Petrushka (ballet)
Petrushka (French: Pétrouchka; Russian: Петрушка) is a ballet by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1911 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Michel Fokine and stage designs and costumes by Alexandre Benois, who assisted Stravinsky with the libretto. The ballet premiered at the Théâtre du Châtelet on 13 June 1911 with Vaslav Nijinsky as Petrushka, Tamara Karsavina as the lead ballerina, Alexander Orlov as the Moor, and Enrico Cecchetti the charlatan.[1]
"Petrouchka" redirects here. For the Soso Maness song, see Petrouchka (song).Petrushka
Igor Stravinsky
Alexandre Benois
Russian folk material
13 June 1911
Théâtre du Châtelet
Paris
Petrushka
The Ballerina
The Moor
The Charlatan
Alexandre Benois
Admiralty Square
Saint Petersburg
Shrovetide, 1830
Ballet burlesque
Petrushka tells the story of the loves and jealousies of three puppets. The three are brought to life by the Charlatan during the 1830 Shrovetide Fair (Maslenitsa) in Saint Petersburg. Petrushka loves the Ballerina, but she rejects him. She prefers the Moor. Petrushka is angry and hurt, and challenges the Moor. The Moor kills him with his scimitar. Petrushka's ghost rises above the puppet theatre as night falls. He shakes his fist at the Charlatan, then collapses in a second death.
Petrushka brings music, dance, and design together in a unified whole. It is one of the most popular of the Ballets Russes productions. It is usually performed today using the original designs and choreography. Grace Robert wrote in 1946, "Although more than thirty years have elapsed since Petrushka was first performed, its position as one of the greatest ballets remains unassailed. Its perfect fusion of music, choreography, and décor and its theme—the timeless tragedy of the human spirit—unite to make its appeal universal".[2]
The work is divided into four tableaux (scenes). The score further indicates the following episodes:[9]
Other versions[edit]
During rehearsals for the 1911 premiere, Stravinsky and other pianists including Russian composer Nikolai Tcherepnin used a piano four-hand version of the score. This has never been published, although Paul Jacobs and Ursula Oppens, among other pianists, have played it in concert.[12]
In 1921, Stravinsky created a virtuosic and celebrated piano arrangement for Arthur Rubinstein, Trois mouvements de Petrouchka, which the composer admitted he could not play himself, for want of adequate left-hand technique.
Herbert Stothart, who composed the score for The Wizard of Oz, was visited by Stravinsky at MGM in 1936.[13] Stravinsky gave Stothart a personal, signed copy of Petrushka. As the main characters in the film run through the Deadly Poppy Field, the opening to the fourth tableau can be heard briefly.
In 1946, he thinned the ballet's scoring, in part because the original was not covered everywhere by copyright. The rapid continuous timpani and snare-drum notes that link each scene, optional in 1911, are compulsory in this version, which was published in 1947. The Ballerina's tune is assigned to a trumpet in 1946 in place of a cornet, and the 1946 version provides an optional fff (fortississimo) near the piano conclusion. Stravinsky also removed some difficult metric modulations in the first tableau.
Separately Stravinsky created a suite for concert performance, an almost complete version of the ballet but cutting the last three sections.
In 1956, an animated version of the ballet appeared as part of NBC's Sol Hurok Music Hour. It was personally conducted by Stravinsky himself and was the first such collaboration. Directed by animator John David Wilson with Fine Arts Films, it has been noted as the first animated special ever to air on television.
Frank Zappa's 1960's iteration of his band the Mothers of Invention, would frequently quote Petrushka either as a standalone performance or during their longer performances of the song King Kong.
In 1988, Maddalena Fagandini directed a version of Petrushka along with The Sleeping Beauty (Tchaikovsky), The Nutcracker (and the Mouse King) (Tchaikovsky) and Coppélia (Delibes) in the BBC puppet film Musical Tales which was released in VHS.
Basil Twist debuted his puppetry version of Petrushka at Lincoln Center in 2001; it was performed as well at New York City Center's 2009 Fall for Dance Festival.
A full transcription of the 1911 version for symphonic wind ensemble in the original key was made by Don Patterson.
Themes from Petrushka are played on banjo in the track "Russian Folk Themes and Yodel" on Pete Seeger's album Goofing-Off Suite, released in 1955 on Folkways Records.
In the 2022 film Goodbye, Petrushka, Petrushka is a major plot element.