Debuts in Raymonda

Scene from the ballet Raymonda

On 5 December Mariinsky Theatre prima ballerina Yekaterina Kondaurova will be performing the role of Raymonda for the first time. Yekaterina Kondaurova’s breeding and nobility are clear to see, something that sets this ballerina apart from other dancers. Her unsurpassed ability to dance the “ballerina solo” to perfection will doubtless be vividly displayed in this production, rich in solo variations.

On 6 December the role of Jean de Brienne will be danced for the first time by Mariinsky Ballet soloist Andrei Yermakov, who proved a worthy representative of the Mariinsky Theatre in Kultura TV’s Grand Ballet project. Andrei’s repertoire includes numerous premiere roles, but the dancer seems to have been born for the role of Jean de Brienne. The purity of his dance, the masculine nobility of his lines, his precision and the beauty of his poses, which Yermakov demonstrates in any role, will certainly help him create a portrait of the idealised Knight from the legend.
The same day, the role of Raymonda’s friend Henrietta will be performed for the first time by Keenan Kampa, the role of Clémence to be danced by Zlata Yalinich, who recently left the Boris Eifman Ballet to join the Mariinsky Theatre.
Yekaterina Mikhailovtseva will be making her debut as the Countess Sybille. The repertoires of Irina Tolchilshchikova and Nikita Lyashchenko will expand to include the Saracen Dance while Vadim Belyaev will make his debut in the Mazurka.

The history of the ballet’s creation is an interesting one. In 1896 Ivan Alexandrovich Vsevolozhsky, Director of the Imperial Theatres in St Petersburg, came to Alexander Glazunov suggesting he write the music for the ballet Raymonda. Despite the fact that there was very little time for the work as the ballet was already in the repertoire for the 1897-98 season, Glazunov agreed. “Acceptable commissions for works did not tie my hands – quite the reverse, they inspired me,” he recalled. Glazunov launched himself at the task in hand with great enthusiasm. The composer’s creative impulse came from the “chivalrous legend” in the ballet’s libretto. Music historian and composer Boris Asafiev subsequently related that “Glazunov’s admiration for medieval romance was and remains something of a mystery to me, but when he spoke with such passion about knights and chivalry, about troubadours and minstrels, about performances in the courtyards of medieval castles and life in these castles, these tales, inspired by the imagination of this incredibly talented Russian musician, both convinced and inspired.”
Marius Petipa developed a “stage plan” for Glazunov that dictated the character, type and length of the dances. Glazunov followed the choreographer’s advice and later Petipa wrote in his memoirs that “Talented composers found both a worthy co-worker and a far from envious admirer in me.” Nevertheless, however, the ballet-master gave Glazunov a rather strict framework: “... In these iron fetters do we not have the finest school for developing and teaching a sense of form? Do we not need to study freedom in fetters?” the composer reminisced.
“The principles of such collaboration became established as the aesthetic norm, opening up the path for new developments in choreography,” wrote ballet historian Vera Krasovskaya, “The leading role of the musical drama in a ballet became a joint work of the composer and the choreographer, they came together on the road to the symphonisation of dance movement.
“... In this ballet, the aesthetics of 19^th century productions were seen for the last time in a riotous féerie, confirming and yet also exhausting its laws.”
The premiere of the ballet took place on 7 January 1898 at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg. The role of Raymonda was brilliantly performed by the theatre’s prima-ballerina, the dazzling Pierina Legnani, with the role of Jean de Brienne being danced by Sergei Legat.