Minkus: Don Quixote
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Composer: Leon MinkusConductor: Nayden Todorov
Orchestra: Sofia National Opera Orchestra
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
CD Release Date: 2004-02-17
Music Label: Naxos
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- Introduction
- Allegro
- Entrance Of Don Quixote
- Allegro Assai
- Sancho Panza, Saved From His Pursuers, Is Appointed Don Quixote's Squire
- A Square In Barcelona
- Quiteria (Kitri) Enters
- Quiteria And Basilio
- Moreno
- Scene: Lorenzo, Quiteria And Basilio
- Camacho Enters
- Seguidilla
- Street Dancer And Toreador
- Espada
- Moderato
- Scene Of The Toreador
- Street Dancer
- Coda
- Don Quixote And Sancho Panza
- Sancho And The Girls
- Their Friends
- Don Quixote Invites Quiteria To A Minuet
- Basilio With Friends
- Quiteria's Variation
- Coda: Basilio And Quiteria Make Their Escape
- Windmill
- Quiteria And Basilio
- Giga
- Carmencita
- Sola A Gitana
- Spanish Dance
- Sailor's Dance
- Scene
- Coda
- Gypsy Dance I
- Gypsy Dance II
- Scene: Puppet Theatre, Attacked By Don Quixote, Who Then Attacks The Windmill
- Don Quixote Sleeps
- Allegro
- He Dreams Of Dulcinea
- Allegretto
- The Queen Of The Dryads
- Amour
- Quiteria's Variation As Dulcinea
- Souvenir Du Bal
- Coda
- March
- Scene
- Amour
- Classical Variation I
- Flower Waltz
- Classical Variation II
- Entree
- Dryads' Variation
- Basilio's Variation
- Quiteria's Variation
- Quiteria's Variation (The Fan)
- Coda
- Finale: Spanish Dance
Music reviews of Minkus: Don Quixote
Music Review: A complete recording has yet to appear.....
Rating: 5 Stars
Although this recording by the Sofia National Opera Orchestra states that the score recorded here is "complete", it is not. Rather, it is a complete recording of whichever score the Sofia National Opera Orchestra was able to obtain. A complete recording of Ludwig Minkus's (1826-1917) full, un-cut score for Marius Petipa's "Don Quixote" has yet to be produced. When it comes to the music of the classical/Petipa/19th century repertory, there is an epidemic of misconceptions concerning history and authorship. The score of "Don Quixote" is a case in point, and the fact that the ballet was much revised during the first 50-70 years years of its stage life, and the fact the score was published in some rather negligent editions, has added to the mystery.
Marius Petipa's "Don Quixote" was originally produced for the Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow in 4 acts and 8 tableaux. It was performed for the first time on December 26 [O.S. December 14] 1869. Petipa and Minkus then mounted the work for the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg in an expanded edition of 5 acts and 11 tableaux. The premiere on November 21 [O.S. November 9] 1871 was very successful, and lead to a long collaboration between Petipa and Minkus that would last until 1886. It was Alexander Gorsky's new version of Petipa's "Don Quixote" that would serve as the basis for all modern productions. Gorsky originally staged his version for the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the first performance taking place on December 19 [O.S. December 6] 1900. This version modified Petipa's scenario to 3 acts and 6 tableaux, and Minkus's score was trimmed and supplemented with new music by the composer Anton Simon. In 1902 the Director of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theaters Vladimir Telyakovsky invited Gorsky to mount his production of "Don Quixote" for the Imperial Ballet of the Mariinsky. More changes were made, including new pieces lifted from some of Minkus's other works, and two new variations by composer Riccardo Drigo for Mathilde Kschessinskaya, who performed the role of Kitri. The premiere on February 2 [O.S. January 20] 1902 shocked the St. Petersburg balletomanes with its realistic crowd scenes and décor. Petipa was outraged by the production, which did not last long in the repertory of the Imperial Ballet.
Nevertheless Gorsky's version of "Don Quixote" was not forgotten, and it eventually reappeared in St. Petersburg throughout the 1910s, eventually finding a place in the permanent repertory. The ballet lived on in Russia well after the revolution of 1917, with Minkus's score going through a galaxy of alterations along the way. In 1923 Fydor Lopukhov staged a new version for the former Imperial Ballet in Leningrad that included a new "Fandango" by Eduard Nápravník. Rostislav Zakharov staged a new version of the ballet for the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in 1940, which included new music by Vassily Soloviev-Sedoy. These additions eventually found their way into the Leningrad production. Pyotr Gusev staged another version at the Kirov Theatre in 1946, with the original libretto modified by Yuri Slonomsky, new dances by Nina Anisimova (for the tavern scene), and décor restored from the original 1902 designs prepared for Gorsky's Petersburg staging. This production is still retained in the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet's repertory today.
The earliest published piano reductions of Minkus's score have added to much of the confusion surrounding this ballet's music. The score was first published in 1882 by the publisher Th. Stellowsky, and the same material was published again in 1892 by A. Gutheil. The version published by Stellowsky & Gutheil divides some of the tableaux into 5 seperate acts, in spite of the fact that a tableau may simply be one scene of a particluar act, rather than a whole act unto itself. To make matters worse, Stellowsky and Gutheil never realized that they had published some of the tableaux out of order. In 1902 Stellowsky brought out Minkus's score as revised for Gorsky's 3 act production. What boggles the mind is the fact that Stellowsky re-used the original 1882 score's frontispiece for the 1902 Gorsky score, which has lead many historians to believe incorrectly that the 1902 edition is in fact Minkus's original score. Both the 1882 and 1902 Stellowsky scores have been re-published in the west in several editions, such as Dance Book's 1979 reproduction of Stellowsky's 1882 score. Although the 1892 Gutheil edition has never been re-issued, it can be easily obtained through libraries and online via IMSLP.
The score offered here by Nayden Todorov and the Sofia National Opera Orchestra refelects the century and a half of revisions Minkus's music has gone through. As with all modern-day Russian productions, the score omits much of the delightful music that Minkus wrote for the ballet, and yet it includes several pieces taken from some of his other works as well as the additional music from others. Over the years, many of these additional pieces by other composers have been erroneously credited to Minkus.
With Minkus's music, the manner in which it is conducted can either make the score shine brightly or turn it into very a dull affair. Todorov does a rather straight-forward job, but ti is nothing special. In my opinion, it is extreme dynamics that can make much of Minkus's music shine. Strangley enough, the Sofia National Opera Orchestra recorded the exact same material onyl a few years before with Boris Spassov at the helm for the label Cappricio. Unfortunately modern-day dancers slow tempi down endlessly, and both recordings reflect this.
A truly complete recording of Minkus's score for Petipa's "Don Quixote" has yet to appear on disc (or in published form). The fact that some serious reconstructive work may have to go in to such a project makes it unlikely any time soon. It would seem that the Mariinsky Theatre's music library is the only place on earth where one could obtain the complete original orchestral parts of Petipa's 1871 staging, and they are not very keen on sharing their archives (in spite of the fact they so rarely utilize it themselves).
Minkus has been poorly represented on disc, and there are many other treasures of his waiting to be discovered. Recently, the pianist Igor Zapravdin recorded a triple-disc series of ballet class CDs that offer several rarely heard pieces from long-gone-from-the-stage works by Minkus and his contemporaries.
Recently, the Moscow International Symphonic Orchestra issued a far superior recording of "Don Quixote" to the one reviewed here. Though it offers much of the same material, it demonstrates just how much of a delight the score can be when conducted properly.
I have tried, to the best of my ability, to identify the origins of all the additional pieces found in this recording. The majority of them, particularly the Soviet-era additions, really clash with Minkus's score. The liner notes for this recording make quite a few errors, and i have corrected these below, along with providing the origins of the additional pieces:
--CD 1 / Tracks 13-18: The "Grand pas des toréadors". I have read that this suite of dances, performed by 8 Bull-fighters and a street dancer named Mercedes, was actually extracted by Gorsky from Minkus's score for Petipa's 1881 ballet "Zoraïa, ou La Maure en Espagne" (a ballet also set in Spain), and that he included it in his 1902 staging of "Don Quixote" at the Mariinsky. The liner notes included with Boris Spassov's recording of "Don Quixote" also mention that this suite is taken from Petipa's "Zoraïa". Interestingly, the 1882 Stellowsky edition of Minkus's original score includes it, something that makes the origins of this suite confusing. It is possible that Petipa may have produced a revival of "Don Quixote" not long after the premiere of "Zoraïa" for which he interpolated the "Grand pas des toréadors" into the ballet. The 1882 Stellowsky score may have been published to commemorate such a revival. Another possibility is that the "Grand pas des toréadors" may have been originally composed for "Don Quixote", and then added by Petipa to "Zoraïa". Gorsky may have simply restored the suite to "Don Quixote" for his staging.
--CD 1 / Track 26: incorrectly called "Windmill". This is an introduction that was obviously a Soviet-era addition tacked on to Track 27 ("Quiteria and Basilio" in the liner notes). It is likely by Anton Simon, who revised the score for Gorsky's 1900 revival at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.
--CD 1 / Track 27: "Giga". This is the "Sailor's Dance" by Vassily Soloviev-Sedoy likely composed for Zakharov's 1940 revival in Moscow.
--CD 1 / Track 28: "Karmenciita". A piece by Vassily Soloviev-Sedoy that was likely composed for Zakharov's 1940 revival in Moscow. Strangely enough, the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet's production of "Don Quixote" retains the introduction of this piece for an "Oriental Dance" performed during the divertissement of the tavern scene.
--CD 2 / Track 1: "Solo a gitana". This is an orchestration of the Fandango from Eduard Nápravník's Op.51/no.2 "Spanish pieces for piano", apparently added to Lopukhov's 1923 revival at the Markiinsky.
--CD 2 / Track 2: "Spanish Dance". Anton Simon is certainy responsible for this addition, again for the Gosrky staging.
--CD 2 / Track 3: incorrectly called "Sailor's Dance". This Spanish Dance is also by Anton Simon.
--CD 2 / Track 13: "The Queen of Dryads". Yet another title error. This is the dance called "Dryad's Mistresses", being an additional piece by Anton Simon for Gorksy version, possibly for a group of coryphées and/or the corps de ballet. I have never seen any modern-day production of "Don Quixote" that retains this piece.
--CD 2 / Track 14: "Amour". This variation is traditionally danced by the Cupid character in the famous dream scene of "Don Quixote". It also turns up in various stagings of the famous "Paquita Grand pas classique", particularly the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet's staging. The conductor/composer Alexei Papkov is the actual author. Papkov served as principal conductor of ballet performances in St. Petersburg until he was succeeded by Riccardo Drigo in 1886. He was known to compose supplemental pieces for various ballets on occasion, and this variation is one piece to have survived. It seems that it was added to the Imperial Ballet's production of the full-length "Paquita" for the ballerina Varvara Nikitina circa 1885. This is quite suprising, considering how well the music serves its purpose in accompaying the dancing of Cupid.
--CD 2 / Track 15: "Quiteria's Variation as Dulcinea". This variation was composed by Riccardo Drigo for Mathilde Kschessinskaya, who danced the role of Kitri in Gorsky's St. Petersburg staging of "Don Quixote" in 1902. Unfortunatey, the orchestral parts used for this recording present a re-orchestration of Drigo's music. It seems that the Mariinsky Theatre is the only place where one can hear Drigo's original.
--CD 2 / Track 16: "Souvenir du Bal". This is the variation traditionally associated with the so-called Dryad Queen in the famous dream scene of "Don Quixote", a character that was actually created by Gorsky. The music is by Anton Simon. It is likely that this music, a solo for violin, was originally composed by Simon as a salon piece, and was never intended for choreography (the original published piano reduction of this piece gives it the title "Souvenir du Bal", with no clue as to its legacy in "Don Quixote"). When Rudolf Nureyev first staged the so-called "Le Corsaire pas de deux" in London in 1962, Margot Fonteyn danced this variation in place of the original solo. Ever since, many stagings of the pas de deux have retained the variation, which has added to the confusion about its origins.
--CD 2 / Track 18: "March". Vladimir Vasiliev's production of "Don Quixote" credited this march as being the work of Yuli Gerber, a contemporary of Minkus who composed for ballets primarily in Moscow. The Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet's recent reconstruction of "La Bayadère" fully restored Minkus's score, which opened up passages usually edited out of the "Marche triomphale" at the start of the third tableau. What is very odd is that these passages are identicle to those found in the march in question from "Don Quixote". Considering how similar both marches are to one another, I'm pretty sure that the "Don Quixote" march is by Minkus.
--CD 2 / Track 21: "Classical Variation I". This variation is by Riccardo Drigo, a viennese style waltz. It was originally composed for Petipa's ballet "Le Réveil de Flore". The Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet's recent reconstruction of this ballet sadly did not include this variation, which was one of four extra variations Drigo wrote for "Le Réveil de Flore" at some point after the ballet's 1894 premiere. This variation also turns up in American Ballet Theatre's production of "Le Corsaire" during the scene "Le Jardin animé" as a solo for the character Medora.
--CD 2 / Tracks 22, 23 & 24: The liner notes incorrectly call the first part of the "Entrée" of the Grand pas de deux (Track 22) a "Flower Waltz", while the second part (Track 23) is referred to as "Classical Variation II". The Adage of the Grand pas de deux is called the "Entrée".
--CD 2 / Track 25: incorrectly called "Dryads' Variation". This variation was recently included in the Bolshoi Ballet's reconstruction of Petipa's "Paquita Grand pas classique". The theatre program credited this solo to Minkus, and as being taken from Jules Perrot's 1855 grand ballet "Armida". Since Cesare Pugni wrote the score for that work it is likely that this variation was written by Minkus ad hoc much later. Whatever the case, Perrot's "Armida" was a dismal failure & did not last long in the repertory of the Imperial Ballet, so it makes me wonder if they have credited this solo correctly. Interestingly, it has the exact same melodic structure as Solor's variation from "La Bayadère", a trick Minkus used quite often in order to dish out the vast catalogue of variations he was required to compose.
--CD 2 / Track 26: incorrectly called "Basilio's Variation". This is actually called "Variation: Kitri (Version of no.9)". I have no idea what "Version of No.9" refers to, but I suspect that this is the waltz variation that Cesare Pugni wrote for Anna Sobeshchanskaya (the first Kitri) in 1869 for the oriignal production of "Don Quixote" in Moscow. It is very much in his style.
--CD 2 / Track 27: incorrectly called "Quiteria's Variation". This is Basilio's famous solo, by Minkus.
--CD 2 / Track 28: "Quiteria's Variation (The Fan)". This delightful solo for harp, which is sometimes referred to as "The Fan" ("L'éventail"), is credited to Riccardo Drigo, and is the other variation he wrote for Kschessinskaya's performance as Kitri in Gorsky's 1902 staging of "Don Quixote". It is traditionally found in the famous Grand pas de deux. This music is very similar to the "Variation de la Reine du jour", also a solo for harp, from Minkus's score for Petipa's ballet "Nuit et Jour", a lavish piece d'occasion in one act produced for the coronation of Tsar Alexander III in 1882. "Nuit et Jour" is one of a small handful of Minkus's ballets that were published in piano recution, so it's possible that Drigo used the solo as the basis for Kschessinskaya's variation. Another possibilty is that the solo is actually by Minkus, and taken from one of his other works. Considering how much Minkus borrowed from himself, this is not unlikely. It is significant to note that Kitri's original variation from the Grand pas de deux, which is included in the Stellowsky and Gutheil piano scores, is a violin solo reminiscent of Carlotta Grisi's variation from Pugni's "Pas de Quatre". I am not aware of any production of "Don Quixote" that includes it.
--CD 2 / Track 30: 'Finale/Spanish Dance'. I am not sure of the origins of this number, but it is obviously not by Minkus, but likely by Anton Simon.
Description of Minkus: Don Quixote
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