Kalkabrino
Kalkabrino is a ballet in three acts and three scenes, with choreography by Marius Petipa and music by Ludwig Minkus. The story was written by Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
The ballet was first presented by the Imperial Russian Ballet on February 13, 1891, on the Julian calendar at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Its premiere was a benefit performance for its lead ballerina Carlotta Brianza, who had created the role of Princess Aurora in Petipa's ballet The Sleeping Beauty the year before.
Production
Despite Petipa's specific request for Minkus to collaborate with him for Kalkabrino, this work was not produced with the participation of Minkus, who would retire to Vienna later in 1891. Instead, the score was a pastiche of airs extracted from several of his earlier ballets, some of which had never premiered. Kalkabrino marked the final collaboration, however indirect, of Petipa and Minkus.The only part of the musical score still in use is the "Variation of Draginiatza" from Act II, which is used in the famous Paquita ''grand pas classique''.
Original cast
- Pavel Gerdt — as Kalkabrino, a fearsome bandit
- Carlotta Brianza — as Marietta, a gentle flower-seller / Draginiatza, a powerful she-demon
- Nikolai Legat — as Olivier, Marietta's lover
- Felix Kschessinsky — as René, Marietta's father
- Enrico Cecchetti — as Reuben
- Marie Petipa — as Cigala