First year student of the Faculty of Accounting and Economics,
Baydukova
Anna
PhD in Philosophy, Petrova Yulia Andreevna
Rostov State University of Economics (RIPE)
A short review of the
ballet in the history of Russian art.
An extraordinary value of ballet made a great impact on people’s
cultural life in Russian, and became a unique sociocultural phenomenon. An
essence of this kind of art represents an "organic whole" with such
components as choreography, music, painting and literature. All types of these
cultural arts exist in harmonious unity and interosculation.
"When did the ballet appear?"
Historians don't give a definite answer
to this question. The rise of choreographic performances at the court belongs
to the XV century. Another interesting fact is that dramatized dance which is
connected with pantomime was conceived in the Ancient Egypt or even in Greece.
Historically, the show which was held in
Europe consisted of plays, songs and dances. At first it was mentioned in 1489.
Soon such concerts became very popular among the aristocratical part of the
audience. But at first time in Russia
it took place in the village of Preobrajenskoe, in 1673. After that a famous
French ballet master - Jean-Baptiste Lande opened the first ballet school in
Russia on the 4th of May in 1738 [1].
The first and tremendous impact on the
ballet, which we may trace, was during the reign of Katherine II. It's not a
secret that prince Pavel also took part in some ballet shows.
Nowadays, the Russian school of ballet
is considered to be one of the strongest in the world that is why the ballet in
Russia became one of the hallmarks of the country and the symbol of Russian
art.
Russian
composers made a colossal contribution to the progress of the ballet art. So,
among them are: Piotr Tchaikovsky, Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov, Boris
Asafyef, Sergei Prokofiev and Aram Khachaturian.
Piotr Tchaikovsky was very modest and
containing self-criticism person. He always attended very patiently to
observations of famous choreographers. From his point of view the subject of
the ballet cornerstone should contain fairy, fantastic and legendary plots. A composer was already
35 years old when the golden age of his professional activity started. Among
his works we should point out the most famous of them: The Swan Lake (1876), The
Sleeping Beauty (1890), and The Nutcracker (1892) [2].
Critics
all over the world still accept that the music of the ballet "The Sleeping
beauty" is the best one among his works.
Another outstanding person, who made a great
contribution to the Russian ballet, is Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov. He
had become a direct continuator of Tchaikovsky's line. In the end of XIX century
he wrote 3 wonderful compositions for ballet: Raymonda (1896), Lady Servant (1898)
and Seasons(1899).
The Soviet ballet presented a huge number of
benefits to this kind of art. There were 2 main themes for compositions of the
Soviet Age: the heroism of national confrontation and psychological dramas
which were reflected in the poetry. One of them is "The Fountain of
Bakhchysarai" was composed by Boris Asafyef.
Such Immortal
masterpieces as "Romeo and Juliet" and "Cinderella" are
connected with the name of Sergei Prokofiev [4].
There's one more famous figure in the history
of Russian art - Aram Khachaturian. He is the best known international composer
of the ballet music. His most well-known works are: Gayane, Happiness and Spartacus.
Of course, we mentioned not all of Russian talented composers.
However, we respect and appreciate their immortal works.
Talking about Russian ballet, we should
mention a prominent choreographer Marius Petipa.
He worked in Russia more than a half of a century. Since 1847- as a dancer. And
what is more, since 1862 he started to work as a ballet master. He's an author
of 64 plays. Fifty three of them had premiers in Russia [1].
Legends of the Russian ballet.
The
name of Anna Pavlova is well-known all over the world. This great ballerina
danced the main parties in such well-known ballets as: "The
Nutcracker", "The Little Humpbacked Horse",
"Raymonda", "La Bayadere" and "Giselle". She
always asked choreographers to create small miniatures especially for her
performance. All the miniatures from her repertoire are still used by famous
ballet dancers. For the first time the most famous of them - "The Dying
Swan" (Pavlova's favorite miniature) was presented in 1907. It was created
by Mikhail Fokine (a famous ballet master and dancer. He's also known as the creator
of the modern classical Romantic Ballet) [3].
Galina Ulanova is one of the greatest persons
in the history of Russian culture. She was not only a ballet dancer, but also a
talented teacher of the ballet art.
Maya Plisetskaya is known as a true legend
of the world ballet. Her most famous roles are: Odette and Odile ("The
Swan Lake"), Aurora ("The Sleeping Beauty"), Raymond
("Raymond"), Mistress of Copper Mountain ("The Stone
Flower"), and Carmen ("Carmen Suite"). Maya Mikhaylovna is a
talented ballet master. She created choreography for "Anna Karenina",
"The Seagull", "Raymond" and "The Lady with the
Dog". She worked as an artistic director of the Theatre of Opera and
Ballet in Rome (1983-1984) and the Spanish National Ballet in Madrid
(1988-1990) [1].
Intensive processes of integration and globalization,
which occur in the modern world, lead to the loss of national cultural identity
and to an enormous waste of its dominant features. And such impacts cause
damages in such kinds of art as music, ballet, painting and different cultural phenomena.
So, the cultural researches of the Russian ballet, which became a symbol of
Russia many centuries ago, are still important in spite of globalization and
integration.
References
1. Katonova.S. “Music in the ballet”, State music publishing, St.
Petersburg, 1961.
2. http://www.classiccat.net/tchaikovsky_pi/66.info.php
3. http://www.destinationrussia.com/htm/infhistspb71f.htm
4. http://music.answers.com/classical/5-famous-works-of-sergei-prokofiev