Today Mariinsky Theatre will see the world premiere of one act ballet "Princess Pirlipat, or Worthiness Punished". Music for this ballet was written by Sergey Slonimsky on the libretto of Michail Chemiakin, based on tje motives of E.T.A. Hoffmann's tale "The Nutcracker".

The idea of staging the whole Hoffman tale, including the story of Pirlipat, first arose about thirty years after the first production of "The Nutcracker", when choreographer Fyodor Lopukhov commissioned Shostakovich to write the music. Unfortunately it was right after the composer was savaged by the press for his music for the ballets "Bolt" and "The Limpid Stream", and Shostakovich backed away from ballet scores.

Many choreographers have made attempts to tell the story of the Nutcracker´s origins, because without this the ballet´s plot is not quite clear. M.Chemiakin decided to return to Lopukhov´s original idea - the creation of new music for the story of the hard nut, as this plot is complex and demands separate treatment. In "Princess Pirlipat" the audience will observe the transformation of young Drosselmeyer into a Nutcracker. The premiere will be followed by Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker" and Chemiakin hopes that the audience "will follow the story of young Drosselmeyer in Tchaikovsky´s ballet with increased interest and understanding."

Soloists - Yekaterina Kondaurova, Andrey Merkuriev, Anton Adasinsky

Musical Director and Conductor of the ballet - Valery Gergiev

News source: www.mariinsky.spb.ru
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