Polka Militaire   
Wilhelm Tell   
La Lithuanienne   
The Jockey Dance   

 

 

Wilhelm Tell    


 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Historical Background on Polka Militaire
By Erik Aschengreen

Polka Militaire was made for the opening production at the newly-renovated Court Theatre ? now the Theatre Museum ? in 1842; the new interior was in the Biedermeier style in which we know it today. The divertissement for two ladies and two men was based on a Hungarian entré in which Bournonville?s father, Antoine Bournonville, had excelled ? it is thus one of the few surviving works that can give us some idea of the nature of a divertissement around 1800.

In January 1843, when Bournonville visited his dying father for the last time in Fredensborg, his father asked him to dance the new Polka Militaire for him. He had heard about it, but had not had the strength to go Copenhagen to see it. August Bournonville danced the lively, dashing dance and afterwards his father whispered: "Tu as vraiment du génie, mon garçon". Antoine Bournonville died the following day and it caused something of a stir and a good deal of indignation in little Copenhagen when it was rumoured that the son had danced Polka Militaire at his father?s deathbed. The indignation was further fuelled when, on the occasion of Thorvaldsen?s death the following year, Bournonville offered to compose a funeral dance to be performed in front of the coffin as it was taken to the Church of Our Lady. Bournonville would have considered this to be a completely natural way in which to honour the artist whose work he had so admired and who had reciprocated this admiration.

Oddly enough, Polka Militaire was also the last dance August Bournonville saw. On November 28 1879 ? two days before his death ? he witnessed Hans Beck?s stage debut in a pas de deux. The performance ended with Polka Militaire.

The divertissement remained in the repertoire until 1914. In 1949 Harald Lander reconstructed it, with assistance from Hans Beck, as a pas de deux in Salute for August Bournonville - a ballet in six pictures based on selected scenes from Bournonville?s ballets. This was a pièce d?occasion created for a gala performance on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Constitution, June 5th 1949. The ballet was performed ten times up to October 26th. Polka Militaire was not seen again for 30 years until Tove Leach and Hans Brenaa, who had danced it in 1949, reconstructed it for The Bournonville Group of young soloists from the Royal Danish Ballet who included it in the programme for their tour of America. Annemarie Dybdal and Arne Villumsen danced Polka Militaire in costumes designed by Jens-Jacob Worsaae on the Court Theatre stage for the television production Bournonvilles Verden (Bournonville?s World) broadcast on the centenary of his death, November 30th 1979. Polka Militaire is a fine example of the living Bournonville tradition. On April 22nd 1981 Polka Militaire re-entered the repertoire of the Royal Danish Ballet on an official tour. Danced by Rose Gad and Michael Weidinger, it appeared at the Royal Theatre in a gala production Bournonvilleana, which closed the Second Bournonville Festival on April 4th 1992.

Erik Aschengreen: Professor (University of Copenhagen), Doctor of Philosophy (Dr. phil.), Dance critic

Musical Notes on Polka Militaire
By Ole Nørlyng

Polka Militaire introduced the polka to Denmark and the military- and dance-music composer H.C. Lumbye?s riveting rhythms signalled the start of a veritable polka fever, which created widespread concern for health and moral conduct. The polka was one of the principal dances of the 1800s, its origins being found in old Bohemian national dances. At the end of the 1830s the polka spread from Prague across the whole of Europe and in 1840 Paris was seized by polka-mania. This couple-dance in duple time was extraordinarily popular both as a social dance and on the theatre stage, and composers of the time were busily engaged writing all manner of polkas from the serious to the barnstorming. Alongside galops and waltzes, Lumbye mainly concentrated on composing polkas for the dancing people of Copenhagen; of many popular dances, his Polka Militaire with its lively, syncopated series of melodies soon became a resonant symbol of the bourgeoisie?s entertainment and joie de vivre.

 

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Historical Background on William Tell
By Erik Aschengreen

Great divertissements in operas were common in the 19th century, When the opera William Tell by Gioacchino Rossini, which had its Paris-premiere in 1829, was first staged in Copenhagen at the Royal Theatre in 1842 the French solodancer François Lefèbvre made choreography for the divertissemnet. He was engaged as a dancer and choreographer at the Royal Danish Ballet from 1842-1847.
In 1873 the opera was restaged with mise en scène and choreography by August Bournonville. The divertissement was in 1889 expanded by one of his successors, Emil Hansen and performed until the season 1891-92. A new version of the divertissement was choreographed in 1921 by the balletmaster Gustav Uhlendorff. It was only performed 7 times. The pas de deux reoccurs in the repertory in the 1960s, and the whole divertissement was restaged by Hans Breanaa for Dinna Bjørn and Frank Andersen’s Bournonville-group in 1979 and later for The Royal Danish Ballet in 1980. It is probably more the Uhlendorff-version than the Bournonville-version, Hans Brenaa remembers. The William Tell-pas de deux and divertissement is ascribed to Bournonville, but the provenance is doubtful.

Erik Aschengreen: Professor (University of Copenhagen), Doctor of Philosophy (Dr. phil.), Dance critic

Musical Notes on William Tell
By Ole Nørlyng

Bournonville was a great admirer and connoisseur of Rossini’s music. Whilst studying in Paris in the 1820s, he not only attended the lauded Rossini operas of the time, but also met the famous composer who, according to Bournonville, tried to persuade the young dancer to abandon ballet in favour of song. We know that Bournonville had an exquisite and supple singing voice, with an accomplished coloratura, but he had made his choice.

In the course of winter 1829-30, Bournonville saw Rossini’s last opera, Guillaume Tell, and declared: "The famous maestro had put his whole store of musical invention into his grand opus." Later, in his ballets, we can see how he frequently draws on Rossini’s music. We know that in 1868 Bournonville directed a restaging of William Tell and for this production he choreographed to Rossini’s intensely graceful ballet music - especially the charming pas de trois from Act III of the opera.

 

 

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Historical Background on La Lithuanienne
By Erik Aschengreen

La Lithuanienne was first performed in Copenhagen in 1844. It was one of those character dances for a ballerina, which were very popular in the 19th century. The solo was staged in Copenhagen by the French choreographer François Lefèbvre. Later August Bournonville staged it in Stockholm. The dance disappeared but was revived by Harald Lander in Salute for August Bournonville in 1949 at the Royal Theatre. It was danced by Kirsten Ralov. Another version was danced by Elsa Marianne von Rosen. Both dancers have learnt the solo to younger ballerinas like Dinna Bjørn and Lis Jeppesen.

The music for La Lithuanienne is by H.C. Lumbye.

Erik Aschengreen: Professor (University of Copenhagen), Doctor of Philosophy (Dr. phil.), Dance critic

 

 

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Historical Background on The Jockey Dance
By Erik Aschengreen

The Jockey Dance comes from Bournonville?s last ballet From Siberia to Moscow (1876); various European rivers are characterised in a divertissement constructed a little in the style of the grand Russian ballets with which Bournonville had become acquainted during his trip to Russia a few years earlier. Two jockeys represent the British love of horse racing and, moreover, symbolise the river Thames. From Siberia to Moscow was last seen on stage in 1904. In 1929 The Jockey Dance was included in Bournonvilleana and in 1949 in Salute for August Bournonville. In 1979, with the help of film footage shot by Peter Elfelt at the beginning of the 20th century, Niels Bjørn Larsen reconstructed The Jockey Dance for a group of young soloists from the Royal Danish Ballet. It has been performed at the Royal Danish Ballet for several occasions as part of a gala in aid of refugees on December 9th 1979, for a gala performance on the occasion of Queen Margrethe?s 50th birthday on April 20th 1990 and in Bournonvilleana, the final production of the Second Bournonville Festival on April 4th 1992.

Erik Aschengreen: Professor (University of Copenhagen), Doctor of Philosophy (Dr. phil.), Dance critic

Musical Notes on The Jockey Dance
By Ole Nørlyng

The Jockey Dance was composed by C.C. Møller as part of an extensive divertissement. It is characteristic dance music typical of its time, not unlike the style that C. Pugni used for Marius Petipa?s ballets.