Ballet "Don Quixote": summary, reviews

The brightest performance in the repertoires of the theaters of the world, won fame for centuries - the ballet "Don Quixote". Everyone loves it: not only the audience, but also the ballet dancers. The primacy of the theater in the leading parties shows an irrepressible temperament, a special energy, infecting spectators with colorful, sparkling dances. And the audience literally winds up the amazing music, which is completely subordinate to the dance in this ballet.

Authors of choreographic and musical scores

The ballet owes its birth to two talents. One of them - the choreographer Matius Petipa, who created the choreographic score of the ballet, invested in it the amazing qualities of Spanish dances, like temperament and incendiary. The second one is Ludwig Minkus, a connoisseur of the specifics of ballet music, the creator of the musical score. The authors did not have a goal, to create a stage image of the hidalgo with his philosophical approach to life in the ballet Don Quixote, which lasted three hours. The play features the chapters of Cervantes' novel on the development of relations between Camacho and Cateri. In the ballet interpretation of the heroes names Basil and Kitri.

Ballet - part of the novel by Cervantes

In fact, the ballet Don Quixote is a summary of the part of the novel. Thus, the viewer is invited to attend a festive performance, which was included in the classics of the genre. To see "... how Joy itself rides, and the Fun itself springs", so Cervantes described Spanish dances.

But the main characters in the novel, the knight of the sad image and his good-natured armor bearer are assigned a secondary role in the ballet. It remains to this day not clear why the ballet, created on the part of the material of the book, not having a well-structured plot, enjoys the recognition and love of the exacting spectator. And maybe, and do not think about it. After all, the curtain is raised, and the audience is already present on the square of Barcelona, where life is boiling, young people are having fun and capricious Kitri flirting with the barber Basil. From this scene the action of the ballet Don Quixote begins.

Libretto (summary)

In front of the viewer is a dancing square. In the dance parade, one changes the other. The toreadors waving red cloaks, Espada dances with the Spanish woman, the legs beat the rhythm on the stone slabs. Dancing is the birth of an emotional, temperamental crowd. And the main content of the ballet "Don Quixote" is the life in the dance, it is the expression of the thoughts and feelings of the heroes in the dance.

And among this noisy fun appear on stage a knight and his squire. Don Quixote's gaze rests on Kitri, is it not in dreams she saw in the image of Dulcinea. Meanwhile, Kitri's father has an obsession to give her daughter for Gamash, whom she does not like, and in every possible way tries to persuade his father to engage her with Basil. Father does not agree. Kitri and Basil run away from home.

In the gypsy camp

On their way, the gypsy camp, where they explain the reason for their escape. Gypsies welcome them cordially. And again incendiary gypsy dances, telling about the life of the free, about the love of the Gypsy. In the score of music, glimpses of gypsy melodies are heard. Suddenly, a knight appears on the horse in the tabor accompanied by a squire. This, of course, hidalgo and his squire. They are also greeted by gypsies and invited to an impromptu performance, in which Don Quixote sees people with swords, and gets into a fight. A sick imagination draws a knight and a windmill in the form of an enemy, to which he rushes with a spear.

Through a brochure with a brief content of the ballet Don Quixote, the viewer moves to the dreams of the hidalgo. He is also haunted here by the image of Dulcinea. He sees her in the realm of dancing dryads, which draw him into the dance, but he continues to walk sadly around the dancing background. But the dream ends, and Don Quixote in real life sees Lorenzo, Kitri's father and Gamache with him. They are looking for fugitives. Like a true hidalgo, he directs his pursuers along a false trail, but Santo Pancho, has decided that his master made a mistake, and points out Kitry's father the right way. The search for the fugitives continues.

Events in the square

And at this time in the square near the hotel the fiesta is a time of fun, a time for splashing emotions. The play continues to unfold further, and dances naturally follow from scenic events. Dodging the persecution of Lorenzo and Garmash, our heroes in the circle of friends, together with them take part in the fiesta. On the stage, the toreador with Mercedes is dancing incendiaryly. Lorenzo returns to the city and on the square sees his daughter. The denouement is drawing to a close. Weddings with unloved Gamash can not be avoided. Lorenzo is implacable.

But Basil decided to outwit Lorenzo and imitates his death, showing how he kills himself with a dagger. Kitri understood the trick of her beloved and asks Don Quixote, who appeared as from under the ground, to ask his father to fulfill Basil's last will - to bless them before his death. Who can refuse hidalgo. The father blesses cunning. And Basil comes to life and imprisons the future of his father-in-law. In the finale of the ballet "Don Quixote" with a brief summary of the novel by Cervantes, of course, the wedding of two loving hearts.

Don Quixote, as an honored guest, is seated at the table. Dance dance begins. Couples are replaced by groups, the bullfighters dance with the dancers, as in the beginning of the play the music winds up the viewer. Clap with the tact of Spanish dances not only on stage, but also the hall applauds to the beat of the music.

Wishing young happy, the knight goes to seek new adventures and perform feats in the name of Dulcinea of Tobos.

Conclusion

The play is over. The curtain is down. On the last bow, as always artists of leading parties. On the sly the spectators leave the hall and share their impressions.

What can you expect to hear about the ballet "Don Quixote", if people from the moment of the first production constantly go to this performance. It's like a book that's dear to you, you re-read it and you always find something new for yourself. And the performance. In the ballet "Don Quixote" there are no weak performances. And if the audience is saying something, it's a comparison of how this or that prima played, how exactly this or that ballet dancer danced in this performance. And only ode sounds to this beautiful ballet.

If we talk about music, classical music, which creates a ballet dance, it's like talking to God. And this organic combination of music and choreography on the stage of any world theater is seen by the audience in divine performances by soloists of the ballet, enticing the audience into a fairy tale with a brief content - the ballet Don Quixote.