Part 3/7 from Yuri Burlaka’s marvelous gala “The Golden Age of the Russian Imperial Ballet” (“Золотой век русского императорского балета”) staged for the Chelyabinsk State Ballet. Performed at the Chelyabinsk State Academic Opera & Ballet Theatre of MI Glinka on December 24, 2008. **If anyone knows the cast of this performance please contact me! **The choreographer(s) is unknown to me, though I’m pretty sure it often gets the typical “after Petipa” credit in Russia. **Music by Jean-Madeleine Schneitzhoeffer (1832) & Riccardo Drigo (ca. 1905) **”La Sylphide” pas de deux – –1. Adagio for Marie Taglioni (1832) –2. Variation of James –3. Variation pour Mlle. Anna Pavlova (Riccardo Drigo, insertion for Pavlova’s performance in Petipa’s “Le Roi Candaule”, ca. 1905) –4. Coda **Notes – I am not 100% sure about the origins of this pas de deux, which is rarely seen outside of Russia. It is still performed by the Vaganova & Bolshoi Academies during their graduation performances, & it occasionally turns up in ballet competitions. I am pretty sure that it has its origins in Marius Petipa’s revival of Filippo Taglioni’s original 1832 version of “La Sylphide”, which the Ballet Master revived in 1892 for the ballerina Varvara Nikitina. Taglioni’s original production of “La Sylphide” was set to the music of Jean-Madeleine Schneitzhoeffer, a version that was later staged is Russia. August Bournonville intended to utilize the Schneitzhoeffer score for his own production in Copenhagen …
