"Disappointed Forest" and its predecessors: some observations on the history of ballet parody in Russia in the second half of the nineteenth and early XX-th centuries

Abstract

The article concerns the history of development and existence of a parody ballet in Russia in the second half of the XIXth — early XX centuries. The paper describes several subspecies of parodies. Until the early XXth century the main subspecies were newspaper and magazine satires designed as a ballet scenario; the staff of the newspaper «Spark» («Iskra») used this method quite often. Another kind of parody ballet – improvised and rehearsed ballet comic items – existed in the public life of the artistic elite: masquerades, artists’ parties, benefit events, salons. At the beginning of the 20th century those two branches «intersected» in the repertoire of the Petersburg cabaret «Distorting mirror», giving birth to a new kind – stage ballet parody – which became a way of art criticism of the Russian Imperial ballet.

The article analyses the first of the kind — Leo Geben’s «Disenchanted forest» (1909), its prototypes and parody techniques are arranged. The fate and artistic success of the leading male dancer of the «Distorting mirror» («Krivoe zerkalo») N.F. Barabanov is given a special attention. He had been performing the leading female parts in the theatre for ten years.

Keywords: Рarody, ballet, cabaret, «The Enchanted forest», «Disenchanted forest», «Distorting mirror» («Krivoe zerkalo»), «The Bat», Riccardo Drigo, Leo Geben, N.F. Barabanoff.