Lev Ivanov
Lev Ivanovich Ivanov (1834 – 1901) was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer and later, Second Balletmaster of the Imperial Ballet.
Historically, Ivanov is credited with choreographing the entirety of premiere of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker in 1892 due to the ill health of Ballet Master Marius Petipa. While some contemporary and modern accounts dispute this, Ivanov is still mentioned in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Second Edition with choreographing at least the majority of the ballet as Pepita had reportedly not progressed very far in his work.[1] Regardless of the amount of work he actually did, Pepita's was the only name listed for choreography on posters for the first production in St. Petersburg.[1] Ivanov also worked with Petipa on a new restaging of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake ballet in 1895, choreographing the second and fourth acts (The two lakeside acts) himself, as well as the Danse Vénitienne (Neopolitan/Venetian Dance) and the Pas Hongrois (Hungarian Dance) of the third bier scene.[2]
Other ballets choreographed by Ivanov as the Second Balletmaster to Petipa include "The Enchanted Forest", which was first staged on March 24, 1887, and "The Tulip of Haarlem" which was first performed on October 4, 1887. Ivanov is also credited by former Soviet historians with the original choreography for the Polovtsian Dances in the first production of Prince Igor in 1890.[2] However, at the end of his life Ivanov was forced to petition the Imperial Theatres for financial assistance on the strength of his 50 years's service; he died in poverty.[2]
[edit] References
- Goodwin, Noël, ed. Stanley Sadie, "Ballet (2. 19th Century)," The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Second Edition. (London: MacMilian, 2001), 29 vols. ISBN 0-333-60800-3.
[edit] Notes
[edit] External links
- The Ballet Encyclopedia entry for Lev Ivanov.
- Balletmet.org notes for Lev Ivanov.
- Archive film of Alexandra Danilova performing the Sugar Plum Fairy variation from The Nutcracker after Lev Ivanov in 1952 at Jacob's Pillow
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