luni, 26 noiembrie 2012

The Dying Swan by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Anoet, prietena mea de pe face book mi-a pus, la un comentariu, un videoclip cu Maia Plisetkaia in rolul Lebedei (de fapt Moartea Lebedei) de Camille Saint- Saëns. O minune de interpretare, ca o zeita..
Si atunci mi-am adus aminte de un moment magic pe care l-am trait in viata mea de fan al patinajului artistic...dramatica Olimpiada de la Lillehamer cand o adolescenta de numai 16 ani a cucerit asistenta prin interpretarea plina de gratie si eleganta a aceleasi Lebede Muribunde a lui Camille Saint- Saëns. E vorba de o patinatoare orfana, care fusese luata sub aripa campionului olimpic Victor Petrenko si ajutata atat material cat si profesional sa se antreneze pentru ceea ce avea sa devina varful carierei sale, campioana olimpica. Dying Swan a fost interpretata de Oxana Baiul la gala. Din pacate tanara patinatoare s-a apucat de baut si si-a ruinat cariera. Am revazut-o in 2001, intr-o competitie de profesionisti, dar era numai umbra gratioasei lebede, o umbra cu multe kg in plus.
In 2010, la Vancouver, o alta patinatoare plina de gratie si eleganta avea sa cucereasca aurul olimpic si sa ma incante, sa ma faca sa o indragesc, tanara coreeana Yu Na Kim. Ea are in programul ei deasemenea o lebada. Ceea ce e interesant la ea e ca executa acelasi program pe doua bucati muzicale diferite, atat pe Dying Swan de Camille Saint- Saëns cat si pe Lake Swan de Piotr Ilici Ceaicovschi.
Acesta a fost lebada lui Saint- Saëns, programul a fost transmis de televiziunea sud coreeana SBS, lebada lui Ceaicovschi a fost transmisa de canalul TV american NBC
Bun, bun veti zice, ne-ai povestit si ne-ai convins ca lebada asta muribunda se poate interpreta in fel si chip, dar ce legatura are asta cu titlul? Pai  are, pentru ca Saint- Saëns a fost inspirat, atunci cand a compus muzica, de poemul lui Tennyson. Imi pare rau, dar nu am rabdare sa il traduc, pot doar sa va spun ca poetul face o descriere a peisajului in care se produce moartea nefericitei pasari, pe o campie vegheata din departare de varfurile unor munti inzapeziti, pe campie se afla un lac (sau  o mlastina, oricum o apa statatoare) pe malul caruia stau aplecate salcii iar apele sale sunt colorate in nuante de purpuriu, verde si galben.Si in acest peisaj se inalta, magnific, cantecul lebedei, intai abia auzit, apoi ridicandu-se puternic si clar, liber si indraznet, patrunzand pretutindeni, tumultuos, inundand totul, tot peisajul.

The Dying Swan

by Alfred Lord Tennyson

I.

The plain was grassy, wild and bare,
Wide, wild, and open to the air,
Which had built up everywhere
An under-roof of doleful gray.
With an inner voice the river ran,
Adown it floated a dying swan,
And loudly did lament.
It was the middle of the day.
Ever the weary wind went on,
And took the reed-tops as it went.

II.

Some blue peaks in the distance rose,
And white against the cold-white sky,
Shone out their crowning snows.
One willow over the river wept,
And shook the wave as the wind did sigh;
Above in the wind was the swallow,
Chasing itself at its own wild will,
And far thro' the marish green and still
The tangled water-courses slept,
Shot over with purple, and green, and yellow.

III.

The wild swan's death-hymn took the soul
Of that waste place with joy
Hidden in sorrow: at first to the ear
The warble was low, and full and clear;
And floating about the under-sky,
Prevailing in weakness, the coronach stole
Sometimes afar, and sometimes anear;
But anon her awful jubilant voice,
With a music strange and manifold,
Flow'd forth on a carol free and bold;
As when a mighty people rejoice
With shawms, and with cymbals, and harps of gold,
And the tumult of their acclaim is roll'd
Thro' the open gates of the city afar,
To the shepherd who watcheth the evening star.
And the creeping mosses and clambering weeds,
And the willow-branches hoar and dank,
And the wavy swell of the soughing reeds,
And the wave-worn horns of the echoing bank,
And the silvery marish-flowers that throng
The desolate creeks and pools among,
Were flooded over with eddying song.

UPDATE: Un comentariu de pe fb al dr Hong mi-a produs bucuria de a vedea alta balerina rusa interpretand The Dying Swan, precum si niste informatii in plus despre felul cum a luat nastere acest balet datorita lui Mihail Fokin, care l-a creat pentru legendara Anna Pavlova...Am sa copiez de pe you tube informatiile si apoi o sa inserez, pe langa videoclipul cu Svetlana Zaharova, unul cu Anna Pavlova, care a interpretat acest rol de vreo 4000 de ori si a pus accentul pe lupta lebedei cu moartea, si nu pe virtuozitatea reprezentarii gratioasei pasari.


The Dying Swan (originally The Swan) is a ballet choreographed by Mikhail Fokine in 1905 to Camille Saint-Saëns's cello solo Le Cygne from Le Carnaval des Animaux as a pièce d'occasion for the ballerina Anna Pavlova. The short ballet follows the last moments in the life of a swan, and was first presented in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1905. Pavlova performed the dance about 4,000 times. 

The ballet has since influenced modern interpretations of Odette in Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake and has inspired non-traditional interpretations and various adaptations. Inspired by swans that she had seen in public parks and Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem "The Dying Swan", [1] Anna Pavlova (who had just become a ballerina at the Mariinsky Theatre) asked Michel Fokine, who had also read the poem, to create a solo ballet for her for a 1905 concert being given by artists from the chorus of the Imperial Mariinsky Opera. Fokine suggested Saint-Saëns's cello solo, Le Cygne (which Fokine had been playing at home on a mandolin to a friend's piano accompaniment) as the work's musical basis and Pavlova agreed. A rehearsal was arranged and the short dance completed very quickly. [2] 

Fokine remarked in Dance Magazine (August 1931): It was almost an improvisation. I danced in front of her, she directly behind me. Then she danced and I walked alongside her, curving her arms and correcting details of poses. Prior to this composition, I was accused of barefooted tendencies and of rejecting toe dancing in general. The Dying Swan was my answer to such criticism. This dance became the symbol of the New Russian Ballet. It was a combination of masterful technique with expressiveness. It was like a proof that the dance could and should satisfy not only the eye, but through the medium of the eye should penetrate the soul. [3] 

In 1934, Fokine told Arnold Haskell, author of Balletomania : Small work as it is, [...] it was 'revolutionary' then, and illustrated admirably the transition between the old and the new, for here I make use of the technique of the old dance and the traditional costume, and a highly developed technique is necessary, but the purpose of the dance is not to display that technique but to create the symbol of the everlasting struggle in this life and all that is mortal. It is a dance of the whole body and not of the limbs only; it appeals not merely to the eye but to the emotions and the imagination. 

 The Dying Swan was first performed at a gala in the Noblemen's Hall, St. Petersburg, Russia on Friday, 22 December 1905, [6] and first performed in the United States at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York on 18 March 1910, with Pavlova in the role. American dance critic and photographer Carl Van Vechten noted that the ballet was "the most exquisite specimen of [Pavlova's] art which she has yet given to the public." [2] Pavlova performed the role some 4,000 times [7] and, on her deathbed in The Hague, reportedly cried, "Prepare my swan costume." [7] [8] 

 Fokine's granddaughter Isabelle notes that the ballet does not make "enormous technical demands" on the dancer but it does make "enormous artistic ones because every movement and every gesture should signify a different experience" which is "emerging from someone who is attempting to escape death". She notes that modern performances are significantly different from her grandfather's original conception and that the solo today is often made to appear to be a variation of Swan Lake—"Odette at death's door". 

The ballet is not about a ballerina being able to transform herself into a swan, she states, but about death, with the swan simply being a metaphor for that. [9] Please go to the following website for more information on this music and the ballet -

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