Document on Ballet Analysis
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Added on 2020-05-28
Document on Ballet Analysis
Added on 2020-05-28
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Running head: BALLET ANALYSISBallet AnalysisName of the Student:Name of the University:Author Note:
1BALLET ANALYSISIntroduction“And in my dreams I see myself on a wolf's backRiding along a forest pathTo do battle with a sorcerer-tsar (Koschei)In that land where a princess sits under lock and key,Pining behind massive walls.There gardens surround a palace all of glass;There Firebirds sing by nightAnd peck at golden fruit.”The above quoted lines of Yakov Polansky represents the theme of the 1910 ballet,“The Firebird” by Ivor Stavinsky (1882-1971) (Ewell 2012, p.14). Stravinsky is famous bothfor his plays as well as ballets, which were much criticized during his lifetime. However, heis often seen, as one of the stalwarts of modern Literature and it is a reflection of theinfluence wielded by him that most of his ideas as well as rationale are still used by themodern artists in one form or the other (Bowman 2015, p.5). Some of the themes used by himin his works were too controversial for his times and the result of this was that most of hisworks are often seen as allegories. The ballet “The Firebird” belongs to this category. Onegroup of critics describe it as a simple story about a firebird and a price, whereas anothergroup of critics consider it to be a modern version of the Biblical story of Adam, Eve, Satanand temptation (Ewell 2012, p.14).
2BALLET ANALYSISThe ballet “The Firebird”, portrays the story of its protagonist Price Ivan, who straysinto the realm of Koschei the Immortal (Balyk 2017). In the magical kingdom, which isequivalent to the realm of Cersei of the Greek mythology, he encounters the magical Firebirdand is about to kill her when she pleads for her life and in turn offers him a magical featherthrough the use of which he can summon her in time of need (Bowman 2015,p.5). The princemeets thirteen princesses and falls in love with one of them (Balyk 2017). However, all ofthem are under the spell of Koschei the Immortal. He takes the help of the firebird to kill thetyrant and disenchant the princesses. He eventually marries one of them. However, manycritics look upon this story as the Biblical story of Eve, Adam, Satan and the eventualtemptation of Eve by the Devil (Ewell 2012,p.14). They consider the firebird to be a modern-day Eve and the prince to be a prototype of Satan (Ewell 2012,p.14).StyleThe style of writing of a particular artist is defined by his lifelong experiences as wellas the themes, which forms the basis of his or her work The life as well as the work ofStravinsky is redolent with this feature. His musical family background as well as his lifelongexperiences in the turbulent environment of Russia and the two subsequent World Warswielded a tremendous influence on his writing matter as well as style (Bowman 2015,p.5).His earlier works like “The Firebird”, were influenced by the various fairy tales as well as thefolklores of his native country of Russia. A critical analysis of the ballet would reveal thecomplete assimilation of the compositional styles of contemporary artists like ClaudeDebussy, and past masters like Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (Bowman 2015,p.1). The ballettried to assimilate into its framework some of the common features of the RomanticMovement and the new compositional styles, which were emerging in the Gothic land ofGermany (Ewell 2012,p.14). The work is also characterized by its assimilation of the precepts
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