The Evening at Mariinsky Theatre

何威廉

The Evening at Mariinsky Theatre

By William He

Brass band through the stormy shades of the wordly way,
Shadows reflect themselves in contorted passion here.
Violins draw wefts of sound,
Hearing the soulful strains of Leonora,
All that one knows and feels,
Shall pass like an unreal mystery then.
Descanting melancholy theme,
Ere the dawning of morn's undoubted light,
Sheds on a lonely abbey,
The flame of life is so fickle and wan.
Praying with every breath,
In the chords of his escape there.
Gazing at the cavernous hole,
The force of destiny will never stop.

Staring at the sleeping beauty is also a temptation,
Whirling and dancing can not wake her up.
The dark leaves falling,
In the land of the fairies and the elves,
As she twirls and capers,
These delicate petals in fragile cast.
As an immaculate angel,
With her toe so elegantly executes pirouette,
Within the eyes of the devil,
He stirs sweet love to her surprise well.
Petipa in the leaping light,
Entranced by this nocturnal ballet,
Aurora caressing her eyes,
Her sights alternate between joy and grief.

Standing vertically on the motion of mortal hearts,
La Bayadere's language where all language ends.
Rolling off the Arm,
She would trace with quaint design,
Tiptoes of light stream,
In that step as butterfly wings.
Nikiya solitary and desperate,
Bitter constraint and sad occasion dear.
While she glissades below,
Baptizing in symphonies once more.
Solor's toes are pivoting,
The dance is breathing of statues,
In the Kingdom of Shades,
Able to see what we never shall see.

三台 马林斯基剧院的夜晚

作者： 何威廉

念铜弦琴键配奏，
弄乖命中惊诡。
掩抑扬、
画阁出高音，
咏吟调、
仁慈迁罪。
高音酌、
曲式随流水。
辄独唱、
灵修原洗。
妥宁赐、
流响清歌。
对洞隙、
意倾留止。

恰低声睡美召唤，
后转前翻拈指。
慢变奏、
蓝鸟影蹁跹，
逐睡魄、
玫瑰柔蕊。
丁香紫、
赋性善依倚。
魔咒吻、
凝情芭蕾。
彼季帕、
足下通仙，
奥罗拉、
眼前悲喜。

看飘然繁步炫酷，
舞姬软腰奇技。
两臂弧、
早蔓引花纹，
脚尖滑、
伸延纤腿。
妮姬娅、
忍情鸳凤绮。
接翼飞、
交响倾耳。
索罗尔、
惇固雕镌，
答幽灵、
断魂骑士。

Notes:

“Mariinsky Theater”: World-known Mariinsky Ballet and Opera theatre is one of top 6 ballet and opera companies in the world. It is a "must see" in St. Petersburg. The theatre has been the home of Russian ballet and opera since the 1860s and has become a mecca for both Russian and international artists.

“La forza del destino”: An Italian opera by Giuseppe Verdi. The libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on a Spanish drama, Don Álvaro o la fuerza del sino, by Ángel de Saavedra, 3rd Duke of Rivas, with a scene adapted from Friedrich Schiller's Wallensteins Lager. It was first performed in the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre of Saint Petersburg, Russia, on 29 November 1862 O.S..

“ Sleeping Beauty”: The Sleeping Beauty is a ballet in a prologue and three acts to music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, his Opus 66, completed in 1889. It is the second of his three ballets and, at 160 minutes, his second-longest work in any genre. The original scenario was by Ivan Vsevolozhsky after Perrault's La belle au bois dormant, or The Beauty in the Sleeping Forest; the first choreographer was Marius Petipa. The premiere took place at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg on January 15, 1890, and from that year forward The Sleeping Beauty has remained one of the most famous of all ballets.

“La Bayadere”: A ballet, originally staged in four acts and seven tableaux by French choreographer Marius Petipa to the music of Ludwig Minkus. La Bayadère was first presented by the Imperial Ballet at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, on 4 February 1877. From the first performance the ballet was universally hailed by contemporary critics as one of the choreographer Petipa's supreme masterpieces, particularly the scene from the ballet known as The Kingdom of the Shades, which became one of the most celebrated pieces in all of classical ballet.

"The Kingdom of Shades": The scene from the ballet "La Bayadere", which became one of the most celebrated pieces in all of classical ballet. By the turn of the 20th century, The Kingdom of the Shades scene was regularly extracted from the full-length work as an independent showpiece, and it has remained so to the present day.