Dance (and opera?) broadening your horizons

[alison]

Rubbish title, I know, and I may edit it later, but while I was doing the washing-up a little while ago I found myself reflecting that I ought to do some boning-up on Virginia Woolf over the next month. Not only that but, as I've acknowledged over the years, my ballet-(and occasionally opera-)going has encouraged me to read a number of works of literature which I probably wouldn't have done otherwise: Manon Lescaut, Eugene Onegin and The Waste Land come to mind immediately.

 

What about the rest of you? Has your dance-going led you to fill in a few gaps in your education? Did you suddenly get the urge to start researching Austria-Hungary prior to watching Mayerling? Read Shakespeare after going to see The Dream/Romeo & Juliet/Winter's Tale ...?

[capybara]

A day trip to Mayerling from Vienna is well worthwhile.

[Jan McNulty]

It's funny you should say that Alison.  I read both Dracula and The Great Gatsby before seeing the ballets.  I am currently in the middle of re-reading Wuthering Heights.  I did WH at O-level and hated every single last word - I never wanted to reread it and here I am enjoying it!

 

Oh come to think of it, I also read Hunchback of Notre Dame and re-read Great Expectations.

 

However, I have had some failures - I have never been able to finish Onegin and I couldn't get past page 9 of Far From the Madding Crowd.

 

I went to see the play of Hobson's Choice after seeing the ballet.

 

I have discovered some classical works because I have seen ballets made to them - one of my favourites now is Mozart's clarinet concerto.

 

My favourite bit of mind-broadening happened after seeing BRB perform Edward II.  A friend who lives in Knaresborough discovered by chance that Gaveston was the first maraschel of the current iteration of the castle and we went to a talk about the castle and discovered that the four knights who murdered Beckett holed up in the castle for a year after the murder before heading off to the Holy Land to seek redemption.  Then we saw the most wonderful play at WYP - Four Knights in Knaresborough - so wonderful we still talk about it years later!

 

I've also done stuff like visit Mayerling when we went to Vienna and stood looking at the scene that constitutes the back drop of Petrouchka in St Petersburg!

 

Yes, for me, ballet is a wonderful way of broadening my horizons!

[John Mallinson]

And not just books. I thank Wayne McGregor for introducing me to The Art of Fugue (and one or two other pieces).

[toursenlair]

I think the urge to bone up on Austro-Hungary comes AFTER watching Mayerling.

Who the heck are all those women anyway?

PS I love Mayerling.

[alison]

I have discovered some classical works because I have seen ballets made to them - one of my favourites now is Mozart's clarinet concerto.

 

Thanks, Janet.  I've improved on the title thanks to you!  And I agree on the music - that, probably more than anything else, has been what's benefited from my going to ballet and dance.  If I had time, I might start to make a list, but Enigma Variations, Song of the Earth, the Faure Requiem and Poulenc Gloria are just a few I could name. 

[MAB]

Once attempted a Woolf  book but gave up after a couple of pages, she's not a writer I'd recommend.

 

Read a book about the Empress Elisabeth of Austria after seeing Mayerling and also visited her palace, The Achilleion in Corfu.  I enjoy what you might call cultural sightseeing, especially anything with a link to music.  I have a book called The Opera Goers Guide to Europe which gives all sorts of information, for example last week, whilst in Mantua, I went first to the theatre where Mozart played as a child, part of which is open to the public, and then with the help of the book I located the building he stayed in though sadly no plaque or anything to celebrate the fact.  May sound a bit geeky but it keeps me happy.

[LinMM]

I agree Alison I do think it's the music which has benefitted me the most. Sometimes of course one does know the music and has some knowledge of the composer before going but there have been some wonderful introductions to new composers for me that I did not know before ... ...such as Poulenc .....after seeing Gloria. The complete piano works of Satie after seeing Monotones in Oxford many moons ago .........and college friends coming into the room asking me what the music was ......so hopefully others being influenced unexpectedly too!

Songs of a Wayfarer is another stand out for me too and Stravinsky via The Firebird when I was 13!

 

But it has also lead to me reading a few biographies particularly of Fokine and his era and of Nijinsky and Diaghilev. And of course of Fonteyn and Nureyev.

I also read a lot about the Mercury Theatre and Marie Rambert at one time ....but this was more from taking part in ballet (Chelsea Ballet) than going to see performances as the then leader had danced with the Rambert appearing in the film "the Red Shoes"

 

Occasionally I might have to read around the story of a ballet but this is usually afterwards as well ........most recently The Great Gatsby!

But it didn't really get me to read the original book!

[LinMM]

Oh yes visiting places is something I like doing.......especially if connected to Musicians.

I went all the way to Poland to see Chopins birthplace and also to Bonn to see where Beethoven once lived .......this was all when very young.

Chopin I can say was the composer who got me into ballet. It was listening to some old 78 records my mum had of Les Sylphides which got me investigating ballet classes after mum said it was ballet music when I was 8!

[Odyssey]

Just picking up on the posts about BRB's Edward II . I was teaching the Marlowe play to 6th form students during its first run in Birmingham and we were able to link up with BRB with a range of activities including a memorable visit by David Bintley to run a workshop and talk about text into performance. The week culminated in a visit to see the ballet . It certainly provided a whole new insight to the dramatic qualities of the play and the interactions between the central characters. And I like to think some of those 16-19 year olds are still attending ballet performances now, thanks to the generosity of the Company and in particular its director who gave up his time to be associated with the project.

[Jan McNulty]

Not to do with me personally but some years ago a number of Sunderland FC Supporters' Club members came to see BRB performing R&J (Sunderland march on to the Dance of the Knights).  BRB had done a very clever piece of marketing and produced a CD single as a giveaway to entice people in!

 

I think a number of them came to other productions after that and quite possibly still do.

[WoodlandGladeFairy]

I've always been interested in the House of Habsburg and their empire, so Mayerling is one of my favourite ballets, it certainly encouraged me to read more about them as well, a particular favourite is 'The Habsburgs: Embodying Empire' by Andrew Wheatcroft. I remember watching it on the BBC (I was young at the time) which starred Irek Mukamedov and Vivante Durante and totally blown away, never seen such dancing! 

 

Actually thats what brill about the internet, its so easy to google and go on wikpedia to brush up on the subject of the ballet.

Edited April 18, 2015 by WoodlandGladeFairy

[Duck]

Watching ballet performances has repeatedly opened up new musical horizons for me. I have discovered composers such as Poulenc, Fauré or Satie and broadened the range of music that I listen to from composers whom I had known previously e.g., Rachmaninoff. I also moved from buying some of the music following the performance to trying to do this before I see the ballet. And in those cases where I really enjoyed the music to a ballet, I have purchased CDs with other compositions by the same artist. Encouraged by the joy of listening to singers and choirs in ballets, I also tried opera a few times (with mixed results though ;-).

 

While music has been the main focus, I went to see the Virginia Woolf exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery last year in preparation for the forthcoming Woolf Works ballet. The exhibition in turn led me to reading Mrs Dalloway, which – after some initial getting used to her writing style – I found captivating. I am now about to start reading Orlando and am keen to progress as much as possible before the première of Woolf Works.

[Dance*is*life]

One of the things I love about ballet is its combination of the arts - going to see a performance exposes the audience to so many different things and not just dance movement.  There is also music, scenery, narrative, drama, lighting effects, even the make-up and costumes.  You take a child to the ballet and one of those things will connect with them.  Our nephew was rather against his wife taking any of their sons to watch ballet, but I persuaded him to let his eldest see Romeo and Juliet when I portrayed the Nurse.  The boy especially loved the sword fighting and the music (he plays the piano), but what fascinated him the most was when he came backstage after the performance.  He was enthralled with the scenery and how different it looked onstage rather than from the audience and how the back cloths were hung above the stage waiting to be used - he was particularly interested in the lighting console.  It was a learning experience for him.

 

When I was 9 my parents took me to see the Bolshoi in Romeo and Juliet.  I was enthralled with the story even then.  A few years later we studied the actual play in drama classes and even went to see the real thing at the National Theatre.  So ballet first exposed me to Shakespeare.  It also made me love all kinds of classical music.  If we look at dance history we can see that Diaghilev's Ballet Russes had a huge influence on the public.  By using such a variety of composers and designers, he really exposed the audiences to a wider vision of the arts.  Bakst's designs in particular spurred a new fashion in clothing with brighter colours and avant garde styles that echoed his creations for the stage.

Edited April 18, 2015 by Dance*is*life

[Don Q Fan]

Definitely helped me appreciate music more and I now listen to Classic FM a lot - although they rarely play any  Minkus - I'll have to sort that out;-)  Having just seen La Dame aux Camelias I am completely in awe of Chopin's piano concertos and Mr Tchaikovksy is just a genius!

[Jan McNulty]

Books set in the near future frighten the life out of me and one I have never wanted to read is George Orwell's 1984.

 

Well thanks to Northern Ballet I have just finished 1984.  Goodness me what a gripping (and frightening) novel it is and disturbing because the author predicted much of what is happening now, albeit in a more brutal and extreme way.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing the ballet now in September at WYP.

 

I am now going to read something light and fluffy and then, because I enjoyed Wuthering Heights I think I will try another Bronte sister and read Jane Eyre!

[Jan McNulty]

Well, having enjoyed Tree of Codes, I bought Jamie XX's new album Colours to try.  WOW is all I can say!

[Alice Shortcake]

"Proust" introduced me to Saint-Saens' Third Symphony and Debussy's Dances for Harp and Orchestra, for which I'm profoundly grateful. I was also bowled over by the music of "Sylvia", which I'd never heard before as the ballet is so infrequently revived.

 

I would probably not have read "Eugene Onegin" had it not been for the poem's ballet and operatic versions.

 

Slightly OT, but I'm fascinated by the process of adapting long, complicated novels and plays into operas/ballets. "The Winter's Tale" is one of my favourite plays and I loved Christopher Wheeldon's version for the RB, but I must admit to missing the character of Autolycus!

 

Janet, I've just booked for NB's "1984" at Leeds and can't wait to see how they'll handle the story.

Edited July 24, 2015 by Alice Shortcake

[Jan McNulty]

I'm there for the first night, Thursday matinee and final Saturday. Say hello if you see me!

[alison]

I was also bowled over by the music of "Sylvia", which I'd never heard before as the ballet is so infrequently revived.

 

I had a friend at university who used to rave about it, too.  I was surprised, as he didn't seem to have any obvious interest in ballet: then I heard the score

[Jan McNulty]

I was also bowled over by the music of "Sylvia", which I'd never heard before as the ballet is so infrequently revived.

 

 

 

I love the score of Sylvia, except for the pizzicato which, for some reason, I absolutely cannot stand.  Slightly O/T but I also loathe the "Dance of the girls with the lilies" from R&J and the Wedding March from MSND!

[Alice Shortcake]

I'm sure the pizzicato has been used in at least one irritating TV advert. Speaking of which, is it possible for any British ballet-goer of a certain age to see "The Nutcracker" without being reminded of the words "everyone's a fruit and nut case"?!

[RuthE]

I'm sure the pizzicato has been used in at least one irritating TV advert. Speaking of which, is it possible for any British ballet-goer of a certain age to see "The Nutcracker" without being reminded of the words "everyone's a fruit and nut case"?!

 

The pizzicato (which is the only music I know from Sylvia, never having seen it) has definitely been in at least one annoying advert, though I can't recall the product, which probably doesn't say much for it as a piece of advertising!

 

"Everyone's a fruit and nut case" also leads neatly in my imagination (and in the score...) into the Flash Liquid lady waltzing around her black-and-white tiled kitchen floor with a mop!

[Jan McNulty]

I'm sure the pizzicato has been used in at least one irritating TV advert. Speaking of which, is it possible for any British ballet-goer of a certain age to see "The Nutcracker" without being reminded of the words "everyone's a fruit and nut case"?!

No! I have to try very hard not to sing along!

[Jan McNulty]

Thanks Alice!  I can't stop singing Everyone's a fruit and nutcase now!!!!

[alison]

Definitely not ...

[Lynette H]

If you are interested in comparing plays with the ballets based on them, there a a couple of opportunities coming along. Wheeldon's A Winter's Tale returns next April at the Royal. There are also two productions of the play on in the next few months (unusual since it's not done as often as some Shakespeare plays). 

 

Kenneth Branagh's company is presenting A Winter's Tale at the Garrick with Judi Dench as Paulina from early October this year. Next January A Winter's Tale is also on at the Wanamaker Playhouse (the small indoor theatre next to the Globe). 

 

Currently at the National Theatre is Three Days in the Country - a version of A Month in the Country. 

[toursenlair]

Currently at the National Theatre is Three Days in the Country - a version of A Month in the Country. 

 

presumably a shorter version?

[Lynette H]

presumably a shorter version?

 

It is a shorter version ! Evidently the original play ran for something like 4 hours. Patrick Marber renamed it because he had pruned back this version at the NT to 2 hours 15 minutes and cut out a number of minor characters. There are still more characters in this version than in Ashton's ballet, including Anna Petrovna's mother, a suitor for Vera and a local doctor. Though John Simm gave a very nuanced portayal of Rakitin, I still came away thinking how much more effective Ashton's ballet is in in terms of really getting to the heart of the characters, and reflecting again on Ashton's ability to distill things to their essence. The ballet a much more involving and moving experience.