Ondine (Perrot)

"Ondine, ou La naïade"; a.k.a. 'La Naïade et le pêcheur', is a ballet with choreography by Jules Perrot and music by Cesare Pugni, with a libretto inspired by the novel "Undine" by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué. Pugni dedicated his score to the Duchess of Cambridge, Princess Augusta, a long-time balletomane and patron of the arts in London.

History

The ballet was first presented by the ballet of Her Majesty's Theatre, London on 22 June 1843. Fanny Cerrito danced the title rôle, while Perrot himself played her mortal beloved, the fisherman Mattéo.

The original scenery was designed by William Grieve. A contemporary review described it as " ... one of the most beautiful productions that any stage ever boasted of." and praised Cerrito as a " ... step-revealing goddess." [Illustrated London News, July 14, 1843, page 45.]

Cesare Pugni's was hailed as a masterwork of ballet music. "The Times", a London newspaper, described Pugni's score as cquote|... singularly appropriate, quite descriptive, and adds charm and perfection to the ballet. In the scene where the young fisherman Mattéo is conveyed into the depths of the sea, and the naiads dance their many fascinations around him, the musical accompaniments which describe the rise and fall of the waves are eminently characteristic and beautiful: the very ripple of the flow, and the rushing sound of the ebb over the pebbly strand are heard, and fully satisfy the ear.

Plot

The ballet bore little resemblance to de la Motte Fouqué's "Undine":

"The plot is no more like the romantic baron's story than it is like that of Robinson Crusoe, excepting so far as a water-nymph is the heroine. Therefore, the readers of "Undine" have to unlearn all they know, if they would avoid mystification while witnessing the marvels of the new ballet." [cite journal|last=Au|first=Susan
url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/view/1567379?seq=1
journal=Dance Chronicle|volume=2|issue=3|year=1978|pages=159|publisher=Taylor & Francis, Ltd|title=The Shadow of Herself: Some Sources of Jules Perrot's "Ondine"|accessdate=2008-05-07]

Their only point in common appears to be the ill-fated love of a water sprite, Ondine, with for a mortal man who already has a mortal sweetheart. However, the ballet's divergence from the original novel "derive from intermediary works linking the book and the ballet, which Perrot used to enrich and enhance his theatrical conception" [cite journal|last=Au|first=Susan
url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/view/1567379?seq=2
journal=Dance Chronicle|volume=2|issue=3|year=1978|pages=160|publisher=Taylor & Francis, Ltd|title=The Shadow of Herself: Some Sources of Jules Perrot's "Ondine"|accessdate=2008-05-07] . The greatest changes that Perrot made to the basic plot were the change of location from the darkly evocative Danube to the sunnier shores of Sicily, and the transformation of the aristocratic Sir Huldbrand into the humble fisherman Matteo, while Undine's rival Bertalda became the orphan Giannina. In many ways, Perrot's ballet is more similar to René-Charles Guilbert de Pixerécourt's play of the story, "Ondine, ou la Nymphe des Eaux", which was first presented in Paris in 1830 while Perrot was also performing there.

Description of the ballet

The ballet is divided into three acts and six scenes.

Revival

During his engagement as "Premier Maître de Ballet" of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres in Russia, Jules Perrot presented an elaborately expanded production of "Ondine, ou La Naïade" under the title "La Naïade et le pêcheur" ("The Naiad and the Fisherman") at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre on OldStyleDate|11 February|1851|January 30. For the production, Cesare Pugni, who had accompanied Perrot to Russia, extensively revised and expanded his original score of 1843. For the première, Perrot and Grisi reprised their rôles as the naïade Ondine and the fisherman Mattéo. The production premièred to great success.

On OldStyleDate|23 July|1851|11 July, Perrot presented his production for a performance at Peterhof staged especially for the celebrations held in honor of the name-day of the Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, daughter of Emperor Nicholas I. For the performance, a stage was erected above the water of the lake of the Ozerky Pavilion.

Marius Petipa revived Perrot's "La Naïade et le pêcheur" for the Imperial Ballet on several occasions throughout his career as "Premier Maître de Ballet" during the latter half of the 19th century. In 1867 he revised much of the choreography for the performance of Ekaterina Vazem, with Pugni composing two new variations especially for her performance. Petipa later staged his own complete revivals of the full-length work:
*OldStyleDate|7 November|1874|27 October for the "Prima ballerina" Eugenia Sokolova, with musical revisions by Ludwig Minkus.
*OldStyleDate|2 October|1892|20 September for the "Prima ballerina" Vavara Nikitina, with musical revisions by Riccardo Drigo.

Cesare Pugni's grandson, "Second Maître de Ballet" of the Imperial Theatres and former "Premier danseur" Alexander Shiryaev, mounted a revival of "La Naïade et le pêcheur" especially for the "Prima ballerina" Anna Pavlova. The revival premièred on OldStyleDate|20 December|1903|7 December, and was the last revival of Perrot's ballet staged in Imperial Russia, though the full-length ballet continued being performed by the Leningrad ballet until 1931.

The Ballet Master Pierre Lacotte staged a revival of Perrot's ballet under the title "Ondine" for the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet, a production that opened on 16 March, 2006 at the Mariinsky Theatre of St. Petersburg, Russia, with a reconstruction of Cesare Pugni's score from the original violin répétiteur prepared for Perrot's 1851 revival.

Sir Frederick Ashton paid tribute to Perrot in his own choreography for Hans Werner Henze's music for "Ondine" by incorporating his own version of the "Shadow Dance" into the first act.

Critical reaction to the "Pas de l'ombre"

HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE
THE SHADOW DANCE FROM "ONDINE."

says Byron; but we require some stronger, more satisfactory reason why, in sober health, we become occasionally indifferent to the beautiful realities of our own earth, and fly to the immortals for ecstacies that, after all, are but a poet's dream. Everybody is not a Numa, and therefore cannot indulge in the blissful phantasy that he holds intercourse with "moulds beyond the earth;" and yet we would if we could, such is our "longing after immortality."

how often hast thou been conjured up to our imagination! But "hence! unreal mockeries, hence!" and leave us to our task, not of criticism on the present occasion, but that of recording one of the most beautiful productions that any stage ever boasted of. The ballet of "Ondine," everybody by this time knows, is founded on La Motte Fouqué's fanciful and interesting story of "Undine," but does not adhere very faithfully to the original. Never mind: narration must give way to impersonation, particularly when we see such a "step-revealing goddess as Cerito " [sic: should be Cerrito] " in the principal character. Her dancing the "pas de l'ombre" (which is illustrated above) is in the highest degree beautiful, and inclines us to agree more than ever with the old Greek assertion that "Dancing is silent poetry." Nothing can be more enchanting than Cerito's innocent surprise when she first sees her shadow, and thinks it (or makes you believe she thinks it) to be something tangible and

The dioramic effect of the scene in which this "pas" occurs reflects the highest possible credit upon Grieve, the artist. No other stage-painter is so acquainted with the use of compound lights, commonly called mediums. It is a splendid specimen of skill in the art, and it is only to be regretted that such things are so evanescent, for we could see them a thousand times "with yet unwearied eyes." Although Cerito is "la déesse" of the scene, we must not be indifferent to the exquisite grace of Guy Stephan. She is one who could take the place of any more talked-of rival, and leave criticism nothing to do but applaud with rapture. In fact, the "danseuse" that in the presence of Taglioni was honoured with an "encore" of one of her "pas" must be allowed to

ee also

*Undine (Henze), for the ballet on the same theme, by Hans Werner Henze.

Notes

Video of Pierre Lacotte's 2007 revival of "Ondine" for the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet

* [http://www.dropshots.com/solor#date/2006-06-08/23:28:41 "Grand pas des naïades"]

* [http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?ei=UTF-8&b=44&vid=283563&gid=117323 "Pas de l'ombre"]

*"Introduction et premier tableau" & the "Grand ballabile des pêcheurs"—
** [http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=62328 pt.1]
** [http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=62329 pt.2]
** [http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=62330 pt.3]