Music: Emerald Variation - Sleeping Beauty

[Sleeping Beauty]

My daughter recently learned the Emerald variation from Sleeping Beauty at her SI and really enjoyed it and wants to show everyone what she learned. I have been unable to find that variation on any type of CD. We have a CD with Sleeping Beauty on it and it does not seem to be included. I also looked on Amazon.com and other online sources and could not specifically find the Emerald variation. I found one version that had the gold, silver, sapphire and diamond variations but no emerald. Is anyone familiar with this variation and where I can find the cd or a download of it.

 

Thanks

[Hans]

dduffin, are you sure your dd learned the right name for this variation? I have never heard of an emerald in Sleeping Beauty, ever, in any version (and I know quite a few of them!) and I wonder if perhaps she learned a dance from the "Emeralds" section of the ballet Jewels by Balanchine (the "Emeralds" section has music by Fauré). Then again, perhaps she learned one of the Sleeping Beauty variations that has simply been given a different name; in that case the music should be included on any complete CD of Sleeping Beauty although it would most likely not be called Emerald.

[cheetah]

DS' old studio did Sleeping Beauty. They also had an Emerald Variation.

[Mel Johnson]

Are you sure that this isn't a variation from Esmeralda? After all, that's what the name means.

[rg]

i suspect the confusion here comes from the fact that this is a version of peter martins's staging of SLEEPING BEAUTY, whose prod. changed the names of the quartet of precious stones and metals from gold, silver, sapphire and diamond to: gold, emerald, ruby and diamond.

i think all you need to do is listen to a disc of jewels' quartet (from act 3 of THE SLEEPING BEAUTY) and/or watch a video and listen for the music you're seeking - if the video has the dancer in silver or a diamantine looking tutu you can assume the music is silver or diamond - martins uses the gold variation in this quartet but it's for a male dancer so i suspect it's not this. many so-called after-petipa productions don't use the gold variation in this last act, b/c petipa used this music for his aurora's vision sc. solo.

if i can dig out an NYCB program there might be a way to tell by the order of the variations, which martins (w/ kirstein's help i suspect) changed to emerald.

good luck. if i get any more concrete information i'll repost.

[Hans]

Oh that's right, I had forgotten that's how NYCB does it. I cannot remember for the life of me which variation is which between Emerald and Ruby. dduffin, did your dd attend a Balanchine-style SI or was her teacher for the class from a Balanchine company? That would explain quite a bit!

[rg]

tchaikovsky's order is as follows:

Gold Fairy

Silver Fairy

Sapphire Fairy

Diamond Fairy

Martins's order is: Gold (male solo)

Diamond

Ruby

Emerald

for the production's preview the order of dancers was n. martins, l. lopez, n. hlinka and k. cass - for the premiere, due to injuries, s. leblanc replaced hlinka and k.killian replaced cass as emerald.

i can't recall now if martins keeps to tchaikovsky's order if not his name designations or not. if so his emerald would be tchaikovsky's diamond.

[rg]

my information comes from my programs.

the grayish tutu you recall is zipprodt's version of diamond - i suspect it's meant to be a bluish hue and intended to suggest a cool white diamond. the other tutus are clearly green for emerald and red for ruby - the male dancer is o'course in gold as GOLD.

what i can't recall is what music martins gives to his 'diamond' 'ruby' and 'emerald' - as noted if he follows the order in the score - his 'diamond' would be to the 'silver' music and his ruby to 'sapphire' and is emerald to 'diamond'. very confusing to say the least...

[rg]

i've just checked with a reliable source and i think the following is correct:

the EMERALD variation in martins's staging of Sleeping Beauty is danced to the 'silver fairy' variation in tchaikovsky's score.

for those who care, the order of this suite in NYCB's Sleeping Beauty prod. goes as follows:

1. Intrada danced by all four dancers

2. Silver Fairy music - danced by Emerald

3. Gold Fairy music - danced by Gold

4. Sapphire Fairy music - danced by Diamond

5. Diamond Fairy music - danced by Ruby

6. Coda music - all

[Sleeping Beauty]

Thank you to everyone who has replied so quickly. The Peter Martins version would make sense since my DD's SI was at SAB and she was actually taught the Emerald variation by Ms. Killian herself. We did not know that Ms. Killian actually danced that part and DD was very excited to learn that fact.

 

Thank you rg for all of your time and effort. I really appreciate it. I did plent of google searches but could not come up with the Emerald music, just reviews mentioning the emerald solos of certain dancers. I knew that it was in the wedding scene and with all of the other "jewel" variations, I just thought it was one that most ballets cut out, not a replacement for the Tchaikovsky silver variation.

 

We have a Tchaikovsky cd but it does not have those variations in it, so I will look for a full length one or see if I can download it online.

 

Thanks again for solving the mystery!