Ballet Bakhchisarai Fountain summary. Ballets B.V.
Artist V. Khodasevich, conductor E. Mravinsky.
The premiere took place on September 28, 1934 at the Leningrad State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater.
Characters:
- Prince Adam, Polish tycoon
- Maria, his daughter
- Vaclav, Maria's fiance
- Girey, Crimean Khan
- Zarema, Girey's beloved wife
- Nurali, military leader
Castle manager, chief of the guard, Polish lords and panenki, abbot, spy, Girey's second wife, maid, eunuchs, Tatars, Poles
The action takes place in Poland and Bakhchisarai at the turn of the 18th - 19th centuries.
At the Fountain of Tears- monument to Mary - Khan Girey sits in deep thought.
1. Polish Castle Park, in which the birthday of Maria, the daughter of the owner of the estate Adam Potocki, is celebrated. In the garden she meets Vaclav. Their brief duet, full of tenderness and happiness, is interrupted by the guards. A Tatar spy was captured not far from the castle. The head of the guard and the manager decide that this is not worth spoiling the holiday. The prisoner is taken away. The castle doors swing open, and the park is filled with a magnificent procession of guests. The first couple is the gray-haired Prince Adam and the beautiful Maria. In a solemn polonaise, and then in an elegant mazurka, the old people compete in dexterity with the young. Everyone is having fun courting their ladies. The male variation of the four gentlemen is based on a competition between ages. In the female variation, four panenki evaluate the courage of the elders and the courage of the young. In the big duet of Maria and Vaclav there is a declaration of love. The old father watches the young couple with tenderness. With enthusiasm, he begins to dance the Krakowiak, which is picked up by all the guests.
A wounded warrior runs in, reporting the appearance of the Tatars. The ladies are taken to the castle, the men draw their swords. A battle scene in which the defenders of the castle die one after another. The castle is on fire. Maria runs out of it with her favorite little harp in her hands. Vaclav tries to pave the way for his beloved with a saber. Suddenly Giray appears on their way. Vaclav rushes to meet him, but falls struck in the chest with a dagger. Maria bends over the fallen young man. Giray freezes, amazed by her beauty.
2. Harem of Khan Giray.
Same every day
And slowly the hours pass,
In a harem, life is ruled by laziness;
Pleasure rarely flashes.
The wives dress up, on a richly decorated bed - the beloved wife of the khan, “the star of love, the beauty of the harem” Zarema. Girey returns from the campaign. Zarema dances for him, but the khan’s thoughts are full of Maria and he is indifferent to the Georgian woman’s dances. This indifference becomes clear to everyone when Maria passes at the back of the stage. Girey leaves. The wives mock Zarema. In a passionate dance, she tries to regain her former confidence and love of her ruler. When Khan returns, Zarema passionately rushes to him and wraps her arms around his neck. Girey takes the woman’s hands off his shoulders and, without looking at her, leaves. In despair, Zarema falls.
3. Mary's bedchamber in the harem of the Bakhchisaray Palace.
Fading in quiet captivity,
Maria is crying and sad.
Maria thoughtfully plays a Polish melody on her favorite harp. Giray's appearance frightens her. Khan timidly bows before Maria, offers her his humble love, but she avoids even the approach of the killer of all her loved ones. Distressed Khan leaves. Maria remembers Poland, other happy days and dances a lyrical and sad elegy. The old servant puts her to bed, but the captive cannot sleep. Zarema enters stealthily, holding a lamp in her hands and clutching a dagger to her chest. Stepping over the sleeping maid, she approaches Mary's bed. She is confused and wonders what this beauty needs from her. In a long monologue, Zarema talks about her fate, about her crazy love for Giray. And now he has lost interest in her!
Incomprehensible to an innocent maiden
The language of tormenting passions,
But their voice is vaguely intelligible to her,
He is strange, he is terrible to her.
The awakened maid runs away for help. Suddenly Zarema notices a skullcap forgotten by the khan. In a rage, she grabs the dagger. Maria hides behind a column in fear. Girey runs in and tries to disarm Zarema, but she manages to escape and stab Maria in the back. The innocent Polish woman dies quietly. Zarema begs the Khan to kill her with his own hand, but the Khan gives her into the hands of the eunuchs.
4. Bakhchisarai Palace.
Giray sat with his eyes downcast,
The amber in his mouth smoked,
Silently servile yard
He crowded around the terrible khan.
Nothing entertains Khan: neither the return of the Tatars with rich booty, nor a dozen new slaves. Only for a moment does he perk up when Zarema is thrown off the cliff. The beloved military leader Nyr-Ali starts a wild warlike Tatar dance. Interrupting it, the khan orders the Italian architect to commission the “Fountain of Tears,” built “in memory of the sorrowful Mary.” Looking at him, he remembers the captivating image of Mary.
And again, lonely and inconsolable Giray at the “Fountain of Tears”.
Water gurgles in marble
And sheds cold tears.
The music, choreography, and painting of The Bakhchisarai Fountain, each individually, cannot be recognized as the pinnacle in their field. But, having united, they formed a unique alloy that gave this performance the quality of a masterpiece. Such harmony of parts is not often achieved in ballet. “The Bakhchisarai Fountain” is one of the first performances of a new direction in Soviet ballet, the “choreodrama” direction. But it did not arise out of nowhere. Fyodor Lopukhov, recalling The Fountain of Bakhchisarai, directly points out: “The idea of the new ballet seems to me to have been prompted by Fokin. Or maybe the authors designed the performance, looking back at the best Fokine ballets. I saw Fokine’s penchant for the lyrical poem, Fokine’s desire to solve the action without trifles, Fokine’s interest in stormy dramatic clashes, Fokine’s desire to penetrate into the human soul.”
The initiator of the staging of Pushkin's poem on the ballet stage was the experienced playwright Nikolai Volkov. The poet's lyrical lines contained more drama than exposition of the course of action. Giray’s “Rebirth of the Wild Soul” required the ballet to show other characters and other situations before the event that caused the changes. The screenwriter boldly completed the first act, introducing into the play the Polish castle, its owner, and young Vaclav, the antipode of Giray. Moreover, all the events of this act were, as it were, read between Pushkin’s lines, taken from the atmosphere of the poem, from brief but clear hints. Therefore, it is organically combined in the performance with subsequent “Pushkin” events.
Volkov infected composer Boris Asafiev with his idea of Pushkin’s ballet. Initially, the composer was going to build the score of “The Fountain of Bakhchisarai” on the same basis that brought him the recent success of “Flames of Paris”. However, then he abandoned quoting and editing the music of Glinka and pre-Glinka eras. Of all the selected material, only Alexander Gurilev’s romance “Fountain of the Bakhchisarai Palace” (“Fountain of Love, Living Fountain”) was included in the ballet, the melody of which frames the performance. Asafiev's music is professional ballet music. The composer feels the specifics of the dance, unmistakably determines the nature and duration of each episode, sensing the dancing artist. All images are depicted in many ways and presented in development. And most importantly, the music was composed based on Pushkin’s idea of the events and characters of the ballet.
Usually in the professional press, Rostislav Zakharov is criticized for his lack of ballet “eloquence,” the poverty of his dance vocabulary, and the predominance of director’s techniques over the ability and desire to think about action in dance. In “The Fountain of Bakhchisarai” - the first-born of the choreographer - all this was overshadowed by the excellent direction of the performance and brilliant acting. The main character of the poem and ballet, Girey, does not dance in the ballet; his role is performed in pantomime. However, for Khan, the director found a gait that distinguishes him not only from other characters, but also from the “villains” in old ballets. Zakharov's dramatic pantomime breaks with the conventional pantomime of Petipa's ballets. The choreographer creates a special kind of expressiveness, combining elements of dance and pantomime, but with a clear predominance of the latter. Giray's movements and poses are balletic in the best sense of the word. One cannot forget Giray's spectacular entrance at the end of the first act. Seeing Maria and Vaclav, Khan slowly goes to the middle and with a majestic gesture calls the young man to a duel. Vaclav, like a romantic hero, flies at Giray with a raised saber and immediately falls, cut down by the elusive blow of the Khan's dagger. Giray calmly steps over the corpse, approaches Maria and abruptly rips off the bedspread. The beauty of the girl amazes Giray, and he unexpectedly bows before Maria. The choreographer often made up for the lack of imagination with research work. Thus, having found an ancient dish with galloping warriors in the museum, he used their plasticity as the basis for the solution of the raid scene in the first act and the Tatar dance in the fourth. Zakharov brought a lot to ballet from his experience in the dramatic theater. When staging The Fountain of Bakhchisarai, a table period of working with the artists was used. For each image there was a through line. The performer, moving from pantomime to dance, had to be in character the entire time. Dancing in character became a new stage in ballet performance, which now largely depended not on sophisticated dance technique, but on acting skill and talent.
In many ways, the success of the premiere of “The Fountain of Bakhchisarai” was ensured by the excellent performing ensemble. Girey - Mikhail Dudko, Vaclav - Konstantin Sergeev, Zarema - Olga Jordan, and the main success of the play Maria - Galina Ulanova. “For me personally, the new choreography began with the “Bakhchisarai Fountain,” the artist later wrote. “I continued to work on the image of Maria for many years. It seems to me that at first it was painted with only one basic color - sadness. Over the years, my Maria seems to came to life. The design of the role became more complex, the character of the heroine became more multifaceted. And if previously my Maria, with some nervous, impetuous movements, pushed Zarema or Girey away from her, then later I tried to convey the feeling of her “quiet bondage” with sad calmness. I can safely say that after “The Bakhchisarai Fountain” I had to reconsider my previous works. Having come into contact with Pushkin’s work, I could no longer simply dance as I danced before: I always want to breathe a living soul into the human images that appear on the ballet stage.” I think , that for the artist’s contemporaries, “The Bakhchisarai Fountain" was consecrated not only by the genius of Pushkin, but also by the genius of Ulanova. In the difficult 1930s and 40s, the image of a resigned but unconquered soul she created gave new strength for life to many whose home was ruined, and loved ones died at the hands of others.
They say that in the USSR there was no musical theater where “The Bakhchisarai Fountain” was not performed. It was performed abroad in the countries of the so-called “people's democracy”, and in Finland, Japan, Mongolia, Egypt... But “earthly glory passes”, and “The Fountain of Bakhchisarai” in its original production is performed only where it was created. Now this theater is called the Mariinsky, and a new generation of St. Petersburg ballerinas and dancers is finding their own understanding of the images of Pushkin’s ballet.
A. Degen, I. Stupnikov
History of creation
Since the beginning of the 1930s, Asafiev actively worked in the genre of baaleta. After the successful premiere of “The Flames of Paris”, first in Leningrad and then in Moscow, he turned to Pushkin’s plot for the first time.
The idea of creating a ballet based on Pushkin’s poem “The Fountain of Bakhchisarai” (1821-1823) belonged to the playwright, art historian and theater critic N. Volkov (1894-1965), who first independently developed the script, and then attracted Asafiev to work on it. As a result, the lyrical poem turned into a dramatic libretto with a scene in a Polish castle, the scene of Zarema's execution; new characters also appeared - Maria’s fiancé Vaclav (in Pushkin, “she had not yet known love”), the military leader Nurali; Mary's father, unnamed in the poem, became Prince Adam.
Initially, Asafiev, following the example of “The Flame of Paris,” thought to use the music of composers from the era of the events described. However, during the work it became clear that this was unrealistic. Of the previously selected material, only Gurilev’s romance “The Fountain of the Bakhchisarai Palace” was useful (thus, Pushkin’s poem, written in 1824, was also used in the ballet), which sounds in the prologue and epilogue of the ballet, like a frame framing it, and one of the nocturnes of Chopin’s predecessor in this genre by J. Field, characterizing Mary.
The music was created quickly. The composer, in his words, sought “at all costs to preserve melodically... the era of Pushkin,” and in addition, to convey “the romantic that characterizes Russian advanced society on the approaches to Decembrism, and that, in turn, associated with Poland flaming with national revolutionary ideals. All this was clearly reflected in the poetry of Pushkin, Mickiewicz, Shelley and Byron... This is not a restoration of romanticism, but an attempt to hear the era through Pushkin’s poem and convey the emotions that worried the poet through their free retelling.”
“The Fountain of Bakhchisarai” became the choreographer’s debut of R. Zakharov (1907-1984). Rostislav Zakharov, who graduated from the Leningrad Choreographic School in 1926, and in 1932 as an external student from the directing department of the Leningrad Theater College in the class of S. Radlov, danced on the stage of the Kiev Theater for seven years, and in 1934 he began working as a choreographer at the Theater. Kirov (Mariinsky) in Leningrad. “The Fountain of Bakhchisarai” became the beginning not only of Zakharov’s choreographic activity, but also of the ballet “Pushkiniana” on the domestic stage. Zakharov introduced a new method of working on a ballet performance, based on the Stanislavsky system. The ballet's choreography contrasts classical dance with colorful oriental dances full of elemental power. There are no impersonal characters in the play. Both the soloists, the corps de ballet, and mimes are involved in the action, become participants in the drama being played out, and embody living images. The dances incorporate elements of pantomime and are constructed as monologues and dialogues in which the actor speaks not with conventional gestures, which have long been accepted in ballet pantomime, but with dance movements that become carriers of feelings and thoughts.
Premiere on September 28, 1934 at the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater. Kirova (Mariinsky) was a great success. To this day, ballet remains in the repertoire.
Music
“The Bakhchisarai Fountain” is a lyrical ballet-poem. Its composition is based on a contrasting comparison of two different cultures - Slavic and Eastern. The music is distinguished by lyricism, subtle sound recording, and drama. The ballet score uses a system of leitmotifs - musical characteristics of the characters.
Pushkin's poems are of great interest not only from an artistic standpoint, but also from the point of view of studying the evolution of his literary tastes. In particular, at one time the poet was very keen on Byron's work and wrote several works in imitation of the famous Englishman. Among them is “The Bakhchisarai Fountain” - a work dedicated, as the poet himself later admitted, to his beloved, whose name remains a mystery to his biographers to this day.
History of the creation of the work
Some researchers note that Pushkin heard the romantic legend about the Crimean Khan back in St. Petersburg. However, most likely, he recognized her during a visit to Bakhchisarai with the family of General Raevsky in the early autumn of 1820. Moreover, neither the palace nor the fountain itself made an impression on him, since they were in extreme desolation.
Work on the poem “The Bakhchisarai Fountain” (the content is presented below) began in the spring of 1821, but the poet wrote the main part during 1822. In addition, it is known that the introduction was created in 1823, and the final finishing and preparation for printing was carried out by Vyazemsky.
Who became the prototypes of the heroes of the poem “The Bakhchisarai Fountain”?
One of the main characters of this work is Khan Giray, or rather Kyrym Geray, the ruler of Crimea, who ruled from 1758 to 1764. It was under him that the “Fountain of Tears” and many other structures appeared. Among them, the mausoleum especially stood out, in which, according to legend, the khan’s last love, Dilyara-bikech, who died at the hands of a poisoner, was buried. By the way, some researchers believed that it was in memory of this girl that a mournful marble monument was built, exuding drops of water. Thus, it is possible that the real heroine to whom the poem “The Fountain of Bakhchisarai” is dedicated, a summary of which is given below, was not a Pole named Maria at all. Where did this legend about the princess come from? Perhaps it was invented in the family of Sofia Kiseleva, née Pototskaya, with whom the poet was very friendly.
Pushkin. Brief summary of the first part
In his palace, the sad Khan Girey forgot about peace and pleasure. He is not interested in war or the machinations of enemies. He goes to the women's quarters, where his beautiful wives languish in longing for his caresses, and hears the song of the slaves, which they sing in praise of the Georgian Zarema, calling her the beauty of the harem. However, the ruler’s favorite herself no longer smiles, since the khan stopped loving her, and now young Maria reigns in his heart. This Polish woman has recently become an inhabitant of a harem and cannot forget her father’s house and her position as the adored daughter of her old father and an enviable bride for many high-born nobles who sought her hand.
How did this daughter of a nobleman become a slave? Hordes of Tatars poured into Poland and destroyed her father's house, and she herself became their prey and a precious gift to their ruler. In captivity, the girl began to feel sad, and her only consolation now is prayers before the image of the Most Pure Virgin, which is illuminated day and night by an unquenchable lamp. Maria is the only one in the khan’s palace who is allowed to keep symbols of the Christian faith in her room-cell, and even Giray himself does not dare to disturb her peace and solitude.
Scene of the meeting between Maria and Zarema
Night has come. However, Zarema is not sleeping, she sneaks into the Polish woman’s room and sees the image of the Virgin Mary. The Georgian woman remembers her distant homeland for a second, but then her gaze falls on the sleeping Maria. Zarema kneels before the Polish princess and begs her to return Girey's heart to her. The awakened Maria asks the khan’s beloved wife what she needs from the unfortunate captive, who dreams only of going to her heavenly father. Then Zarema tells her that she doesn’t remember how she ended up in the Bakhchisarai Palace, but captivity did not become a burden to her, since Girey fell in love with her. However, Maria's appearance destroyed her happiness, and if she does not return the Khan's heart to her, she will stop at nothing. Having finished her speech, the Georgian woman disappears, leaving Maria to mourn her bitter fate and dream of death, which seems to her preferable to the fate of the khan’s concubine.
The final
Some time has passed. Maria went to heaven, but Zarema could not return Giray. Moreover, on the same night when the princess left this sinful world, the Georgian woman was thrown into the depths of the sea. The khan himself indulged in the pleasures of war in the hope of forgetting about the beautiful Pole, who never reciprocated his feelings. But he does not succeed, and, returning to Bakhchisarai, Giray orders a fountain to be erected in memory of the princess, which the maidens of Taurida, who learned this sad story, called the “Fountain of Tears.”
“Bakhchisarai Fountain”: analysis of the images of heroes
As already mentioned, one of the central characters of the poem is Khan Giray. Further, the author sins before history. After all, his hero is worried about the “machinations of Genoa,” that is, he lived no later than 1475, and the famous fountain was built in the 1760s. However, literary scholars consider such a separation from historical realities to be quite natural and inherent in romanticism.
As in some of Byron's poems, the “Eastern hero” has his own European antagonist. However, Pushkin turns out to be Giray himself, who, having fallen in love with the Christian Mary, retreated from his Eastern principles and habits. So, the passionate love of Zarema, who became a Mohammedan in the harem, is no longer enough for him. In addition, he respects the feelings of the Polish princess, including religious ones.
As for female images, Pushkin contrasts the eastern beauty Zarema, for whom the main thing in life is sensual love, with the immaculate princess Maria. Of all the three characters that are presented in the poem “The Fountain of Bakhchisarai” (the summary gives only a faint idea of the original), Zarema is the most interesting. Her image balances the “easternity” of Khan Giray and the “westernity” of the Polish woman, who dreams only of the kingdom of heaven. Following the Byronian tradition, in the plot of the poem “The Fountain of Bakhchisarai” Pushkin (read the summary of this work above) leaves many omissions. In particular, the reader is informed that Maria died, but how and why he can only guess.
Another, but inanimate, hero of the poem “Bakhchisarai Fountain” is the marble monument itself, erected by Giray. It seems to merge into a single whole the tears shed by Mary in front of the icon of the Blessed Virgin and the waters of the abyss in which the unfortunate Zarema died. Thus, the poem “The Bakhchisarai Fountain” (analysis of this work is still the subject of debate among literary scholars) became Pushkin’s second Byronic poem and his tribute to romanticism.
Publication history
The poem “The Bakhchisarai Fountain”, a brief summary of which you are already familiar with, was first published on March 10, 1824 in St. Petersburg. Moreover, the author of its preface was Vyazemsky, who wrote it in the form of a dialogue between the “Classic” and the “Publisher”. In addition, following the text of his poem “The Bakhchisarai Fountain” (you already know the summary of this work), Pushkin ordered Vyazemsky to publish a story about a journey through Taurida by the writer I.M. Muravyov-Apostol. In it, the father of three famous Decembrists described his visit to the palace of Khan Giray and casually mentioned the legend concerning his love for Maria Pototskaya.
Ballet "Bakhchisarai Fountain"
In 1934, the famous Soviet composer B. Astafiev had the idea to write music for a choreodrama based on the work of A. S. Pushkin. The fact is that the poem “The Bakhchisarai Fountain”, a brief summary of which is presented above, has long attracted attention as fertile ground for creating a spectacular musical performance. Soon, in collaboration with librettist director S. Radlov and choreographer R. Zakharov, B. Astafiev created a ballet that has not left the stages of many theaters in Russia and the world for more than 80 years.
Now you know what “The Fountain of Bakhchisarai” is about - Pushkin’s poem, created by him in imitation of Byron during his southern exile.
"Bakhchisarai Fountain"
Act one
In the castle of Polish Prince Adam, all the windows are brightly lit. Many guests arrived at the ball. Maria and her fiancé Vaclav run out of the castle into the park. They are happy, love each other, dream of a wedding and a near radiant future. Meanwhile, a Tatar spy is wandering around the park and is being pursued by Polish guards.
Dancing couples proudly march to the sounds of the polonaise. The first to speak are Maria and her brave father. The solemn polonaise is followed by an elegant mazurka. Other dances are no less magnificent. The guests are in an excellent mood.
Suddenly the chief of the guard runs in. He is horrified: hordes of Tatars surrounded the park on all sides. The men grab their weapons, but foreigners have already filled everything around. A fierce battle breaks out. The Polish prince also dies in an unequal battle. Maria and Vaclav flee from the burning castle. Suddenly, the leader of the Tatars, Khan Girey, blocks their way. Struck by Mary's beauty, the khan stops for a moment, then rushes towards her. Vaclav tries to protect his beloved, but falls dead, struck by Giray's blade. Maria, by order of the khan, is sent to the harem.
Act two
In Girey's harem, his wives are having fun and dancing. Among them, Zarema is the most beloved of the khan’s wives. The sounds of martial music can be heard. This army of Khan Giray is returning from a campaign. The wives meet their ruler. Zarema rushes towards Girey, but the khan’s thoughts are occupied with the beautiful captive. Zarema's fiery dance leaves the khan indifferent, which leads her to despair.
Maria spends her days homesick. Girey's arrival neither pleases nor frightens her. She is indifferent to everything. Giray begs Maria to love him and tells her about his passion. Only with Maria is he kind and patient. But she cannot love Giray, because he is the killer of all the people close to her. Not daring to insist, the khan leaves. Maria plays her favorite melody on the lute. She remembers the lost happiness. Night falls, but the girl cannot sleep. Zarema slips into her room and begs him to return Girey’s love to her. Maria assures the jealous woman that she does not love and will never love the Khan. Zarema believes her, but suddenly her gaze notices the skullcap forgotten by Giray. The flame of jealousy flares up again. The awakened maid calls for help. Girey runs in, but Zarema manages to plunge a dagger into her rival. Girey orders the guards to take Zarema away.
In the courtyard of the Bakhchisarai Palace, Girey yearns for Mary. The military leader Nurali, who returned with an army from a successful campaign, shows him new captives, but the khan is indifferent. And even the execution of Zarema did not satisfy Giray’s mental anguish. The servants try to entertain him with dancing, Nurali and the warriors call on the khan for new raids, but this does not console him. He orders the fountain that he built in memory of Mary, the “Fountain of Tears,” to be activated. Visions of the past appear before him. The singer's voice can be heard from afar:
Fountain of love, living fountain!
I brought you two roses as a gift.
I love your silent conversation
And poetic tears.
Your silver dust
Sprinkles me with cold dew:
Oh, pour in, pour in, the joyful key!
Murmur, hum your story to me...
Ballet "Bakhchisarai Fountain"
History of creation. Musical material of ballet
Among Asafiev’s best works, undoubtedly, his two Pushkin ballets should be included: “The Bakhchisarai Fountain” and “Prisoner of the Caucasus”. Both of them belong to the romantic genre of “choreographic poems”. The composition of both ballets is based on comparisons of two different national spheres (cultures) - Slavic (Russian, Polish) and Eastern (Caucasus, Crimea). In both cases, the composer strives for a truthful depiction of the era and the entire setting of the action, and makes extensive use of musical genres and other means typical of the musical life of the depicted time and place of action. Asafiev composer ballet creativity
“The Fountain of Bakhchisarai” was the first Soviet ballet on the Pushkin theme. The idea of creating a ballet belonged to the playwright and art critic N.D. Volkov, who outlined the script and involved Asafiev in its development. Pushkin's poem was largely developed, supplemented and turned into a dramatically effective ballet libretto. A scene appeared in the Polish castle, episodes of the Tatar raid, the capture and death of Maria, and the scene of Zarema’s execution were developed. The content of the poem formed the basis of a four-beat ballet performance, framed by a prologue and epilogue.
The dramaturgy of ballet is multifaceted. The contrasting construction of the action gives it harmony and relief. The music creates bright, expressive contrasts between Polish and Oriental scenes, genre episodes and lyrical-dramatic scenes, in which characters of different characters are compared. Already in the first act there is a comparison of two national cultures: Polish and Tatar. The lyrical image of Marie stands out against the background of lush, brilliant scenes of the holiday. In the second act, a new strong contrast arises: between everyday dance scenes and Zarema’s spiritual drama. The third act is especially rich in contrasts. It is based on the collision of three individual images: the elegiac-sad Maria, the passionate-dramatic Zarema and the soulfully noble Giray. Finally, in the fourth act, the wild dance of the Tatar riders is contrasted with the harsh drama of the execution of Zarema and the sublime lyricism of the romantic image of Girey. Thus, throughout the ballet, the method of contrasting comparisons was used as the basis for the musical and dramatic composition of the work.
The score of “The Bakhchisarai Fountain” harmoniously reflected the best features of Asafiev’s creative personality - an artist and an erudite scientist. The composer sought, in his words, “at all costs to preserve methodically... the era of Pushkin” and, more broadly, to convey in ballet music, in its general artistic structure, “that romantic that characterizes Russian advanced society on the approaches to Decembrism, and that which in turn is connected with Poland, flaming with national revolutionary ideals. All this was clearly reflected in the poetry of Pushkin, Mickiewicz, Shelley and Byron.”
In search of the typical melodic music of Pushkin’s time, Asafiev could not ignore the work of M.I. Glinka, since the spirit of the music of Pushkin’s era found its highest and typical expression in the work of the great musician and contemporary of the poet. But Asafiev used in his ballet not Glinka’s themes, but melodies of other composers of that era, marked by the same general stylistic features as Glinka’s melody - nobility, classical balance, plasticity of design.
The music of “The Fountain of Bakhchisarai” (prologue and epilogue) includes Gurilev’s romance “The Fountain of the Bakhchisarai Palace”, which surprisingly well expresses the enlightened and elegiac mood of Pushkin’s poems. The second “quote” from Russian musical life of the 20-30s was J. Field’s piano nocturne, which was close in its melodic structure to Gurilev’s romance. The theme of the nocturne characterizes Maria in the ballet. Interesting. that this “quote” reminds us of Glinka. The Field nocturne chosen by Asafiev is stylistically akin to the piano works of Glinka himself and organically fits into the general Pushkin-Glinka structure of music. These quotes are in many ways typical of the lyrical thematics of the ballet as a whole. In the same intonation plan, Asafiev composed many of his own themes. Thus, a whole series of episodes appear in the ballet, the melody of which is of a romance nature and, therefore, is close to the romance genre, so widespread in the musical culture of the Pushkin-Glinka era. The features of romance are felt in the episode “Mary’s Exit” (second act) and in other numbers of the ballet dedicated to the lyrical appearance of the main character of the work.
The ballet's score also contains other musical and stylistic features reminiscent of Russian music of Pushkin's era. An example is the overture (Adagio, Allegro molto D-dur). It has no thematic connections with ballet. With its carefree, cheerful, lively character, the overture rather contrasts with the dramatic content of the action. But such a contrast is typical of ballet overtures of the 20s of the 19th century.
Asafiev widely used the waltz genre in his ballet, raised by Glinka to a high degree of artistry and poetry, and then developed in the works of Tchaikovsky and Glazunov. In “The Fountain of Bakhchisarai” the waltz receives a variety of interpretations. In the waltz-duet of Mary and the young man (first act), the poetic side of the image of Mary is revealed. And in the Slave Waltz (act four) an oriental flavor appears.
The musical image of the era is also conveyed through instrumentation. In many episodes of the ballet score, Asafiev puts forward the part of the harp, an instrument widespread in the home musical life of those times. In the prologue, the melody of Gurilev's romance is played by the violin and cello (to the accompaniment of the harp). The harp performs a variation of the mari song style.
Devastated by the fire of war
Countries close to the Caucasus
And the peaceful villages of Russia,
Khan returned to Taurida
And in memory of sorrowful Mary
He erected a marble fountain,
Secluded in the corner of the palace.
........................
Young maidens in that country
We learned the legend of antiquity,
And a gloomy monument to her
A fountain of tears named.
The famous poem by A.S. Pushkin was of great importance for the poet himself - both because it brought him new fame, and because in it he poured out his own feelings, his “hidden” love for Sofya Stanislavovna Pototskaya. It was from her that Pushkin heard the legend of the Fountain in the Bakhchisarai Palace.
The story told by Sophia differed from folk legends. According to her version, under the name of Dilyara, a distant relative of Sophia, Maria Pototskaya, who was kidnapped during a raid on Poland, lived in the khan’s harem. Enchanted by the young princess, the khan forgot his former favorite - concubine Zarema. The appearance of Mary put her in line with those. whom she was accustomed to command. Blinded by jealousy and anger, Zarema kills Maria with a blow of a dagger.
The legend was told to Pushkin in 1820, during his visit to Crimea. The fountain, whose history aroused Pushkin's curiosity, did not make an impression on him. However, the legend firmly took hold in the poet’s heart. And then, after a while, a poem appeared, which the poet first called “Harem”, and later renamed “Bakhchisarai Fountain”.
This poem by A.S. Pushkin formed the basis of the ballet, first staged at the Mariinsky Theater in 1934.
Galina Ulanova and Vladimir Preobrazhensky
The performance was not only received by the audience, but Romain Rolland spoke enthusiastically about it. O. Knipper-Chekhova, I. Moskvin, A. Vaganova, artists, composers, literary scholars, seeing in this performance the first truly Pushkin ballet in history.
But back in 1838, a note was published in one of the newspapers of that time: “Mr. Taglioni, before leaving St. Petersburg, told us that he was taking with him the French translation of Pushkin’s poem “The Fountain of Bakhchisarai,” on which he wanted to compose a new ballet especially for St. Petersburg.” But a ballet with that name did not appear either then or much later. There were attempts, albeit unsuccessful ones, to embody the poem on the dramatic and operatic stages. And only in 1934 a ballet was created, where the deep lyrics and philosophical subtext of the work were revealed.
The premiere of the play in Moscow, at the Bolshoi Theater, took place two years later on June 11, 1936 - 80 years ago. The Bakhchisarai Fountain is a choreographic poem in four acts with a prologue and epilogue to the music of Boris Asafiev, staged by choreographer Rostislav Zakharov according to the script by Nikolai Volkov.
The first performers of the Moscow premiere were Vera Vasilyeva (Maria), Lyubov Bank (Zarema), Mikhail Gabovich (Vaclav), Pyotr Gusev (Girey) and Asaf Messerer (Nurali). At the Bolshoi Theater the performance was a huge success and was performed 93 times. The last performance was given on January 3, 1941.
A year and a half later, in July 1942, the performance was restored. The revival took place during the evacuation of the theater in Kuibyshev.
The main roles were performed by: I.V. Tikhomirova, G.P. Petrova, A.A. Tsarman, A.M. Messerer. During the year the performance was shown 34 times.
And half a year later, on January 23, 1944, the performance was resumed on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater. The part of Maria was performed by the incomparable Galina Ulanova, Zarema by S.M. Messerer, Vaclav by M.M. Gabovich, Gireya by P. Gusev, Nurali by the permanent A.M. Messerer.
On July 1, 1948, a note appeared in “Evening Moscow”: “Not so long ago, an event occurred at the Bolshoi Theater that seemed significant to those who love our ballet and rejoice at its success.
“The Fountain of Bakhchisarai” ballet is far from new, it has been familiar to everyone for a long time, suddenly it seemed younger, more excited and brighter than usual. We saw Raisa Struchkova and Maya Plisetskaya in their new roles of Maria and Zarema.
...Maria Struchkova appears as just a girl, carefree and happy... Her dance, swift, light, is an expression of joyful impulse. Having flown up, she seems to linger in the air, as if reluctantly returning to the ground. In every movement, turn, wave of the hands there is subtle artistry and purity of classical form, youthful charm and skill, although still fragile, but already speaking of strict taste, brought up by a good school.
Maya Plisetskaya has excellent characteristics: a uniquely beautiful face, an excellent figure, as if created for dance, a masterful technique, always justified emotionally. At just 22 years old, Plisetskaya has achieved significant skill, which helps her create on stage with ease and confidence.
We haven't seen Zarema with such a charming appearance for a long time. She seemed to have stepped out of an ancient Georgian miniature..."
On April 7, 1954, the premiere of a new edition of the ballet “The Fountain of Bakhchisarai” took place on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater. New scenes were staged, new costumes were made, and the scenery was partially replaced.
The day before, on April 6, 1954, a dress rehearsal of the ballet took place. "Evening Moscow" wrote: "The young conductor G. Rozhdestvensky conducted the performance. Mostly the young forces of the ballet troupe were involved in the performance. The premiere will take place tomorrow."
The main roles in the premiere performance of the revived ballet were performed by: V.I. Tikhomirova, L.K. Cherkasova, Yu.G. Kondratov, K.B. Richter, A.M. Messerer.
In the performance, R. Zakharov preserved everything valuable that he created in this production twenty years ago.
In May 1956, the 300th performance of the ballet "The Fountain of Bakhchisarai" took place. The wonderful work of B.V. Asafiev took its rightful place in the repertoire of the Bolshoi Theater.
In 1964, the ballet celebrated its 30th anniversary. The newspapers of that time wrote: “The philosophical essence of the poem, so precisely defined in his time by V. Belinsky, found figurative implementation in the choreography, the director’s interpretation of R. Zakharov. He built the performance, looking for the inner meaning and subtext of each episode, each part, trying to saturate their life colors, bright emotions."
On June 25, 1967, the 500th performance of the ballet “The Fountain of Bakhchisarai” took place on the stage of the Kremlin Palace of Congresses. The congratulatory telegram received by the theater from the Minister of Culture E. Furtseva said: “Please convey my sincere congratulations to the ballet group, the theater orchestra and the director of Asafiev’s ballet “The Fountain of Bakhchisarai”, Professor Zakharov, on the occasion of the 500th performance, staging of this wonderful realistic work was the beginning of the creation of a series of Pushkin ballets on the stages of the Bolshoi Theater and other theaters."
“The Bakhchisarai Fountain” became a landmark work of Soviet ballet art and testified to the creative maturity of the choreographic theater.
The ballet increased its fame with numerous productions not only on the Soviet ballet stage, but also in theaters in Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Finland, Mongolia, the USA, Turkey and Egypt. The geography of the productions alone indicates that on September 28, 1934, at the Leningrad Theater. Kirov, an event occurred that had a huge impact on musical and theatrical culture.
In September 1977, the last performance of the ballet “The Fountain of Bakhchisarai” took place at the Kremlin Palace of Congresses. It was dedicated to the 70th anniversary of Rostislav Zakharov.
Unfortunately, this ballet was never resumed on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater.
But the ballet continues to live and is successfully performed on many stages not only in Russia, but also abroad. And most importantly, he continues to live on the stage where the birth of this ballet took place - on the stage of the Leningrad, and now Mariinsky, Theater.
P.S. While in Bakhchisarai I couldn’t help but take a photo at the famous fountain.
