Overview
Mayerling – rescheduled at HOBBY CENTER (Sarofim Hall)
Friday, Sept. 22 at 7:30 PM
Saturday, Sept. 23 at 1:30 PM
Saturday, Sept. 23 at 7:30 PM
Sunday, Sept. 24 at 2:00 PM
To purchase tickets, please call 713.227.2787, Mon-Fri, 9AM-5PM
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Press Release
DANCE TALK: SEPTEMBER 12, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. - Mayerling
Second on our season is Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s historic ballet Mayerling . Houston Ballet is the first North American company to present the work. Join us to learn more about the historical context and artistic complexities of this dramatic ballet as we talk with a historian, artistic staff and dancers.
Houston Ballet’s performances of Mayerling generously sponsored by:
Robbins: A centennial celebration
Fancy Free I Choreographer: Jerome Robbins I Music: Leonard Bernstein
Houston Ballet Premiere
The Cage I Choreographer: Jerome Robbins I Music: Igor Stravinsky
The Concert (or the Perils of Everybody) I Choreographer: Jerome Robbins I Music: Frédéric Chopin
We’re thrilled to join ballet companies around the world in celebrating the 100th anniversary of Jerome Robbins’ birth. In our first of three diverse pieces, we welcome back Robbins’ Fancy Free, a delightful glimpse into the lives of three sailors on leave during one hot summer night in 1940s New York City. The unique blend of Robbins’ iconic Broadway style and balletic grace in Fancy Freehelped launch his career and inspire the Broadway musical On the Town. Stanton Welch AM has specifically selected The Cage, a lesser-known Robbins work that features our brilliant female dancers as they transform into a troupe of abstract insect-like creatures who hunt down their male prey. With our final Robbins piece, The Concert (or the Perils of Everybody), we bring back one of the great comedic ballets of all time.
Mayerling remains one of the monumental achievements of 20th-century dance-theatre…
Synopsis
Main Characters
Crown Prince Rudolf, Baroness Mary Vetsera, Princess Stephanie, Empress Elisabeth, Emperor Franz Josef, Countess Marie Larisch
MAYERLING FAMILY TREE
*Contains story spoilers
Prologue
The cemetery at Heiligenkreuz before dawn; 1889, Austria-Hungary Empire.
Act I
Scene 1: The ballroom at the Hofburg Palace, Vienna
A ball to celebrate the marriage of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria-Hungary and Princess Stephanie of Belgium is in full swing. Rudolf flirts shamelessly with Stephanie's sister, Princess Louise, offending both his new bride and his parents, Emperor Franz Josef and Empress Elisabeth. Rudolf meets Countess Marie Larisch, a former mistress, and Baroness Vetsera.
The Baroness introduces her 17-year-old daughter Mary Vetsera. Four Hungarian officers, friends of Rudolf, enter and forcefully argue the separatist cause of their country. Countess Larisch tries to rekindle her relationship with Rudolf. The pair are discovered by the Emperor, who demands that Rudolf return to his wife.
Scene 2: The Empress’s apartments at the Hofburg
Having retired from the ball, Empress Elisabeth is being attended by her ladies-in-waiting. Rudolf visits his mother, on his way to his new bride. He expresses his deep unhappiness at being pressured into marriage. Desperate for maternal affection he tries to embrace the Empress, only to be coldly rebuffed.
Scene 3: Rudolf’s apartments at the Hofburg
Princess Stephanie is getting ready for her wedding night. Rudolf enters and threatens Stephanie with a revolver before making love to her.
INTERMISSION
Act II
Scene 1: A notorious tavern
Rudolf and Stephanie enter the tavern in disguise. They are accompanied by Rudolf's driver Bratfisch, who attempts to lighten Stephanie’s spirits. Prostitutes compete for the men’s attention and Stephanie flees the tavern in disgust. Rudolf turns his attention to his Hungarian friends and his regular mistress, the courtesan Mitzi Caspar.
The police burst in and Rudolf, Mitzi and the Hungarian officers hide. The police arrest several people before leaving. In a despairing mood, Rudolf proposes a suicide pact to Mitzi. The Prime Minister Count Taaffe enters the tavern, looking for Rudolf. Rudolf hides again but Mitzi tells the Count where he is hidden. The Count and Mitzi leave together.
Scene 2: Outside the tavern
Countess Larisch, ostensibly chaperoning Mary, presents the young girl to Rudolf as he leaves the tavern.
Scene 3: The Vetsera house
Countess Larisch calls on her friend Baroness Vetsera. She finds Mary absorbed by a portrait of Rudolf. Countess Larisch tells Mary’s fortune using a pack of cards and informs her that her romantic dreams will come true. Mary gives the Countess a letter to deliver to Rudolf on her behalf.
Scene 4: The Hofburg
During the Emperor's birthday celebrations Count Taaffe confronts Rudolph over an incriminating political pamphlet on the Hungarian cause. Colonel ‘Bay’ Middleton hands the Count a joke cigar, to Rudolf's intense amusement. The Empress presents the Emperor with a portrait of his 'friend' Katherina Schratt. A firework display distracts everyone except the Empress and ‘Bay.’ Rudolf notices their amorous exchange and becomes bitterly resentful. Countess Larisch produces Mary’s letter and teases Rudolf with it.
Scene 5: Rudolf’s apartments at the Hofburg
Mary and Rudolf meet in secret for the first time.
INTERMISSION
Act III
Scene 1: A royal shoot in the countryside
During a hunting expedition, Rudolf unaccountably shoots wildly. He kills a member of the court, narrowly missing his father.
Scene 2: Rudolf’s apartments at the Hofburg
The Empress discovers Countess Larisch and Rudolf alone together and angrily dismisses the Countess, unaware Mary is waiting outside. Mary enters after the Empress has left. Rudolf asks her to commit suicide with him.
Scene 3: The hunting lodge at Mayerling
Rudolf shares a drink with Count Hoyos and Prince Philipp of Coburg, attended by his valet Loschek. He asks them to leave, saying he is unwell. Bratfisch enters with Mary. Rudolf instructs Bratfisch to entertain him and Mary. Bratfisch, soon realizing he has lost their attention, leaves.
In a mounting frenzy Rudolf makes love to Mary. He injects himself with morphine to calm his nerves and embraces Mary for the last time. He shoots her. Loschek, Hoyos and Philipp rush in, having heard the shot. Rudolf reassures them and instructs them to leave. Alone, he shoots himself. His friends rush in again, and collapse in despair when they find Rudolf's dead body.
Artists
Sir Kenneth MacMillan (1929-1992)
Choreographer, Mayerling
Sir Kenneth MacMIllan was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, in 1929 and received his dance training at the Sadler’s Wells (now Royal) Ballet School. In 1946, he became a founding member of Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet, a new company formed by Dame Ninette de Valois. In 1953, Sir MacMillian’s first ballet, Somnambulism, was the hit of the evening, and from then on, he pursued a celebrated choreographic career. From 1954 to 1965, he created over ten works for the Sadler’s Wells Company, including The Burrow (1958), Romeo and Juliet (1965), and Song of the Earth (1965). In 1966, he received an invitation to direct the Berlin Ballet at Deutsche Oper in West Berlin. He took the company over and staged his own productions of The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and Anastasia. Emerging as the natural successor to Royal Ballet Director Sir Frederick Ashton, Sir MacMillan assumed the directorship at the beginning of the 1970-1971 season. He continued to choreograph and in 1974 created both Manon and Elite Syncopations, as well as Requiem (1976), and My Brother, My Sisters (1978), for Stuttgart Ballet. Other works include Mayerling (1978), La Fin du Jour (1979), Gloria (1980), Isadora (1981), Wild Boy (1981) for American Ballet Theatre, Quartet (1982), Orpheus (1982), Valley of the Shadows (1982), and Requiem for Royal Ballet. Sir MacMillan received his knighthood in 1983.
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Composer, Mayerling
History
Mayerling Repertoire History
This will be Houston Ballet’s first time performing Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Mayerling. Previous ballets by Sir Kenneth MacMillan in Houston Ballet's repertoire are Manon, Gloria, Song of the Earth, Solitaire, and Elite Syncopations.
Mayerling Production Details
ORIGINAL CHOREOGRAPHER: Sir Kenneth MacMillan
LIBERETTO: Gillian Freeman
GENRE: Classical Ballet
RUN TIME: Ballet in 3 Acts; approximately 3 hours
LOCATION: Brown Theater at the Wortham Theater Center in Houston, Texas
COMPOSER: Franz Liszt, arrangement by John Lanchbery
SCORE: Excerpts from Liszt compositions; Faust Symphony, Mephisto Waltz, Twelve Transcendental Studies, Soirée de Vienne, etc.
ORIGINAL PREMIERE DATE: February 14, 1978 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden by the Royal Ballet
SCENIC AND COSTUME DESIGN: Pablo Núñez, after Nicholas Georgiadis, approved by Lady Deborah MacMillan
LIGHTING DESIGN: José Luis Fiorruccio, after John B. Read
BENESH NOTATION SCORE: Jacquie Hollander and Lyn Vella-Gatt
STAGERS FOR HOUSTON BALLET (2017): TBA
HOUSTON BALLET ORCHESTRA CONDUCTOR (2017): Ermanno Florio
• Sofia Selowsky, mezzo-soprano
HOUSTON BALLET STAGE MANAGER (2017): Vanessa Chumbley
RECOMMENDED GUIDELINE: Parental Advisory
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