Ballet "Corsair": content, authors, actors

The ballet "Corsair", the content of which will be the subject of this article, was written in 1856. He still does not descend from the world stage. The author of music for the ballet is Adolf Adan. Later several composers added some scenes to the ballet.

About ballet

The libretto of this ballet was created by Byron's poem. Earlier, other composers had already applied to it. But most of those productions have not even survived to this day. The famous and still popular ballet was born in 1856. The plot of the play is adventure. The author of the ballet "Corsair" - Adolf Adan. The protagonist of the play is a corsair. He falls in love with a slave and kidnaps her. But her master returns to herself a girl in a fraudulent way, and then sells it. The corsair tries to save her lover. He enters the palace, where she languishes in confinement. Lovers can escape.

Composer

Music for the legendary ballet "Corsair" was written by the French composer Adolf Adan. He was born in 1803 in Paris. The composer is one of the brightest representatives of the Romantic era. Adan's father was a musician.

In his youth, the future composer did not intend to associate his life with music and wanted to become a scientist. But nevertheless, he entered the conservatoire in the class of organ, brilliantly graduating from it.

Adolf Adan wrote his first work in 1829. It was a one-act opera "Peter and Catherine" about the Russian emperor and his wife.

In the 1830s the composer worked in St. Petersburg.

In addition to the famous "Corsair" A. Adan created a number of ballets and operas. Among them:

• "Giralda, or the New Psyche."
• "Giselle."
• "Cagliostro".
• "Hut".
• "Falstaff."
• "The King of Iveto."
• The Nuremberg Doll.
• "Postman from Longjumeau."
• "Katerina" and others.

Leo Delibes

Leo Delibes is a French composer who, in 1856 and 1968, Complemented several scenes with A. Adan's ballet "Corsair". He was born in 1836. The composer's full name is Clement Philibert Leo Delibes. His father served in the post office. Mother was the daughter of an opera singer. She became the first teacher of L. Delibes. He was also taught by his uncle, who served as an organist in the church and taught at the conservatory. After the father of the future composer died, their family moved to Paris. There Leo graduated from the Conservatory. His teacher of composition was Adolf Adan.

Leo Delibes wrote the following ballets and operas:

• "Silvia".
• "Jean de Nivelle".
• "Creek".
• Lakme.
• "A source".
• "So said the king."
• "Sandman".
• "Coppelia, or Girl with enamel eyes" and others.

And also L. Delib wrote 20 romances, several choirs, mass, etc.

Other composers who supplemented the ballet

The ballet "Corsair", the content of which is presented below, was repeatedly supplemented by various composers. In addition to Leo Delibes, Caesar Puni and Ricardo Drigo added their music to him in different years. These are Italian composers who worked in Russia.

Caesar Puni, whose name in Italian sounds like Cesare Pugni, was born in Genoa in 1802. He successfully graduated from the Conservatory in Milan. Since 1851 he worked in St. Petersburg. This composer for his creative life wrote 10 operas, 312 ballets and 40 mass. He is also the author of a large number of cantatas, symphonies and other works.

Ricardo Eugenio Drigo was born in Padua in 1846. He worked in Russia as a composer and conductor. In our country he was called Richard Evgenievich.

R. Drigo began to study music in early childhood. His first works composed, while still a teenager. It was waltzes and romances. Riccardo graduated from the Venetian Conservatoire. His teacher was composer Antonio Buzzola - a pupil of the great Gaetano Donizetti. Ricardo was not only a composer, but also a conductor. In 1878 he was invited to work in St. Petersburg. Here he first served at the Italian Opera, and then moved to the Mariinsky Theater. R. Drigo often went on tour to Europe. In the last years of his life, Riccardo worked in his native Padua, in the Garibaldi Theater.

Libretto of the ballet

As already mentioned above, according to Byron's poem A. Adan wrote his ballet "The Corsair". The libretto was created by Joseph Mazilier and Henri Vernois de Saint-Georges - playwrights from France. The latter wrote more than 70 librettos for operas and more than 30 plays for the dramatic theater. Since 1829, he served as director of the Opera Comique Theater in Paris.

Libretto for ballets, operas, musical dramas, written by Henri de Saint-Georges independently and in co-authorship:

• The Marquise.
• "The Reuss Bourgeois."
• "Jenny".
• "Cagliostro".
• "Louis".
• "Egyptian".
• «The Castle of the Blue Beard».
• "The Rose of Florence."
• "The devil in love."
• "Musketeers on the Rhine."
• "Giselle."
• The Elves.
• "Pharaoh's Daughter" and many others.

Choreographers

The first ballet master who staged the ballet "Corsair" in Russia was Jules-Joseph Perrault. This French dancer and stage director was born in 1810. He danced with dances from the age of 9. J. Perrault possessed the ideal figure for the ballet. He is famous for developing his own style of dance. Since 1851, J. Perrault worked in the Imperial Theater of St. Petersburg. In the ballet "Corsair" he staged in Russia, Marius Petipa played the main character's part. The legendary dancer in the future himself became a choreographer of this performance.

M. Petipa was born in France in 1818. His parents were artists. His father became a teacher. In St. Petersburg, Marius Petipa moved to 1847 year. The rest of his life he lived in Russia. He was the chief choreographer of the imperial theaters.

Marius Petipa staged the following ballets:

• "Venice Carnival".
• "Paquita."
• "Satanilla".
• Coppelia.
• The Blue Dahlia.
• "The daughter of snows."
• "Florida".
• "The Cyprus statue."
• "Giselle."
• "Katarina, the daughter of a robber" and many others.

Characters

Ballet characters:

• Corsair Conrad.
• The slave-merchant Isaac Lankedem.
• Birbanto is a friend of Conrad.
• Medora.
• Seid Pasha.
• Eunuch.
• Gulnara and Zulma.
• Slaves.
• Corsairs.
• The guards.

Ballet "Corsair": the content of the first act

The action begins with the fact that a pirate sailing ship falls into a storm and suffers a shipwreck. The three corsairs manage to escape. Among them, the main character is Conrad. On the shore they are found by three girls, one of them is Medora. She immediately liked Conrad. The hero confesses to the girl that he is a pirate. Girlfriends cover the corsairs from the approaching group of Turks, and they themselves are taken prisoner. The slave-merchant Isaac takes the girls out to sell Said-pasha to the harem. Corsairs swear that they will save Medora and her friends.

The action is transferred to the slave market. Isaac presents his captives to Seid-pasha. He buys Gulnaru, and then wants to buy and Medora. The latter likes him so much that he is ready to pay any money for it. Soon a merchant appears who offers an unprecedentedly large amount for Medora. Seid Pasha is furious. The merchant is disguised as Conrad. He and his pirates kidnap Medora, her girlfriends and slaver.

The second and third acts

What is the continuation of the ballet "Corsair"? The contents of the second act we will now tell you. The action takes place in the grotto, where the pirates hide. The rescued girls ask Medora to persuade Conrad to let them go home. The pirate agrees, and his team opposes this. But Conrad complies with Medora's request. There is a quarrel. The slave-dealer encourages the team to take revenge on the leader. The pirates agree to his plan. Conrad is poured sleeping pills. When he wakes up, he discovers that Medora is kidnapped. Conrad goes in search of a lover.

In the third act, the action is transferred to the palace of Seid Pasha. Isaac brings Medora to him. Seid buys a girl. Conrad and his friends pretend to be pilgrims and appear in the palace. Pasha invites them to prayer. Having seized the right moment, Conrad and his pirates free the girls and take them away on the ship.