The dying swan
The dying swan ( Russian Умирающий лебедь ) is an expressive dance solo ( Pas seul ) by the choreographer Michel Fokine for the prima ballerina Anna Pawlowa , to the music of the cello solo Le Cygne from Le carnaval des animaux (1886) by Camille Saint-Saëns . The length is a good three minutes.
The title was initially simply Lebed (Russian: The Swan ) and was created at Pavlova's request. On the occasion of a charity event, the choreography was premiered on December 22, 1905 in the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. The swan costume came from Léon Bakst .
Templates and execution
The figure of the dying swan is based on the ballet Swan Lake by Pyotr Tchaikovsky : Odile / Odette, a princess enchanted as a swan, sacrifices herself there for her Prince Siegfried. Above all, the swan costumes of the world premieres were alike , but there is no death solo in Swan Lake . - The poem The dying Swan (1830) by Alfred Tennyson is often cited as a further source .
The dance consists largely of pas de bourrée , accompanied by the flapping of the arms. The final pose of the solo on the left knee is particularly famous, while the arms are folded like wings over the extended right leg and the head is hidden in it. In it, Fokine combined elements of classical ballet with newer forms of movement, which Isadora Duncan in particular had introduced.
Michel Fokine wrote that with this choreography he had reacted to the fact that he had previously been accused of "refusing to use top technology because of the use of barefoot dance". That is why he wanted to combine the “old technique” with the “dance of the whole body and not just the limbs”.
reception
The dance number became a symbol for dying with the greatest grace - but also for the vanity and falsehood of some stage stars. The dying swan has often been used as a motif and is particularly suitable for parodies . The music of Saint-Saëns was originally set in the parodic context of an animal revue.
To this day the solo is often danced. The ballerina Maja Plissetzkaja performed well into old age. In 1917 Yevgeny Bauer shot a film melodrama entitled The Dying Swan , which contains the dance number.
In an adapted form, the solo is also common in figure skating , shown for example by Sonja Henie . As a parody designation, the dying swan also stands for a faked foul in football, see Schwalbe (football) .
Phrase
“To play the dying swan” means “to suffer theatrically”.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ see Nicole Haitzinger: Russian worlds of images in motion, in: Claudia Jeschke, Nicole Haitzinger (ed.): Swans and Firebirds. Die Ballets Russes 1909–1929, Berlin: Henschel 2009, pp. 15–57, here p. 24. ISBN 978-3-89487-630-2
- ↑ after Lynn Garafola: Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes , New York: Oxford Univ. Press 1989, p. 13
literature
- Michel Fokine: The dying swan: Music by C. Saint-Saëns. Detailed description of the dance, thirty-six photographs from poses by Vera Fokina . J. Fischer & Brother, New York 1925.