"La Tulipe de Haarlem" Pizzicato for Mlle Trefilova by Riccardo Drigo (1903)

Описание: Composed by Drigo for insertion into a revival of the ballet La Tulipe de Haarlem (Гарлемский тюльпан) as a "Pas de deux" for principal dancer Vera Trefilova and Nikolai Legat.

La Tulipe de Haarlem is a fantastic ballet in three acts and four scenes, with choreography by Lev Ivanov and music by Baron Boris Fitinhoff-Schell, first presented by the Imperial Ballet on 16 October [O.S. 4 October] 1887 at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, with Emma Bessone (as Emma), Pavel Gerdt (as Peters), and Alfred Bekefy (as Andreas).

Revival by Alexander Shiryaev for the Imperial Ballet. First presented on 29 April [O.S. 16 April] 1903 at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre. Principal Dancers - Vera Trefilova (as Emma), Nikolai Legat (as Peters), and Gyorgy Kiaksht (as Andreas). With Tamara Karsavina, Elena Poliakova, and Mikhail Obukhov in the Pas de trois.

Drigo's "Quatre Airs de Ballet" was originally composed as a unit for orchestra. It is actually an additional Pas de deux he wrote for the ballerina Vera Trefilova when she danced the lead in a revival of the ballet in 1903 at the Mariinsky Theatre. "Quatre Airs de Ballet" was published a year later in both piano and orchestral scores. The "Quatre Airs de Ballet" also follows all of the key progressions one would find in a piece of this kind when composed as a unit. 1. Romance 2. Valse bluette
3. Pizzicato 4. Folie-galop

its was the great violinist Leopold Auer who first arranged the "Valse Bluette" from "Quatre Airs de Ballet" for solo violin, which lead to its popularity as a salon/repertory piece. It was then arranged for nearly every instrument imaginable throughout the early 20th century.

Adam Lopez