La Esmeralda (ballet)
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La Esmeralda is a ballet in 3 acts, 5 scenes, inspired by Notre Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo, originally choreographed by Jules Perrot; with music by Cesare Pugni and design by William Grieve (scenery), D. Sloman (machinery), Mme. Copere (costumes).
It was first Presented by the Ballet of her Majesty's Theatre, London on March 9, 1844 with the Ballerina Carlotta Grisi as Esmeralda, Jules Perrot as Gringoire, Arthur Saint-Leon as Phoebus, Adelaide Frassi as Fleur de Lys, and Antoine Louis Coulon as Quasimodo.
Throughout its performance history the ballet has been revived a number of times, most notably by Jules Perrot at the Bolshoi, St. Petersburg, 2 January 1849 (with Pugni revising his original score); Marius Petipa (St. Petersburg 1872, with a new Pas de Dix to music by Yuli Gerber; 1886 with a new Pas de Deux for the Ballerina Claudina Cucchi that became known as the Pas Cucchi (music by unknown); and 1899 with additional music by Riccardo Drigo for the Pas de Six - the Danse Pour Quatre Danseuses and the Coda, and a new Pas de Deux created especially for the Prima Ballerina Assoluta Mathilde Kschessinskaya, also to Drigo's music, though based in part on some of Pugni's original themes - today this Pas de Deux is known as the La Esmeralda Pas de Deux, and is danced today mostly in the choreographer Ben Stevenson's 1982 version); Agrippina Vaganova, (Leningrad 1931, with a "new" Pas d'action for Galina Ulanova and Vakhtang Chabukiani fashioned from the Pas de Diane from Petipa's 1903 revival of his 1868 ballet Tsar Kandavl (AKA Le Roi Candaule) to music by Drigo (based in part on Pugni's original music) which is known today as the Diane and Actéon Pas de Deux); Pyotr Gusev (Leningrad, 1949); Tatiana Vecheslova and Nicolai Boyarchikov (Leningrad - for the Mussorgsky Ballet - 1981, in a revival of Petipa's original revival of 1898).
Today the ballet is presented in its full-length form only in Russia and parts of Eastern Europe. Outside of Russia and Eastern Europe only excerpts are given - the La Esmeralda Pas de Deux and the Pas de Six, but mostly the Diane and Actéon Pas de Deux is given, which in all actuality is not originally from the ballet (it is often miscredited as having been added by Petipa to his 1886 revival of La Esmeralda).
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[edit] Plot Outline
Esmeralda consents to marry the poet Gringoire to save him from death at the hands of the Truands; she tells him, however, that she has married him out of pity, not love. She is desired by the evil priest, Frollo, who attempts to abduct her, but she is saved by the arrival of Phoebus and his troops. They capture Quasimodo, Frollo's henchman, but Esmeralda pleads for his release.
Despite his forthcoming marriage to Fleur de Lys, Esmeralda falls in love with Phoebus. Accompanied by Gringoire, she goes to dance at the celebrations where Phoebus, charmed by her, persuades her to dance with him.
Frollo spies upon a meeting between Phoebus and Esmeralda. Jealously, he stabs Phoebus and then escapes, so that Esmeralda is arrested for the murder. Frollo promises to save her if she will marry him, but Phoebus, whose wound was not mortal, appears, and declares her innocence. Frollo tries to stab Esmeralda, but is prevented by Quasimodo, who kills him.
[edit] Analysis
La Esmeralda was the culmination of Perrot's work on the dramatic ballet that he had begun in Ondine. His selection of incidents from Hugo's immense work was skillful and dramatically effective. He focused upon the character of the gypsy girl, Esmeralda, and set her against a large and varied tapestry of characters. His construction was brilliant, and no part could have been removed without destroying the whole.
As in Ondine, he alternated scenes before the drop curtain with scenes requiring the full stage, so that there was no break in the action. Ballet, which before had often been seen as a very ill-constructed theatrical form, was here a tightly knit unity, in which no character or movement was superfluous. Every individual and every movement had a part to play in the overall drama, and added to narrative, charcter, or atmosphere. Every role was psychologically true, expressed through its own characteristic movement, which ranged from the high aristocratic to low-life, represented by the Truands.
The ballet was notable for its emphasis on the individual characters. Before, everything had concentrated on the ballerina, but now she was only one of a group of characters of equal importance in the story. For the first time, the corps de ballet became recognizable individuals reacting to events around them and with an important part to play in establishing the mood of the various episodes. Thus in the first scene they appeared as the raffish Truands, and in the last act as the people of Paris, exultant at the Feast of Fools, against which Esmeralda's despair as she was led to execution became all the more poignant. There were no great set pieces; the many processions and crowds did not appear only in order to give the principals a rest, as it had been the case previously, but were an integral part of the whole work.
Compared with many ballets of the Romantic era, La Esmeralda was intensely realistic, with no supernatural characters, and exotic location gave way to the teeming of life in medieval Paris. As Esmeralda, Carlotta Grisi was highly praised. The Times hailed her as combining the "innocent playfulness of Cerrito- the arch conquetry of Elssler- and the quiet poetry of Taglioni". She created a fully three-dimensional character- a lively girl, compassionate, affectionate, coquettish, merry, pensive, and loving- but one that was part of the whole drama and not a mere ballerina role. The role was later taken over by Fanny Elssler, who brought to it her own particular intensity, but imbued Esmeralda with a sense of tragedy that made her less engaging than Grisi.
[edit] References
- Cesare Pugni — Composer
- Marius Petipa - Choreographer
Bremster, M. (ed.) 1993. "International Dictionary of Ballet" Detroit: St James Press
