Petrushka : sources and contexts

In this groundbreaking book, four distinguished scholars offer a detailed exploration of the ballet Petrushka, which premiered in Russia in 1911 and became one of the most important and influential theatrical works of the modernist period.

Commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev and set to a score by Igor Stravinsky, Petrushka was based on a libretto by Stravinsky, Alexandre Benois (who also designed the sets and costumes), and Mikhail Fokine (who also did the choreography); the lead dancers were Vaclav Nijinsky and Tamara Karsavina.

Though other ballets may surpass Petrushka in choreography, music, or design, Petrushka remains the best and most characteristic work of theatrical modernism because of how perfectly balanced it is: the creators worked together so brilliantly that all elements of the production are in complete harmony.

The book begins with an introductory essay giving the history of the collaboration and placing Petrushka in the context of Russian modernist culture.

Subsequent chapters analyze each element of the ballet: the scenario, choreography, set and costume design, and music, all with an eye toward how their creators worked with each other and integrated earlier influences.

Also included are a reconstruction of the libretto and translations of the correspondence between Stravinsky and Benois concerning Petrushka. (The letters from Benois to Stravinsky appear here in English for the first time.) The contributors are Slavicists Andrew Baruch Wachtel and Tim Scholl, art historian Janet Kennedy, and musicologist Richard Taruskin.

The first book to study every level of a complex theatrical production, this is a work unlike any other in Russian or theatrical studies.

Itwill appeal to all those interested in the history of ballet as well as specialists in Russian culture.