Les millions d'Arlequin

Ivan Vsevolozhsky took up the directorship of the Imperial Hermitage Museum in 1899, a post that required supervision over performances given at the museum's theatre. Vsevolozhsky commissioned Marius Petipa—Premier maître de ballet of the Saint Petersburg Imperial Theatres—to create three short ballets for the 1900–1901 season that would be performed privately for the imperial russian court. Petipa crafted the librettos for these ballets himself: the one-act Les Ruses d'amour (The Pranks of Love), with a scenario inspired by french rococo; the one-act Les Saisons (The Seasons), a ballet-divertissement featuring dance episodes inspired by the four seasons; and Les Millions d'Arlequin, a two-act work based on the stock characters from the Italian Commedia dell'arte.

Les Millions d'Arlequin was first performed on a double bill after two acts of Alexander Serov's opera Judith at the Imperial Theatre of the Hermitage Museum on 23 February [O.S. 10 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.

This performance was a private occasion given for the Imperial Russian court. Among the audience was the Emperor Nicholas II, the Empress Alexandra, and the Dowager Empress Maria. Private royal theatrical performances of that time were extremely formal affairs where rigid etiquette and protocol were strictly adhered to, and as such applause or cheering were not permitted. Nevertheless, within moments of the final curtain the typically subdued royal audience began to applaud, with the ballet master Petipa and the cast receiving an enthusiastic ovation as they took their bows before the curtain. But much to the surprise of everyone present, the composer Drigo received such a reception after the performance that he was mobbed by several princes and Grand Dukes who tripped over one another in their enthusiasm to congratulate him for his music. The Empress Alexandra admired the ballet, and commanded two additional court performances, this time on the stage of the Mariinsky Theatre, the first being given on 26 February [O.S. 13 February] 1900.

Les Millions d'Arlequin became a popular work in the repertory of the Imperial Ballet. Marius Petipa's original production was given its final performances in the 1920's.

After the premiere of Les Millions d'Arlequin in 1900, plans were underway by the music publisher Zimmermann to issue Riccardo Drigo's score in both piano reduction and orchestral partition. Riccardo Drigo recounts in his memoirs of how his colleagues urged the composer to dedicate his score to the Empress Alexandra. This required the composer to submit a request for the dedication to the Minister of the Imperial Court, which brought about a lengthy correspondence by a commission set up to investigate whether or not the composer's character and background were worthy of his offering a dedication to a Russian Empress. In the end the response was favorable and the dedication was graciously accepted.

Frontispiece for the piano reduction of the Sérénade from Riccardo Drigo's score for Les Millions d'Arlequin as issued by the music publisher Zimmermann, 1901

The first act of Les Millions d'Arlequin includes a scene called La Sérénade where the character Columbine appears on the balcony of her house and is serenaded from the street by the character Harlequin and his friends.

The music became a popular excerpt in its own right and would go on to become a staple of Edwardian Era salon music/light music. The piece was published in several arrangements for various instruments under many different titles such as Valse Boston or Serenatina veneziana (Venetian Serenade). The Sérénade was among the pieces in the White Star Line songbook, and was played by the Musicians of the RMS Titanic.

The Sérénade was later adapted into the song Notturno d'amore (Nocturne of Love) by the lyricist S. Focacci in 1922. The Italian tenor Beniamino Gigli made a worldwide hit with his recording of the song in 1926.

Taken from the original programme for the premiere of the ballet at the Hermitage Museum, 1900.

Act I

• № 01 Prélude
• № 02 La clef dérobée
• № 03 Ballabile par une compagnie de masques
• № 04 La sérénade
• № 05 Le rendezvous des amoureux (Pas d'ensemble)—

—a. Andante

—b. Danse des amis de Columbine et d'Arlequin

—c. Variation pour Columbine

• № 06 La batte enchantée

Act II

• № 07 Polonaise
• № 08 Arlequinade: Ballabile des enfants—

—a. Danse des Polichinelles

—b. Danse des Arlequins et Columbines

—c. Danse des Pierrots et Pierrettes

—d. Danse des Scaramouches

—e. Coda du ballabile des enfants

• № 09 Pizzicato: La réconciliation de Pierrot avec Pierrette
• № 10 La chasse aux alouettes (Pas d'action)—

—a. Entrée

—b. Andante

—c. Valse des alouettes

—d. Variation pour Arlequin

—e. Berceuse: Variation pour Columbine

—f. Coda du pas des alouettes

• № 11 Quadrille des merveilleuses et galop final ("Marlborough s'en va-t-en fuerre", vieille chanson populaire française)

• 
  Program for the first performance of Les Millions d'Arlequin at the Theatre of the Hermitage Museum. 1900.
• 
  Olga Preobrazhenskaya as Columbine and Anatole Oboukhoff as Harlequin in their costumes for the Grand pas des alouettes of Act II. St. Petersburg, 1913.
• 
  Lyubov Egorova (left) and Julia Sedova (right) costumed for the Pizzicato of act II. St. Petersburg, 1900.
• 
  Julia Sedova costumed for the Pizzicato of Act II. Saint Petersburg, 1900.
• 
  Anna Pavlova and Mikhail Fokine costumed as friends of Harlequin and Columbine for the Sérénade of act I. St. Petersburg, 1900.
• 
  Anna Pavlova costumed as a friend of Harlequin and Columbine for the Sérénade of act I. St. Petersburg, 1900.
• 
  Sergei Lukianov as Pierrot. St. Petersburg, 1900.
• 
  Caricature of Sergei Lukianov as Pierrot in Les Millions d'Arlequin by the brothers Nikolai and Sergei Legat for their book The Russian Ballet In Caricature, 1903.

• Media related to Les millions d'Arlequin at Wikimedia Commons