#Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

[staticsnowfall]

the famous fouettés of swan lake

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featured above is chloe misseldine, prima ballerina of american ballet theatre, as odile in ‘swan lake’.

the thirty-two fouettés in swan lake, and the embodiment of odette and odile as a whole are considered a stepping stone into a ballerina’s career as a prima. a debut is ultimately a test, a deciding factor in whether a company decides to promote a dancer or leave her alone. the fouettés of odile are difficult, requiring much strength, stamina, and training, performed during the coda after a lengthy pas de deux and variation. the legendary pierina legnani was the first ballerina to accomplish this feat in 1895, the fouettés being added just for her by choreographer marius petipa.

misseldine is the most recent ballerina to join the ranks of principal in the company: her promotion was on july 3rd, 2024, after her performance of odette/odile at the metropolitan opera house in manhattan, new york.

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footage sourced from @juliette_2626’s story on instagram, july 3rd, 2024, the met opera.

[buddygrouse]

brothers karamazov comic

[tinyicis]

Catpawsers

[drumchicken]

who is better?

Please reblog for a larger sample size!

[hanakihan]

i absolutely beg that if one day Tchaikovsky will end up as a servant in FGO he’ll be an archer class purely because of his 1812 overture

‘Sir you can’t use canons in music’

‘Watch me’

[gwydpolls]

Time Travel Question 58: Performances IV

These Questions are the result of suggestions from the previous iteration.

This category may include suggestions made too late to fall into the correct grouping.

Please add new suggestions below if you have them for future consideration.

*The Broadway Premiere names were lost over a year ago because I didn't realize how big this was until I'd spent several hours on first day telemetry for the very first Time travel poll.

Please Feel Free to share ones you want to see for future polls.

[princesssarisa]

If there's any character from Sleeping Beauty from whose viewpoint I might like to write a poem or short fic, it would be one of the four princes from Act I of Tchaikovsky's ballet.

Other, later retellings of the tale have also given Sleeping Beauty a suitor before she succumbs to the curse, but those princes are usually portrayed negatively, as silly fops in contrast to the charming prince who ultimately wakes her. The four suitors in the ballet, on the other hand, are perfectly nice, handsome, gallant young men. Aurora dances the famous Rose Adagio with them, and while she doesn't choose one of them to marry, she seems to like them well enough. Yet after sharing that beautiful moment of dance with her, with every reason to hope that one of them will soon be her bridegroom, they have to witness her fall under the spell.

Aurora's finger-pricking doesn't happen in a secluded tower in Tchaikovsky's ballet. The evil fairy Carabosse comes to her 16th birthday feast disguised as an old beggar woman, and (depending on the production) either gives her a drop spindle as a gift, which she takes naïvely because she's never seen one before, or gives her a bouquet of roses with a spindle hidden inside. Then she pricks her finger and collapses in front of the whole court and all the party guests, including the four princes. In some productions, one of the princes catches Aurora in his arms as she falls, and when Carabosse jubilantly reveals her identity, many productions have the four of them rush at her with their swords just before she vanishes. Then, after the Lilac Fairy arrives to assure everyone that Aurora is only sleeping, not dead, and to put the King and Queen and all the rest of the court to sleep too, in some productions it's the four princes who carry Aurora into the castle to her bed.

Even though Aurora doesn't fall in love with any of those princes, they still share something meaningful. When Aurora enters, her music and dancing is all childlike exuberance and innocence. But in the grand Rose Adagio – one of the most demanding showcases for a ballerina – she comes into her own both as a dancer and as a young woman receiving courtship for the first time. Arguably, the dance she shares with the four princes serves as her coming-of-age moment, which prepares her for her ultimate marriage to Prince Désiré/Florimund a hundred years later.

Yet there's no happy ending for those four young men. They have to watch Aurora succumb to the curse, fail to take down Carabosse, and then learn from the Lilac Fairy that Aurora is lost to them, destined to sleep until another prince finds her long after they're all dead. All they can do is reverently lay her to rest, then go back to their own lands, presumably to tell the rest of the world what happened.

I'd like to imagine that Prince Désiré/Florimund is the grandson or great-grandson of one of Aurora's four original suitors. A few other adaptations have the Prince who wakes Sleeping Beauty be descended from an earlier suitor of hers, so I'll imagine that's the case in the ballet too.

[celluloidrainbow]

THE MUSIC LOVERS (1971) dir. Ken Russell Composer, conductor and teacher Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky is a closeted homosexual who would do anything, selfish or not, to disguise that fact during a time when his sexual preference would have cost him the one thing that he truly loved: his music. Tchaikovsky's solution is to marry, but unfortunately he chooses Antonina Miliukova, a (allegedly) nymphomaniac girl whom he cannot satisfy. His marriage is plagued by both his struggles to retain his newfound career and his lustful desire for Count Anton Chiluvsky. (link in title)

[pedroam-bang]

Black Swan (2010)

[musicianrambles]

Honestly one of my biggest pet peeves is when people make up obviously wrong facts about historical figures in order to be funny, as if they weren't real people and therefore extremely silly in real life. It really degrades the entire experience of history as study of humanity first and foremost: these people (especially classical composers) are the same as us, and it's frustrating to see people imply otherwise.

Also most of the time it's really boring, especially in comparison to the truth. Name one joke about any composer that could be as funny as the fact that Chopin and Liszt literally HUNTED BERLIOZ while he was being depressed over his weird crush in the middle of a field. Name one joke about Tchaikovsky's sexuality that could be as funny as the fact that he found his boyfriend's finger really ugly and fixated more and more on it as the relationship got worse. I could go on.

[staticsnowfall]

the nutcracker (1993)

*ੈ‧₊˚ ❆ .ೃ࿔*

corps de ballet of the new york city ballet performing “waltz of the snowflakes”

dir. by emile ardolino, choreo. by george balanchine

[angeryed]

Look I made a little something for y’all ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ

[tinyicis]

Composers as animals - 1

[miss-mollys-ballet-blog]

Tchaikovsky is the greatest composer of all time and I will neither hear nor entertain arguments to the counter. I will die on this hill.

[ultra-francesca-mercury]

may 7

1840 The composer Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky is born in Votkinsk, Russia.

[psy-kylo-gy]

Finally, Act V Day 3 of A Day in the Life of TchaikovsKYLO Ren! Our favorite messy boy has at last renounced the dark side and reclaimed his true self: Ben Tchaikovsolo! Surprises await for both him and his headstrong waifu who is challenging Emperor Ovaltine all alone. Reylo chaos ensues but can love save the day?

Catch up with the entire series here

Well first off I'm so sorry for the wait on this, I had it 99% finished since 2020 but just lost the heart to post it during Covid and my subsequent depression. I really wanted the people who love this series to know that I haven't abandoned it, and the finale is mostly done as well and I'm so excited to bestow Reylo with a GOOD ENDING they deserve.

As always, I want to dedicate this to some special folks who've motivated me and given me such kindness and patience over the years. I'm SO grateful for the love and support and I really hope you enjoy this one, Ben is (of course) a lot of fun: @pandoraspocksao3 @blackeyedlily @violet1979 @missrenaeann-blog @maryloki3000 @fangiosfriend