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(Adolphe Charles Adam)
This is a ballet in 3 acts first
performed at the Ballet of the Academie Royale de Musique in Paris
on 23rd January 1856. The libretto is based on the Lord
Byron poem The Corsair, a semi-biographical
tale of a pirate, and the Balletmaster Joseph Mazilier
was the original choreographer.
During the 19th century the score was added to several
times and by the end of that century six composers were credited for
contributing to it. These were Cesare Pugni, Prince Peter of
Oldenburg, Leo Delibes, Leon Minkus,
Prince Trubetskoi and Riccardo Drigo. The ballet
has been revised and is performed in two versions. The first is performed primarily in Russia
and Eastern Europe and derives from Pyotr Gusev's revival of it, and the second is
performed in North
America and Western
Europe and uses the Konstantin Sergeyev
revival that had been originally meant for the Kirov and Bolshoi ballets. This Adolphe Adam version is
actually the second ballet of Byron's poem, the first being written
by Nicholas Bochsa in 1837 for the Drury
Lane Theatre
in London. The Adolphe Adam ballet was created
primarily for the Italian ballerina Carolina Rosati
and commissioned for a fee of 6,000 francs.
English Chamber Orchestra Recordings
London 0289 430 286 2 (CD - Le Corsaire)
Conductor
- Richard Bonynge
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Corsaire#The_Birth_of_Le_Corsaire
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