Don Quixote timeline December 26, 1869.
Don Quixote premiered at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow.
It was a ballet in four acts and eight scenes choreographed by Marius Petipa to the music of Leon Minkus. Lead roles of Kitri and Basilio were performed by Anna Sobeshanskaia and Sergei Sokolov respectively. The ballet counted numerous comic characters and mime scenes targeted Moscow audiences who at the time favored colorful pantomimic productions.
November 21, 1871. Marius Petipa stages a modified version of
Don Quixote in St. Petersburg. A number of mime scenes were rid off, giving way to classical and Spanish dances of which Marius Petipa was very fond. Minkus was commissioned to write music for the additional Fifth act and a character of Dulcinea was introduced, which was danced by the same ballerina as Kitri.
December 6, 1900. Alexander Gorsky staged the revival of the ballet for the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre.
Having retained classical sections from Petipa’s production, Gorsky introduced a new corps-de-ballet dynamics to Act One, which was not based on symmetry. He gave birth to new characters - the Queen of Dryads and her retinue. A new
Spanish Dance was added to the last scene. Famous Russian painters Korovin and Golovin were commissioned to design the sets and costumes, which greatly contributed to the success of Gorsky's revival.
February 2, 1902. Alexander Gorsky stages his version for the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. Casting of the premiere reads who is who in the ballet world:
Kitri ..... Mathilda Kschessinskaya
Basil ..... Nikolai Legat
Don Quixote ..... Aleksei Bulgakov
Sancho Panza ..... Enrico Cecchetti
Gamache ..... Pavel Gerdt
Street Dancer ..... Olga Preobrazhenskaya
Amor ..... Tamara Karsavina
Juanita ..... Anna Pavlova
The vivacious
Grand pas des toreadors was transplanted from Petipa’s ballet
Zoraiya to the music by Minkus. Another composer, Riccardo Drigo was commissioned to write two new variations choreographed especially for Matilda Kschessinskaya — the famous
Kitri Variation with the Fan and
Dulcinea variation from the
Dream Scene.