The tempo of the pas de seize varies and quiet lyrical moments may suddenly be interrupted by incisive brass and timpani. As a result, Ondine offered few pyrotechnics, gained its effects instead through sinuous mass movements in which the undulation of arm and body suggested forests of sea plants stirring to unseen tides. Ashton's choreography has so far had only one full production outside The Royal Ballet, by the Ballet of the Teatro alla Scala, Milan on 21 April 2000. It is the only full length ballet that Ashton choreographed to original music, and the score is regarded as a rarity by musicians, as it is a "20th century full-length ballet score that has the depth of a masterwork".[2]. She is a gentle water sprite who the audience discovers dancing in a waterfall and then with her own shadow. Henze also uses the original name Beatrice rather than Berta. Pugni dedicated his score to Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge, a long-time balletomane and patron of the arts in London. For the production, Cesare Pugni, who had accompanied Perrot to Russia, extensively revised and expanded his original score of 1843. High strings, harp (for the watery effect) and occasional percussion provide another contrasting orchestral sound, before the composer again re-assembles his palette of orchestral colours, using solo instruments in small groups, or alone, or high violins in long notes soaring above moving fragments of ideas below. Similar to other 19th century fairy tales, the plot is based on man (Palemon) encountering the supernatural (the water nymph Ondine), but the outcome is rather different from many of the 19th century classics: here, it is the man that dies, and the female character survives. [8] The first act of the ballet takes place in the courtyard of the castle of Palemon where Ondine is seen dancing in the waterfall. Tears of anxiety pour down Ondineґs face. He has never seen a creature as lovely as her and decides to marry Ondine, forsaking his betrothed, Beatrice (Berta). Since the original 1958 production of the ballet, the score has been published as a standalone work, and has been used for other dance productions, which have also used the title Undine.

Ondine, ou La naïade is a ballet in three acts and six scenes with choreography by Jules Perrot, music by Cesare Pugni, and a libretto inspired by the novel Undine by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué. [5] They decided to ignore the northern origins of Fouqué's novella Undine and move it to the Mediterranean.

This theme intensifies throughout the opening movement, recitative. Following the original staging by The Royal Ballet, the Ashton/Henze production was later restaged in New York in 1960, and then again at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan on 21 April 2000, a performance conducted by Patrick Fournillier. [11], Ondine is not a classical construction with great set pieces (except for the wedding divertissement in the third act) or grand formal pas de deux, but a continuous, flowing narrative. [2] A pas d’action then begins to prepare for the finale. What he was trying to suggest, says Ashton, was "the ebb and flow of the sea: I aimed at an unbroken continuity of dance, which would remove the distinction between aria and recitative." Read more about this topic:  Ondine (ballet). Ondine is a water sprite (or nymph) who emerges out of a waterfall onto land fascinated with her own shadow, something she had never seen before.

Fonteyn, however, was firmly opposed to playing Lady Macbeth, and was not enthused by Ashton's next suggestion, Miranda in a ballet of The Tempest. The subsequent marriage of … Similar to other 19th century fairy tales, the plot is based on man (Palemon) encountering the supernatural (the water nymph Ondine), but the outcome is rather different than many of the 19th century classics: here, it is the man that dies, and the female character survives. [5] It is generally accepted that Tirrenio was originally the most completely worked out role, inherited from Alexander Grant's lack of awe for Fonteyn; however the role has become difficult to cast as it was created to showcase Grant's unique mixture of gifts – classical virtuosity and flair for characterisation.[13]. ... singularly appropriate, quite descriptive, and adds charm and perfection to the ballet. The revival premiered on 20 December [O.S. The orchestra then introduces a valse for a general dance (pas d’ensemble) that could almost belong to one of Ravel's more advanced scores. [5] However, Henze and Ashton had decided not to make their ballet a mix of all the great works of the nineteenth century, but rather that it would be the product of their own contemporary sensibilities with references to other works. Palemon deserts Berta, whom he has been courting, and decides to marry Ondine. Ondine returns and is heartbroken when she discovers Palemon's unfaithfulness. The title role is undoubtedly the main focus of the ballet. She meets the hero, Palemon, and is astonished when she feels his heartbeat as she doesn't possess a heart. [6] Yet the music does seem to fit its watery theme well: there are some beautiful passages to Ondine's Act 3 "swimming" solo where the music seems thin and transparent as watercolour, and entirely suited to this sketch of the sea. This act begins with a striking unison theme in the strings, soon interrupted by strident brass. Synopsis. 7 December] 1903, and was the last revival of Perrot's ballet staged in Imperial Russia, though the full-length ballet continued being performed by the Leningrad ballet until 1931. During a particularly strong storm while at sea, Ondine is lost overboard. Ondine appears from the sea and takes Gianninaґs place in the boat. It was performed at the Volkstheater in Rostock in March 2009. However, this narrative is itself not very strong and there is no real explanation of why the lovers are on a ship in Act 2, or what exactly has passed between Acts 2 and 3 to convince Palemon to return to his mortal lover, Beatrice (Berta). In the published score, as with the title of the ballet, Henze also retained the original spellings of the character names. In many ways, Perrot's ballet is more similar to René-Charles Guilbert de Pixerécourt's play of the story, Ondine, ou la Nymphe des Eaux, which was first presented in Paris in 1830 while Perrot was also performing there. "[7] Edwin Denby dismissed Ondine: after praising Fonteyn he said "But the ballet is foolish, and everyone noticed". When she kisses him he dies and she goes back to the sea losing all memory of him forever. She is observed by Palemon, a mortal man, who is completely entranced by her innocence and gentle manner of playing and marvelling at the sight of this shadow. The boat approaches a deserted shore.

The male lead is bewitched by the feminine allure of Ondine.

However, the music then launches into a quicker tempo, brass fanfares propelling the music along with a rhythmically incisive motif. and praised Cerrito as a " ... step-revealing goddess. Fanny Cerrito danced the title rôle, while Perrot himself played her mortal beloved, the fisherman Mattéo.

The moon is shining. In 1958 the ballet was widely seen as having choreography and décor in harmony with each other but fighting with the music; now it's the choreography and the music which seem to speak the same language, while the sets look not only backward but to the north. Brass fanfares then introduce the pas de seize and this adagio contrasts the horns with high woodwind, while the harp adds to this effect.

"[1], Cesare Pugni's score was hailed as a masterwork of ballet music. This act begins by reestablishing the aura of romantic mystery which began Act 1. The ballet was originally intended as a vehicle for The Royal Ballet's then prima ballerina, Margot Fonteyn and the title role of Ondine was choreographed specially for her and led one critic to describe the ballet as "a concerto for Fonteyn". Sir Frederick Ashton paid tribute to Perrot in his own choreography for Hans Werner Henze's music for Ondine by incorporating his own version of the Shadow Dance into the first act. Ondine is a play written in 1938 by French dramatist Jean Giraudoux, based on the 1811 novella Undine by the German Romantic Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué that tells the story of Hans and Ondine. The story derives from Fouqué's novella Undine, the tale of a water-nymph who marries a mortal. A.V.Coton spoke of "the supernormal sensitivity of feeling, interaction and mutual understanding which exists between Ashton and his heroine", and Cyril Beaumont saw the ballet as Ashton's "greatest gift" to his ballerina. Fernau Hall thought Henze showed "little understanding of the needs of classical dancing", and that Ondine would establish itself firmly in the repertoire "if it were not for Henze's music".[7]. However, the ballet's divergence from the original novel "derive from intermediary works linking the book and the ballet, which Perrot used to enrich and enhance his theatrical conception". Marius Petipa revived Perrot's La Naïade et le pêcheur for the Imperial Ballet on several occasions throughout his career as Premier Maître de Ballet during the latter half of the 19th century. Illustrated London News, July 14, 1843, page 45. The story derives from Fouqué's novella Undine, the tale of a water-nymph who marries a mortal. After its première in 1958 it was greeted with mixed, half-hearted reviews,[6] although the first night reviews of Ondine were unanimous about one thing: Fonteyn's triumph in the title role. Eventually the work was completed, but when Ashton heard a recording of the orchestrated score he realised that he would have to revise his ideas; the sustained orchestral sounds were such a contrast to the piano score and made him think very differently.[2].