Mariinsky Theatre tickets 25 April 2025 - Paquita | GoComGo.com

Paquita

Mariinsky Theatre, Mariinsky Theatre, Saint Petersburg, Russia
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Important Info
Type: Ballet
City: Saint Petersburg, Russia
Starts at: 19:00
Acts: 3
Intervals: 2
Duration: 3h

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If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

Cast
Performers
Orchestra: Mariinsky Orchestra
Conductor: Arseny Shuplyakov
Ballet company: Mariinsky Ballett
Creators
Composer: Édouard Deldevez
Composer: Ludwig Minkus
Composer: Riccardo Drigo
Choreographer: Yury Smekalove
Choreography: Marius Petipa
Librettist: Paul Foucher
Choreography: Yuri Burlaka
Librettist: Yury Smekalove
Overview

Continuing to revive titles that are significant for the playbill of St Petersburg ballet, the Mariinsky Theatre is presenting a new version of Paquita. This is not a revival of the 19th century production, created in Paris by the ballet-master Joseph Mazilier and which was performed in St Petersburg from 1847 with choreography by Marius Petipa. Choreographer Yuri Smekalov is working on a new three-act ballet using his own libretto based on the plot of the novella La gitanilla by Cervantes. The basis of the score of the new ballet comprises music by Édouard Deldevez that was composed for the Paris premiere of Paquita in 1846. Yet today this one-and-a-half-century-old opus will sound different: the order of the numbers has changed, several of them have been re-orchestrated and, moreover, Deldevez' score has been added to by excerpts from works by Minkus and Drigo. The famous wedding Grand pas staged by Marius Petipa to music by Minkus, which triumphantly crowned the plot of the St Petersburg production, will occupy its place of honour in the new ballet, too. This parade of classical dance that demonstrates the skill of the corps de ballet and the virtuoso qualities of the ballerina and the soloists appeared in the 1881 production, and as an independent piece, unconnected with the ballet's plot, it has survived to this day. It is true that over the decades Petipa's choreographic text has undergone many changes. In the contemporary Paquita, the Grand pas will be included in a version brought close to the historic original – Yuri Burlaka is reviving Petipa's choreography using surviving records of the production from the early 20th century. The new ballet, which combines dances and scenes created by Yuri Smekalov, together with historic rarities, will be a hommage to the golden age of classical ballet, a mark of respect and gratitude of the new ballet generation to the aesthetics of the unsurpassed master of classicism – Marius Petipa.

History
Premiere of this production: 01 April 1846, Salle Le Peletier, Paris

Paquita is a ballet in two acts and three scenes originally choreographed by Joseph Mazilier to music by Édouard Deldevez and Ludwig Minkus. Paul Foucher received royalties as librettist.

Synopsis

Prologue
Gypsies steal a jewelry chest with a family medallion from the corregidor’s house, along with his baby daughter. They intend to train the noble parents’ child as a street dancer to earn money.

Act I
Madrid city square
Señors, ladies, merchants, and peasants, admire young gypsy girls dancing. Beautiful Paquita pleases everyone. Clemente, the corregidor’s secretary, asks her to perform the love sonnet he wrote, but Paquita rejects the poet's fervent confessions. The viewers enthusiastically applaud the girl’s talent while the old gypsy woman collects the money she has earned. Officers appear along with caballero Francisco de Cárcamo and his son Andrés. Unable to take his eyes off the beautiful gypsy girl, he confesses his love to her. Paquita asks the young man to prove his love: he must travel with the gypsies for two years, so that she could test his feelings and, perhaps, accept his proposal. The enamoured caballero agrees to change the officer's uniform for gypsy clothes and leaves with the gypsies.

Gypsy camp
The gypsies teach Andrés their customs. The young caballero gladly explores every delight of his new life. Deep passion arises between Paquita and Andrés. The old gypsy man sends his people to earn some money.

Act II
A rich widow’s inn
The widow invites gypsies to dispel her sorrows and entertain her noble guests, including the corregidor with their dances and songs. Carducha, the widow’s daughter, gets fascinated by the dances of the young gypsy man and obsessed with passion. Secretly, she confesses her feelings to Andres, but he rejects her, for his heart belongs to another girl. The insulted Carducha conceives vengeance: she plants the family silver into the gypsy cart.
The old gypsy woman says goodbye to the hostess. But Carducha insists that the artists' things must be searched before they leave. Despite the excellent performance, the reputation of the gypsy is not flawless. In the cart, the servants discover the stolen valuables and a jewelry chest that seems familiar to the corregidor. Officers detain the disguised caballero, and one of the guardians of the law deals Andrés a slap in the face. Unable to withstand the insult, the caballero snatches the sword from the officer and, amidst the brawl, wounds the offender mortally. The corregidor, who witnessed the murder, orders that the young man be arrested immediately. Paquita, who tried to defend her lover, also gets arrested.

The prison
Andrés and Paquita are in jail. In their thoughts, they are saying farewell to each other and to their lives. The jailers chain Andrés, while the corregidor orders that Paquita and the old woman be brought to his house.

The corregidor’s house
The corregidor shows the jewelry chest that was found in the gypsy cart to his wife, Doña Guiomar. She notices that the medallion stored in it is absolutely similar to the one depicted in the portrait of her long-lost baby daughter. The old gypsy woman remembers that it was from this house that she kidnapped a little girl years ago. All doubts are dispelled: Paquita is the daughter of the corregidor and Doña Guiomar. Paquita begs them to pardon Andrés.

Act III
The prison
The corregidor asks Andrés to prove his noble origin. The caballero responds with a noble dance, wondering how his secret was revealed. The corregidor tells everyone about the happy finding of his lost daughter. The priest blesses the young couple.

The corregidor‘s house
Numerous guests arrive to celebrate the wedding of Paquita and Andrés, including the groom’s father Francisco de Cárcamo, officers, gypsies and bridesmaids. Everyone congratulates the newlyweds.

The story takes place in Spain during the presence of Napoleon's army. The heroine is the young gypsy girl, Paquita. Unbeknownst to Paquita, she is really of noble birth, having been abducted by gypsies when she was an infant. She saves the life of a young French officer, Lucien d'Hervilly, who is the target of a Spanish governor who desires to have him killed by Iñigo, a gypsy chief. By way of a medallion she discovers that she is of noble birth, being in fact the cousin of Lucien. As such, she and the Officer are able to get married.

Venue Info

Mariinsky Theatre - Saint Petersburg
Location   1 Theatre Square

The Mariinsky Theatre is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th-century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces of Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov received their premieres. Through most of the Soviet era, it was known as the Kirov Theatre. Today, the Mariinsky Theatre is home to the Mariinsky Ballet, Mariinsky Opera and Mariinsky Orchestra. Since Yuri Temirkanov's retirement in 1988, the conductor Valery Gergiev has served as the theatre's general director.

The theatre is named after Empress Maria Alexandrovna, wife of Tsar Alexander II. There is a bust of the Empress in the main entrance foyer. The theatre's name has changed throughout its history, reflecting the political climate of the time.

The theatre building is commonly called the Mariinsky Theatre. The companies that operate within it have for brand recognition purposes retained the Kirov name, acquired during the Soviet era to commemorate the assassinated Leningrad Communist Party leader Sergey Kirov (1886–1934).

The Imperial drama, opera and ballet troupe in Saint Petersburg was established in 1783, at the behest of Catherine the Great, although an Italian ballet troupe had performed at the Russian court since the early 18th century. Originally, the ballet and opera performances were given in the wooden Karl Knipper Theatre on Tsaritsa Meadow, near the present-day Tripartite Bridge (also known as the Little Theatre or the Maly Theatre). The Hermitage Theatre, next door to the Winter Palace, was used to host performances for an elite audience of aristocratic guests invited by the Empress.

A permanent theatre building for the new company of opera and ballet artists was designed by Antonio Rinaldi and opened in 1783. Known as the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre the structure was situated on Carousel Square, which was renamed Theatre Square in honour of the building. Both names – "Kamenny" (Russian word for "stone") and "Bolshoi" (Russian word for "big") – were coined to distinguish it from the wooden Little Theatre. In 1836, the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre was renovated to a design by Albert Cavos (son of Catterino Cavos, an opera composer), and served as the principal theatre of the Imperial Ballet and opera.

On 29 January 1849, the Equestrian circus (Конный цирк) opened on Theatre Square. This was also the work of the architect Cavos. The building was designed to double as a theatre. It was a wooden structure in the then-fashionable neo-Byzantine style. Ten years later, when this circus burnt down, Albert Cavos rebuilt it as an opera and ballet house with the largest stage in the world. With a seating capacity of 1,625 and a U-shaped Italian-style auditorium, the theatre opened on 2 October 1860, with a performance of A Life for the Tsar. The new theatre was named Mariinsky after its imperial patroness, Empress Maria Alexandrovna.

Under Yuri Temirkanov, Principal Conductor from 1976 to 1988, the Opera Company continued to stage innovative productions of both modern and classic Russian operas. Although functioning separately from the Theatre’s Ballet Company, since 1988 both companies have been under the artistic leadership of Valery Gergiev as Artistic Director of the entire Theatre.

The Opera Company has entered a new era of artistic excellence and creativity. Since 1993, Gergiev’s impact on opera there has been enormous. Firstly, he reorganized the company’s operations and established links with many of the world's great opera houses, including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, the Opéra Bastille, La Scala, La Fenice, the Israeli Opera, the Washington National Opera and the San Francisco Opera. Today, the Opera Company regularly tours to most of these cities.

Gergiev has also been innovative as far as Russian opera is concerned: in 1989, there was an all-Mussorgsky festival featuring the composer’s entire operatic output. Similarly, many of Prokofiev’s operas were presented from the late 1990s. Operas by non-Russian composers began to be performed in their original languages, which helped the Opera Company to incorporate world trends. The annual international "Stars of the White Nights Festival" in Saint Petersburg, started by Gergiev in 1993, has also put the Mariinsky on the world’s cultural map. That year, as a salute to the imperial origins of the Mariinsky, Verdi's La forza del destino, which received its premiere in Saint Petersburg in 1862, was produced with its original sets, costumes and scenery. Since then, it has become a characteristic of the "White Nights Festival" to present the premieres from the company’s upcoming season during this magical period, when the hours of darkness practically disappear as the summer solstice approaches.

Presently, the Company lists on its roster 22 sopranos (of whom Anna Netrebko may be the best known); 13 mezzo-sopranos (with Olga Borodina familiar to US and European audiences); 23 tenors; eight baritones; and 14 basses. With Gergiev in charge overall, there is a Head of Stage Administration, a Stage Director, Stage Managers and Assistants, along with 14 accompanists.

Important Info
Type: Ballet
City: Saint Petersburg, Russia
Starts at: 19:00
Acts: 3
Intervals: 2
Duration: 3h
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