Ballet "Ivan the Terrible": production history, plot, reviews

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Every year, theatrical universities release more and more new directors. Every year, theaters put on new performances. Some "shoot in the bullseye" and win the love of the viewer, some pass by. But only a few create a real sensation. The ballet "Ivan the Terrible" succeeded to the highest degree.

Start

In the middle of the twentieth century, Sergei Eisenstein's film "Ivan the Terrible" saw the light of day. Sergei Prokofiev wrote a wonderful melody for it, and the conductor Abram Stasevich helped to dub it. It was he who, admiring the wonderful music of Prokofiev, thought for the first time about how to make a performance based on this music. Back in the early sixties, he composed an oratorio (a few years earlier, he received permission to “do whatever you want” from the author himself), and later voiced his idea to two people - music editor Mikhail Chulaki and production designer Yuri Grigorovich. According to their recollections, this idea was relevant precisely because both in the film and in the music there were great opportunities for choreography, the dance seemed to be born out of thin air. Grigorovich later said that it was precisely and exclusively from music that he repelled in creatinglibretto of the ballet "Ivan the Terrible".

In the early seventies, Abram Stasevich died, but Chulaki and Grigorovich independently continued to work on the future ballet. In addition to Stasevich's oratorio, the music editor organically wove three more compositions by Sergei Prokofiev into the outline of the work.

As a result

"Ivan the Terrible" is a ballet in 2 acts. This is a story that revolves around three real-life characters - the young Ivan the Fourth (future the Terrible), his wife Tsarina Anastasia and the closest associate of Andrei Kurbsky. At first it was supposed to be a historical performance, but later this idea was abandoned, and the output turned out to be a story about the love of the great Russian Tsar. It is interesting that at first the role of Kurbsky in the libretto of the ballet "Ivan the Terrible" was not spelled out at all, however, after mature reflection, Grigorovich introduced him into the plot - and he did not fail, the performance turned out to be only richer and more dynamic.

"Ivan the Terrible" was ready by the beginning of 1975 and became by those standards an extremely unusual phenomenon in the ballet world: ballets based entirely on Russian plots, and even on a historical theme, are a huge rarity. The uniqueness of this performance, among other things, also lies in the demonstration of the life of the whole country at that distant difficult time.

A little about the creators

The author of the ballet "Ivan the Terrible" is usually called Yuri Grigorovich. His merit is indeed great. By the time of working on this work, the master already had such performances as "The Stone Flower", "Swan Lake", "Spartacus", "The Nutcracker" and others,staged by him on the stages of various theaters and walking there with great success. Grigorovich, People's Artist of the Soviet Union and Hero of Socialist Labor, is rightfully called one of the outstanding choreographers of the last century. By the way, the maestro is still alive and celebrated his 90th birthday in January of this year.

Departed in 1953, Sergei Prokofiev for the ballet "Ivan the Terrible", strictly speaking, has nothing to do with himself - he did not participate in the creation of the performance. However, if it were not for his beautiful music that inspired others, nothing would have happened at all. Therefore, he can also be called the author of the ballet "Ivan the Terrible". Prokofiev was a People's Artist of the RSFSR, laureate of the Lenin and Stalin Prizes, the creator of many compositions in a wide variety of genres.

One cannot but say about the composer of the ballet "Ivan the Terrible" Mikhail Chulaki. Until 1970, he was the director of the Bolshoi Theater, was a professor at the Moscow Conservatory, the author of several ballets, published memoirs and a book about the instruments of the symphony orchestra.

The artist of the ballet "Ivan the Terrible" Simon Virsaladze is also a colorful figure. Those who had a chance to work with him remember him as "the last of the Mohicans", a man who had a surprisingly fine sense of the direction of the play and the stage space. He created masterpieces right on the actor, "in front of the surprised public." Nobody else worked like that. Virsaladze was the chief designer of the Opera and Ballet Theater in St. Petersburg, laureateLenin and Stalin Prizes, worked as an artist in various theaters in Russia and Georgia (he was Georgian by nationality), designed many magnificent performances.

Special mention also deserves the ideological inspirer of the ballet "Ivan the Terrible" Abram Stasevich, a respected conductor, artist. Being a great admirer of Prokofiev, he conducted his music in many works of art. He worked in the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra of the Union, toured the USA.

Ballet "Ivan the Terrible": summary

As already mentioned, all the action revolves around Ivan the Terrible, Anastasia and Andrei Kurbsky. In the first act, young Ivan begins his reign (in front of the viewer, 1547, Ivan is seventeen years old), which makes the boyars extremely unhappy, who themselves were aiming for his place. The new tsar must choose his wife - and he chooses Anastasia, for whom Ivan's ally Andrei Kurbsky also has sympathy. Foreigners attack Russia, a battle begins, led by the young tsar and Kurbsky. The king's army is victorious and triumphantly returns home, but the joy is premature: an unexpected illness slays Ivan. The boyars hopefully await the liberation of the throne, but the tsar copes with his illness and is ready to get even with the offenders.

The second act begins with the plot of the boyars against the tsar, and Andrei Kurbsky also takes part in it. The poisoned Anastasia becomes the first victim of the conspiracy, Kurbsky flees the country, the people start a riot. Ivan takes the loss hard, his anger is terrible. He orders the new entourage of guardsmen to deal with the boyars. There is a harsh judgment. At the end of the performance, Ivan the Terrible is left alone, having lost everything except power (this is 1568, the tsar is already thirty-eight).

The sympathy of the director is on the side of the tsar, and this is also unusual - the terror of Grozny is usually condemned, but Grigorovich does not condemn him, considering cruelty necessary in that case. Oddly enough, the censors also agreed with this interpretation (in Soviet times, any work had to undergo mandatory censorship - permission to be published), calling Grigorovich's brainchild "epoch-making".

Central characters

As already mentioned, there are three main characters, but the “most important” among them, of course, is Tsar Ivan the Fourth. Not because he is a king, but because the performance vividly shows the transformation of character - from a young man, almost a boy, happy and in love, to a lonely, wise man, whose life is full of cruelty and blood. Ballet shows not only and not so much a love story as a true tragedy of a person - and with the help of dance.

Such a large-scale role needed to be played on a grand scale. Not only good physical fitness was expected from the artist, but also special charisma, the viewer had to believe that he was facing a villain. Grigorovich recalled that for each new performer of the main part, he selected a dance and drawing, rehearsing and choosing with him. It was after the last performer of the role left for London in 1990, and they could not find a suitable artist to replace him, that the performance was closed.

Ivan the Terriblethe performance is shown, according to the general opinion of many historians, much softer than it actually was. So, for example, the relationship between the real tsar and the real Kurbsky was not built only on the love of both for the same woman - their confrontation was of a political nature. In addition, the real Ivan did not defend the Russian lands, but only conquered new territories for Russia. However, Grigorovich always responded to such reproaches in the same way - that this is a ballet that did not set as its goal a reliable depiction of historical events, here the motive is of a slightly different kind.

The first performer of the second main role - Andrei Kurbsky - Boris Akimov, recalled that the roles of Ivan and Andrei were built on contrast: one blond, the second brunette, one in a dark suit, the other in a light one, and so on. The task of the artist was to make his Kurbsky as strong-willed as Ivan, but more lyrical.

First performers

The "golden cast" of the ballet "Ivan the Terrible", which, according to many, no one managed to surpass, looked like this: the part of Ivan was performed by Yuri Vladimirov (it was said later that he alone managed to find the image of the "ideal "Tsar), Anastasia - Natalya Bessmertnova (who, by the way, was the wife of Yuri Grigorovich) and Kurbsky - Boris Akimov, already mentioned above. In an interview, he recalled that they worked with this team for two and a half seasons, and admitted that such a period is rare, because usually there is always a second squad for safety net. Akimov also proudly mentioned that not a single performance was disrupted -complete understanding and unity reigned in the troupe.

Later the role of Ivan was danced by Vladimir Vasiliev, Alexander Godunov and Irek Mukhamedov. The latter became the “final” performer - it was after his departure that the ballet was removed from the repertoire.

In Russia

The premiere of the ballet "Ivan the Terrible" at the Bolshoi Theater of Moscow was sold out in February 1975 and was a resounding success. It was said that this was a "coup" in the world of ballet. It was this performance that was lucky - being new, just “born”, literally a couple of months after the premiere it was equipped for foreign tours. At the time, this practice was incredibly rare. For fifteen years, "Ivan the Terrible" was played on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater 99 times.

Abroad

Already in the summer of 1975, the troupe of the Bolshoi Theater with the ballet "Ivan the Terrible" went to the USA, where the performance was also a success. It was there that the director of the Paris Opera saw him. The ballet made such an impression on the Frenchman that he immediately went backstage and arranged for a performance to be staged in Paris. The agreement was put into effect next year. Artists from the Bolshoi Theater danced alongside French artists at the premiere.

The success of the Russian performance with the French audience was stunning. The press called it "grand", "monumental", "masterpiece", "great in design", "large-scale", "breakthrough". They wrote that the Russians helped the French theater "break the impasse", that thisthe performance will certainly "go down in the history of ballet." They celebrated unsurpassed choreography, wonderful music and bewitching scenery. For a long time the performance was staged in Paris, then it was removed from the repertoire, and in 2003 it was returned to the stage again. In total, the Bolshoi Theater troupe performed the ballet Ivan the Terrible abroad about the same number of times as in Moscow.

Return

After 1990, the ballet was not heard for a long time - as much as eleven years. And then began the long journey back to the big stage. First, Grigorovich staged a production for the Kremlin Ballet Company, then he helped to restore the performance in Paris, and in 2006 he worked in Krasnodar.

The performance did not return to the Bolshoi Theater, although attempts were made by many different people. The matter was complicated by the fact that the heirs of Sergei Prokofiev, who lived abroad, forbade anyone to use the music of their great ancestor. Permission was given only to Grigorovich - and only in 2011. Thus began preparations for the return of the legend. In September 2012, rehearsals began, and two months later, the first show took place, which became a real event in the art world.

The new performers of the main parts were helped by the "old men", they talked about their experience, about the vision of the role. We watched old records, “dug” in memory. The scenery was also restored - unfortunately, without Virsaladze, who died in 1989. Together, everything took place - and received a wide variety of reviews.

Opinions

Rarely happensso that everyone agrees on a single point of view - whether it is positive or negative. So the ballet "Ivan the Terrible" received both disapproving comments and enthusiastic ones - both today and forty years ago. They said that young people should be taught at this performance - in contrast, it was heard that it was too ideological. Some considered it a creative success, others - the glorification of the "demon".

The audience noted the scale of the era, which the artists perfectly managed to convey, admired the music that organically formed into the performance, did not cease to be amazed at the costumes and scenography. All this, according to their reviews, created the power and greatness of the time of Ivan the Terrible. They also talked about the amazing performance of the main characters, about how amazingly this trio felt each other (in this case, we are talking about the first cast).

Interesting facts

1. Igor Iebra Iglesias was the first foreigner to dance the part of Grozny on the Russian stage.
2. Preparing for the role of Andrei Kurbsky in 2012, artist Pavel Dmitrichenko specifically looked for coins from the time of Grozny - to feel the spirit of the era.
3. To restore the ballet in 2012, part of the costumes were brought from Paris.
4. The original name of the performance is "Pictures from the Life of Russia". It changed several times before the final one was approved.
5. The fact that the real Anastasia was really poisoned was proved only in 2000.
6. Historical fact: the real Ivan the Terrible also danced, despite the severity of his nature.
7. Many made analogiesbetween Ivan the Terrible and Joseph Stalin.

There are a lot of various performances, and there are only a few of those that would be talked about for decades. Talk about the ballet "Ivan the Terrible" has not ceased for many years. This gives rise to a sense of pride that such a masterpiece was staged in Russia.