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Les Millions d'Arlequin

Les Millions d'Arléquin, or Harlequinade
Harlequinade -Score Frontispiece, 1900 -1.JPG
Frontispiece of the original piano reduction of Drigo's score as issued by the publisher Zimmerman, 1901.
Choreographer Marius Petipa
Music Riccardo Drigo
Libretto Marius Petipa
Based on episodes from La commedia dell'arte
Premiere 23 February [O.S. 10 February] 1900 (Hermitage)
26 February [O.S. 13 February] 1900 (Imperial Mariinsky Theatre)
Design décor: Orest Allegri
costumes: Ivan Kaffi
Genre Ballet comique

Les Millions d'Arléquin (en. Harlequin's Millions) (ru. "Миллионы Арлекина", Milliony Arlekina) also known under the title Harlequinade (ru. "Арлекинада", Arlekinada) is a Ballet comique in two acts and two tableaux with libretto and choreography by Marius Petipa and music by Riccardo Drigo. First presented at the Hermitage by the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia on 23 February [O.S. 10 February] 1900. The ballet was given a second premiere with the same cast at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre on 26 February [O.S. 13 February] 1900.

Riccardo Drigo's score for Les Millions d'Arléquin was celebrated in its own right and was published promptly after the ballet's premiere by the publisher Zimmerman. The Sérénade from the first act of the ballet became a popular repertory piece that has been arranged for various instruments and published under several alternative titles such as Serenatina veneziana all'antica, Veneitian Serenade and Valse Boston among many others. In 1922 the Sérénade was adapted into the song Notturno d'amour that went on to be recorded by many notable singers including the famous Italian tenor Beniamino Gigli, whose 1926 recording of the song became a worldwide hit.

Marius Petipa's original two-act production has not been performed since 1927. To date there are two versions of the ballet that are performed. The first is a one-act redaction by the ballet master Fyodor Lopukhov that was originally staged for the Maly Theatre Ballet in 1933 under the title Arlekinada. Lopukhov's version is still performed by companies and particularly by schools primarily in Russia but also throughout the world. The second version that is performed with regularity is the choreographer George Balanchine's version, given under the title Harlequinade, originally staged for the New York City Ballet in 1965.


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