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Home , Carolina Rosati, Fanny Elssler, Filippo Taglioni, Fra Diavolo (opera), Ghislaine Thesmar, Grand pas

The of Daniel-François-Esprit Auber

The Ballets of Daniel-François-Esprit Auber

Edited and Introduced by

Robert Ignatius Letellier

The Ballets of Daniel-François-Esprit Auber, Edited and Introduced by Robert Ignatius Letellier

This book first published 2011

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2XX, UK

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Copyright © 2011 by Robert Ignatius Letellier and contributors

All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

ISBN (10): 1-4438-2987-0, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-2987-8

D.F.E. Auber. Portrait by Mme Haudebourt (1838)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Figures ...... ix

Introduction...... xi

1) ...... 1 1) Guaracha ...... 1 2) Bolero...... 7 3) Tarantella ...... 16

2) ...... 21 Saltarella...... 21

3) Le Dieu et la Bayadère ...... 27 1) No. 5 Air de danse ( Pas de schal )...... 27 2) No. 10 Scène et Air de danse ...... 33

4) Gustave III, ou Le Bal masquè...... 43 Act 1 1) Premier Air de danse ( Songe )...... 43 2) Deuxième Air de danse ( Pas de paysans dalécarliens )...... 50 Act 5 3) Premier Air de danse ( Allemande )...... 57 4) Deuxième Air de danse ( Pas des folies )...... 64 5) Troisième Air de danse ( Menuet )...... 72 6) Première Marche ...... 75 7) Seconde Marche ...... 77 8) Quatrième Air de danse ( Galop )...... 81

5) Le Lac des fées ...... 87 Airs de Danse 1) Marche des Rois ...... 87 2) Premier Air de danse ( Valse des Étudiants )...... 89 3) Deuxième Air de danse ( Pas de Bacchus et Erigone )...... 94 4) Troisième Air de danse ( La Styrienne )...... 102 5) Quatrième Air de danse ( Bacchanale )...... 111

6) L'Enfant prodigue ...... 115 Act 2 1) No. 9b Scène ...... 115 2) No. 10 Scène ...... 123 3) Air de (No. 1)...... 128 4) Air de ballet (No. 2)...... 134 5) Air de ballet (No. 3)...... 135 6) Air de ballet (No. 4)...... 136 7) Air de ballet (No. 5)...... 138 viii The Ballets of Daniel-François-Esprit Auber

Act 3 8) No. 14 Entr’acte et Choeur ( Orgie )...... 144 9) No. 14bis Choeur...... 149 10) No. 15 Scène ...... 164

7) Zerline ...... 171 Airs de Ballet 1) La Styrienne ...... 171 2) Les Muses et les Graces ...... 181 3) Pas Chinois ...... 190 4) La Sentimentale et L’Enjouée ...... 195 5) Le Bal d’enfants ...... 202 6) Quadrille des fous ...... 210 7) Le Carnaval de Palerme ...... 218 8) Choeur ( Valse )...... 222

8) Les Rendezvous ...... 227 1) Entrée ( Entrée des Promeneurs )...... 227 2) Air de Ballet ( )...... 234 3) Air de Ballet (Male Variation) ...... 236 4) ( Adage des Amoureux )...... 238 5) Air de Ballet ( )...... 240 6) Alicia (Female Variation) ...... 246 7) Air de Ballet (Pas de six )...... 250 8) Finale ( Sortie des Promeneurs )...... 252

9) Classique ...... 263 1) Pas de deux...... 263 2) Variation 1...... 266 3) Variation 2...... 262 4) Coda...... 270

LIST OF FIGURES

Frontispiece: D.F.E. Auber. Portrait by Mme Haudebourt (1838) ...... v

Fig. 1 La Muette de Portici . Lise Noblet as Fenella ...... xiii

Fig. 2 Fra Diavolo . Zoé Prévost as Zerline...... xiv

Fig. 3 Le Dieu et la Bayadère . Marie Taglioni as Zoloé...... xvii

Fig. 4 Gustav III, ou Le Bal masqué . Costume design for the Masked Ball ...... xx

Fig. 5 Le Lac des fées . Lise Noblet in the ballet...... xxiii

Fig. 6 L’Enfant prodigue . Act 2. Nefté and Azaël...... xxv

Fig. 7 Marco Spada . The famous set for the last scene...... xxix

Fig. 8 Marco Spada . Domenico Segarelli as the bandit chief ...... xxx

Fig. 9 . Stage design for the ballet on Venus ...... xxxi

Fig. 10 From the d’Auber ...... xxxiii

Fig. 11 ...... xxxiv

Figs. 12 & 13 ...... xxxiv

Fig. 14 ...... xxxv

Fig. 15 ...... xxxv

Fig. 16 Arthur Saint-Léon...... xxxv

INTRODUCTION

Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (Caen 29 January 1782 - Paris 12/13 May 1871), one of the great masters of opéra-comique , is not thought of as a composer of ballets, but his music played a very important role in the development of in several ways. Firstly, his grand- included long danced interludes and , and in some, such as La Muette de Portici and Le Dieu et la Bayadère , one of the main characters is a or mime part. Those works containing significant ballet elements are

La Muette de Portici (choreography Jean-Pierre Aumer, 1828) Le Dieu et la Bayadère (Filippo Taglioni, 1830) Gustave III, ou Le Bal masqué (Filippo Taglioni, 1833) Le Lac des fées (Jean Coralli, 1839) L’Enfant prodigue (Arthur Saint-Léon, 1850) Zerline (Joseph Mazilier, 1851) Le Cheval de bronze ( opéra-ballet version, Lucien Petipa, 1857).

Secondly, Auber created a score for the full-length ballet Marco Spada (choreography Joseph Mazilier, 1857) by adapting existing music from a number of his operas. The ballet version of Marco Spada is quite different from Auber’s of the same name. Thirdly, some twentieth-century choreographers have used Auber’s music for their ballets:

Frederick Ashton ( Les Rendezvous , 1937) Victor Gsovsky ( Grand Pas Classique , 1949) Lew Christensen ( Divertissement d’Auber , 1959).

Ballets written by Auber Vendôme en Espagne

Drame lyrique en un acte Music: Auber, Hérold Librettists: Édouard Mennechet and Adolphe-Joseph-Simonis Empis Choreography: P. Gardel First performance: Académie royale de musique (Salle de la rue Le Peletier), 5 December 1823. Number of performances: 7 Principal dancers: Mme. Anatole, Lise Noblet, Pauline Montessu, Albert (François Decombe), Antoine Paul, Jean-François Coulon, Ferdinand (Jean La Brunière de Médicis)

Set in Toledo in 1710, this was an occasional piece to celebrate the victorious return of the Duke of Angoulême after the war in Spain. The music was written in collaboration xii The Ballets of Daniel-François-Esprit Auber with Hérold. Each composer later re-used certain pieces they had contributed to it in other works. Auber wrote two pieces of ballet music and the . For the Auber made use of Spanish elements, reflecting the title and theme of the work. Musically, the fandango had traditionally been used as the vector of Spanish local colour (as illustrated by Mozart’s use of it in Le nozze di Figaro , 1786). But since the early nineteenth century, the bolero had begun to supplant it as the typical identifying sound of Spain, although it shared important common rhythmic features with the fandango. The ballet music consists of a bolero and an untitled second dance, both containing the Spanish musical identification marks (double- dotted rhythms, iterative semiquaver figures and triplets) and figurations (trills, rising and falling semiquavers in broken triads). The use of national dances was a chief device in Romantic opera for the provision of couleur locale , and recurs in Auber’s other scores with Iberian tincture ( La Muette de Portici , for the Spanish ruling class, , Le Duc d’Olonne , Les Diamants de la couronne ).

La Muette de Portici

Opéra en cinq actes Librettists: Eugène Scribe and Choreographer: Jean-Pierre Aumer Sets: Pierre-Luc-Charles Cicéri and Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre First performance: Salle de la rue Le Peletier, 29 February 1828 Principal dancers: Amélie Legallois, Mme , Mimi Dupuis, Pauline Leroux, Albert, Antoine Paul, Ferdinand, with Lise Noblet as Fenella

The opera is based on historical events in in 1647, when the city’s fishermen rose up against their Spanish oppressors. During the wedding of the Spanish Princess Elvira and Alphonso, son of the Duke of Arcos, the dumb girl Fenella identifies Alphonso as her seducer. Elvira disowns him. Fenella indicates to her brother , a fisherman, what has happened, without revealing Alphonso’s identity. Masaniello and his friends vow revenge. Elvira sends a message to fetch Fenella, and Masaniello realizes who his sister’s seducer must be. Having incited the peasants of Portici to rebellion, Masaniello regrets their excessive violence and helps Elvira and Alphonso to escape. The revolutionaries gain control of the palace and proclaim Masaniello king. The Duke launches a counter-attack, and Masaniello is killed while trying to save Elvira. After persuading Elvira to forgive Alphonso, Fenella hurls herself from a balcony of the castle as Vesuvius erupts. Between 1828 and 1880 La Muette was performed 500 times in Paris alone. It was also very popular abroad, especially in Germany where at least 6 translations of the text can be found. The was also translated into English, Danish, Polish, Croat, Italian, Swedish, Norwegian, and Slovenian. An unusual aspect of the work is that the main character, that of Fenella, is performed by a mime or a ballerina. The opera provides one of the few serious subjects the composer tackled, and one which critics found to have a persuasive dramatic content. According to Wagner, we have for the first time an accurate rendering of the instrumentation, clear characterization of the choruses integrated with the action, impassioned melodies, and a search for powerful dramatic effects. There is a very strong and sustained sense of local colour, and it was alleged, despite Auber’s denial, that the more exquisite melodies were inspired by Neapolitan songs. It was also suggested that a special tension was produced by Auber’s association with the Paris Opéra for the first time, and by the particular Introduction xiii climate of latent revolution in France during the years immediately preceding the Revolution of 1830. In fact, when the opera was performed in on 25 August 1830, it gave the signal for the outbreak of a popular revolt, which led to the independence of from the Dutch. With this work Auber created the model for all subsequent grand-opéra by fully assimilating the themes of the Romantic melodrama. La Muette de Portici is the first grand-opéra with all the typical characteristics of the genre: five short acts, most of which culminate in a dramatic and decorative tableau; ballets loosely connected with the action (in acts 1 and 3); stage sensation and mass groupings with lavish use of décor, costumes and machinery (the wedding procession, the busy marketplace and popular uprising, the eruption of Vesuvius); characteristic situations and their appropriate type of aria. There is a group of important leading roles, powerful and functional choruses, a much expanded reliance on the orchestra, the inclusion of ballet that is both important for setting the local scene (whether courtly, and therefore Spanish—as in the guaracha and bolero in act 1; or popular, and therefore Neapolitan—as in the act 3 tarantella) and innate to the dramatic situation (the extended mime sequences for the mute heroine each with its own specially crafted music and character).The music responds to, and reflects, the vivid and imposing scenic effects (based on historical and pictorial research by the great stage designers and painters Cicéri and Daguerre). This was in accordance with the venerable traditions of French tragédie lyrique where the nature of the human condition was contemplated in the context of the merveilleux , the marvels of divine providence (the deus ex machina ), and the prodigies of nature, like the erupting volcanoes of Rameau’s Les Indes galantes , 1735. Auber added extra ballet music to the score for later revivals on several occasions. The first was a Spanish dance, the Jaleo (in 1837). This dance, admired by Berlioz, was immediately reused by Auber as the aragonaise (“La belle Inès”) in Le Domino noir . Other dances were added for new productions in Brussels (1861) and Paris (1865). These were a Pas de trois , three Échos (a movement for solo dancer, synonymous with ‘variation’), and Finale for the . The Brussels dances were dedicated to the choreographer Petipa. Several of these pieces are in the Spanish style.

Fig. 1 La Muette de Portici . Lise Noblet as Fenella xiv The Ballets of Daniel-François-Esprit Auber

Fra Diavolo, ou L'Hôtellerie de Terracina

Opéra comique en trois actes Librettist: Eugène Scribe First performance: Opéra-Comique (Salle Ventadour), 28 January 1830. In repertoire until 1907

The comic plot revolves around the machinations of the bandit chief Fra Diavolo and his interaction with Lorenzo, captain of the gendarmes, and Lorenzo's fiancee, Zerline, daughter of a local innkeeper. Fra Diavolo, passing himself off as the Marquis of San Marco, compromises Zerline, while engaged in an elaborate plot to steal the jewels of Lady Pamela, wife of Lord Cockburn. Betrayed by his associates, Fra Diavolo is arrested, leaving Zerline reunited with Lorenzo. The Italian version of Auber’s most famous opera (, Covent Garden, 1857) contains several extra musical pieces, including one of Auber’s most attractive dances in act 3, as preparations for Zerline’s marriage are put in place. Zerline speaks for the ancient pastoral heritage of comedy, something that emerges in these preparations for her wedding where the extended and recurring morning chorus is an epithalamium linking her to the countryside and the church, and so to the ancient values of comedy with its integration and right order. This element is emphasized in the following Saltarella that adds both to the pastoral festivity and develops the Italian local colour that subtly invests the story.

Fig. 2 Fra Diavolo . Zoé Prévost as Zerline Introduction xv

Le Dieu et la Bayadère

Opéra-ballet in 2 acts Librettist: Eugène Scribe Choreographer of the danced episodes: Filippo Taglioni First performed: Paris Opéra, 13 October 1830 Principal dancers: Marie Taglioni (Zoloé) and Lise Noblet (Fatme) Principal singers: (the Unknown), Laure Cinti-Damoreau (Ninka), Nicholas-Prosper Levasseaur (Olifur)

This is an opéra-ballet based on Goethe’s ballad Der Gott und die Bajadere . The story begins with the arrival of a group of Hindu dancing girls (bayadères) who sing and dance to delight the powerful judge Olifur. Various intrigues thwart the love of one of them, Zoloé, for the mysterious and attractive stranger, the Unknown. To gain his attention she competes with Fatme, another of the dancing girls. Finally out of jealousy Zoloé is accused of sedition and condemned to be burnt at the stake, but the Unknown reveals himself as the god Brahma, and carries her to Paradise with him. The ballet-opera, a typically French fusion of the two forms, was popular at the Paris Opéra until far into the 19 th century. By this stage, however, it was unusual to return so fully to the 18 th -century convention, with the dancing combined with the action being expressed by singers. Eugène Scribe, not only one of the most influential of opera librettists, but also a leading figure in the , wrote the scenario of the danced part, which was fairly long and of artistic merit. In the ballet scenes of the opera, the choreographer, Filippo Taglioni, one of the most important exponents of dance in the Romantic period, was already experimenting with the ideas and style that were to characterize the creations of his prime, and of the Romantic ballet as a whole: an exotic fairy tale subject (often pseudo-Medieval or pastoral); strange love affairs with supernatural beings, in the theatrical, musical and literary taste of the period. Often these fantasies were expressed through a female corps de ballet portraying some imaginary state of existence (the bayadères, while still human, were soon to be succeeded by spectral nuns, sylphides, peris, wilis, ghosts and enchanted swans). Above all, the Romantic ballet focused on the idealization of the ballerina, floating on the tips of her toes, a figure of ethereal lyricism. The heavily mime-oriented role of the bayadère Zoloé was one of Marie Taglioni’s createst triumphs. All the ballets by Filippo Taglioni were designed to display his daughter’s luminous artistic personality. The work was also remarkable for generating a situation of competition between two leading female dancers for the favour of the male protagonist. This situation would become a regular feature of the Romantic ballet, as in where the Fairy and Effie compete for Reuben’s love. It finds its most memorable expression in two ballets of 1877—Minkus’s La Bayadère (where Solor is disputed between Nikia and Gamsatti), and Tchaikovsky’s (where Prince Siegfried is held in thrall to Odette and Odile). After the triumph of Lise Noblet in the role of Fenella ( La Muette de Portici 1828), it was intended to create a similar role for Marie Taglioni, the rising star of the Opéra Ballet. Scribe and Auber complied with this wish in Le Dieu et la Bayadère . Although (or rather because) the profile of the leading female role in comparison with that of La Muette de Portici required major dance scenes as well as the pantomimic- presentational element, the dramatic viability of the role of Zoloé remained far behind that of Fenella. Added to this, the very different subject matter and the reasons for xvi The Ballets of Daniel-François-Esprit Auber casting the protagonist as a dancer make the work dramaturgically less convincing (Zoloé originates from a distant land, understands the Indian language, but does not speak it). Furthermore, the musical quality of the score remains at a lower level than that of La Muette as well as that of its immediate predecessor Fra Diavolo , also dating from 1830. Eduard Hanslick regarded it as “one of the master’s weakest operas”. If La Dieu et la Bayadère does not hold quite the importance for the history of opera as La Muette de Portici , its position in the development of the Romantic ballet is very considerable. Each act contains a ballet sequence choreographed by Filippo Taglioni expressly for his daughter. Scribe also played a very significant role in this development. Even as late as 1827 his attitude to ballet had been inimical. When the choreographer Jean-Pierre Aumer wanted to use Scribe’s play La Somnambule as the basis of a ballet, Scribe gave his permission, but with the stipulation that his name was not to appear on the playbill. However, Scribe very soon came to recognize the potential of the genre as a medium for theatrical expression, and accordingly created an important place for dance and pantomime in his libretto for La Muette . Just as important as the works for the ballet that appeared in that year was the fact that Scribe himself now emerged as an author of ballets. Until this point choreographers had written the scenarios for their own ballets themselves. But now with Scribe as pioneer, writers took over this work, and in the process gave the genre a whole new lease of life and development. With the principal role in Le Dieu conceived with a dancer in mind, Scribe in fact rehearsed a practical dramaturgical idea conceived even before La Muette . Just as La Somnambule contributed much to the genesis of the part of Fenella, so that of Zoloé was a variant of Fenella tailored for Marie Taglioni. The role of Hélène in Meyerbeer’s (1831), also specifically devised for Taglioni, carried this development further. But there are other reasons why Le Dieu is more than just a repetition of a successful formula. If, in general, the Ballet of the Nuns in Robert is regarded as the starting point of the Romantic ballet, then it would seem that in Le Dieu the choreographer was not only testing the new techniques of dance derived from the style of his daughter Marie Taglioni, but in fact establishing them. And it is not only the style of dancing in Le Dieu that indicates the dawning era of the Romantic ballet: the libretto of this work, as indicated, included motifs that were to become not only important for, but characteristic of, the Romantic ballets. In addition to the exotic setting and materials so frequently used at this time are motifs that would constantly recur in variation: that of a girl’s love for someone not of her class, and that of a highly born protagonist who appears in disguise. What survives of Le Dieu are the innumerable prints of Taglioni in the role of Zoloé, a role in which for the first time she could realize her floating, almost supernatural grace, characteristics that were to imprint themselves on dance technique for half a century. Le Dieu et la bayadère also featured dancing that involved the manipulation of a shawl or scarf, a pas de châle that Filippo Taglioni created especially for his daughter. Scribe employed the idea again in L'Enfant prodigue (1850). This Romantic motif became enshrined in the classical repertoire when taken up by for the Kingdom of the Shades in La Bayadère (1877). Hippolyte Lecomte’s designs for the costumes are distinguished by a sense of style and atmosphere. Théophile Gautier reviewed the production of Le Dieu et la Bayadère in 1837, and made some very pertinent observations on the costumes. “In this ballet the bayadères are divided into those who sing and those who dance. These two types are further divided into those two others: flesh coloured, and others coloured like half- castes. The latter...wear long gloves of floss silk on their arms, and silk or cotton Introduction xvii gloves of an odd shade on their hands. Their faces are carelessly daubed with ochre or liquorice which makes them look more like chimney sweeps than voluptuous enchantresses...It seems to us that it would be easy to make up a dye warm enough in tone...of that beautiful amber yellow shade characteristic of Oriental complexions, in which eyes open like black flowers. This would obviate that awful chocolate hue and those silk gloves... One would willingly admit that this convention, the red skins in Les Mohicans and the yellow skins in La Bayadère have used off-putting colour.” The work was often revived, and after a performance in 1844 Théophile Gautier made some observations pertinent to the mixture of genres and the genius of Marie Taglioni. “The mute character of the bayadère, in conjunction with the action in which characters sing or speak, raises difficulties which a piece conceived entirely in pantomime would not possess. Often the character must hold the stage with nothing to do, while the others give vent to trills and flourishes. This mixture of convention produces a disagreeable effect. It may well be conceded that, by looking at things from a certain angle, singing and dancing can be the means of expression of a certain group of persons; but this is more difficult to accept when a reply expressed in dancing is made to a question that is sung.” He nonetheless found that Taglioni who had played the role again some 24 years after the premiere, overcame the incipient problems and obstacles “with infinite good fortune and skill. By the expressive and touching play of her features in all sorts of ways she links herself with the action that forsakes her, and demonstrates that she understands every word the actors say, even though they do not speak the same language.”

Fig. 3 Le Dieu et la Bayadère . Marie Taglioni as Zoloé xviii The Ballets of Daniel-François-Esprit Auber

Gustave III, ou Le Bal masqué

Opéra historique en cinq actes Librettist: Augustin-Eugène Scribe Choreographer: Filippo Taglioni Sets: Léon Feuchère, Jules Diéterle, Alfred, Pierre-Luc-Charles Cicéri, Humanité- René Philastre and Charles Cambon First performance: Salle de la rue Le Peletier, 27 February 1833. In the repertoire 1833-59, with a few interruptions (100 th performance 4 January 1837). Number of performances: 169 Principal dancers: Lise Noblet, Mme Alexis Dupont, Amélie Legallois, Pauline Leroux,

King Gustavus, enlightened monarch and patron of the arts, is in love with Amélie, the wife of Count Ankastrom. The latter, a personal friend of Gustavus, has warned the king of a conspiracy against him. The king visits the fortune-teller Madame Arvedson in disguise and overhears her advising Amélie to renounce her guilty love for the king. When his own fortune is told, he learns that the next man to shake his hand will kill him. Ankastrom enters and takes his hand. Gustavus follows Amélie, who goes to the place of execution, where she intends to pick a herb that grows under the gallows, to help cure her of her adulterous love. Ankastrom, suspecting nothing, comes to warn the king of danger, and urges him to flee, agreeing to accompany the veiled lady who is with him back to the city. Gustavus leaves before the conspirators arrive, who find only Ankastrom. Amélie’s veil slips, and Ankastrom realizes that his own wife is the royal mistress. He now joins the conspirators who draw lots to decide who is to murder the king. Gustavus, about to leave a masked ball, decides to send Ankastrom to Finland. The page Oscar innocently reveals the king’s costume to the conspirators, and Ankastrom shoots him. The dramaturgy and composition of Auber’s opera correspond to the generic expectations of grand-opéra . After La Muette de Portici (1828), Rossini’s Guillaume Tell (1829) and Meyerbeer’s Robert le Diable (1831), Gustave is Scribe’s third example of the type. The essential difference, especially in relation to Meyerbeer, lies in Auber’s music which relates back to the style of La Muette even though lacking something of that work's impact. The action is not as sweeping as in Meyerbeer’s opera, where movement is framed in great tableaux, and the music is correspondingly less inventive in imagination, much more direct in its relation to the action, simpler, but rougher in its means. Even though Auber had to finish the last three acts while the opera was in rehearsal, the work has a definite and logical conception. The ensembles in particular, as is so often the case with Auber, are lengthened by incessant repetition, and often take on considerable dimensions. The finales of act 1 and 2 are particularly vivacious and joyful. The impact of the production of Robert le Diable saw a particular emphasis placed on sets and stage effects. The grand and historical nature of the opera is powerfully underscored by the two intercalated ballets. The first divertissement comes as early as act 1, and is in the nature of a grand historical pageant based on the life of Gustavus Vasa (1523-60), founder of the present Swedish state, before he gained the crown. There are two dances illustrating the prince’s leadership of the populace of Dalecarlia on the campaign to gain freedom from Denmark. The first dance ( Songe—andantino ) depicts the young prince dreaming of the Spirit of Sweden who appears to him promising victory. The second ( Pas de paysans dalécarliens —Allegretto ) shows him Introduction xix joining the people in a local wedding celebration. The whole episode elaborates Gustave III’s historical interests and broad concern for his people. The scenario provides detailed directions:

The receives his orders from the king, and the rehearsal begins in the middle of the salon. —First Entrée . The actor portraying Vasa enters. He wears the costume of a Delacarlian peasant. Pursued and overwhelmed by tiredness, he is hardly able to support himself. Footmen bring on [the prop of] a grassy bank from the opera house. Vasa throws himself down on it and goes to sleep. Harmonious music is heard, as happy dreams envelop Vasa and show him the Genius of Sweden who appears and promises him victory. The king rises and instructs the ballet master on how the groups should be formed. He asks for other poses, other steps that are now performed. The dreams disappear and the young dancers who played them now return to receive the compliments of the king and the courtiers who surround him. —Second Entrée . Joyful music heralds a Dalecarlian wedding. At this sound, Vasa wakes up, the peasants offer him hospitality and have him sit at their table. He accepts, and dancing begins. During this time he has explained the different scenes of the ballet to the nobles who surround him. —Third Entrée . The mine workers arrive, and one of them recognizes Vasa. He points him out to his companions who fall at his feet and swear to accept him as chief, to defend and to follow him.—Ankastrom and the lords of the Court applaud.

The second divertissement is the legendary masked ball of the title at which the king was assassinated in 1792. The spectacle provided by the Opéra was sensational: the stage was illumined by 1600 candles in crystal chandeliers, and 300 dancers took part, all dressed in different costumes, and with 122 dancing the final galop. There are six numbers: three airs de danse ( Allemande , Pas de folies , Menuet ), two marches, and the famous final galop . This most famous example was in all standard repertories: it is in duple metre, rapid tempo, and moves generally in even semiquavers, with semiquavers on weak beats. The dances evoke concepts of eighteenth-century courtly entertainment, an idealized concept of pastoral pictorialism, and the hectic frenzy of carnival. All show Auber’s sense of verve, elegant construction and masterly instrumentation. Scribe’s directions emphasize the pantomimic elements of the whole scene.

During the chorus and the other preceding choruses, various scenes of the masked ball have taken place in pantomime. A masked man makes a declaration to a woman sat close to him; a young woman, separated from the rest of the society, is caught up by the masks. —A man offers his arm to two masked woman who are disputing among themselves as he tries in vain to reconcile them. Further away, two masked men challenge each and arrange a rendezvous; on the other side a husband pursues a masked woman, his own wife, who gives her arm to another mask. Disquietened and fearing discovery, she passes by another group, leaves the arm of her escort and signals to one of her female friends, who is able to take her place. Hardly has the change-over been made when the husband stops the woman he thinks is his wife and forces her to unmask. He is surprised at his mistake. He makes his excuses to the friend of his wife, while another group, among which is his real wife, laugh and mock him. All these different episodes take place quickly at the same time, and during the entr’acte which is a contredanse. At this moment, at the end of the chorus, the orchestra is heard. Everyone seeks to invite his dancing partner.—Ballet: dances of different character follow on each other. The Court domestics in rich livery move through the revellers offering refreshments. —The contredanse finishes. Every one escorts his partner back. The dancing finishes, and sombre, mysterious music is heard.

The opera was created by superlative singers: Marie-Cornélie Falcon (Amélie), Adolphe Nourrit (Gustave), Nicolas-Prosper Levasseur (Ankastrom). Despite this, the success of the work appeared to lie in the mise en scène and staging, with similarly sensational effects as in La Muette and Robert , especially with regard to the ballet, xx The Ballets of Daniel-François-Esprit Auber again choreographed by Filippo Taglioni. The ball scene in act 5 featured some 300 people on stage, and the galop , which became famous, was performed by 122 dancers. A detailed review by Jules Janin appeared in the Journal des débats (1 and 4 March 1833). Altogether, the work was performed 168 times at the Opéra until 1853 when it was withdrawn from the repertoire. According to Louis Véron, the work was less successful than it might have been because the conception of the costumes and sets in the style of Louis XV in the first four acts hampered the actors from expressing their emotions with the necessary ardour and freedom required. After the 41 st performance (27 April 1834), all stagings were of individual acts or scenes. Thus act 5 was given 57 times, the closing tableau alone 17 times.

Fig. 4 Gustave III . Costume design for the Masked Ball

Introduction xxi

Le Lac des fées

Opéra en cinq actes Librettists: Eugène Scribe and Mélesville (Anne-Honoré-Joseph Duveyrier), after the tale “Der geraubte Schleier” from Johann Karl August Musäus’s Volksmärchen der Deutschen (1782-86) Choreographer: Jean Coralli First performance: Salle de la rue Le Peletier, 1 April 1839. Performed in Paris 30 times, with no reprise. The opera enjoyed great success in Germany Principal dancers: Lise Noblet, Mme Alexis Dupont, Sophie & Adèle Dumilâtre, Jean-Baptiste Barrez

Albert, a young student, has fallen in love with a fairy, Zélia: she has been forced to live on earth because Albert has stolen her veil. Albert borrows 30 Thalers from the Jew Issachar, and pawns his freedom in order to settle his debt to Marguerite, his betrothed, since he wants to live with Zélia from now on. The lord of the castle Rodolphe has also fallen in love with Zélia and therefore buys the bond from Issachar. On the date of its maturity, Albert cannot repay the debt, so that Rodolphe is able to draw Albert (and Zélia by implication) into his power. In order to save Albert’s life, Zélia promises to marry Rodolphe. At the last moment, however, she regains her veil from Marguerite, and disappears to her fairy sisters. To welcome her back, the Fairy Queen allows Zélia a wish: but she chooses to renounce immortality, and returns to Albert on the earth. After Gustave, ou Le Bal masqué (1833), Le Lac des fées was Auber’s next contribution to the Académie Royale de Musique. Despite its five acts, it is not overtly concerned with the great historical themes usually associated with grand-opéra , but exemplifies Scribe’s third type of opera libretto (after opéra-comique and grand- opéra ), concerned with exotic or legendary material (in the line of Le Dieu et la Bayadère 1830 and Le Cheval de bronze 1835, with their emphasis on the marvellous). Musäus’s collection of fairy tales that furnished the ideas for Scribe’s libretto was also the basis of Reisinger’s scenario for Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake ( Lebedinoje osero , 1877). And although Le Lac des fées is far removed in theme from La Muette de Portici (1828) and Gustave (1832), the literary source is remarkable for its depiction of the rebellion of the people and students against the feudal lord Rodolphe—themes that have a strong affinity with the historical and political concerns of grand-opéra . The thematic affinity with the earlier grand operas is also evident in the musical aspects of the work. Scribe combined the sentimental expectations of contemporary taste and the venerable Baroque operatic tradition of le merveilleux with his consummate theatrical acumen. The scene on Venus and conclusion of Le Cheval de bronze , with its dramatic descent through the clouds to earth, was the preliminary experiment. Much time in Le Lac des fées is taken in elaborating the central depiction of popular festivity. Indeed, the requirements of grand-opéra are realized with an original twist in the big act 3 depiction of the Medieval Epiphany celebrations, with its attempt at recreating the variety of genre and mood. There is a detailed description of the procession through the streets of Cologne, organized by the Medieval guilds, each preceded by its own standard, with choruses. It unfolds in several movements:—the chorus of students “Vive la jeunesse”, the Fête des Rois with its Chant de Noël , the whole culminating in a big ballet sequence of four dances: 1) Valse des Étudiants, 2) Pas de Bacchus et Erigone, 3) Styrienne, and 4) Bacchanale. xxii The Ballets of Daniel-François-Esprit Auber

Scribe’s stage directions provide vivid details and combine historically informed spectacle, pantomime and dance into a single artistic conception.

The Procession of the Kings

Soldiers wearing cuirasses, and carrying staves instead of arms, open the march. They are followed by the principal corporations of the professions, each with their proper insignia at the head. Theses deputations represent:

The Fruiterers with their emblem of Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit; The Embroiderers —A young girl with various embroidered items; The Cobblers —Naked figures with footwear hanging next to them; The Goldsmiths —A jar of money; The Locksmiths —A lock with crossed keys; The Armourers —A helmet positioned on a shield with dagger and armed escutcheon; The Saddlers —A battle saddle; The Fishmongers —A Catherine Wheel fashioned of fish; The Sailors —A ship.

Soldiers close the Procession of the Guilds. Next come the doctors and professors of the city, then the pilgrims and the shipwrecked bound by a vow to this procession. After them march the halberdiers. Entry of the Three Magi Kings, Melchior, Balthazar and Gaspard, following the shining star which goes before them and leads them on. They are covered in magnificent finery, gleaming with gold, turbans surmounted with crowns, all that the imagination of that era thought of as oriental. They are preceded by a group of black slaves , some of whom lead their richly caparisoned horses. Processing after them are the great lords who out of devotion also take part in these solemnities. They wear grand ceremonial coats brocaded with gold and double ermine. Next to come up are stadiotes , foreign troops hired by the Emperor Maximilian. They were chosen as escorts of the Magi Kings because of the Oriental character of the costumes. In the middle is a troupe of bizarre and fantastic-looking monsters , three hippogryphs led by negroes. Fools blowing trumpets are mounted on them; they are covered in tabards bearing the arms of the city: gules bearing three crowns of gold, carried en fasc , cut, fringed and mottled with silver. Finally there comes a group of students and young girls who dance, forming different waltz patterns. A great noise is heard. To the sound of flutes, drums and cymbals Bacchus and Ariadne enter, mounted on a chariot drawn by four satyrs, The great Silenus [an old bearded woodland satyr attendant on Dionysius], quite drunk, is casually slumped in front of the chariot. Satyrs, fauns and bacchantes, half drunk, dance around him. After the Procession the divertissement commences. This is concluded by Bacchus and Ariadne, and by a general dance for the bacchantes surrounding the chariot of Silenus. After the general dances, the particular dances begin, Conrad, a student, approaches a throne to request the permission of Zélia and Albert as Queen and King of the Festival, to cut the ribbon to open the ball.

The closing transformation scene (Zélia's return to earth) is described in detail in the scene directions and demands great technical skill and resources. The very conception of the scene is balletic in gesture and in the mechanistic challenge of the stage action: “...we see her passing through the clouds, which, tinted variously by the rays of the sun, continually change; finally...we see the earth appear, first the tops of the mountains, then the buildings, the towns, the rivers, the prairies, the house, then the room that Albert inhabited in the third act. Albert, alone in his room and weighed down with despair, is about to kill himself—He raises his eyes and sees Zélia who is coming down on a cloud towards him, holding out her arms. He runs to her, and the curtain falls.” Introduction xxiii

The opera has an interesting relationship to who arrived in Paris in 1839, and perhaps saw one of the last of the 39 stagings. The influence of the final transformation must have affected him deeply—both as stagecraft and music. The many transformation scenes in Der Ring des Nibelungen and Parsifal are based on this dramaturgy: the Entry of the Gods into Valhalla in Das Rheingold , and the music of the Rainbow Bridge owe much to the final scene of Le Lac des fées . Further, the Feast of the Magi in act 3 provided the model for the great procession of the guilds and townspeople to the Meadow of Song in the last scene of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg . This too culminates in a ballet sequence: the Dance of the Apprentices (cf. Auber’s Valse des Étudiants).

Fig. 5 Le Lac des fées. Lise Noblet in the ballet

L’Enfant prodigue

Opéra en cinq actes Librettist: Eugène Scribe Choreographer: Arthur Saint-Léon First performance: Académie nationale de musique (Salle de la rue Le Peletier), 6 December 1850. Produced only once, with no reprise. Number of performances: 44 Principal dancers: Adeline Plunkett (mime role of Lia), Elisabeth Robert xxiv The Ballets of Daniel-François-Esprit Auber

This is Auber’s only opera based on a biblical subject. It was performed a number of times in the 19 th century with moderate success, but was never performed after the end of the century. The libretto was translated into English, Italian and German; it reached London within a year, performed at Drury Lane on 19 February 1851, and the USA a few months later, performed in New York on 2 June. The scene is set in Old Testament times, in Ancient Israel and Egypt. Act 1. Azaël is the only son of a poor old man. He leaves the paternal home and his betrothed Jephtèle to go and sample the pleasures promised by the great city of Memphis. Act 2. He ruins himself in gambling; he is seduced by the courtesan Nefté and the dancer Lia, who take the scarf given to him as a token of love by Jephtèle. Israelites, including Reuban and Jephtèle, arrive in Memphis looking for Azaël. Act 3. Azaël penetrates the Temple of Isis where the secret mysteries of the goddess are celebrated. But he is discovered, and the Egyptians punish him by throwing him in the Nile. Act 4. Azaël is rescued from the river by the leader of a caravan, and is reduced to tending a flock of sheep. Act 5. The prodigal son now comes to his senses, and returns home to throw himself into his loving father’s arms. A special aspect of the opera is the dance sequence in act 2—beginning with the high priest Bacchoris's initiation of the celebrations for the sacred bull Apis (No. 9 Air et Scène and No.10 Scène ), containing 5 Airs de ballet . The dancing role of Lia is central to these scenes, and in fact assumes a dramaturgical importance similar to that of Fenella ( La Muette de Portici ) and Zoloé ( Le Dieu et la Bayadère ). Lia becomes the symbol of the fall of the Prodigal Son, the agent of his temptation. Her function is integral to the development of the plot. There are further danced passages in the opening part of act 3, where the formal operatic elements of prayer, drinking song, bacchanal, and lullaby are integrated with singing and dancing into an artistic whole, once again embodying and revitalizing the venerable French tradition of the opéra- ballet . Scribe’s scenarios show that the formal dances are either enmeshed in the unfolding of the drama (act 2), or use dance a crucial element in the thematic ramifications of the plotline (act 3).

Act 2 Enter Lia and a troupe of flower maidens that she leads. They launch themselves onto the stage to lively and catchy music. Azaël, Amenophis, his companions and the people form a circle around them... Lia dances, casting glances from time to time at Azaël, who, fascinated by her, follows her very move. Amenophis and his companions enter a pavilion to the right where a table is prepared for dicing. But Azaël does not notice their departure and remains, watching Lia dance. Some merchants offer Azaël fabrics and jewels. He buys, lavishing his gold without counting it. While Nefté is choosing new ornaments, Azaël casts passionate looks at Lia... Lia looks smilingly at him, and takes the chain from him: she does not really want it. She wants nothing more than the pleasure of being admired for her beauty and being loved. Azaël insists. ‘In that case’, she seems to say, looking at the scarf that serves as a sash for Jephtèle, ‘that is all that I want’. Nefté, who in a few seconds has approached them, cries out as she catches hold of the scarf. But Lia, who has glided behind Nefté, takes the scarf from him and throws it to one of her companions, who pass it from one to the other, until it returns to Lia. Nefté, furious, returns to the pavilion, while Azaël falls at the feet of Lia who flutters the scarf over his head. She smiles without replying, waves the scarf and vanishes while Azaël cries out in joy.

Act 3 Bocchoris, Manethon and Canope, the priests of Memphis, sit crowned with flowers at a richly appointed table. Lia and several of her companions are at their side. Some dancers fill their goblets; others dance around the table and form different groups... Lia leaves the table to dance, Introduction xxv

and overwhelmed by tiredness and the wine, she falters, and falls on the sofa to the right... At the conclusion of the piece, nearly all the table companions, similarly overwhelmed by tiredness and wine, have closed their eyes and are beyond seeing or hearing... All the table companions wake up in confusion. Lia and the flower maidens, both singers and dancers, disappear behind curtains to the rear which are drawn and hide them.

The music is very light, gracious and delicate, full of buoyancy and chamber-like textures. The part of Lia was mimed by a dancer, with extensive orchestral accompaniment and detailed written instructions about her actions, as both Scribe and Auber revisited their significant balletic achievements in La Muette de Portici and Le Dieu et la Bayadère . Adèle Plunkett and Élisabeth Robert were the principal soloists at the première. The music subsequently assumed a life of its own as an independent one- act ballet, Les Rendezvous, devised and choreographed by Frederick Ashton (Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London, 5 December 1933). The music was arranged by Constant Lambert, using the act 2 dances and the second half of the overture for the new score.

Fig. 6 L'Enfant prodigue . Act 2, Nefté and Azaël xxvi The Ballets of Daniel-François-Esprit Auber

Zerline, ou La Corbeille d’oranges

Opéra en trois actes Librettist: Eugène Scribe Choreographer: Joseph Mazilier First performance: Académie nationale de musique, 16 May 1851. Produced only once, with no reprise. Number of performances: 14 Principal dancers: Flora Fabbri, Adeline Plunkett, Elisabeth Robert, Célestine Emarot, Lucien Petipa, Magloire Beauchet

The action takes place in Palermo, during the Restoration. The Prince of Roccanera, married to the sister of the King, has a supposed niece, Gemma. She is really his daughter by Zerline, an orange-seller. The latter was abducted by pirates. In act 1, having returned after many trials to Palermo, she now meets her daughter, assuming the role of her aunt. She learns that Gemma loves a young naval officer, Rodolphe, but that the Prince’s wife wishes Gemma to marry the King’s cousin, much against the girl’s wishes. In the third act, Zerline, already alerted to an intrigue compromising to the two young lovers (in which a basket of oranges plays the role usually reserved for flowers in the declaration of love), hands over this basket, as from the fake aunt to the pretended niece, with the sacramental words: “Je sais tout”. No one would understand anything of this mysterious dénouement were it not for the happy Zerline who is able to unite Gemma with her young officer. Act 3 is dominated by the great princely festivities featuring eight dance movements No. 15 Airs de Ballet and No. 16 Choeur (Valse) , a pallid reminiscence of the great Masked Ball of 1832. Auber reused much of the ballet music from act 3 of Le Lac des fées in this elaborate semi-allegorical masque that employs a variety of forms and fuses various types of danced entertainment, from classical pas de deux and formal ball through national dance, vaudeville and children’s routines to carnival.

1) La Styrienne (from Le Lac des fées ) 2) Les Muses et les Graces (Pas Bacchus et Erigone) (from Le Lac des fées ) [Adèle Plunkett and Monsieur Gray] 3) Pas Chinois (from Le Lac des fées ) 4) La Sentimentale et L’Enjouée [Adèle Plunkett and Lucien Petipa] 5) Le Bal d’enfants (based on Zerline’s La Marchande d’Oranges ) 6) Quadrille des fous 7) Le Carnaval de Palerme (Bacchanale) 8) Choeur (Valse)

Marco Spada, ou Le Bandit/ou La Fille du bandit

Ballet-Pantomime in three acts and six scenes Scenario: Eugène Scribe Choreography: Joseph Mazilier Sets: Charles-Antoine Cambon and Joseph Thierry (scenes 1, 4, and 5), Édouard- Désiré-Joseph Despléchins (scene 2), Nolau and August-Alfred Rubé (scene 3) Machinery: Victor Sacré Costumes: Alfred Albert and Paul Lormier First performance: Paris Opéra, 1 April 1857. In repertoire 1857-60, without reprise. Number of performances: 27 Introduction xxvii

Principal dancers: Dominco Segarelli (Marco Spada), (Angela, his daughter), Louis Mérante (Pepinelli, Captain of Dragoons), Amalia Ferraris (Marchesa Sampietri), Lucien Petipa (Count Federici), Eugène Coralli (Gennaro)

There was a rumour that the Emperor Napoleon III had proposed the original idea for this ballet. The work was exceptional because from the first it was conceived to display the talents of two contrasting ballerina roles of equal importance. At the time the Paris Opéra possessed two of the most celebrated dancers of the day, the Italian dancers Carolina Rosati (1826-1905) and Amalia Ferraris (1830-1904). Both were pupils of the illustrious ballet master Carlo Blasis, but each retained her own very special style and temperament, a fact that added an immediate fascination to the project. Scribe’s libretto Marco Spada which had been produced at the Opéra-Comique on December 1852 with Auber’s music, met the fundamental requirement of having two important female characters, and provided Scribe with the right opportunity to adapt his story to a scenario for dancing. So the opéra-comique was transformed into a ballet—Auber’s only full length one. The music was not an adaptation of the opera, but rather a composite score made up of the most striking numbers from several of Auber’s works: Le Concert à la cour , Fiorella , La Fiancée , Fra Diavolo , Le Lac des fées , L’Ambassadrice , Les Diamants de la couronne , La Barcarolle , Zerline and L’Enfant prodigue . The governor of Rome, his daughter the Marchesa Sampietri, and a Captain of the Dragoons, Pepinelli, are are driven by a storm to take shelter in a house, little knowing it to be the hideout of Marco Spada, the bandit chief. The Governor, who is giving a grand ball the next day, invites the unrecognized bandit and his daughter Angela, once loved by Count Federici, now the promised husband of the Marchesa Sampietri. During the festivities, Federici renews his profession of love to Angela. But the girl proudly replies that she prefers to share the perilous life of her father. Disappointed, the Count decides to marry the Marchesa without delay. While she is preparing for her wedding, Marco Spada’s gang break into her room and abduct her, taking all her jewels and also the big chest in which is hidden Pepinelli, who is in love with the lady, and has taken desperate steps to persuade her against the marriage. In the bandits’ retreat the Marchesa and Pepinelli are quickly united in matrimony by Marco Spada, who thus hopes to eliminate his daughter’s rival. The bandit chief then leads his men against the Dragoons, but is fatally wounded. Before drawing his last breath, he declares that Angela is not really his daughter, but of noble birth, thus making it possible for her to marry Federici. The main interest of the ballet was in the juxtapositioning of the two female stars. Both were under great strain during rehearsals, with Ferraris prone to weeping, and Rosati almost resolved to flee to England on the morning of the premiere. The choreographer Joseph Mazilier took great care not to favour one above the other. There was only one dance where they featured together—the Lesson Scene where the Marchesa teaches Angela to dance. Mazilier’s caution deprived the ballet of a certain spontaneity, but it was nonetheless a memorable contest. The critics of the day were indeed fairly unanimous in finding the chief interest of the choreography in this competition between Rosati and Ferraris, which gave rise to interesting remarks on the qualities of the two rivals. The public interest in their contrasting styles was not unlike that which had divided the Opéra into opposing factions twenty years before, in the time of Marie Taglioni and . The critic of La France musicale wrote on 5 April 1857: “Ferraris is like a feather xxviii The Ballets of Daniel-François-Esprit Auber floating between two wafts of a breeze. Never have we seen such graceful dancing sur les pointes ...In one of the dances Ferraris circles the stage, grazing the boards with the tips of her toes. This seems like magic...She flits like a bird and in two bounds crosses from one side of the stage to the other, to come to rest in front of the footlights... Ferraris is extraordinary, prodigious; she is like one of those ideal belongs who pursue you in your dreams...The whole house greeted the great artist with a thousand acclamations... Rosati, too, was amazing, extraordinary, wonderful, in a style quite different from Ferraris. She has fascination, irresistible allurement. At the close of the ballet she dances, musket in hand, with a dexterity, poise and artistry that are truly fairy-like. And what a charming mime...She was overwhelmed with applause.” The critic Saint-Victor remarked: “The competition between the two dancers is a duel between wings and feet, between spirit and flesh, between a weightless elf and a sturdy bacchante,” adding that no one but Ferraris had been capable of such elevation, ballon and parcours since Taglioni’s day, and that “the adagio of her grand pas in the ball scene contained attitudes and développements of incredible audacity... Her final dance was executed with such perfection that it alone sufficed to prove Signora Ferraris’s incomparability as a ballerina.” Pier Angelo Fiorentino showed some proof of impartiality when he wrote of Carolina Rosati, whose style, like Elssler’s, could be defined as down to earth, that in the mask dance she triumphed with a sequence of ronds de jamb de retour “so radiant, so exquisitely polished, spontaneous, and resplendent as to defy description.” Jouvin observed that even if Rosati had lost her legs, she could still have danced with her smile and the toss of her head. Apart from this historical contest and the spectacular scenic design of the last act, the ballet was not of great interest. The music was a medley to themes from several of Auber’s operas. Choreographically, too, even the best moments did not attain the inventiveness of , and it was said that, except for the two ballerinas, Mazilier had not stretched his imagination. “The tarantellas and ensembles which run through the ballet are very crude and prove once more that the Opéra must seek out young and intelligent maîtres de ballet .” The title role was another success for the famous Italian mime Domenico Segarelli, (1820-1860), who had been engaged by Domenico Barbaja and then Jacovacci, and enjoyed success in the principal Italian and French theatres, becoming a noted choreographer himself. He had only just the previous year gained one of his greatest accolades for creating the hero in Mazilier’s and Adam’s ballet Le Corsaire , with Rosati as the heroine Medora. Nevertheless, Marco Spada was considered a financial success, even though dogged by an amazing run of bad luck: a wing of the scenery fell at the feet of a dancer; the bandits’ cave could not be lowered to the stage at the right moment, and the Dragoons were obliged to improvise a mime while waiting for the scenery to be set up by hand (to the mirth of the audience); an unfortunate extra, set on fire by a bengal light, fell head first from above to the stage and remained unconscious for two hours. Finally, Rosati caught a chill that prevented her from acting for a week. The corps de ballet , alarmed by this series of catastrophes, hastened to acquire amulets and other objects calculated to avert the evil eye, and wore them for all subsequent performances. Marco Spada was one of those ballets that stretched the powers of the head mechanist to the utmost. It was an extremely responsible post—as the fame of Sacré, head mechanist at the Opéra from 1847 to 1872 bears witness. Complicated problems had to be resolved and bold inventions devised, for which the mechanist was held Introduction xxix accountable. The most famous examples of the craft were the collapse of the cave in Jovita (1853), the shipwreck in Le Corsaire (1856), and the two-level set in the last scene of Marco Spada , where the upper portion showed the forest, the lower a secret cavern known only to the brigands. “There are many new settings to Marco Spada, ” observed La France musicale . “The last scene in particular achieves a certain effect, but is far from having the attraction of the famous vessel which was shipwrecked in Le Corsaire .” The ballet would no doubt have survived longer in the repertory if it had not been so closely tailored to the contrasting needs of the two ballerinas. It was performed 27 times in less than two years, a commendable record, and was dropped only when Rosati left the Opéra in 1859. On 22 March 1984 the ballet returned to the repertory of the Paris Opéra, and in 1986 was taken up by the Ballets de Monte-Carlo. The ballet was revived in the recreation by on 22 March 1981 at the Teatro del Opera in Rome. Lacotte created new choreography, as well designing the decor and costumes. Rudolph Nureyev danced Marco Spada, the role of Angela, Michael Denard that of Federici. Mazilier's choreography, reconstructed by Lacotte for the Rome Opera, is vivid with various difficult steps. The revival premiered in 1981, with enormous success, and was filmed live the following January (1982) with the original cast. Nureyev was in his early forties and already ill but his dancing was still magisterial, with his high jumps and turnings and Mazilier's pure classic quick steps. Thesmar and Denard danced flawlessly, and the whole production was very attractive.

Fig. 7 Marco Spada . The famous set for the last scene xxx The Ballets of Daniel-François-Esprit Auber

Fig. 8 Marco Spada . Domenico Segarelli as the bandit chief

Le Cheval de Bronze

Opéra-ballet en quartre actes Librettist: Eugène Scribe Choreographer: Lucien Petipa First performance: Salle de la rue Le Peletier, 21 September 1857. In the repertoire: 27 performances, 1857-59 Principal dancers: Amalia Ferraris (Mirra, dancing role), Caroline (Mme Dominique- Venettozza), Louis Mérante

The plot is set in fairytale China, and centres on a magic bronze horse that transports men to the planet Venus where the Princess Stella rules with her band of sirens. The complications that ensue are unravelled by the resourceful young heroine Péki. This work is the eponymous opéra-comique transformed into an opéra-ballet . The original scenario required elaborate décor and stage machinery, which was a factor in this later revival of the work at the Académie de musique on 21 September 1857. Auber reworked the score as an opéra-ballet in four acts, adding recitatives, and extra ballet and ensemble numbers. The divertissements consisted of

1) a seven-movement Pas de quatre in act 1 2) a four-movement Danse in act 3 3) and a five-movement Pas de deux in act 4.

This version of the opera has never been published.