In the year of 1910 Michail Fokine, a principal dancer of the Mariinsky Theater and by then already known as a choreography, was commissioned a ballet for the evening gala
Carnaval, organized by
Satiricon magazine. Fokine himself chose the music by Robert Schumann. This is what he later wrote in his book called
Against the Trend:
Цитата:
The ballet revolves around various personages connected by the ever present and hard on luck Pierrot, funny Pantalon and Harlequin who emerges a winner from all kinds of tricky situations and misadventures.
I wanted the plot to originate and evolve on stage so that at the end it can engage the whole audience. There was the initial plot involving lovesick Harlequin and his Columbine. But all adventures and misadventures of Pierrot and Pantalon emerged as a result of us improvising during the rehearsals.
Premiered on March 5, 1910, by the Ballets Russes in Saint-Petersburg,
Carnaval was later shown on stage of Opéra Garnier in Paris, June 4,1910 to be exact. The ballet was a great success and M. Fokine himself danced Harlequin.
........................................................................................................mariinka.org team
Pierrot
Harlequin
Columbine
