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never-a-poem · 1 month ago

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The Swan Quartet/La Quartette des Cygnes

"The Swans' Last Dance" was a work composed by violinist Clarence Hughes. It consists of two movements and in each movement two violins play together. Each party is based on a member of "The Swan Quartet" of which Hughes himself was also a member. The Swan Quartet was an artist group in the 19th century that consisted of a ballet duo, a violinist and a pianist. This quartet attracted a huge audience: kings, nobility, famous artists,...

It owes its name to the talented ballet dancer and member of the quartet Adelaida Ivanovna Lebedev (Lebedev means "swan" in Russian.)

Adelaida Ivanovna had danced at the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in the first few years of her dance career in 1980. She was a perfect student; her only flaw was that she found it difficult to dance passes à deux. It wasn't that she hadn't mastered the technique, she just felt uncomfortable dancing with men. The first concert at which she danced a passe à deux was the beginning of her successful career. This was because she had chosen her perfect partner to dance with. We don't know for sure how they met, but a lot of rumors say the mysterious partner had just popped up out of nowhere at one of her concerts to accompany her. No one knew him or had ever seen him in that city and he didn't look like a foreigner either. Well, I'll tell you how it really went. It was the year 1877:

"Adelaida Ivanovna! Darya Alexandrovna! You two can form a dance pair because I see that one of the boys is absent."

"I'm so happy we get to dance together again! I hate to dance with Léon! He keeps making stupid jokes. Oh, but I hope it's not a problem for you.", Adelaida said. "It's not like I have another choice. And I really don't care who my dance partner is.", Darya answered.

Adelaida used to be close friends with her classmate Darya Alexandrovna Morozov. They both dreamed of becoming a professional ballet dancer and they both dreamed of going to the famous Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet. But only Adelaida was accepted to the dance academy. The teachers had said Darya's movements were 'too brusque'. And thus, Darya went back to work in her parents' pottery shop. The two friends didn't see each other as often as before, but their friendship stayed the same. Until one day:

(I'm too lazy to write this part out, so here's just the plot): Adelaida suddenly had an idea. "What if Darya disguises herself as a ballerino (male ballerina)?" Adelaida tells this idea to Darya, but Darya misunderstands. But Adelaida said it purely with good intentions. Because of this, there is a misunderstanding and they have a passive argument. They don't talk again for several weeks. But they still keep an eye on each other's lives. So Darya, for example, knows that Adelaida is doing well at the dance academy. After a few months (?) Adelaida has to do one last performance to graduate from dance school. But the theme of the performance is duos, so she must dance with a dance partner. She gets to choose from a few partners, but she puts off choosing until the day of the performance itself....

Darya was walking down the streets. She could see posters of the graduation performance hanging everywhere. Her name should have been on that poster. Next to Adelaida's. She wonders who Adelaida's partner could possibly be. Darya had saved some money to buy a ticket for herself. She should go because she's Adelaida's best friend. Or maybe Adelaida had already made new friends.

The day of the performance:

Adelaida was putting on her ballerina shoes. The little silver bells that hung on it were shining brightly. Darya had once given them to Adelaida... "No one can hear your soundless steps when you walk into the room. You always startle everyone. Here, take these bells." "Strange of you to say that because you're always the one who doesn't get startled." "I'm already used to the soundlessness of your steps."

Adelaida missed her friend. She hoped Darya would be watching her today. Or maybe not, because the performance will go fatally wrong. Adelaida hadn't even chosen a dance partner. The teachers said she would maybe have to dance with one of the teachers because they couldn't find anyone who had already practised the male part. Adelaida knew it was all her own fault. What had she expected? She heard a loud applause from the public behind her. Great, now it was her turn to dance. Adelaida stood up. No, she wanted to stand up, but her legs wouldn't move. She really felt miserable. She heard voices calling her name. The voices were coming toward her. They were coming to drag her on stage. Or that's what she thought. Instead of the teacher's panicked faces, she saw delighted faces; some were even a little confused, like hers. "We have found a dance partner for you! He said you had chosen him and at first, we didn't really trust him, but he showed that he could dance the male part almost perfectly." Adelaida just stood there, gaping at her new dance partner. He was handsome, elegant, had soft features and he was not a man. It was Darya Alexandrovna Morozov. Adelaida immediately recovered and said quickly:" Yes, that's right! He was my dance partner! Oh, how could I have forgotten!"

They stood on stage. Darya wore a dainty white shirt with a purple scarf around her waist and chic black pants. Her dark hair was cut short. Adelaida wore a lilac purple ballet suit with white ballerinas tied with dark purple ribbon from which the silver bells hung. Her platina blonde hair was worn in a neat bun.

This was the concert of 1890 (?) that represented them, the concert that had started their popularity. But the Swan Quartet had not yet been formed...

Adelaida and Darya were well known even though they only held their concerts in Russia. Everyone loved the way they danced as one soul in two bodies. One of their concerts had really pierced people's hearts. Afterwards, people called it The Dance of the Rose...

On one summer evening of 1892 (?):

Adelaida and Darya were sitting on one of the two beds in their hotel room, reading a letter they had already read 10 times this day. Adelaida stood the bed and raised her arms in the air: "I still can't believe that the Actual Privy Councillor sent a request for a performance by us! Darya, we must show off this letter to that one teacher who called your movements 'too brusque'. What was her name again? Mademoiselle Lizaveta?" "You really hold your grudges huh?", said Darya, still looking at the letter. They were invited to come to the opera theater the next morning to choose the musicians who would accompany them. The Actual Privy Councillor gave them the choice to choose their own musicians and the song they would dance to.

The evening of the next day in their hotel room:

"Aaaah I'm exhausted! If I knew it would take so long, I would have brought something to eat. And we couldn't even make a choice between all those professionals! They all play as if they're doing a solo.", Adelaida complained. "We'll have to go to the opera theater tomorrow to choose again." "You're not helping.", Adelaida said and she hid her face in a pillow. "Yes, you're right. We should get some rest and something to eat. Let's go to the hotel's restaurant."

They sat down at a table for two on the terrace. Darya didn't have to disguise herself. The sun set quickly today and the moon now hung in the sky. A gentle evening breeze blew past the terrace. The only thing missing was...music. And it seemed that two other people were thinking the same thing: two men, one of whom had a violin case on his back, walked toward the unplayed piano on the terrace. The man with the violin case took out his violin and the other man opened the lid of the grand piano. Adelaida could swear the pianist said something of "I just hope we don't get sued for this..."

The moment they begun, all the faces of the bored visitors turned into their direction. No one knew the song, no one knew the two men, but everyone was listening. They played like this was all they've been doing their entire life. They played like one soul in two bodies. Darya knew what Adelaida was thinking because the moment Adelaida said "Them!" while pointing in their direction, Darya said "No." But Darya didn't stop Adelaida when she walked toward the violinist, nor did she stop Adelaida when she was talking excitedly to the musicians.

They looked like foreigners, so Adelaida thought it would be best to talk in French to them. "Good evening, misters. I wanted to tell you that I very much like the way you play together and..." Adelaida stopped because the violinist was looking at her with confusion written all over his face. The pianist saw her reaction and quickly said: "My apologies for my friend, he doesn't speak French, only English." "Oh, that's no problem, I can speak english too! You can call me Adelaida Ivanovna Lebedev." The violinist answered: "Good evening, lady Adelaida Ivanovna Lebedev! Has my friend already introduced us? No? My name is Clarence Hughes and you can call him Johann Meyer. What brings you here this peaceful evening?" "I wanted to say that you play very well together. How come I've never heard of your names?" "We are traveling musicians. We never stay in one place long enough for people to remember our faces."

After a few minutes, Adelaida went back to Darya...

"They said yes! Now we don't have to go to that damn opera theater tomorrow because we'll be visiting them." "And you told them I was your partner?" "Yes, why are you asking-" Adelaida realized she had made a big mistake. Now they knew her partner was a girl. "But they were very nice people, so I don't think they would tell others about it." "You're always too naïve." "Sorry..." "Don't think too much about it. We'll find a way to mislead them or to bribe them." "Maybe there's a better way..."

Clarence Hughes. A violinist who composes his own musical pieces. His last work was called 'The Swans' Last Dance'. His other works that are also well known are: 'L'amour hésitant' (called 'The dance of the rose' by the public), 'Morning Glory' and his Duets for violin and piano. He has been traveling around Europe and holding concerts since he was 16 years old. He comes from the U.K. and in the first two years of his career, he stayed in Germany where he met a lot of other composers. Then, he had traveled to France, to Italy, to Spain and at last back to Germany where he met the pianist Johann Meyer...

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