Don Q variation in Paquita?

[DancinFeet]

In Petipa's Paquita, the Cupid variation, is the Don Quixote Cupid variation. How come the same variation is in two ballets? I'm confused.

[Mel Johnson]

The thing called "Grand pas from Paquita" today does not happen in the original ballet, which was premiered in 1846. In 1881, however, Marius Petipa revived the pas de deux, added some ensemble work, and inserted "Your Hit Parade" of favorite variations from all different ballets. There are things from Don Quixote, The Little Hump-Backed Horse, La Source and many others. You could cut in the "Tahiti Trot" ("Tea for Two") from Shostakovitch's The Age of Gold with scarcely a ripple.

[balletbum74]

Which ballet is each variation from? I know that the male pas de trois variation uses the same music for Basil's drunken variation in Don Quixote.

[Mel Johnson]

They are legion, and not stable. You could be entirely justified in including only Tchaikovsky variations in a staging of this divertissement.

[DancinFeet]

Oh, got it. Thanks!

[Guest ingve]

Hi Mel,

 

if you would recomend any book/books on this field, which could you recomend? I have to admit, I have a much to low knowledge of ballet history, but are getting more and more interested.

[Mel Johnson]

A good "one-stop shop" for ballet history is Horst Koegler's Oxford Concise History of Ballet. I think it may be out of print, but it's available on the used-book market.

[Guest ingve]

Thank you.

 

Here in Germany he is mr. ballet critic in person. He is one of the few here being able to critisise ballet with more nuanses than "good" or "bad".

 

Cheers.