, pawn Mary) or perhaps a result of not being able to beat Muntagirov’s chemistry with others. If it is an interpretation choice, then my view is simply my own taste for a more “unhinged” Mary (enter, Osipova).

 

I didn't have a problem with this, though I'm not saying my reading is correct.

She's 17. I can only speak of London in recent decades, where there is no shortage of very well-educated young women with brilliant social skills and more front than Westfields shopping centre.  They can work a room of men like Pattie Boyd in her heyday, and then go back to A-Level revision on Monday. Or, in this case, rock up to a Prince's rooms in a delicious coat and underwear.

Complications only arise when things take a turn too far and bluffing won't suffice - lack of life experience, is all. Out of their depth, as happens at 17. An Uber escape not an option, either.

Edited by postie
Pattie not Patty
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3 hours ago, postie said:

 

I didn't have a problem with this, though I'm not saying my reading is correct.

She's 17. I can only speak of London in recent decades, where there is no shortage of very well-educated young women with brilliant social skills and more front than Westfields shopping centre.  They can work a room of men like Pattie Boyd in her heyday, and then go back to A-Level revision on Monday. Or, in this case, rock up to a Prince's rooms in a delicious coat and underwear.

Complications only arise when things take a turn too far and bluffing won't suffice - lack of life experience, is all. Out of their depth, as happens at 17. An Uber escape not an option, either.


This, exactly. She might have been sexually precocious, but emotionally mature, at 17? I doubt it. The fact that she allowed herself to be drawn into the suicide pact at all argues that.

 

I’ve often wondered if, being a bit of a dramatic character, she got caught up in the romantic idea of “dying with my lover,” but never really expected it to actually happen and simply went along with the idea because of that. I know she wrote a suicide letter but that could have been part of the play acting. I sometimes wonder if, even up to the point where the gun was pointing at her, she never quite believed he would actually go through with it…..a disturbing thought….

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Well, I don't know what I can say about Vadim's performance that others haven't already said. I was desperate for him to succeed but it's such a huge role and so different to anything he's ever done before that the best I was hoping for was a respectable 'work in progress'; something to build on for future performances. I never expected a fully fledged Rudolf to emerge straight off the blocks and to chart such a distinctive mental and physical deterioration in his first performance. I was just in awe of it all and frankly in a bit of a daze; just couldn't believe it. Like Sim said, his first entrance with his bride looking so regal and yet so distant; not at all the bearing of a young husband, rather that of having been forced to do something he had no inclination to do. His pleading with his mother for love and her rejection, sending him to his young bride in a fury; and what a fury! I had to keep checking it was still him and there hadn't been a substitution. I've never seen Vadim like that and I didn't think he had it in him to be like that. I'm sure a lot of it was down to Irek Mukhamedov's coaching. Irek was an inspired choice for Vadim and I'm sure helped him find his 'inner Rudolf'. Vadim himself in an interview said this was the pas de deux he found most difficult because of the cruelty involved. He obviously found something to unleash this cruelty as it was one of the most physical interpretations I've seen, right to the end when he threw himself on top of his new bride (a great debut by Isabel Gasparini) and ripped open his shirt. In act 2, he seemed to be enjoying himself so much in the brothel scene, joining in with the dances and either not understanding or ignoring his wife's visible distress. The mental and physical deterioration throughout the ballet was charted so well also until, in the third act, like Sim says, he was just a wreck, a shadow of his Act 1 self. It was just an amazing performance and one I will treasure for ever. Can't wait for the second performance when all the debutantes can settle more into their roles and concentrate more on developing their characters and interpretation. It seems awful that all this work goes into just a couple of performances and then possibly no more for 3 years.

 

I haven't mentioned the other performances, possibly because I was concentrating primarily on Rudolf but Fumi's performance was also outstanding. I thought after seeing Laura Morera as Larisch it couldn't get any better but Fumi was really terrific, and excellent for another debut. I sometimes thought of her scheming gypsy in Two Pigeons and though she may have used some of this character in her interpretation of Larisch. She seems another dancer who just gets better every time you see her and I'd love to see her dance more with Vadim. They would make a great couple. I wasn't quite as keen on Yasmine's Mary after seeing Osipova's. I just didn't get the sense of reckless abandon you get with Osipova which I like to see in Mary but everyone interprets the role differently and I'm sure her interpretation is just as valid as Osipova's and perhaps I'll get into it more in her second performance. All in all a terrific performance and I'm glad I paid for a front row seat in the Grand Tier (a first; courtesy of Bluebird) and will be in the same seat for the second performance.

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16 hours ago, maryrosesatonapin said:

I can really imagine Clarke in the role - there is something dark about his nature (not in a bad way) but can't imagine Bracewell.  I expect the latter would be a pleasant surprise, like Muntagirov.  Maybe one day we will find out!

 

Having seen Bracewell's performance as a tortured Hamlet in the Linbury some little time back (a calling card for Rudolf if ever there was one), I can't wait to see him take on this role.

 

13 hours ago, FionaE said:

Personally I l’ll be keeping fingers crossed for William Bracewell and Calvin Richardson to be given the chance next time around at ROH.  
 

 

Agree wholeheartedly with Calvin Richardson too.

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11 hours ago, Balletfanp said:

I know she wrote a suicide letter but that could have been part of the play acting. I sometimes wonder if, even up to the point where the gun was pointing at her, she never quite believed he would actually go through with it…..a disturbing thought….


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. 
 

Edited by Sebastian
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4 hours ago, Scheherezade said:

 

Having seen Bracewell's performance as a tortured Hamlet in the Linbury some little time back (a calling card for Rudolf if ever there was one), I can't wait to see him take on this role.

 

 

Agree wholeheartedly with Calvin Richardson too.

This is the point I was going to make. I felt Bracewell’s Hamlet was both disturbed and disturbing - I was spellbound by his performance. I could see him as Rudolph in the next run - he is a marvellous actor and I believe he would show great depth as Rudolph. I really like Calvin Richardson too. 
 

i also think Reece Clarke has the physique to handle some of those PDDs very well! 
 

i really loved the rehearsal performance of Mayerling I saw - and I was unsure if I would as I wasn’t that familiar with it.  It was an extremely pleasant surprise! 
 

 

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1 hour ago, Sebastian said:


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. 
 

Thank you so much, Sebastian. If I could only get Google translate to cooperate, I would be fascinated to read them.!

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This is the Google translations with a few corrections, as it is old language and dialect sometimes. I hope it's okay to post this as it was a press release by the Austrian National Library. Heartbreaking indeed...

 

 

Mary Vetsera's farewell letters verbatim

 

Dear mother -

Forgive me for what I have done. –

I couldn't resist love. In accordance with Him I will

be buried next to him in Alland Cemetery. –

I am happier in death than in life. Yours

Mary

 

 

My dear Feri -

Unfortunately I couldn't see you anymore. Farewell, I'll be by the – other

world watching over you because I love you very much. –

your faithful sister

Mary

 

 

My dear Hannah

A few hours before my death I want to say goodbye to you. We both go blissful into the uncertain afterlife. Think of me now and then Be happy and get married only for love. I couldn't do it and since I couldn't resist love so I go with him

your Mary

PS Don't forget to send the ring to Starl, I send my regards and think of him in faithful friendship. Bratfisch did an ideal yodelling for us yesterday, I gave him my watch and the moonstone ring. The Hulka family is wholly innocent, I did everything of my own free will and without help. –

Tell Eder that I can't sing next Saturday. –

Distribute my jewelry roughly as you find it best. –

Don't cry for me, I'll go merrily across -

I say hello to monsieur D. and apologize for the Spatenbräu rendezvous. – It is beautiful out here, one thinks of Schwarzau. Philipp Coburg is hunting here today, unfortunately the beautiful Louise is not with him. Think of the Lifeline in my hand! Farewell again! Right, I greet the Tobisslin. Don't forget to send or to bring a gardenia to my grave every year on January 13 and on the anniversary. As a last wish of a dying woman I ask the mama to continue to care for the Hulka family, so that they will not suffer through my fault.

Mary Vetsera

 

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5 hours ago, Scheherezade said:

Having seen Bracewell's performance as a tortured Hamlet in the Linbury some little time back (a calling card for Rudolf if ever there was one), I can't wait to see him take on this role.

 

In the typed up report from his recent interview with the Ballet Association, Bracewell mentions that he's covering Rudolph this season, so fingers crossed for when they next do it! 

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@AngelaThank you so much! The letter to her mother has already been translated in full and small amounts of the other two but I have never seen the full version of the others. I studied French and Latin at school because I thought Latin would be more useful for studying history at university but I went from wanting to study the Middle Ages to Early Modern and German would have been far more useful! 

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I studied German and later became very interested in Middle English and the relationship with Dutch German and Old English….fascinating. 
These days I’m much better at reading rather than speaking German as it’s so long since really used it. 
Such a shame that Languages are now seemingly starting to get so marginalised in schools these days. 

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Thanks so much for that, Sebastian and Angela.  It doesn't leave any doubt that Mary was a willing participant in the murder/suicide, and knew what she was doing....however misguided (understatement!) she was.  

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1 hour ago, Angela said:

This is the Google translations with a few corrections, as it is old language and dialect sometimes. I hope it's okay to post this as it was a press release by the Austrian National Library. Heartbreaking indeed...

 

 

Mary Vetsera's farewell letters verbatim

.....

 

For some reason, the thing I found saddest was 'Tell Eder that I can't sing next Saturday'.  She seems a caring girl wanting to protect the Hulka family.

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5 hours ago, PeterS said:

Bratfisch yodelling… now there’s a thought…there’s already one song in Mayerling so it might be possible 

"High on the hill was a lonely Rudolf, leydi hodeleydi hodeley hee hoo"....oh, never mind.  :)

 

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15 hours ago, alison said:

I'm now curious as to who the Hulkas were, and what they had done that Mary feared they might be blamed for her death.


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

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One of the saddest things for me is her belief that the two of them would be buried together.   When Rudolph was saying this to her, he must have known that as he was a crown prince and she was not his wife, there would be absolutely no chance of that.  I know it doesn't make much difference once they are dead, but her touching faith in this romantic idea seems so tragic.

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As there's a few days before the next performance, may I ask the experienced Mayerling viewers some questions that I've been accumulating while seeing the first 3 casts?

 

Are Prince Rudolf & Mary Vetsera supposed to be sympathetic characters? So far I've found I sympathised with McRae/Lamb and Muntagirov/Naghdi but not with Hirano/Osipova, and I have theatrefore been moved by the deaths of the 2 former pairs but wasn't by the latter. However given Hirano & Osipova got very good reviews I wonder whether their interpreations are considered "correct" and we're actually not supposed to sympathise with them?

 

What is the timeframe Act II is supposed to take place over? I feel as though emotionally it shouldn't be that long, that Countess Larisch would get Mary Vetsera to write to Prince Rudolf not long after reintroducing them, and for that matter that Count Taaffe would confront Prince Rudolf about being involved with the Hungarian cause soon after finding him in the tavern. But set against this is Princess Stephanie being not visibly pregnant in scene I then being visibly pregnant in scene IV.

 

In the epilogue, is the dead body of Mary Vetsera played by a) the dancer who has played the role that evening or b) a double a la Odette at the end of SL or c) a mannequin?

 

Is there a list anywhere of which pieces of music are used in which scenes? When ENB did Manon in 2019 they did a blog with links to some of the original pieces of music that were re-used for the score of Manon (https://www.ballet.org.uk/blog-detail/spot-tunes-manon/)

I found it very interesting to hear the originals so would like to be able to similarly look up some of the original music re-used for Mayerling, but given the extremely long list of Liszt compositions on Wikipedia it doesn't seem realistic to look up every piece of music in the hope of alighting on some that sound familiar!

 

Does anyone know what is the largest number of named characters in Mayerling played by one dancer? I was looking up the ROH database earlier to see when Laura Morera first played Countess Larisch & Mary Vetsera and found that she also played not only Mitzi Caspar but also Princesses Stephanie & Louise earlier in her career, so that's 5 for her. Bennet Gartside must have also done 5, as he's doing the Emperor, Bay Middleton & Count Taaefe in this run and has previously done Prince Rudolf & a Hungarian Officer. Any advances on 5?!

 

And a practical question: has anyone sat anywhere in the vicinity of A2 stalls recently enough to remember what the view is like? I've treated myself to one stalls seat for later in the run but I'm now starting to worry that view may be blocked in the final scene by the table at the front of the stage.

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9 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

As there's a few days before the next performance, may I ask the experienced Mayerling viewers some questions that I've been accumulating while seeing the first 3 casts?

 

Are Prince Rudolf & Mary Vetsera supposed to be sympathetic characters? So far I've found I sympathised with McRae/Lamb and Muntagirov/Naghdi but not with Hirano/Osipova, and I have theatrefore been moved by the deaths of the 2 former pairs but wasn't by the latter. However given Hirano & Osipova got very good reviews I wonder whether their interpreations are considered "correct" and we're actually not supposed to sympathise with them?

 

I haven't seen seen Mayerling this time around but I don't think you can say one interpretation is more correct than any other in this or any other ballet.  In my experience even the same cast can react differently to each other at another performance.  Ballet is such a physical art and there are many factors that can affect how a performance comes across including how the audience member watching is feeling on a particular day.

 

Many years ago I was a volunteer usher at the Liverpool Playhouse and I got the chance to see more than one performance of the same play production.  I feel that there is much less difference between performances of a play than I have ever noticed even seeing the same cast several times in a ballet.

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