Polovtsian Dances

The Polovtsian Dances are four dances from the opera Prince Igor by Alexander Borodin. In the opera itself, they are executed with choirs; However, there is also an editor for orchestra. In this version, the dances resound both in the concert hall as well as in the theater when the eponymous ballet is on the board. The music is influenced by Orientalism: The Polowetzern are the Turkic people of the Kipchaks. The performance lasts about twelve minutes.

Sets

• Introduzione Andantino
• Allegro vivo
• Allegro
• Presto - Moderato alla breve - Presto - Allegro con spirito - Piu animato

Ballet

Formation

Towards the end of the first decade of the 20th century Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev was invited to give the Ballets Russes, he founded a guest performance in Paris. The baggage of the troops, there was also a kind of " Russian card", choreographed by Michel Fokine, the ballet " Polovtsian Dances". From its content wise, it is a completely independent ballet in one act, divorced from the ballet scene in the second act of Borodin's opera " Prince Igor ". The premiere took place on 19 May 1909 On the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.

People

• A Polovtsian girl
• A woman
• The Khan of the Polovtsian
• Girl, warrior, Youth ( corps de ballet )

Action

Image: Tent camp of the Khan of the Polovtsian

Slowly dawning of the morning. The campfire will not get new food and starts to go out. Girls dance around the fire verglühende. New girls join them and form a second circle. After a while the soldiers of the khan enter the scene and also begin to dance. Shortly after, the Khan himself, in his hand the sword that he resonates with pride swollen chest will appear. He symbolizes the victory he has won with his warriors in the fight against the Russian invaders. The dances are getting faster. At the end of the group of girl joins the group of warriors to a common dance of joy.

Aftereffect

1953 Robert Wright and George Forrest edited, among other works, the Borodin Polovtsian Dances for her Broadway musical Kismet, entitled Dance of the Virgins. As a popular song again rearranged, it was under the title Stranger in Paradise a worldwide hit and, inter alia, successfully interpreted by Bing Crosby, Tony Bennett and the Four Aces - the late 90s by a Euro-dance project called "Anastasia". Notes from the musical score of the newly arranged Polovtsian Dances Borodin adorn the tomb in Saint Petersburg.

Others

The main theme was played as an introduction of the show part of the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.