Khachaturian's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, written in 1940, belongs to the outstanding and most popular works music. The popularity of Khachaturian's violin concerto is due to its great artistic merits. In life-affirming and bright images concert, festive, danceable and lyrically soulful, reflected pictures of the colorful, happy life of Armenia.

Having experienced beneficial influence traditions of the Russian classical concert and Russian symphony, Khachaturian created a work marked by high skill and at the same time clearly folk. Authentic Armenian folk tunes are not used in the concert. However, all of his melody, mode-intonation structure, and harmony are an organic transformation of Armenian folk song, native to Khachaturian.

Khachaturian's violin concerto consists of 3 parts: the outer parts are fast, impetuous, full of dynamics and fire; the middle one is slow, lyrical. There are intonational connections between the parts of the concert and individual themes, which gives it integrity and unity.

Part 1 (Allegro, D minor) is written in the form of a sonata allegro. Already a short orchestral introduction captivates the listener with its energy and assertiveness and immediately brings it into the sphere of active action.

Part 2 (Andante sostenuto, A minor) represents the central lyrical image of the concert. It is in bright contrast to the outer parts. The violin acts here exclusively as a melodic, melodic instrument. This is a “song without words” in the oriental style, in which the intonations of Armenian folk tunes are organically implemented. It expresses sincere thoughts, thoughts about his native land, the artist’s love for his people, for the nature of the Caucasus.

The finale of the concert is a vivid picture of a national holiday. Everything is full of movement, aspiration, energy, fire, joyful inspiration. The music is of a dance nature; even when the song flows, the rhythm of the dance continues to sound. The sound range expands, the movement becomes more and more rapid. The sound of the orchestra and violin imitates folk instruments.

Having embodied brightly colorful musical scenes from the life of the people of Armenia in his violin concert, Khachaturian applied the technique of monothematism to the overall composition of his work: in the 2nd part of the concert and especially in the finale, the themes of the 1st part are carried out. But varying the texture, tempo, rhythm, dynamics contributes to changing their figurative meaning: dramatic and lyrical images 1 parts now turn into images of a folk holiday, fun, violent and temperamental dancing. This transformation is in keeping with the optimistic concept of the concert.

Ballet "Gayane"

The ballet “Gayane” was written by Khachaturian in 1942. In the harsh days of the Second World War, the music of “Gayane” sounded like a bright and life-affirming story. Shortly before Gayane, Khachaturian wrote the ballet Happiness. In a different storyline revealing the same images, the ballet was, as it were, a sketch for “Gayane” in theme and music: the composer introduced the best numbers from “Happiness” into “Gayane”.

The creation of “Gayane,” one of Aram Khachaturian’s wonderful works, was prepared not only by the first ballet. The theme of human happiness - his living creative energy, the completeness of his worldview was revealed by Khachaturian in works of other genres. On the other hand, symphony musical thinking composer, the bright colors and imagery of his music.

The libretto of “Gayane”, written by K. Derzhavin, tells the story of how the young collective farmer Gayane emerges from the power of her husband, a deserter who undermines work on the collective farm; how she exposes his treacherous actions, his connection with saboteurs, almost becoming a victim of a target, almost becoming a victim of revenge, and finally, how Gayane learns a new, happy life.

1 action.

A new harvest is being harvested in the cotton fields of an Armenian collective farm. Among the best, most active workers is collective farmer Gayane. Her husband, Giko, quits his job on the collective farm and demands the same from Gayane, who refuses to fulfill his demand. Collective farmers expel Giko from their midst. This scene is witnessed by the head of the border detachment, Cossacks, who arrived at the collective farm.

Act 2

Relatives and friends try to entertain Gayane. Giko's appearance in the house forces the guests to leave. 3 strangers come to see Giko. Gayane learns about her husband’s connection with saboteurs and his intention to set fire to the collective farm. Gayane's attempts to prevent the criminal plan are in vain.

Act 3.

Proud camp of the Kurds. A young girl Aisha is waiting for her lover Armen (Gayane’s brother). Armen and Aisha's date is interrupted by the appearance of three strangers looking for the way to the border. Armen, having volunteered to be their guide, sends for Kazakov’s detachment. The saboteurs were detained.

In the distance, a fire flares up - it is a collective farm that has been set on fire. Cossacks with a detachment and Kurds rush to the aid of collective farmers.

4 action.

The collective farm, reborn from the ashes, is preparing to begin its working life again. On this occasion there is a holiday on the collective farm. With the new life of the collective farm begins new life Gayane. In the struggle with her deserter husband, she asserted her right to an independent working life. Now Gayane has learned a new, bright feeling of love. The holiday ends with the announcement of the upcoming wedding of Gayane and Kazakov.

The action of the ballet develops in two main directions: Gayane’s drama, paintings folk life. As in everyone best works Khachaturian, the music of “Gayane” is deeply and organically connected with the musical culture of the Transcaucasian peoples and, most of all, with his native Armenian people.

Khachaturian introduces several genuine folk melodies. They are used by the composer not only as bright and expressive melodic material, but in accordance with the meaning they have in folk life.

The compositional and musical-dramatic techniques used by Khachaturian in “Gayane” are extremely diverse. Integral, generalized musical characteristics: portrait sketches, folk, genre pictures, pictures of nature. They correspond to complete, closed musical numbers, in the sequential presentation of which bright suite-symphonic cycles often develop. The logic of development, combining independent musical images into a single whole, in different cases different. Thus, in the final picture, a large cycle of dances is united by the ongoing celebration. In some cases, the alternation of numbers is based on figurative, emotional contrasts of lyrical and cheerful, impetuous or energetic, courageous, genre and dramatic.

Musical and dramatic means are clearly differentiated in their characteristics characters: integral portrait sketches episodic characters contrasted with the end-to-end dramatic musical development in the Gayane party; The varied dance rhythms that underlie the musical portraits of Gayane’s friends and relatives are contrasted by Gayane’s improvisationally free, lyrically rich melodies.

Khachaturian consistently applies the principle of leitmotifs to each of the characters, which imparts musical value and stage specificity to the images and the entire work. Thanks to the diversity and development of Gayane’s melodies, her musical image acquires much greater flexibility in comparison with other ballet characters. The image of Gayane is revealed by the composer in a consistent development, as her feelings evolve: from hidden sorrow (“Dance of Gayane”, No. 6) and the first glimpses of a new feeling (“Dance of Gayane”, No. 8), through a struggle full of drama (Act 2) - to a new bright feeling, a new life (introduction to Act 4, No. 26).

“Dance of Gayane” (No. 6) is a mournful, restrained monologue. His expressiveness is concentrated in a soulful and at the same time intense melody.

A different circle of images is conveyed by another “arioso” of Gayane - “Dance of Gayane” (No. 8, after a meeting with the head of the border detachment Kazakov) - excited, tremulous, as if foreshadowing the beginning of a new, bright feeling. And here the composer adheres to strict economy expressive means. This is a harp solo built on wide passages.

Now follows “Lullaby” (No. 13), where the introductory melody of the heroes, measured, still bears traces of the drama of the previous scene. But as it develops, the same theme in the sound of the violins, with variations activating the melody, in a new, more intense harmonization, acquires a broader lyrical meaning. A further change in the theme completely violates the framework of the lullaby: it sounds like a dramatic monologue of Gayane.

The portrait of Gayane, given by the composer in a variety of ways, is at the same time distinguished by its amazing musical unity. This is especially clear in the example of the duet with Kazakov. And here the composer strives to preserve the general image of the heroine: the same broad, improvisational melody, deeply lyrical, but for the first time light, in a major key; the same intimacy and chamberness of the sound of solo instruments.

A completely different principle underlies the musical depiction of other characters: Nune and Karen, Gayane’s brother Armen, the Kurdish girl Aisha.

The “portrait” of Aisha, a young Kurdish girl, is painted brightly and prominently - “Aisha’s Dance” (No. 16). The composer managed to combine a drawn-out, leisurely, oriental melody, whimsically rhythmic, with a clear and smooth waltz movement, giving the music the character of soft lyricism.

In "Aisha's Dance" the variational principle of development is combined with a three-hour form; dynamics, movement - with clarity and symmetrical construction.

“Dance of the Pink Girls” (No. 7) is distinguished by its extraordinary freshness, elegance and grace of movement. Its melody is extremely clear in design, as if it combines the clarity of a marching gait, which imparts cheerfulness to the music, and the whimsicality of dance rhythms.

“Dance with sabers” (No. 35), energetic, temperamental, in its design associated with the tradition of showing strength, prowess, dexterity folk holidays. Fast tempo, strong-willed uniform rhythm, chanting of melody, ringing and sharp orchestral sounds - all this reproduces the speed and rhythm of movements, saber strikes.

One of the bright numbers of the “Dance Suite” of Act 4 is “Lezginka”. She is striking in her very subtle, sensitive penetration into the being. folk music. Everything in Lezginka comes from listening to folk music. “Lezginka” is an example of how Khachaturian, based entirely on the principles of folk music, freely and boldly develops them to the scale of symphonic thinking.

"GAYANE"

The history of this score goes back to the ballet “Happiness”, composed back in 1939...
“When I started composing my first ballet score, I knew absolutely nothing about the specifics of ballet as a musical genre. Already in the process of work, I quite quickly began to grasp and realize its characteristic features. To a certain extent, I was probably helped by the fact that, as Myaskovsky also said, the element of dance lives in Khachaturian’s music...” This is the confession of the author himself.
In a friendly conversation with the composer, the most prominent political figure of that time, Anastas Mikoyan, expressed a desire to create a ballet performance for the upcoming Decade of Armenian Art (it became one of the first in the Armenian musical theater and the first of the national ballets shown in the pre-war decades). This idea was fully consistent with the composer’s own creative aspirations. The theme of the ballet was born at the same time in a conversation with Mikoyan, who advised Aram Khachaturian to meet with the famous Armenian director Gevork Hovhannisyan, who recently wrote the ballet libretto “Happiness” about the life and work of Soviet border guards and collective farmers.
The deadlines were extremely tight. Khachaturian spent the spring and summer of 1939 in Armenia, collecting folklore material - this is where the deepest study of melodies began native land. The writer Maxim Gorky advised him to do this. Given the purely dance-like nature of the music, Khachaturian set himself the task of “symphonizing” the ballet. He wanted songs and dance melodies created by the people to organically enter the ballet, so that they were inseparable from all the music of the ballet. Thus, Khachaturian quickly realized and formulated the main principles of his musical and choreographic aesthetics.
Work on the score “Happiness” lasted only six months. The famous conductor Konstantin Saradzhev, a student of Arthur Nikisch, took over the rehearsals.
Everything was done to ensure that the tour of the Armenian Opera and Ballet Theater named after Spendiarov - the youngest in the country (he was still 6 years old at that time) - was as successful as possible within the framework of the Armenian decade. K. Sarajev assembled a magnificent orchestra. On October 24, 1939, the ballet “Happiness” was staged in Moscow at the Bolshoi Theater and literally captivated the audience. Many participants received government awards, and rave reviews continued to fill the newspaper pages.
However, this did not prevent the composer from soberly realizing some weaknesses of your essay. The libretto also suffered from shortcomings. And, nevertheless, “Happiness” turned out to be a good springboard for the true flowering of Khachaturian’s ballet mastery. Soon the management of the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater named after. Kirov offered to stage the play “Happiness” on its stage with a new libretto...
As a result, the entire score of “Happiness,” in the figurative expression of the author himself, was “dispossessed” by him...
It all ended with the creation of the ballet “Gayane”, but this was already during the Second World War. This is how the composer recalls this period:
“I lived in Perm on the 5th floor of the Central Hotel. When I remember this time, I think again and again how difficult it was for people then. The front needed weapons, bread, shag... And everyone needed art - spiritual food - both the front and the rear. And we, artists and musicians, understood this and gave our all. I wrote about 700 pages of the Gayane score in six months in a cold hotel room where there was a piano, a stool, a table and a bed. This is especially dear to me because “Gayane” is the only ballet on a Soviet theme that has not left the stage for a quarter of a century...”
“The Saber Dance,” according to the author himself, was born by accident. After the completion of the Gayane score, rehearsals began. Khachaturian was called by the director of the theater and said that in last act I should add a dance. The composer took on this reluctantly - he considered the ballet finished. But I still started to think about this idea. “The dance should be fast, militant. - Khachaturyan recalls. – My hands seemed to impatiently take the chord and I began to play it in breakdowns like an ostinato, repeating figure. A sharp shift was needed - I took the introductory tone at the top. Something “hooked” me - yeah, let’s repeat it in a different key! It's a start! Now we need contrast... In the third scene of the ballet I have a melodic theme, a lyrical dance. I combined the militant beginning with this theme - played by the saxophone - and then returned to the beginning, but in a new quality. I sat down to work at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and by 2 o'clock in the morning everything was ready. At 11 o'clock in the morning the dance was performed at rehearsal. By the evening it was installed, and the next day there was a general meeting...”
The ballet “Gayane” to a libretto by K. Derzhavin was staged by N. Anisimova in December 1942 - when the grandiose epic near Stalingrad was unfolding. The production took place in Molotov, where the Leningrad Kirov Theater was evacuated. P. Feldt, who conducted the ballet at the premiere, surpassed himself, as the reviewers wrote. “Feldt especially pleased with his inspired fervor,” noted composer Dmitry Kabalevsky, “which he, as a talented ballet conductor, sometimes lacked”...
Whether you watch “Gayane” in the theater, or listen to this music in a concert or recording, the impression of it is born immediately and remains in your memory for a long time. Aram Khachaturian’s generosity, which has few analogues in the history of music, is melodic and orchestral, modal and harmonic generosity, generosity associated with the widest range of thoughts and feelings that are embodied in the score.
Three symphonic suites composed by Khachaturian from the ballet score contributed to the worldwide fame of the music of “Gayane”.
“The evening of the first performance of the First Suite from “Gayane” is firmly etched in my memories,” says singer N. Shpiller, “Golovanov conducted the All-Union Radio Orchestra. Neither before nor after this day - it was October 3, 1943 - have I ever heard such a flurry of applause, such unconditional universal success of a new work, as then in the Hall of Columns of the House of Unions.”
6 years later, the equally unanimous success of the music “Gayane” on the other side of the earth was glad to be stated by the great composer of the 20th century, Dmitry Shostakovich - in New York, at the All-American Congress of Scientists and Culture Workers in Defense of Peace, where the score “Gayane” was performed under the baton of the outstanding conductor Stokowski.
For the music for the ballet “Gayane” Aram Khachaturian was awarded the Stalin Prize, 1st degree.

History of creation

Soon after graduating from the conservatory, in the late 1930s, Khachaturian received an order for music for the ballet “Happiness”. The play, with a traditional plot for that time about a happy life “under the Stalinist sun” and an equally traditional motif of espionage and enemies of Soviet power, was being prepared for the decade of Armenian art in Moscow. Such decades dedicated to art, in turn, of all the republics that were part of the USSR, were held regularly. The composer recalled: “I spent the spring and summer of 1939 in Armenia, collecting material for the future ballet “Happiness.” It was here that the deepest study of the melodies of the native land began, folk art..." Intense work on the ballet lasted six months. In September, the ballet was staged at the Armenian Opera and Ballet Theater, and a month later it was shown in Moscow and was a great success as the first experience of this genre in Armenian music. However, it noted shortcomings relating, in particular, to the script and musical dramaturgy. A few years later, the composer returned to this idea, focusing on a new libretto written by the famous theater critic and philologist K. Derzhavin (1903-1956). The revised ballet, called "Gayane" - after the name of the main character, was being prepared for production at the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater named after Kirov (Mariinsky). However, the beginning of the Great Patriotic War ruined all my plans. The theater was evacuated to Perm. There for the continuation collaboration The composer also came to work on the ballet. “In the autumn of 1941... I returned to work on the ballet,” Khachaturian recalled. “Today it may seem strange that in those days of severe trials we could talk about a ballet performance. War and ballet? The concepts are truly incompatible. But, as life has shown, there was nothing strange in my plan to depict... the theme of a great national upsurge, the unity of people in the face of a formidable invasion. The ballet was conceived as a patriotic performance, affirming the theme of love and loyalty to the Motherland.” In November 1942, the composer wrote in his diary: “At the request of the theater, after finishing the score, I completed the “Dance of the Kurds” - the same one that later became known as the “Dance with Sabers.” I started composing it at three o'clock in the afternoon and worked without stopping until two o'clock in the morning. The next morning, the orchestral voices were transcribed and a rehearsal took place, and in the evening there was a dress rehearsal for the entire ballet. “The Saber Dance” immediately made an impression on the orchestra, the ballet, and those present in the hall...”

A. I. Khachaturyan “Gayane”

Ballet in four acts

In the fall of 1941, A. Khachaturian began work on the score of the new ballet. The work took place in close collaboration with the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater, which was located in Perm at that time. The premiere took place on December 3, 1942 and was a great success.

In 1957, a new production of the ballet was performed at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. The libretto was changed, and Khachaturian rewrote more than half of the previous music. Ballet entered the history of ballet art in our country. The music for it formed the basis of three large symphonic suites, and individual numbers of the suites, for example, “Sabre Dance,” became world famous.

The ballet “Gayane” is a work deeply folk in spirit, integral in musical language, marked by the extraordinary colorfulness of the instrumentation.

Plot:

Gayane, the daughter of the collective farm chairman Hovhannes, helps to catch and neutralize the Unknown, who secretly entered the territory of Armenia in order to steal the secrets of geologists. Her friends and her loving Gayane Armen help her in this. Armen's rival Giko pays with his life for unwittingly assisting the enemy.

A. Khachaturian ballet “Gayane”

The ballet “Gayane” stands apart not only in its musical heritage A.I. Khachaturian , but also in history ballet theater. This shining example works of art created under political orders. “Gayane” holds the undeniable palm in terms of the number of productions. Moreover, each subsequent librettist changed the plot outline of the performance to please historical moment, and the composer, in turn, redrew the score to suit the new dramaturgy. But, no matter how the images of the main characters are interpreted, no matter how the plot concept changes, this ballet was enthusiastically received by the audience on all stages of the world where it was performed, thanks to the originality of the music, which harmoniously combined classical principles and a pronounced national character.

Brief summary of Khachaturian's ballet "" and many interesting facts Read about this work on our page.

Summary of “Gayane”

The plot takes place in the 30s of the 20th century in Armenia, not far from the border. On a dark night An Unknown Man appears not far from a mountain village and is plotting sabotage. In the morning, the village residents go to work in the garden. Among them is the foreman of the girls' collective farm brigade, the beautiful Gayane, with whom two young people, Giko and Armen, are in love. Giko tries to tell the girl about his feelings, but she rejects his advances.

Geologists led by group leader Kazakov come to the village, and the figure of Unknown flashes among them. Armen shows Kazakov and his comrades pieces of ore that he accidentally found in the foothills, and accompanies the group to this place. It turns out that he managed to discover deposits of a rare metal. When the Unknown finds out about this, he enters Hovhannes’s house, where the geologists are staying, wanting to steal documents and ore samples. Gayane catches him at the crime scene. To cover his tracks, the Unknown sets fire to the house where the girl is. But Giko saves Gayane and exposes the stranger, who is taken away by the border guards who arrive. The apotheosis of the ballet becomes a common celebration, at which all the characters glorify the friendship of peoples and the Motherland.

In the modern version of the ballet, only love triangle Gayane, Armena and Giko. Events take place in an Armenian village. Among its inhabitants is the young beauty Gayane, with whom Armen is in love. Armen's unlucky rival Giko wants to break their love. He tries with all his might to win the girl's favor. He fails and decides to take revenge. Giko arranges for the beauty to be kidnapped, but rumors of the crime quickly spread throughout the village. Outraged residents help Armen find and free Gayane, while Giko is forced to flee from the contempt of his fellow villagers. The ballet ends with a cheerful wedding, where everyone dances and has fun.

Photo:

Interesting facts:

• The author admitted that “Gayane” occupies a special place in his heart and work, since it is “the only ballet on a Soviet theme that has not left the stage for 25 years.”
• The dance divertissement, which includes “Sabre Dance”, “Lezginka”, “Lullaby” and other numbers from the ballet, has remained an indispensable part of the performances of graduates of the Academy of Russian Ballet for almost 50 years. Vaganova.
• The most popular “Sabre Dance” throughout the world was not originally included in the Gayane score. But shortly before the premiere, the director of the theater asked Khachaturian to add a dance number to the final act. The composer at first flatly refused, but then changed his mind and in just 11 hours was able to create a real masterpiece. Giving the choreographer the score for this number, he wrote in his heart title page: “Damn it, for the sake of the ballet!”
• Contemporaries claimed that the incendiary " Saber Dance “Even Stalin was forced to stomp his feet to the beat every time - that’s why the piece was played on the radio almost every day.

• The music for the ballet “Gayane” was brought to its author Aram Khachaturian high award - the Stalin Prize, 1st degree.
• Three symphonic suites, which Khachaturian “carved out” from the ballet score, brought worldwide fame to the music of “Gayane”.
• “Sabre Dance” has become the most recognizable music from the ballet “Gayane”. In the USA, Khachaturian began to be called “Mr. Saberdance” (“Mr. Saber Dance”). Its motif can be heard in films, cartoons, and figure skating programs. It has been played on American jukeboxes since 1948 and became the first recording by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
• The two main creators of the first version of the ballet “Gayane”, librettist Konstantin Derzhavin and choreographer Nina Anisimova, were not just a creative tandem, but were a married couple.
• In 1938, a dark streak came in the life of the future director of “Gayane” Nina Anisimova. She, a world-famous dancer, was accused of participating in theatrical banquets, the guests of which were often representatives of foreign delegations, and was sentenced to 5 years in the Karaganda labor camp. She was saved by her husband, librettist Konstantin Derzhavin, who was not afraid to stand up for the dancer.
• In the 40-70s of the last century, the ballet “Gayane” could be seen on foreign theater stages. During this period, the play was staged several times in the German Democratic Republic, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Poland.
• The motif of the “Sabre Dance” can be heard in the animated series “The Simpsons”, in the cartoon “Madagascar 3”, the sixth episode of the cartoon “Well, Just Wait!”, in the films “Lord of Love”, “Paper Birds”, “City of Ghosts”, “ Clueless Defense", "A Simple Wish", "Uncle Tom's Cabin", "The Twilight Zone" and others.

Popular numbers from the ballet “Gayane”

Saber dance - listen

Lezginka - listen

Waltz - listen

Lullaby - listen

History of the creation of "Gayane"

I first became interested in ballet in 1939. The reason for this was a friendly conversation between the composer and the Soviet party leader Anastas Mikoyan, who, on the eve of the decade of Armenian art, expressed the idea of ​​​​the need for the emergence of a national Armenian ballet. Khachaturian enthusiastically plunged into the work process.

The composer faced a difficult task - to write music that would become a fertile basis for choreographic performance and at the same time had a well-recognized national identity. This is how the ballet “Happiness” appeared. The libretto for it was written by Gevork Hovhannisyan. Deep immersion into the world of national musical culture, the rhythms and melodies of the Armenian people, coupled with the original talent of the composer, did their job: the performance, staged at the Armenian Opera and Ballet Theater, was brought to Moscow, where it was a great success. However, critics did not fail to point out the disadvantages of “Happiness”, primarily the dramaturgy, which turned out to be much weaker than the music. The composer himself realized this best of all.

In 1941, at the suggestion of the management of the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater. Kirov, began working on an updated version of the ballet with a different libretto, written by the famous literary and theater critic Konstantin Derzhavin. He left many fragments of the score intact, preserving all the most interesting findings that distinguished the first edition. New ballet was named “Gayane” - in honor of the main character, and it was this performance that took over the baton of “Happiness” in preserving the traditions of Armenian national music and culture in ballet stage. Work on “Gayane” began in Leningrad, and continued in Perm, where, with the beginning of the war, the composer was evacuated, as was the theater troupe of the Kirov Theater. The conditions in which Khachaturian's new musical brainchild was born corresponded to the harsh wartime. The composer worked in the cold hotel room, where the only furnishings were a bed, a table, a stool and a piano. In 1942, 700 pages of the ballet score were ready.

Productions

The premiere of “Gayane” fell on December 9, 1942. These days, the heroic battle for Stalingrad was unfolding at the front. But the hall Perm Theater opera and ballet was full. The action unfolding on stage to the life-affirming music of Khachaturian strengthened the belief in victory in the souls of the audience. Nina Anisimova, one of the brightest character dancers of the Kirov (now Mariinsky) Theater, who studied with Agrippina Vaganova herself, made her debut as the director of the four-act performance. Brilliant school, deep understanding of nature national dance and an impeccable sense of style allowed Nina Alexandrovna to create a performance that became entrenched in the theater’s repertoire for for many years. From the very beginning of work on the ballet, Anisimova had the dream of “creating her own Armenia.” For this purpose, she invited an Armenian dancer, who showed her elements of Armenian folk dance.

The cast of the premiere performance was truly stellar. In the role of Gayane, Natalia Dudinskaya, the theater's prima and public favorite, appeared on stage; her partners were Konstantin Sergeev, Nikolai Zubkovsky, Tatyana Vecheslova, Boris Shavrov. The success of the premiere was due not only to the talent of the artists, but also to the dramaturgy of the performance, the leitmotif of which was the defense native land from enemies.

After returning to Leningrad in 1945, the Kirov Theater showed “Gayane” on its native stage, but with some plot changes and updated scenography created by artist Vadim Ryndin. In 1952, the play was revised again.

On May 22, 1957, the premiere performance of the ballet “Gayane” took place at the Bolshoi Theater. Director Vasily Vainonen, based on the proposed libretto by Boris Pletnev, made a ballet out of the original four-act version, consisting of a prologue, 3 acts and 7 scenes. For this edition of the ballet, Khachaturian reworked almost a third of the music written before. The parts of Gayane and Armen were brilliantly performed by Bolshoi soloists Raisa Struchkova and Yuri Kondratov. Total on stage Bolshoi Ballet"Gayane" went through three editions. The last of them was published in 1984.

Until the early 1980s, the ballet was performed with constant success on the stages of domestic and foreign theaters. One of the most interesting artistic solutions was proposed by Boris Eifman, who staged “Gayane” as his graduation performance in 1972 on the stage of the Leningrad Maly Opera and Ballet Theater. The choreographer focused on social drama. The period of formation of the Soviet order in Armenia was chosen as the historical background for the plot. Giko in this version turned into Gayane's husband. Being the son of the fist of Matsak, he cannot renounce his father. His wife Gayane comes from a poor family, and she has to choose between her love for her husband and her beliefs. Main character makes a choice in favor of the new power, which Armen represents in the ballet. The performance, in Eifman's artistic interpretation, has 173 performances.

In the 21st century, the ballet “Gayane” virtually disappeared from the stage. The main reason This resulted in a scenario that has lost its social relevance. But “Gayane” still remains one of the main cultural symbols Armenia. In the repertoire of the Armenian academic theater Opera and Ballet named after. Spendiarov's ballet by Khachaturian takes pride of place. The play staged People's Artist Armenia by Vilen Galstyan, was a huge success not only in Russia, but also abroad - in Egypt, Turkey, Bahrain, United United Arab Emirates. In 2014, the ballet “Gayane”, after almost a half-century break, was shown at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, from where more than 50 years ago the performance’s long journey began. theater scenes peace. Galstyan, who spoke at in this case also as a screenwriter, he removed everything from the libretto storylines related to political motives. All that remains from the original ballet is the soul-touching love story and the music of Aram Khachaturian, mesmerizing with its energy.

Separate dance numbers written by the composer for "" - such as "Lezginka", "Waltz", "Lullaby" and, of course, the unsurpassed " Saber Dance ", - have long since stepped beyond the boundaries of ballet and found independent life. They are the decoration of many concerts, they are danced on all stages of the world, and their popularity is only growing over the years. Their original music and choreography have depth, sincerity, passion, love - everything that is close and understandable to every human heart.

Video: watch the ballet “Gayane” by Khachaturian