_Carnival—The Magician—Russian Dance—Petrouchka—The Arab—Dance of the
Ballerina—Carnival—Nurses’ Dance—The Bear and the Peasant Playing a
Hand-Organ—The Merchant and the Gypsies—The Dance of the Coachmen and
Grooms—The Masqueraders—The Quarrel of the Arab and Petrouchka, and the
Death of Petrouchka._
The ballet _Petrouchka: Scènes burlesques en 4 Tableaux_, scenario by
Alexandre Benois, was completed by Stravinsky at Rome in May (13-26),
1911. It was produced by Diaghilev at the Châtelet, Paris, on June 13,
1911. The chief dancers were Mme Tamar Karsavina, La Ballerine;
Nijinsky, Petrouchka. Mr. Monteux conducted; Mr. Fokine was the ballet
master. The scenery and costumes were designed by Benois; the scenery
was painted by Anisfeld.
“This ballet depicts the life of the lower classes in Russia, with all
its dissoluteness, barbarity, tragedy, and misery. Petrouchka is a sort
of Polichinello, a poor hero always suffering from the cruelty of the
police and every kind of wrong and unjust persecution. This represents
symbolically the whole tragedy in the existence of the Russian people, a
suffering from despotism and injustice. The scene is laid in the midst
of the Russian carnival, and the streets are lined with booths in one of
which Petrouchka plays a kind of humorous rôle. He is killed, but he
appears again and again as a ghost on the roof of the booth to frighten
his enemy, his old employer, an allusion to the despotic rules in
Russia.”
The following description of the ballet is taken from _Contemporary
Russian Composers_, by Mr. Montagu-Nathan:
“The ‘plot’ of _Petrouchka_ owes nothing to folklore, but retains the
quality of the fantastic. Its chief protagonist is a lovelorn doll; but
we have still a villain in the person of the _focusnik_, a showman who
for his own ends prefers to consider that a puppet has no soul. The
scene is the Admiralty Square, St. Petersburg; the time ‘Butter-Week,’
somewhere about the eighteen-thirties.... Prior to the raising of the
first curtain the music has an expectant character and the varied
rhythmic treatment of a melodic figure which has a distinct folk-tune
flavor has all the air of inviting conjecture as to what is about to
happen. Once the curtain goes up we are immediately aware that we are in
the midst of a carnival, and are prepared for some strange sights. The
music describes the nature of the crowd magnificently, and in his
orchestral reproduction of a hurdy-gurdy, whose player mingles with the
throng, Stravinsky has taken pains that his orchestral medium shall not
lend any undue dignity to the instrument.... Presently the showman
begins to attract his audience, and, preparatory to opening his curtain,
plays a few mildly florid passages on his flute. With his final flourish
he animates his puppets. They have been endowed by the showman with
human feelings and passions. Petrouchka is ugly and consequently the
most sensitive. He endeavors to console himself for his master’s cruelty
by exciting the sympathy and winning the love of his fellow doll, the
Ballerina, but in this he is less successful than the callous and brutal
Moor, the remaining unit in the trio of puppets. Jealousy between
Petrouchka and the Moor is the cause of the tragedy which ends in the
pursuit and slaughter of the former. The Russian Dance which the three
puppets perform at the bidding of their task-master recalls vividly the
passage of a crowd in Rimsky-Korsakov’s _Kitezh_.
“When at the end of the dance the light fails and the inner curtain
falls, we are reminded by the roll of the side drum which does duty as
entr’acte music that we have to do with a realist, with a composer who
is no more inclined than was his precursor Dargomijsky to make
concessions; he prefers to preserve illusions, and so long as the drum
continues its slow fusillade the audience’s mind is kept fixed upon the
doll it has been contemplating. The unsuccessful courtship is now
enacted and then the scene is again changed to the Moor’s apartment,
where, after a monotonous droning dance, the captivation of the
Ballerina takes place. There are from time to time musical figures
recalling the showman’s flute flourishes, apparently referring to his
dominion over the doll.... The scene ends with the summary ejection of
that unfortunate (Petrouchka), and the drum once more bridges the change
of scene.
“In the last tableau the Carnival, with its consecutive common chords,
is resumed. The nurses’ dance, which is of folk origin, is one of
several items of decorative music, some of them, like the episode of the
man with the bear, and the merchant’s accordion, being fragmentary. With
the combined dance of the nurses, coachmen, and grooms, we have again a
wonderful counterpoint of the melodic elements.
“When the fun is at its height, it is suddenly interrupted by
Petrouchka’s frenzied flight from the little theater. He is pursued by
the Moor, whom the cause of their jealousy tries vainly to hold in
check. To the consternation of the spectators, Petrouchka is slain by a
stroke of the cruel Moor’s sword, and a tap on the _tambour de Basque_.
“The showman, having demonstrated to the satisfaction of the gay crowd
that Petrouchka is only a doll, is left alone with the corpse, but is
not allowed to depart in absolute peace of mind. To the accompaniment of
a ghastly distortion of the showman’s flute music the wraith of
Petrouchka appears above the little booth. There is a brief reference to
the carnival figure, then four concluding _pizzicato_ notes, and the
drama is finished. From his part in outlining it we conclude that
Stravinsky is an artist whose lightness of touch equals that of Ravel,
whose humanity is as deep as Moussorgsky’s.”
The ballet calls for these instruments: four flutes (two interchangeable
with piccolo), four oboes (one interchangeable with English horn), four
clarinets (one interchangeable with bass clarinet), four bassoons (one
interchangeable with double bassoon), four horns, two trumpets (one
interchangeable with little trumpet, in D), two _cornets-à-pistons_,
three trombones, bass tuba, kettledrums, snare drum, _tambour de
Provence_, bass drum, tambourine, cymbals, triangle, glockenspiel,
xylophones, tam-tam, celesta (two and four hands), pianoforte, two
harps, strings. The score, dedicated to Alexandre Benois, was published
in 1912.
“LE SACRE DU PRINTEMPS” (“THE RITE OF SPRING”), PICTURES OF PAGAN RUSSIA