Classical Ballet Leonid Desyatnikov "Lost Illusions" (ballet in 3 acts) World famous Bolshoi Ballet and Opera theatre (established 1776) - Small Stage
Running time: 2 hours 35 minutes
Schedule for Leonid Desyatnikov "Lost Illusions" (ballet in 3 acts) 2022
Composer: Leonid Desyatnikov Conductor: Alexander Vedernikov Choreography: Alexei Ratmansky Music Director: Alexander Vedernikov Designer: Jerome Kaplan Light Designer: Vincent Millet
Orchestra: Bolshoi Theatre Symphony Orchestra
Classical Ballet in 3 acts
World premiere: 24 April 2011,
Premiere of this production: 24 April 2011.
The world premiere of the ballet took place on April 24,
2011 The Bolshoi Theatre commissioned the score from composer Leonid
Desyatnikov. The ballet will be choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky, the
ex-artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet and resident choreographer of
American Ballet Theater. Today choreographer Ratmansky is in great demand
worldwide. In producing LOST ILLUSIONS, the Bolshoi Theatre continues the
Russian tradition of creating full-length ballet-dramas (the production team
will work from a libretto, written in the 1930’s after the novel by Honore de
Balzac). The music director of the production will be Teodor Currentzis.
Composer: Leonid
Desyatnikov Choreographer: Alexei Ratmansky Music
Director: Alexander Vedernikov Designer: Jerome
Kaplan Lighting Designer: Vincent Millet Drama
Consultant: Guillaume Gallienne
Copyright © 2011 by Marc Haegeman at the Bolshoi
Theatre
The action takes place in Paris in the 30's of the 19th
century
Act
l Prelude
Scene
1 Episode 1. Morning Paris The square before the
Paris Opera is living its usual, everyday life. Artists are hurrying to the
morning rehearsal. Lucien, a budding composer, makes for the Theatre accompanied
by his friends. He is full of hope and dreams of having his works produced on
this illustrious stage… Lucien goes up to the director, but the latter gives him
the brush off. His friends advise him to persist and, picking up his courage,
Lucien goes through the hallowed door.
Episode 2. The Paris
Opera Ballet Foyer A rehearsal is in progress – the dancers are
doing the morning exercise. The lesson is twice interrupted by the appearance of
the ballerinas, Florine and Coralie, accompanied by their patrons – Camusot, who
finances the Theatre, and the Duke, who is a social bon vivant. They represent,
as it were, two competing parties: Camusot supports Coralie, the Duke – Florine,
her rival.
A nervous Lucien enters the room. Under the curious eyes of
those present the composer becomes flustered, but begs permission to perform one
of his works. Lucien begins to play – at first timidly, then with greater
feeling. However, his listeners do not take to his passionate music, full of
romantic aspiration. The groups of guests and dancers who, initially, had
gathered round the composer, start to melt away. The outcome becomes clear – for
the Theatre Director is bound to abide by the opinions of his all-powerful
patrons. Lucien’s hopes are shattered. Desperate, his spirits in his boots, he
is about to leave, when he is stopped by Coralie. She had been profoundly moved
by his music. Making use of her influence with Camusot and the Director, Coralie
obtains a commission for Lucien: he is to write the music for La
Sylphide, a ballet specially created for Coralie.
Scene 2 Lucien’s room Lucien is
struggling over the composition of his ballet. Enter Coralie. Her appearance
inspires the composer, in her he acquires his Muse. The main theme of the future
ballet is found. Inspiration and love uniting forces, give birth to the music.
Scene 3 Back stage at the Paris
Opera Premiere of the ballet La Sylphide. Lucien is on
tenterhooks: how will the public react to his debut? Scenes from the ballet
develop in his imagination. In place of the Youth, a romantic in search of
happiness, he sees himself. The romantic scene of the avowal of love unfolds,
bathed in elegic tones: separation is inevitable. The Sylphide must vanish –
terrestrial love is forbidden for her. Slipping away as lightly as a dream, she
flies off...
The premiere is a resounding success. All applaud the young
composer and Sylphide-Coralie. Florine is full of envy, the Duke shares her
sentiments.
Act 2 Scene
4 Coralie’s room Coralie is happy with her Lucien.
The success of La Sylphide has brought them fame and love. The lovers
would be totally happy were it not for the fact that everything in her home
reminds Coralie that she is not free, it all belongs to her protector the
banker.
Camusot turns up unexpectedly. Vexed because he is not admitted
for such a long time, the banker suspects Coralie of infidelity. Coralie tries
in vain to pass off Lucien’s top hat, which Camusot has discovered, as part of
her concert costume. Not wishing to lie, Lucien appears from the hiding place
Coralie had found for him. All that remains for Camusot to do is to make his
exit. The banker, however, is confident that life will again deliver Coralie
into his hands.
Coralie and Lucien are as happy as can be: it is as if a
terrible load has fallen from their shoulders – they are free.
Scene 5 The Duke’s Palace Forgetting
their recent rivalry, Camusot and the Duke are united by their wish to subdue
Lucien to their will, make him their obedient pawn. Their plot is simple: they
will get the young man into their power by dazzling him with the bait of
glamorous fame and money and force him to write a ballet for Florine. Florine
hands Lucien an invitation for a ball at the Duke’s palace.
Masked ball
at the Duke’s palace. Enter Lucien. He has changed – tail coat, white gloves,
blase gestures. In the mad whirl of the masquerade, surrounded by beautiful
women and elegant men, the young man loses his head. Lucien pursues an unknown
woman wearing the Sylphide costume and tears off her mask – it is Florine, he is
defenceless before her charm. At the Duke’s invitation, Lucien takes his seat at
the card table and starts playing: everything has been arranged so that luck is
with him. The pile of gold at his side grows bigger and bigger, and the force of
an unknown passion clouds his reason. All his hopes have come true: Paris is at
his feet; money, women, fame – all are his. At a tense moment in the game,
Florine appears. The seductive passion of her dance completely wins the young
man over, and he falls at her feet.
Scene
6 Coralie’s room Coralie is worrying about Lucien.
Friends try in vain to distract her. Lucien soon appears, but not alone – with
him are Florine and the Duke. Lucien is in a very highly strung state. He pulls
gold out of his pockets by the fistful – his winnings. Success, happiness,
recognition, love will now be his forever. Intoxicated by his winnings and wine,
Lucien fails to notice his friend’s torment and alarm.
The Duke and
Florine leave, taking Lucien with them. His departure is a catastrophe for
Coralie. It mentally kills her, all her illusions come tumbling round her head.
The gold Lucien left on the table gives rise to another outburst of despair. Her
friends, the involuntary witnesses of the dramatic scene try, without success,
to calm her down. A desperate Coralie bids farewell to her love.
Act Three Scene 7 The Paris Opera Ballet
Foyer Lucien is disappointed and oppressed. It is as if, having
attained what he wished for, he had lost his freedom and creative independence.
He is composing a ballet for Florine, but Florine, the Duke and the Ballet
Master reject his ideas. They want an obedient composer of banal, gay little
tunes which are essential for an effective, but empty ballet about a dancer who
wins over bandits with her charms. Gritting his teeth, Lucien improvises, giving
in to their demands. The Duke’s hypocritical approval flatters the composer, who
obediently trots out trivial motifs which are easy to dance.
Scene 8 Ballet In the Mountains of
Bohemia The Duke pays claqueurs to applaud and give a rapturous
reception to the new ballet, written for Florine. Premiere. Bandits,
performed by female dancers, lie in wait for passers by on a main road. A
carriage appears in which a ballerina (Florine) is traveling with her maid. The
bandits stop the carriage and threaten the travelers with death, but the
ballerina’s charms tame them. As they dance round her, the police arrive on the
scene, summoned by Florine’s quick-witted maid.
Claqueurs ensure a
triumph for Florine, but not for Lucien: his music is no more than banal
accompaniment. Only a polka, a motif commissioned by Florine, earns him
applause. The Duke and Camusot cynically congratulate Lucien, Camusot presents
him with a sum of money. Lucien’s illusions, his hopes of success and glory, his
dreams of seeing Paris at his feet go up in smoke. Realizing that for the sake
of money and hypocritical compliments he had betrayed his love for Coralie and
his musical talent, a horrified Lucien rushes out of the theatre.
Scene 9 Seine Embankment The Seine
embankment shrouded in thick fog. Lucien has run to the embankment with the
thought of committing suicide. But he lacks the determination to die. In a
deeply perturbed state, the young man thinks of Coralie – the only person who
sincerely loves him. To return to her, to return his former self by making good
his betrayal – with these thoughts in mind he goes in search of Coralie.
Scene 10 Coralie’s
Room The room is empty: all the furnishings have been sold to pay
off debts. Coralie’s maid Berenice is packing her mistress’s theatre costumes.
At the sight of her Sylphide tunic, Coralie is overcome by memories of her
former radiant illusions, now lost forever.
Enter Camusot with a
confident tread. An experienced operator, he has calculated everything right and
persuades Coralie to return to him. Coralie is indifferent to her fate: it is
all the same to her whether she dies or returns to Camusot. She leaves with
Camusot.
Lucien comes running into the empty room, but it is too late.
Coralie has gone. And an anguished Lucien realizes his lost illusions will never
return.
Postlude
Schedule for Leonid Desyatnikov "Lost Illusions" (ballet in 3 acts) 2022
Bolshoi Theatre - "Lost illusions" - Diana Vishneva / Vladislav Lantratov / Artem Ovcharenko 02.02.2014 |
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