Plastic interpretation of opera in a ballet performance: ballet “The Magic Flute” to the music of V. A. Mozart staged by A. B. Petrov at the Kremlin Ballet Theater

Abstract

The article examines an example of a plastic interpretation of Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute” of choreography by A. B. Petrov. The ballet “The Magic Flute” staged by A. B. Petrov is analyzed from the point of view of an integrated approach to  the  stage  text,  which  includes  the  use  of  music,  choreographic  solution, interpretation  of  images  and  collisions,  as  well  as  stage  design  and  costumes. Special  attention  is  paid  to  vocal  forms  that  have  received  choreographic interpretation. It is noted that A. B. Petrov often takes musical forms as a basis. Thus, the aria turns into a variation, the duet into adagio, the vocal tercet into a  ballet  trio,  the  chorus  into  a  corps  de  ballet.  Moreover,  using  the  leading ballet form pas de deux for large scenes associated with the main characters, the choreographer very clearly reveals the characteristic features of their images with choreographic means. In his production, Petrov, relying on the musical basis of Mozart’s opera and supplementing it with inserted musical fragments of other works of the composer, managed to preserve a single musical style and reveal its content, using canonical ballet techniques and the classical form of dance. The author (Gasnikova O. V.) uses excerpts from a personal conversation with A. B. Petrov, choreographer of the ballet “The Magic Flute”, People’s artist of  Russia,  winner  of  the  Moscow  Prize  in  literature  and  art,  Professor  of  the Moscow State Academy of Choreography.