Ondine

I always saw him as the decent, ordinary local lad in love with Giselle (despite the possible dicky ticker) and who Bathilde hoped for as a son in law. He saw through Albrecht from the outset as someone being deceptive, up to no good, and was horrified that the love of his life was being stolen from him and he could do nothing about it. He couldn't forsee the tragedy that would unroll once Albrecht was unmasked as the (son of?) the local noble, though you'd have thought the locals would have known who he was anyhow! Ours not to reason why. Once that overture plays I'm mush. I just go along with it all!

Fanny Cerrito as Ondine in the Pas de l’Ombre (1843) I'm a sucker for these lithographs!

FLOSS: I agree with every word. Though I do feel Muntigirov has more in him than he's often given to do. Sad he's spending so much time guesting elsewhere.

That Royal Box again The management sat their royal visitors in the so-called royal box, which gives a lousy view right round the side; did having the whole company sing “Happy birthday” at the end make up for this?

There's a photo of that, and more about the 2006 'Homage to the Queen' here: http://danceviewtimes.com/2006/Spring/11/rb75gala.html Oh dear. And Darcey Bussell was, frankly, too much of a lump for the Fonteyn role in Air, with David Makhateli struggling to support her.

'Cherrytoes' herself! https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O60542/fanny-cerrito-as-ondine-in-painting-g-a-turner/ Yes I think it could be revived, if done carefully. New staging etc?

Oh yes, care and a large dose of scepticism as with any research. However, it still remains that Giselle isn't actually handed down to us as a museum piece from the romantic era, delighful ballet that it is, but has been mangled over the years to suit choreographers, dancers, political ideologies and the rest and we really shouldn't treat a ballet that has supernatural creatures appearing at night to dance unwary men to death in a cloud of dry ice too seriously with regard to motivation etc. I've seen scores of Giselles and just go with the flow. The music, the dancing, the romance. It's my all time favourite and I still cry when she dies. My pet gripe is the knocking, when Albrecht at times ignores the music. Also, why are they harvesting grapes in a forest? But hey. Postscript Cyril Beaumont's book is still available. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ballet-Called-Giselle-Cyril-Beaumont/dp/1852731524

An archived fairly in depth piece from @ismeneb on Ashton's lost ballets and it makes you want to weep TBH 1999 https://theartsdesk.com/dance/last-dance-why-our-best-ballets-are-slowly-dying Old ladies with large hatpins are a dying breed too. The popularity of the ballets also varies, partly because of the energy of their owners in encouraging their performance. Thus the luckiest recipent from Ashton's will was Michael Somes, with Cinderella (1948) and Symphonic Variations (1947), both sought-after worldwide; the unluckiest recipient was Margot Fonteyn, whose Ondine and Daphnis and Chloe (1951) - Ashton's personal tributes to his muse - are rareties, performed only occasionally at the Royal Ballet.

Currently for sale on Etsy. Fonteyn and Somes. So sad this has all been lost! Shocking really! https://za.pinterest.com/pin/99571841745953388/

All your yesterdays here! Fonteyn looking glorious. https://www.vandaimages.com/1000RH0032-Margot-Fonteyn-in-Homage-to-the-Queen-at-the-Royal.html Very Cecchetti / Ashton! And yet more! https://www.vandaimages.com/preview.asp?image=1000RH0010&itemw=4&itemf=0001&itemstep=1&itemx=2 Rosemary Lindsay, Phillip Chatfield, Beryl Grey as Queen of Fire, Alexander Grant as Spirit of Fire, Bryan Ashbridge and Svetlana Beriosova in Homage to the Queen by Sadler's Wells at the Royal Opera House, photo Houston Rogers (1902-70). Choreography by Frederick Ashton (1904-88). Black and white photography. London, England, 1953. And we think some of the recent Cinderella costumes and wigs are OTT?

Thanks! As I said previously, I wonder if Facade was de Valois' choice and a wry comment?

An interesting fact about the passing down of Giselle from generation to generation is that the scenario underwent changes that have made modern productions differ quite vastly from the productions of the 19th century. Perhaps the biggest deviations from the 19th century productions is the presentation of some of the characters, though it always depends on the production. Some productions portray Albrecht as deceitful and haughty, who is only toying with Giselle, while others portray him as warm-hearted and loving, who is genuinely in love with the peasant girl, despite his betrothal to Bathilde, another character whose portrayal has underwent change. In some productions, Bathilde is portrayed as cold and cruel, while in others, she is kind and gentle and another character whose portrayal differs is Hilarion; some productions portray him in a somewhat heroic light, while in others, he is Albrecht’s bitterly jealous rival. The portrayal of these characters in the 19th century productions is as follows – Albrecht is a good-hearted, caring nobleman, who is madly in love with a peasant girl, despite his betrothal and their differences in social ranks; his relationship with Giselle is one of genuine love and affection, not a careless and selfish seduction. Bathilde is a kind and gentle noblewoman, who is drawn to Giselle and mourns for the peasant girl when she dies. Hilarion is the local forester, who, from the very beginning, is bitterly jealous of Albrecht and Giselle’s love and his jealousy leads him to ruining Giselle’s happiness when he discovers Albrecht’s true identity, but his actions ultimately result in her death. The changes made to these characters occurred during the 20th century, especially in Russia where the roles of the aristocrats became villains and the peasants became heroes; in the love triangle between Giselle, Albrecht and Hilarion, the roles of the two men were switched – Albrecht became the villain and Hilarion became the hero. As described by Yuri Slonimsky, this switch was ideologically driven by the Soviet ideology that glorified the peasants and demonised the aristocracy. However, the switch only proved to be illogical since Hilarion remained the one to die at the hands of the Wilis, while Albrecht was still forgiven and rescued. There have also been significant changes made to certain moments in the story, with the most distinctive being the opening sequence, the cause of Giselle’s death and the ending. Read on! https://petipasociety.com/giselle/

The pearl twirl was also done in previous versions. In fact much of the 'business' was also done by Ashton & Helpmann. It's part of the choreography. However, I recall Ashton doing his 'solo' at the ball as a parody of all and any ballerina's solo which he was fond of doing off stage too, and the bad dancing of it was part of the fun, also that leap by the Helpmann character used to be a fishdive? The difference these days I feel is Ashton & Helpmann were part of the old panto dame tradition, today it seems to be more about drag (as in many pantos now also). I've not seen all the casts and the changes, I suppose eventually interpretations are settling down. I'm still unsure why vests are on show.

I'm always fascinated by Osipova's shoes. Those curtain call photos reveal just how much she mangles and restitches them, also that her tights are footless and are laddered! Shiny ribbon I thought had departed with Fonteyn.

Can't add to the above post so I'll add here. It appears Homage to The Queen was performed on June 2nd, coronation night, as the coronation ballet. There was a separate gala on June 8th where the opera performed Gloriana. I'm unsure at which Facade was performed but no doubt further delving will come up with an answer. https://www.roh.org.uk/photos/7302440030

I think in 1953 they threw a whole new ballet together in ten weeks, which was quite a feat, really, Homage to The Queen, and on top on that there was a separate gala where the opera did its bit and the ballet company performed Facade? Which made me smirk. We did discuss this on the 'other' thread, including the revival that wasn't a revival (and the problems on the night).

Astonishing to consider the 1953 ballet was composed, designed, choreographed, and rehearsed in a mere ten weeks! I suppose there's a sound commercial reason why programmes designed to get bums on seats in London and Japan differ. 😏 https://www.nbs.or.jp/english/news/the-royal-ballet-2023-japan-tour-24-june-2-july.html

We had a small discussion of ballet and the coronation in this thread, including that original gala and its history. Sad to find no special ballet at the ROH in 2023!

There's a very interesting and in depth interview here with Julie Cronshaw, describing briefly her career and also why she decided to teach the Cecchetti Method to her students. Her growing number of YouTube videos and the documentary 'Ballet's Secret Code' are well worth watching, and her website is recommended reading. https://www.balletconnections.com/ballet-interviews/julie-cronshaw/ "Cecchetti Method is a comprehensive technique for learning ‘classical theatrical dancing’ as Cecchetti terms it and enables any dancer to make the best possible technical and artistic progress over time, precisely because no step is ignored or movement quality left out. The classes were named The Days of the Week and each Day focuses on a series of steps with their particular technical and interpretative challenges. The barre is not choreographed and is designed to get the dancer on their aplomb and ready for dancing in the center. It can be compared with a musician tuning up and playing their scales and arpeggios, for example. Au milieu, there are two sets of ports de bras, center practice exercises which are similar to those found at the barre, adages, pirouettes with both adage and virtuosic quality, allegros, exercises en diagonale, pointe work and virtuosity. There is a perception that the Method is too rigid and prevents the teachers from incorporating their own exercises. This is a misunderstanding. Cecchetti adapted the exercises according to who was attending his class at the time. He had for example, a ‘Karsavina’ class, a ‘Pavlova’ class and so on. The comprehensive nature of the Method ensures that the dancer will eventually reach a high level of training, no matter where, when or how he started. Although it follows a rigid class structure, a teacher can work with each individual dancer on their needs, creating an all-round, very able dancer for a career either in classical ballet or contemporary dance, not to mention also creating a vast movement vocabulary for choreographers to draw upon." "In my opinion, most ballet classes now tend to be rather generic and dull. The same narrow selection of steps and rhythms are used universally while the classical ballet vocabulary seems to be shrinking. Many classes quite literally descend into what is really little more than rhythmic gymnastics on pointe. I think it is so very boring, given the potential talent found in many schools! It’s quite shocking but I read that at a recent dance conference it had been decided that épaulement was an optional extra! This epitomizes an appalling lack of understanding of a fundamental principle of this art form." "Sir Frederick Ashton, the Royal Ballet’s Director from 1963-70 and arguably its most talented choreographer, learned the Method at the age of 17 from Rambert, who had trained with the Maestro. Ashton’s choreography embodies all of Cecchetti’s spirit and principles." More Sir Frederick Ashton on Cecchetti here, page 6 & 7 Thoughts on the Relevance of Enrico Cecchetti’s Work Today and in the Future and of the Societies that Promote It by Raymond Lukens & Franco De Vita https://cicb.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/2012-NewsletterV4.pdf

Roger Tully's obituary. 'He would always remember Rambert's primary concern to teach students to dance; technique to support the dance could be acquired later.'

The Petipa Society has a detailed account (with photos of notable Giselles of the past) ) of the more than slightly convoluted history of Giselle, and Albrecht's behaviour, which explains why there is really little logical explanation for so much of what we see these days in this 'traditional' ballet! https://petipasociety.com/giselle/ Peasant PDD has a paragraph at the end. Peasant Pas de deux The Peasant Pas de deux is another of the most famous passages in Giselle and has an interesting history. Before the 1841 Paris première, one of the Paris Opèra ballerinas, Nathalie Fitz-James was determined to have her own pas in Giselle. Like many of her colleagues, Fitz-James was a mistress of one of the Opèra’s most influential patrons and used her relationship with him to influence the arrangement of a new pas to be added for her. However, Adolphe Adam was unavailable at the time to compose more music, so Jean Coralli had to look elsewhere. In the end, he arranged a new pas de deux for Fitz-James to music by the German composer, Friedrich Burgmüller from his suite Souvenirs de Ratisbonne. The new pas was later christened as the Pas des paysans (aka Peasant Pas de deux); it was first performed by Fitz-James and the danseur, Auguste Mabille and has remained in Giselle ever since. In Petipa’s time, the Peasant Pas de deux was performed by the likes of Tamara Karsavina, Mikhail Fokine and Vaslav Nijinsky. The Sergeyev Collection includes notation scores for the pas de deux when it was performed by Agrippina Vaganova and Mikhail Obukhov. In most modern productions, the Peasant Pas de deux is performed by at least six dancers, which is not its original concept or how it was staged by Petipa.

She was of course a friend and associate of Yeats! She founded the Abbey Theatre School of Ballet.

If they feature my posts they probably made not much sense anyhow! 😐 Good to have a thread of its own however.

Was Edris Stannus from County Wicklow a Republican? 😉

I believe it was so chilly on the day of the last coronation a hot water bottle was put under the seat. I remember the last coronation (we had a telly, all the neighbours came to watch). Black & white of course. A little delving in the archives, the Coronation Ballet (Frederick Ashton) 1953 Homage to the Queen programme, the Coronation Ballet, June 1953 https://www.roh.org.uk/photos/7302439844 Further info here. Fascinating. Look at the cast! https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/work/12264/Homage-to-the-Queen--Malcolm-Arnold/