Le papillon (ballet): Difference between revisions

The ''Valse des rayons'' from the second scene of Act 1 was re-used by Offenbach in the third act ballet for ''[[Die Rheinnixen]]'' (1864)<ref>[[Rodney Milnes|Milnes R]]. One Long Hymn to Pacifism. ''[[Opera (British magazine)|Opera]]'', October 2009, 1202-06.</ref> and parts of the score were inserted in the French version of ''[[Whittington (opera)|Whittington]]'', ''Le Chat du diable'' (1893).<ref name="Yon">Yon, Jean-Claude. ''Jacques Offenbach.'' Éditions Gallimard, Paris, 2000.</ref> The solo for Le docteur Miracle "Eh! oui, je vous entendentends !" in the Antonia act of ''[[Les Contes d'Hoffmann]]'' originated as a Bohémiana in ''Le papillon''.<ref name="ASGenese">[[Jean-Christophe Keck|Keck, Jean-Christophe]]. "Guide d'Écoute." In: ''Avant-Scène Opéra 235, Les Contes d’Hoffmann.'' Paris, 2006, p52.</ref> The ''Valse des rayons'' also became an Apache Dance at the [[Moulin Rouge]] in Paris, and was used in the musical [[Showboat (musical)|Showboat]] in 1927 as part of the Trocadero scene.<ref name="DougillATH" />

The score was used for a ballet entitled ''Utopia'' directed by [[Elsa-Marianne von Rosen]] for the GothenbergGothenburg ballet company in 1974. Having decided against making his own version of the full ballet, [[Frederick Ashton]] selected pieces from the score for a pas de deux entitled ''Scène dansante'', first performed by [[Merle Park]] and [[David Wall (dancer)|David Wall]] in [[Aldeburgh]] in 1975 and then at a charity gala at the [[Adelphi Theatre]] London in 1977.<ref name="DougillATH"/>

[[Ronald Hynd]] prepared a production for [[Houston Ballet]] with his own adapted scenario and the score re-orchestrated by [[John Lanchbery]], which premiered on 8 February 1979 and was also danced by the Cape TownJohannesburg company [[CAPABPerforming Arts Council of the Transvaal|PACT]]. It entered the repertoire of the [[Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet]] in Leeds on 7 February 1980.<ref> Alexander Bland, ''The Royal Ballet: The First Fifty Years''. Threshold Books, London,1981, p245.</ref> Described as Hynd's tribute to Emma Livry, the plot was pared down and reset in Persia with many of the transformations and comic situations retained.<ref>Programme note for Sadler’sSadler's Wells Royal Ballet Christmas season at Sadler’sSadler's Wells Theatre, 28 December 1982 to 15 January 1983.</ref> But, compared to the original 1860 material, the score is largely altered by Lanchberry who integrates his own composition inside the main musical corpus, while changing the numbers order and deleting a lot of the original Offenbach's score.

The ballet is set in [[Circassia]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.co.nzcom/books?id=BCRdAAAAcAAJ&dq|title=Le Papillon; ballet-pantomime en deux actes et quatre tableaux par M. Taglioni et H. de Saint-George, etc|lastlast1=Taglioni|firstfirst1=Marie|last2=Vernoy de Saint-Georges|first2=Jules-Henri|publisher=|year=1861|isbn=|location=|pages=8}}</ref> After the Prelude, the first tableau of Act 1 opens with the evil old fairy Hamza treating her servant roughly. Hamza once abducted the Emir's daughter Farfalla who now serves as her maid. Looking in the mirror Hamza wishes only to become young again and eligible to marry, but to do this she must be kissed by a young prince.

Resting from a hunt Prince Djalma and his entourage enter. Everyone enjoys the food and wine, although the tutor thinks Farfalla that is the once kidnapped princess. The prince dances a mazurka with the maid and thanks her with a kiss. The tipsy Hamza is teased by the others and flies into a rage, lures Farfalla into a box and, using her magic crutch, when the box opens again, a beautiful butterfly emerges. Butterflies flutter into the room from doors, windows and even the chimney before being chased out by Hamza.

After the Prince and his entourage have left Hamza's castle they reach a forest clearing, where shortly the butterflies fly in. When one of the butterflies is pinned to a tree by the prince, it suddenly turns into a crying girl. It falls to the ground unconscious and on inspection appears to be the prince’sprince's dance partner of earlier. But it recovers and re-joins the others.

Hamza now arrives in the clearing with her gardener. With her magic crutch she locates her maid among the butterflies and tries to catch her in a net. But leaving her magic wand unattended for a moment her gardener Patimate tries to help Farfalla. He touches his mistress with the wand and she is frozen on the spot, upon which the butterflies hasten to capture Hamza in the net. Meanwhile Patimate tells Djalma about Farfalla’sFarfalla's real identity. However, he forgets to take the magic wand and a leprechaun steals in grabs it and rushes away. The prince carries the fairy off to his uncle’suncle's palace. <br />

The last tableau, in grandiose gardens, has Djalma awakening, and he finds himself surrounded by a swarm of butterflies, including his beloved Farfalla. Hamza enters with her four sisters boasting of her exploits, and secretly dreaming of marrying the prince. As a rehearsal for such an event she summons a band of golden harps, and a torch carrier. Farfalla is attracted by the glow of the torch, but in touching the lamp she burns her wings and the charm fades: she regains her human form and collapses into the arms of the prince. Hamza's sisters then break the magic crutch and together transform the Hamza into a statue. The wedding with Djalma now has no more obstacles and the young couple can marry in the fairy palace which appears in the gardens.