Sergeyev Collection Explained

The Sergeyev Collection (officially Nikolai Sergeev Dance Notations and Music Scores for Ballets) is a large assemblage of materials that document the repertory of the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg as it existed at the turn-of-the 20th century. The collection consists primarily of choreographic notation and music materials for most of the notated works. Also includes are designs for stage décor and costumes, photos, and theatre programmes for performances of the Imperial Ballet at the turn-of-the 20th century. The choreographic notations record - in varying degrees of detail - the original works and revivals of the choreographer Marius Petipa, who served as Premier Maître de ballet of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres from 1871 until 1903. The Sergeyev Collection also documents a small number of ballets choreographed by Lev Ivanov, who served as Second Maître de ballet of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres from 1885 until his death in 1901. The dance sections of several operas are also among the notated choreographies of the Sergeyev Collection, the majority of which are the work of Petipa and Ivanov, respectively.

The collection is named for Nicholas Sergeyev, former dancer and French: régisseur-général of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres, who brought the collection out of Russia after the Russian Revolution of 1917. Since 1969 these materials have been held in the Harvard Theatre Collection at Houghton Library.

History of the collection

At the end of the nineteenth century, the dancer Vladimir Stepanov developed his own method of choreographic notation, which he detailed in his book L'Alphabet des Mouvements du Corps Humain. In 1893 Stepanov proposed a project to the head committee of the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg and its school, the Imperial Ballet School, that would record the company's repertory for posterity. The committee, which made decisions on the appointment of dancers, repertory, etc., consisted of Marius Petipa (Premier Maître de ballet of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres); Lev Ivanov (second Maître de Ballet); Ekaterina Vazem (former Prima ballerina of the Imperial Theatres and teacher of the classe de perfection); Pavel Gerdt (Premier danseur of the Imperial Theatres); and Christian Johansson (former Premier danseur of the Imperial Theatres and teacher at the school). The committee required that Stepanov first present demonstrations, known as "certifications", on the effectiveness of his new method before the project would be implemented.

The first of these demonstrations was the notation of Lev Ivanov's one-act ballet La Flûte magique, which was staged for the Imperial Ballet School in 1893. The second demonstration was a revival of Jules Perrot's one-act ballet of 1848 Le Rêve du peintre, which was staged by Stepanov for the Imperial Ballet School, the first performance being given on . Stepanov staged Le Rêve du peintre from notations he prepared from consultations with Christian Johansson, who had danced the principal male role. Based on the success of these demonstrations, the proposed notation project was approved and Stepanov soon set to work documenting the repertory of the Imperial Ballet. Among the first works to be notated was Petipa's 1894 ballet Le Réveil de Flore followed by the scene Le jardin animé from the ballet Le Corsaire.

After Stepanov's death in 1896, the dancer Alexander Gorsky took over the notation project. After Gorsky departed St. Petersburg in 1900 to take up the post of Maître de ballet to the Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow, the Imperial Ballet's régisseur Nicholas Sergeyev succeeded him to supervise the notation project. By the early 1900s Sergeyev had assistants aiding him in preparing the notations: Alexander Chekrygin (ru: Чекрыгин, Александр Иванович, Victor Rakhmanov, Nikolay Kremnev (ru: Николай Кремнев), and S. Ponomaryev (ru: С. Пономарев).

After the revolution of 1917, Nicholas Sergeyev left Russia with all of the notations as well as a great deal of music and other materials relating to the documented works.

In 1921 Sergeyev took over the post of régisseur to the ballet troupe of the Latvian National Opera in Riga, and during his appointment with the company he added more materials belonging to the notated ballets. Piano scores and orchestral parts for some of the ballets was also added, such as Paquita by Édouard Deldevez, The Little Humpbacked Horse by Cesare Pugni, and Adolphe Adam's scores for Giselle and Le Corsaire among others.

In 1920 Sergeyev was invited by Sergei Diaghilev to stage The Sleeping Beauty for the Ballets Russes in Paris, but Diaghilev's insistence on altering passages of Petipa's choreography caused Sergeyev to withdraw his services.

Sergeyev utilized the notation to mount Giselle for the Paris Opera Ballet in 1924, with the ballerina Olga Spessivtseva in the title role and Anton Dolin as Albrecht. This was not only the first time that the Parisian ballet had danced Giselle since the 1860s, but also the first production outside of Russia to include the old choreographic text as preserved under Petipa and his predecessors in St. Petersburg.

At the invitation of Ninette de Valois, Sergeyev staged many works from the notations for the Vic-Wells/Sadler's Wells Ballet (precursor of the Royal Ballet) in London: Coppélia (1933), Swan Lake (1934), The Nutcracker (1934), Giselle (1934) and The Sleeping Beauty as The Sleeping Princess (1939). Sergeyev also began staging works with the aid of the notations in 1942 for the International Ballet, a British touring company founded in 1941 by the ballerina Mona Inglesby.

The Sadler's Wells Ballet staged a new production of The Sleeping Beauty in 1946 to re-open the Royal Opera House. The production featured a heavily altered choreographic text that angered Sergeyev to such an extent that he left the company. At the invitation of Inglesby, Sergeyev soon took up the post of Ballet Master to the International Ballet. Sergeyev's stagings for both of these British companies formed the nucleus of what is now known loosely as the "classical ballet repertory", and as a result these works went on to be staged all over the world in versions derived from Sergeyev's stagings.

Nicholas Sergeyev died in Nice, France on 23 June 1951. Upon his death the notations passed on for a briefly to a Russian associate of his, from whom Mona Inglesby purchased them. Through the London theatrical dealer Ifan Kyrle Fletcher, Inglesby sold the notations for Swan Lake to Harvard University in 1967. Two years later in 1969 Inglesby sold Harvard the rest of the collection of Sergeyev's materials for a sum claimed to be around £6,000. Today the collection is known officially as the Nikolai Sergeev Dance Notations and Music Scores for Ballets, or simply as The Sergeyev Collection.

Noted use of the collection in modern times

Works documented in the collection

References

External links

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Sergeyev Collection".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.