Carnaval (ballet)
Carnaval (Russian: Карнавал) is a ballet based on the music of Robert Schumann's piano suite Carnaval, Op. 9, as orchestrated by Alexander Glazunov, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Anatoly Lyadov and Alexander Tcherepnin. It was choreographed by Michel Fokine to his own libretto, with costumes designed by Léon Bakst, and premiered in Pavlovsk on 5 March (old style, 20 February) 1910.
| Carnaval | |
|---|---|
Michel Fokine in costume for Carnaval, circa 1910 | |
| Choreographer | Michel Fokine |
| Music | Robert Schumann |
| Libretto | Michel Fokine |
| Premiere | 20 February 1910 Pavlov Hall, Saint Petersburg, Russia |
| Original ballet company | Imperial Ballet |
| Characters | Columbine Harlequin Chiarina Estrella Papillon Pierrot Florestan Eusebius |
| Design | Léon Bakst |
| Setting | anteroom of a ballroom |
The leading dancers of the Imperial Ballet were engaged in the production: Tamara Karsavina (Columbine), Leonid Leontiev (Harlequin), Vera Fokina (Chiarina), Ludmilla Schollar (Estrella), Bronislava Nijinska (Papillon), Vsevolod Meyerhold (Pierrot), Vasily Kiselev (Florestan), and Alexander Shiryaev (Eusebius).
The ballet became world-famous due to its production by Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes (Theater des Westens, Berlin, 20 May 1910), with new sets and costumes by Bakst, with Lydia Lopokova as Columbine and Fokine himself as Harlequin.