The Ballet with an Ancient Theme That Astonished Tchaikovsky
The ballet, choreographed by Louis Miranto and staged at the Paris Opera in 1876, subtitled "The Nymph of Diana," was based on the pastoral "Aminta" by Torquato Tasso and drew on ancient themes. Ancient mythology once dominated ballet, serving as the primary source of plots. Other ballets were scarcely produced in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. One can recall the first ballet performance in world history, staged in the small Burgundy Palace in 1581 – "Circe, or The Comedic Ballet of the Queen." Or the ballet "Medea and Jason," created 182 years later by the great ballet reformer of the 18th century, Jean-Georges Noverre. This passionate and dynamic performance left such an impression that the audience wept, and in the scenes where Medea killed her children, particularly sensitive spectators fainted.
Today, ballets based on ancient mythology are extremely rare. It suffices to say that the ballet "Sylvia" made its mark in 20th-century ballet history solely due to the canonical productions by Frederick Ashton and John Neumeier. In Russia, this ballet was hardly staged at all. The attempt to bring Diaghilev to stage "Sylvia" at the Mariinsky Theater ended in scandal and the dismissal of the future organizer of the "Russian Seasons" in Paris. Meanwhile, the production by the classic Lev Ivanov (one of the creators of the ballet "The Nutcracker") also failed to gain success in the early 20th century. In the early 1980s, Georgy Alexidze revisited this masterpiece, again at the Perm Theater. In this historical context, the production by Alexey Miroshnichenko holds significant importance.
Tchaikovsky commented on the ballet "Sylvia": "In Vienna, I heard the ballet 'Sylvia' by Leo Delibes; I say 'heard' because this is the first ballet where the music is not only the main but the sole interest. What beauty, what grace, what melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic richness..." Pyotr Ilyich regarded Delibes’ score as an absolute masterpiece of musical theater, admitting that had he known it earlier, he would never have attempted to compose "Swan Lake."
Delibes' influence can be seen in the music of the great composer: the melody to which Miroshnichenko’s Sylvia and Lucius dance an adagio in the Grand Pas of the first act resembles, for instance, Tchaikovsky's famous "Violin Intermezzo" in the ballet "Sleeping Beauty." As the finale approaches, there are several measures rhythmically and intonationally strikingly similar to Tchaikovsky's "Francesca da Rimini."
1 Captivating Plot: The Choreographer Abandoned the Line of Romulus and Remus
Miroshnichenko rejected the original score written for the ballet by writer Jules Barbier and ballet enthusiast, banker, and baron Jacques de Reyniac, which was filled with nonsense, deciding to create his own original production. However, he fundamentally preserved the title "Sylvia," which has become iconic in ballet history.
Taking on the task of writing the libretto himself, he turned to another Sylvia from early Roman mythology. In this context, she is the most famous vestal virgin in history, a servant of the Roman cult of the goddess Vesta and the mother of the founders of Rome—brothers Romulus and Remus. According to one version, Rhea Sylvia was either the daughter or granddaughter of the ancient Greek hero Aeneas; according to another, more widespread version, she was the daughter of King Numitor of Alba Longa, who had been ousted by his brother Amulius. Amulius, in order to prevent Rhea Sylvia from having children (that is, potential claimants to the throne), made her a vestal virgin. However, she still bore two twins from the god Mars, who had fallen in love with her.
Utilizing the legend of the real Rhea Sylvia, Miroshnichenko intertwined it with the plot of the novel by Raffaello Giovagnoli, "Opimia," which is also dedicated to the tragic fate of a vestal virgin. The storyline of the Italian historian-romancer, known for his bestsellers "Spartacus" and "Messalina," combined with the ancient Roman legend, gave the new ballet an exciting and dramatic character.
Miroshnichenko decided to abandon the story of the birth of Romulus and Remus, shifting the action to the 8th century BC in Latium—a region in central ancient Italy (just a few kilometers from modern Rome)—in the ancient city of Alba Longa. The plot, merging elements of ancient myth with the narrative of a 20th-century historical novel, is brilliantly crafted by Miroshnichenko: the daughter of King Numitor, Sylvia, after her father is murdered by his envious brother Amulius, is forced to become a vestal virgin and take a 30-year vow of chastity, thus eliminating any potential offspring from claiming the throne. Lucius, a heroic military leader in love with Sylvia and commander of the army of Alba Longa, sends her a letter through his loyal friend Ascanius, which is intercepted by the new king disguised as a shepherd. In despair, Sylvia kills Amulius and attempts to escape with the arriving Lucius, angering the goddess Vesta. The chief pontiff, the guardian of the cult of Vesta, orders the captured criminals to be buried alive.
2 Mythological Times with Gods, Muses, Fauns, Satyrs, and Nymphs
The 8th century BC, the time of action indicated by the director, follows the "Dark Ages" in Greek history, when the lost writing from the fall of Mycenaean civilization began to emerge again, and Homer composed his immortal "Iliad" and "Odyssey." In Miroshnichenko's work, the appearance of humans at the beginning of each act is preceded by the appearance of frolicking mythological characters. Yes, in this ballet, real people coexist side by side with mythological heroes (satyrs, nymphs, dryads, fauns) and gods who intervene in their lives.
The gods here are impressive – for their embodiment, the artists of the performance, Alena Pikalova (set designer) and Tatyana Noginova (costume designer), employed the idea of the so-called "chryselephantine technique," in which statues are made of ivory, while the hair, tiaras, and bracelets are crafted from golden plates. The impression these animated sculptures of gods leave at the end of the performance can be described as stunning and akin to aesthetic catharsis.
Imagine: the darkness of an underground space where the vestal virgin, who has broken her vow of chastity, and her beloved find themselves buried alive... And suddenly, completely unexpectedly for the audience, who believed the ballet was over, this darkness is illuminated by a bright blinding light. Before the astonished spectators, the golden-columned halls of the Temple of Apollo appear, and in their divine splendor, the initially static sculptures of the sun god Apollo and all nine muses come to life to celebrate the feat of love between Sylvia and Lucius.
3 A Play with Antiquity, Fellini's "Satyricon," and the Opulence of Choreography
According to the creators, the ballet was designed based on the aesthetics of musical theater from the second half of the 19th to the early 20th century. Thus, we are presented with a generalized representation of antiquity, more of a "play with antiquity," showcasing the entire splendor of ancient aesthetics. Here, the Minoan Crete with its "Prince of Lilies" and "Ladies in Blue" (circa 1600-1500 BC) can peacefully coexist alongside the Mycenaean culture of the decline and the Trojan War and the subsequent dark ages, the aesthetics of the "archaic period" with its funerary statue "Kouros from Anavissos" (circa 530 BC), and the classical period of antiquity (500-323 BC), as well as the subsequent Hellenistic period (323-31 BC).
In addition to ancient sculpture and decorative applied arts, there is also the painting of 19th-century artists who created works on historical, predominantly ancient themes: Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Heinrich Samiradsky. There is even a sense of influence from films: "Messalina" (1951), about the lewd and cruel wife of Emperor Claudius, or images of Roman matrons seemingly taken from the splendid film "Fellini's Satyricon."
And all this opulence and magnificence of the great ancient civilization, intentionally presented in such a diverse mélange of various archaeological layers and periods, transports viewers during the performance to a fantastical antiquity, precisely as they imagine it, elegantly seasoned with the generalized aesthetics of the grand ballet productions of the 19th century, which is commonly referred to as ballet classicism.
However,