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Tsar Kandavl; AKA Le Roi Candaule (King Cadaules) is a Grand ballet in 4 Acts-6 Scenes. Choreography by Marius Petipa. Music of Cesare Pugni. First presented by the Imperial Ballet on October 17/29 (Julian/Gregorian calendar dates), 1868 at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre, St. Petersburg, Russia. From this work is derived the famous Diane and Actéon Pas de Deux.

Principal Dancers - Henriette D'or (as Queen Nisia), Felix Kschessinsky as (King Candaules/Tsar Candavl), Lev Ivanov (as Gyges), and Klavdia Kantsyreva (as Claytia)

[edit] Revivals/Restagings

• Revival by Marius Petipa for the Imperial Ballet under the title Tsar Candavl. First presented on November 24/December 6, 1891 at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Principal Dancers - Carlotta Brianza (as Queen Nisia), Pavel Gerdt (as King Candaules/Tsar Kandavl), Alexander Gorsky (as Gyges), and Vavara Rykhliahova (as Claytia)

• Revival by Marius Petipa for the Imperial Ballet, with additional music and adaptations to Pugni's score by Riccardo Drigo. First presented at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre on April 9/21, 1903.

Principal Dancers - Julia Sedova (as Queen Nisia), Pavel Gerdt (as King Candaules/Tsar Kandavl), Gyorgii Kiaksht (as Gyges), Nadezhda Petipa (as Claytia), and Evdokia Vasilieva (as Pythia).

[edit] Notes

• This ballet was based on the history of King Candaules, Ruler of Lydia, as described by Herodotus in his Histories.

• Tsar Kandavl/Le Roi Candaule was produced with the utmost splendour and opulence, achieving a resounding success with it's first twenty-two performances, and going on to break attendance records at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre. The ballet's setting in the ancient Lydian Empire (in what is today Turkey's modern provinces of İzmir and Manisa) justified the most lavish décor and costumes, with Petipa demonstrating his skill at staging a Ballet à Grand Spectacle. One celebrated passage was the opening Grand Procession of Act II-Scene 1 in which King Candaules and Gyges made their entrance in a golden chariot drawn by two white horses, followed by Queen Nisia, who made her entrance atop an elaborately decorated elephant, and then followed a massive procession of 200 participants (Petipa would later stage a similar Grand Procession in his 1877 La Bayadère). The ballet's pièce de résistance was Petipa's Pas de Venus and the final Grand Pas known as the Grand Pas Lydian, both of which were hailed unanimously by the critics and balletomanes as masterworks of classical choreography. Often these peices were extracted from the full-length work to be performed independantly.

• For his revival of 1903 Petipa added new material to the ballet, all set to new music adapted by Riccardo Drigo from Pugni's original score of 1868 - for the celebrated Pas de Venus Petipa added a new Adagio as well as a new dance for Cupid, the Nymphs, and Satyrs. He then added new variations to Drigo's music for the Pas de Trois of the Three Graces, and completely rechoreographed the scene The Baths of Queen Nisia. Another celebrated passage was the Grand Pas known as the Pas de Diane (or Les Amours de Diane), which Petipa presented a new version of in 1903.

• The Variation of Queen Nisia from the Pas de Venus from Pugni's score for Tsar Kandavl/Le Roi Candaule was interpolated by the Ballerina Olga Preobrajenskaya into the Grand Pas d'action from La Bayadère when she danced the role of Gamzatti in Petipa's 1900 revival of the work. Today the variation remains a part of the performance tradition of La Bayadère, and is danced by nearly every modern-day Ballerina who dances the role of Gamzatti.

• Tsar Kandavl/Le Roi Candaule was performed by the Imperial Ballet for the last time on September 2, 1923. The hardships brought upon the Russian ballet as a result of the revolution of 1917 incidentally caused many works to leave the stage forever. Although the full-length work was no longer performed, many of the various Pas and incidental dances cvontinued being performed for various galas, etc.

• The last role George Balanchine danced with the Imperial Ballet before he left Russia was the role of the Satyr in the Pas de Diane from Tsar Kandavl/Le Roi Candaule.

[edit] The Diane and Actéon Pas de Deux

Another of the ballet's celebrated peices was the Pas de Diane (known also as Les Amours de Diane) from the Act IV-Scene 2 Grand Divertissement. For his revival of 1903 Petipa created an entirely new version of this Pas to music composed by Riccardo Drigo, adapted by the composer from Pugni's original music for the peice.

In his original version, as well as in his revision of 1903, Petipa's Pas de Diane was a Pas de Caractère with a basis on characters from Greek mythology - Diana the virgin goddess of the hunt, Actéon the mythological hunter, a Satyr, and eight nymphs. Petipa fashioned the Pas de Diane as a classical Pas de Trois - consisting of a short Entrée, a Grand Adagio for the the three soloists and the eight nymphs (female members of the corps de ballet), a dance for the eight nymphs, variations for Diane and Actéon, and a Grand Coda.

In 1931 the great Russian pedagogue Agrippina Vaganova resurrected Petipa's 1903 version of the Pas de Diane to be added to her revival of the ballet La Esmeralda for the Kirov Ballet (the former Imperial Ballet). Vaganova re-fashioned Petipa's choreography as a Pas de Deux for the characters Diane and Actéon, and inceasing the number of nymphs from eight to twelve. The dancers Galina Ulanova and Vakhtang Chabukiani were the first to dance Vaganova's new version of the peice, which was retitled as the Diane and Actéon Pas de Deux (It is a common misconception that the Diane and Actéon Pas de Deux was originally taken from Petipa's 1886 revival of the ballet La Esmeralda). Today Vaganova's Diane and Actéon Pas de Deux is a major repertory staple with ballet companies all over the world (outside of Russia the peice is most often performed simply as a Pas de Deux, without the eight-member corp de ballet), and is the only surviving peice from the ballet Tsar Kandavl/Le Roi Candaule.