Mariinsky II (New Theatre)

"Divertissement of the King"

CREDITS

Music by Jean-Philippe Rameau

Choreography by Maxim Petrov

Costume Designer: Tatiana Noginova

Lighting Designer: Konstantin Binkin

Libretto by Bogdan Korolyok

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

Le Divertissement du Roi is a neoclassical fantasy on a baroque theme, it is recollections of the happy beginnings of the art of ballet that unfolded in the Louvre and in Versailles. The protagonist of the ballet is a King who loves to appear at the theatre dressed as the Sun. The prototypes number more than just Louis XIV: contrary to popular opinion, the epithet Le Roi Soleil was first attributed to his most august father, Louis XIII. Just as much as his son, he loved to take part in Court masquerade balls, and not always as the star of day. Much more frequently he appeared as marginalised urban dwellers and port idlers - such as a drunken Dutch captain. 

Maxim Petrov’s ballet is a catalogue of cherished images of baroque ballet. Although the music used is by Jean-Philippe Rameau – and this is a very late score from the baroque theatre tradition – the divertissement features entrées typical of earlier times. There are peasants on the stage (the indispensable gallants), Play and Pleasure as well as miraculous snails which are also ugly furies. But the protagonist of the evening is Armide the magician. The mistress of enchanted salons that appear and disappear as she waves her hand is, arguably, a key feature of baroque art, tensely feeling the border between dreams and reality, trying to separate illusions from truth. In brief, no-one can ultimately guarantee that the entire so-called “king’s divertissement” is not an illusion – a jester’s trick with fairground comedians. 

Bogdan Korolyok

Premiere: 14 June 2015, Mariinsky Theatre, St Peterburg

Running time 25 minutes

"In the Night"

CREDITS

Music by Frédéric Chopin

Choreography by Jerome Robbins (1970)

Staged by Ben  Huys

Costumes by Anthony Dowell

Lighting by Jennifer Tipton

Recreated by Nicole Pearce

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

Prior to the appearance of this ballet in the Mariinsky Theatre repertoire, Russian audiences knew Jerome Robbins only as a hypostasis – Robbins-the-choreographer-of-musicals, Robbins-the-Broadway-triumph. Not for his “live” productions, of course, but rather for his film version of Westside Story, which caused a veritable furore in the cinemas of the Soviet Union. In 1992, the Mariinsky Theatre brought another Robbins to the country – Robbins the lyricist and the intellectual, one of the two leading figures at New York City Ballet. The man who took Chopin’s nocturnes and in 1970 created In the Night – a short ballet for three couples. Initially, they appear on stage in turn, while in the finale they all dance at the same time. Each of the couples offers their own version of the dialogue between man and woman – and, impeccably reproducing the choreographic scene, all the performers bring their own ideas of paired relationships to these dialogues. The good-natured coquetry and the claims of divine service, competing in the dazzle and the childlike thirst for trust – all different people, and so every time In the Night looks just that little bit different from the previous display. 

Anna Gordeyeva

World premiere: 29 January 1970, New York City Ballet, New York 

Premiere at the Mariinsky Theatre: 18 March 1992

The premiere of the revival: 5 May 2009

Running time 25 minutes

Age category 6+

"Marguerite and Armand" 

CREDITS

Music by Franz Liszt (Piano Sonata in B Minor) 

Orchestrated by Dudley Simpson 

Choreography by Frederick Ashton 

Production Coach at the Mariinsky Theatre: Grant Coyle 

Set Designs and Costumes: Cecil Beaton 

Original Lighting Concept: John B. Read 

World premiere: 12 March 1963, The Royal Ballet of Great Britain, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London 

Premiere at the Mariinsky Theatre: 8 July 2014

Running time: 30 minutes