Ivan Vsevolozhsky, the Director of the Imperial Theatres, was the initiator of The Sleeping Beauty

ballet production and the landmark encounter between Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. He
wrote the libretto, created the costumes and became the co-author of the miracle born by the genius
of two great masters in 1890. In the production, it was as if Vsevolozhsky, a brilliant connoisseur
and enthusiast of Louis XIV, opened a window into his favourite period creating a feeling of an
exuberant, almost masquerade-like extravaganza: in one scene, like at balls in Versailles, could
come together ultramarine, lilac, scarlet and emerald costumes.

The pathos of respect for the French Golden Age (not just Aurora but the entire world woke up
under the Sun King) was fundamental to the idea behind The Sleeping Beauty and determined the
atmosphere of the ballet extravaganza. But, unfortunately, in the 20th century, the production got a
makeover, was adapted to the tastes of different times.

After long decades of oblivion, the image of the production of the times of Petipa returned to the
stage of the Mariinsky Theatre in 1999. The 1890 stage design was revived based on the sketches
by Vsevolozhsky and the premiere decorative artists, while the choreographer Sergei Vikharev
restored the structure of Marius Petipa’s creation drawing on the recordings of the ballet made in
the early 20th century – with all the splendour of the spectacle, the ceremonious metering of dance
and pantomime, and the atmosphere of celebration. And today the 21st century audience has the
opportunity to see in action on stage the luxurious gesamtkunstwerk which in its day inspired
Alexandre Benoi to venture Russian Seasons.

Olga Makarova