Petrushka

Composer: STRAVINSKY, Igor
  • Stravinsky’s second ballet (also called “scènes burlesque”), Petrushka, premiered in 1911 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, performed by the Ballets Russes and conducted by Pierre Monteux. The piece was an immediate success.
  • Stravinsky’s score is broken up into four main sections:
    • Part 1. The Shrovetide Fair
      1. Introduction (at the Shrovetide Fair)
      2. The Crowds
      3. The Charlatan’s Booth
      4. Russian Dance
    • Part 2. Petrushka’s Cell
    • Part 3. The Moor’s Room
      1. The Moor’s Room
      2. Dance of the Ballerina
      3. Waltz – The Ballerina & the Moor
    • Part 4. The Shrovetide Fair (Evening)
      1. The Shrove-Tide Fair (Near evening)
      2. Dance of the Wet Nurses
      3. Dance of the Peasant and the Bear
      4. Dance of the Gypsy Girls
      5. Dance of the Coachmen and Grooms
      6. The Masqueraders
      7. Conclusion (Petrushka’s Death)1
  • Stravinsky originally conceived Petrushka as a piece for piano and orchestra. Sergey Diaghilev convinced the composer to turn his idea into another ballet for the Ballets Russes. You can still hear remnants of this initial piano/orchestra concept in the ballet score, particularly in Part 2. The overall score makes ample use of Russian folk tunes.2
  • The plot of Stravinsky’s ballet revolves around three main puppet characters – Petrushka, the Ballerina (Petrushka’s love interest), and the Moor (Petrushka’s nemesis). The interactions between the puppets, and particularly the haunting ending, are highly dramatic and original.3
  • “Petrushka” is a character from Russian folk puppet shows beginning in the 17th century. He is typically portrayed as a smiling young boy with a hooked nose and is commonly depicted as humpbacked.4 The character is akin to Pulcinella from the commedia dell’arte.

Sources

  1. Igor Stravinsky, Petrushka (Berlin: Editions Russes de Musique, 1912).
  2. David Nice, Essay in accompanying booklet, Stravinsky: Petrushka performed by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Dmitri Kitajenko, CHAN 9198, 1994, compact disc.
  3. Ibid.
  4. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Petrushka,” Encyclopedia Britannica (2020), accessed December 30, 2022, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Petrushka-Russian-puppet-character.

Cut IDs

21110 11775 15710 48368 13687 17049 22630 13219