Prisoner of the Caucasus (Kavos Ballet)

Alexander Pushkin ’s poem “The Prisoner of the Caucasus ” was released in August 1822, and already in the fall, choreographer Charles Didlo set about staging the ballet “based on” this piece. As Didlo wrote in the preface to the libretto: “All writers praise this excellent work of Russian poetry. I asked to translate for myself a brief extract thereof, and I found the content very interesting ” ^[2] .

However, the "interesting content" has undergone very significant changes in Didlo's interpretation. The action of the "Prisoner of the Caucasus" was transferred to the 9th century. According to theater historian Abram Gosenpud : “It was impossible to depict modernity, which was also rich in explosive material (the struggle of the highlanders against the Russians), on the stage” ^[3] . In addition, the second heroine appeared in the ballet - the captive's bride. As Didlo himself explained: “otherwise I could not clearly and soon express the pantomime reason why Rostislav refuses the Circassian love” ^[2] . (This idea was also useful to the following ballet interpreters of the poem - creating in 1938 his ballet The Prisoner of the Caucasus , Boris Asafiev and Nikolai Volkov also brought the beloved of the hero onto the stage).

But most of all, contemporaries were struck by the finale of the ballet - the bride died, blessing the captive for a marriage with a Circassian woman, who went to the "celebration of the victory over the Circassians and the adoption by the khan of Russian citizenship" ^[4] . But, despite such obvious contradictions with the literary source, the ballet was a tremendous success, was repeatedly resumed and four years after the premiere it was transferred by Adam Glushkovsky to Moscow.

• Rostislav, prisoner
• Khan
• Kzelkay, Circassian
• Gorislava, bride of Rostislav
• Father Rostislav
• Circassians

Bolshoi Theater (St. Petersburg)

The premiere took place on January 15, 1823 in the performance of Auguste Poirot

Choreographer: Charles Didlo , final divertissement directed by Auguste Poirot, production designer Kondratiev, costume designer Babini, conductor Katerino Cavos

Characters

• Rostislav - Nikolay Golts
• Kzelkayya - Avdotya Istomina
• Gorislava - V. M. Velichkina

August 27, 1834 - renewal

Characters

• Kzelkaya - Maria Novitskaya

July 6, 1838 - renewal

Characters

• Kzelkaya - Maria Novitskaya

Bolshoi Theater (Moscow)

The premiere took place on October 4, 1827 in the performance of Tatyana Glushkovskaya

Additional numbers to the music of Nikolai Kubishta, choreography by Charles Didlo, choreographer Adam Glushkovsky , production designer Pavel Baranov

Characters

• Rostislav - Adam Glushkovsky (then Joseph Richard)
• Kzelkaya - Tatyana Glushkovskaya (Ivanova) (then Alexandra Voronina-Ivanova)
• Gorislava - Ekaterina Lobanova

• Caucasian captive or shadow of the bride. Libretto. - SPb. : Printing House of the Imperial Theaters, 1823.
• Slonimsky Yu. Karl Didlo // Ballet Masters. - L: Art, 1937. - S. 47-49. - 286 p. - 5,000 copies.
• Ilyin A. Pushkin ballets // Pushkin on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater . - L .: Muzgiz, 1949 .-- S. 82-86. - 150 s. - 12,000 copies.
• Gosenpud A. Musical Theater in Russia. - L .: MUZGIZ, 1959. - 784 p. - 3000 copies.
• Krasovskaya V. Plots of Pushkin in the art of Russian choreography // Pushkin. Research and materials . - L .: Nauka, 1967 .-- V. 5 .-- 396 p. - 6200 copies.