Keywords:
Marius Petipa, Russian ballet theater of the 19th century, historical mythologization, myth-making, 18th century, romanization of history, historical dance
To cite this article
Tkacheva A.A.
Marius Petipa as Creator of Scenic Mythologem of the Eighteenth Century (part one). // Theory and History of Art.
2023.
N 3/4,
p.281–299
The article deals with the nature of the choreographer's appeal to the themes of the 18th century, which rarely becomes the subject of scientific research, the features of his work with the material in the conditions of a recognizable (largely acquired the so-called "canonical" appearance in the course of his activity) stage embodiment of a ballet performance of the second half of the 19th century with its inherent features - the structure of the action, operating with complex choreographic forms, great diversity in the part of the main performer. In the course of studying the creative heritage of Petipa, a hypothesis is revealed about the choreographer as one of the creators of the theatrical myth of the 18th century, who shaped his stage image among the public, which later became generally accepted, develops the very principle of aesthetic perception of history in the auditorium. The problem of recognition, which is especially relevant for the ballet theater, is investigated, which allows the viewer to perceive what he sees, correlating the impression he received from the performance with the well-established image of the past era that exists in his mind, characteristic of a person in the second half of the 19th century, i.e. separated from the epoch under consideration by a sufficient temporal distance. For the choreographer, brought up in the French tradition, as well as for his Russian audience, a sense of historical authenticity is combined in one production with "variations on a rococo theme."
The author analyzes Petipa's productions, in one way or another correlated with the historical material of the 18th century, created over four decades from the early one-act ballet The Parisian Market (1859) to one of the last creations, the pantomime The Heart of the Marquise (1902).
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