"The Talisman" w/ Carla Fracci @ age 61!!! (pt.3)

Excerpt from the premiere of a revival of Marius Petipa's 1889 grand ballet "The Talisman", set to the magnificent music of Maestro Riccardo Eugenio Drigo, w/ the great ballerina Carla Fracci at the age of 61!!! Choreography by Paul Chalmers. Performed by the Balletto al Teatro Filarmonica (aka the Ballet of the Arena di Verona). Filmed at the Teatro Filarmonica of Verona, Italy. March 16, 1997. Carla Fracci - the Goddess Niriti Alessandro Molin - Vayou, the wind God. Stephan Fournial - Nourredin, Maharajah of Lahore This clip is taken from the second act, in which Niriti appears to her beloved Nourredin in the guise of the Goddess of the Flowers. Vayou, Niriti's protector, also appears, and, true to 19th century ballet form, a wonderful "Grand pas des fleurs" is performed. 1. Pas d'andante à trois 2. Valse (Drigo's waltz is lovely enough to rival Strauss II himself!) Marius Petipa produced his grandiose spectacle "The Talisman" in 1889 at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre for the ballerina Elena Cornalba. He then revived it for the Prima ballerina assoluta Pierina Legnani in 1895. The ballet was revived a 3rd time in 1909 by Nikolai Legat for the ballerina Olga Preobrajenskaya, with Vaslav Nijinsky as Vayou (Nijinsky caused a sensation in this role). For Legat's revival Drigo produced a completely new version of his 1889 score. As with many of the old grand ballets from Tsarist times, the Russian revolution of 1917 indirectly lead to "The Talisman" being taken from the Mariinsky Theatre's repertory. Around 1950 the famed balletmaster Pyotr Gusev created what is today known as "The Talisman Pas de Deux", which utilizes various pieces from Drigo's scores for "The Talisman" and "The Pearl", as well as variations taken from some of Petipa's other works.

YouTube | November 10, 2007

Tags:. .grandiose. .prima. .balletto. .chalmers. .talisman