Prokofieff's Trapèze ballet returns to the stage

(April 2003)

Of all twentieth century ballet composers Serge Prokofieff is rightly regarded as one of the most important, with a wealth of performance history attached to his ballets for Diaghilev and his later Soviet works such as Romeo and Juliet. Yet the story surrounding the creation of his dancework Trapèze has remained something of a mystery since its premiere in 1925. This ‘missing’ ballet is revealed afresh in a new production by English National Ballet, choreographed by Christopher Hampson, opening at Sadlers Wells in London on 8 April 2003, its first staging since the 1920s.

Prokofieff was commissioned in 1924 by Boris Romanov’s Berlin-based Ballet Romantique to create a short dance score depicting circus life, entitled Trapèze. Romanov (1891-1957) had been introduced to Prokofieff by Diaghilev, and they collaborated in 1914 on the unfulfilled choregraphy for Ala et Lolly. The composer agreed to write a new ballet for Romanov on the understanding that it could co-exist as a concert work in its own right. His original score, cast in six movements, was composed for oboe, clarinet, violin, viola and double bass.

The ballet premiere was delayed by the financial collapse in Germany and the illness of the prima ballerina. Before its rescheduled staging, Romanov asked Prokofieff for two extra movements, which became familiar from their later use in the composer’s Divertimento, rearranged for orchestra. The first performance of Trapèze took place on 6 November 1925 in the German provincial town of Gotha before a small audience, followed by performances in Hannover and a financially disastrous tour to Italy which led to the disbandment of the ballet troupe, the disappearance of the performing materials, and the dancework’s rapid departure from the repertoire. The work’s concert premiere went ahead in Moscow in 1927 bearing the title Quintet, and this together with the movements orchestrated in the Divertimento provided the only lifelines for Trapèze’s music for the succeeding 75 years.

The ballet recently recaptured the attention of Prokofieff scholars following the discovery at the Serge Prokofiev Archive of hitherto unknown documents (music manuscripts, correspondence and diaries). This led Archivist Noëlle Mann on a two-year long investigation into the work and its history, and raised the exciting possibility of its rebirth. Specially for the Prokofieff anniversary in 2003, the two additional movements of Trapèze - the Overture and Matelote - have been reconstructed from manuscripts by Mann, rescored for the original quintet by Samuel Becker, and an edition of the complete work has been published by Boosey & Hawkes. This has enabled the ballet to be performed complete again in its original quintet scoring.

Trapèze is eminently practical to stage, with its compact scoring for five instrumentalists, allowing it to be equally viable in small as well as large venues, and opening up possibilities for touring. Despite the circus setting of its original scenario, the music is some of Prokofieff’s most abstract and non-descriptive, close in its radical experimentation to the Scythian Suite and therefore inviting modern choreography. The running time of the complete eight movement Trapèze ballet is 25 minutes.

A detailed account of the rediscovery of Trapèze and full information on the work’s genesis can be found in the fourth issue of Three Oranges journal (November 2002), published by the Serge Prokofiev Association.

> Further information on Work: Trapeze

Photo © Patrick Baldwin. Sarah McIlroy and Jan-Erik Wikström in English National Ballet's 2003 production of Prokofieff's Trapeze.

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