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On the Dnieper

On the Dnieper is Sergei Prokofiev's fourth ballet score, Op. 51, written in 1931 on commission from the Paris Opéra after Diaghilev's death ended Prokofiev's Ballets Russes collaborations and the Ballets Russes-era The Prodigal Son had succeeded. It is a two-scene ballet with prelude and epilogue, choreographed and staged for the premiere by Serge Lifar, on a rural love-triangle plot involving a returning soldier, his former betrothed, and the woman he now loves.

What is danced

The article gives the ballet's musical/dance structure as twelve numbers: a Prelude; in Scene 1, 'The Meeting,' a Mime Scene, a Pas de deux, and a Variation of the First Dancer; in Scene 2, a Betrothal, Bridegroom's Dance, Bride's Dance, Men's Dance, The Quarrel, a second Mime Scene; and an Epilogue. This alternation of named mime scenes with discrete dance numbers (pas de deux, solo variation, and a set of character dances tied to the betrothal — bridegroom's, bride's, and men's dances) indicates a structure built on the classical/demi-caractère model of danced set-pieces interspersed with dumbshow narrative, typical of large narrative ballets in this lineage, but the article does not describe the actual steps, holds, or technique used in any of these numbers.

Context

The ballet was made in 1931–32 for the Paris Opéra by Serge Lifar, formerly Diaghilev's close associate, in the immediate aftermath of Diaghilev's death and the folding of the Ballets Russes as a producing entity. It sits alongside The Prodigal Son as one of Prokofiev's two 'lyrical' ballets of this period, a lyrical vein the composer was developing just before turning to his first ballet in an explicitly Russian tradition, Romeo and Juliet. Lifar said he drew on Russian folk dance for his choreography, though he reports that critics judged the result insufficiently Russian, and by his own account he treated the scenario as secondary to building 'a sequence of dances.'

Staging history

The ballet premiered on 16 December 1932 but was judged a flop, particularly against critical expectations set by The Prodigal Son's success; Prokofiev had left for America the day after the premiere and did not learn of the poor reviews until later, and the work was withdrawn from the stage after only a few performances, despite Stravinsky and Milhaud praising the score. Rehearsals had already been disrupted by the sudden withdrawal of the intended female lead, Olga Spessivtseva, following a personal crisis with Lifar (recounted in his own later memoir) during a pas de deux rehearsal. The ballet was not revived until 2009, when Alexei Ratmansky made a new choreography to Prokofiev's score for American Ballet Theatre, premiered with Marcelo Gomes, Paloma Herrera, Veronika Part and David Hallberg in the principal roles.

How to watch it

Watch for the alternation between the mime scenes, which carry the plot (the triangle among Sergei, Natasha and Olga), and the set dance numbers — the pas de deux, the solo variation, and the trio of betrothal dances (bridegroom's, bride's, men's) — which the article suggests were Lifar's real focus over narrative coherence. Given Lifar's claim of folk-dance inspiration, a viewer might look for Russian character-dance inflections within an otherwise classical vocabulary, though contemporary critics reportedly found this element weak.

Structure

  1. Prelude
    Opening orchestral number preceding the sung/danced action.
  2. Scene 1 · The Meeting
    Sergei returns to his village and encounters Natasha and Olga.
  3. Scene 1 · Mime Scene
    Narrative dumbshow advancing the triangle among Sergei, Natasha and Olga.
  4. Scene 1 · Pas de deux
    Duet, reportedly for Sergei and Olga, danced early in the ballet.
  5. Scene 1 · Variation of the First Dancer
    Solo variation for the principal female dancer.
  6. Scene 2 · Betrothal
    The formal betrothal scene, setting up Olga's arranged match to another man.
  7. Scene 2 · Bridegroom's Dance
    Solo or featured dance for the intended bridegroom.
  8. Scene 2 · Bride's Dance
    Solo or featured dance for the bride figure, Olga.
  9. Scene 2 · Men's Dance
    Group dance for male ensemble within the betrothal festivities.
  10. Scene 2 · The Quarrel
    Sergei and Olga's friends fight; Sergei falls in the confrontation.
  11. Scene 2 · Mime Scene
    Natasha helps the couple escape the village.
  12. Epilogue
    Closing number resolving the escape of Sergei and Olga.

Structure read from an encyclopaedia article, not from a libretto or score we hold. Confirm against a programme before treating the numbering as authoritative.

Credits

  • composer: Sergei Prokofiev

Questions

Who choreographed On the Dnieper originally?
Serge Lifar staged the sets and choreography for the 1932 Paris Opéra premiere; the article notes he treated the ballet more as a sequence of dances than as a coherent scenario, and later admitted disappointment with Prokofiev's score.
Why did the original ballerina leave the production?
Olga Spessivtseva, cast as Olga, withdrew after a rehearsal-room crisis with Lifar over the plot's love triangle mirroring their own situation; Lifar's memoir describes her attempting to jump from a window and never returning to the Opéra.
Has On the Dnieper been revived?
Yes — Alexei Ratmansky made a new choreography to the same Prokofiev score for American Ballet Theatre, premiered in 2009 with Marcelo Gomes and Paloma Herrera in the leads.
Is there a concert version of the music?
Prokofiev extracted a six-movement orchestral suite from the twelve-number ballet score, published as Op. 51a (also cited as Op. 51 bis), running about 20 minutes.
This entry was written from “On the Dnieper” on English Wikipedia (revision 1361277577), used under CC BY-SA 4.0. The link points at the exact revision this text was written from, so it shows the words we actually used rather than whatever the article says today. Credits and premiere data come from Wikidata (CC0), cited per field.
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