Ballet

Les Millions d'Arlequin

Les Millions d'Arlequin is a ballet choreographed by Marius Petipa to music by Riccardo Drigo, first performed in 1900. Les Millions d'Arlequin (English: Harlequin's Millions) (Russian: "Миллионы Арлекина", Milliony Arlekina) also known…

Les Millions d'Arlequin
Image: Mikhail Zimmerman, European publisher of sheet music. · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Choreography
Marius Petipa
Music
Riccardo Drigo
Premiere
1900
First performed at
—
Score
Free on IMSLP

About the work

Les Millions d'Arlequin (English: Harlequin's Millions) (Russian: "Миллионы Арлекина", Milliony Arlekina) also known under the title Harlequinade (Russian: "Арлекинада", Arlekinada) is a ballet comique in two acts and two tableaux with libretto and choreography by Marius Petipa and music by Riccardo Drigo. Les Millions d'Arlequin was first presented by the Imperial Ballet at the Theatre of the Imperial Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia on 23 February [O.S. 11 February] 1900. The ballet was given a second premiere with the same cast at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre on 26 February [O.S. 14 February] 1900.

In the principal roles were Mathilde Kschessinskaya as Columbine, Georgy Kyaksht as Harlequin, Olga Preobrajenskaya as Pierrette, Sergei Lukianov as Pierrot, Enrico Cecchetti as Cassandre, Nikolai Aistov as Leandre, and Anna Urakova as the Good Fairy.

The Sérénade from the first act of the ballet became a popular repertory piece that has been arranged for various instruments and recorded on numerous occasions.

From the Wikipedia article “Les millions d'Arlequin”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

More ballets by the composer

All ballets by Riccardo Drigo (11) →

Other works by the same choreographer

Credits from Wikidata (Q3233858), CC0.