Are We in the Right Ballet? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Giselle

"Giselle" is one of the earliest ballets to retain a regular place in the repertoire. It was composed by Adolphe Adam (1803-56) and first performed at the Salle le Peletier in Paris in June 1841. Giselle herself is a peasant girl who dies of a broken heart at the end of Act One when she discovers that the stranger (Albrecht) with whom she has fallen in love is already betrothed to someone else. Hilarion is a peasant who is also in love with Giselle, and who discovers Albrecht's true identity. The Wilis appear collectively in Act Two, and are the ghosts of young women who died after being betrayed by their unfaithful lovers.

They kill the unfortunate Hilarion, and attempt to do the same to the penitent Albrecht, but he is saved by the spirit of Giselle, who forgives him.

Answer: The Nutcracker

"The Nutcracker" was the last of Tchaikovsky's three full-length ballets, and was first performed in 1892 in a double bill with his one-act opera "Iolanta". Like his previous ballet, "Sleeping Beauty", the première was given at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg.

The action takes place on Christmas Eve, when the young heroine (Clara) and her family are decorating their Christmas tree. The toymaker Drosselmeyer is Clara's godfather, who gives the children a carved wooden nutcracker that he has made.

The Sugar Plum Fairy appears in a dream sequence in the Land of Sweets that occupies most of the second act, and takes part in the famous pas-de-deux that bears her name.

Answer: Coppelia

The ballet "Coppélia" was composed by the French composer Léo Delibes (1836-1891), and first performed in May 1870 at the Salle Le Peletier in Paris. It was originally choreographed by Arthur Saint-Léon, although modern revivals tend to be more influenced by Marius Petipa's choreography for his Saint Petersburg-based company. Coppelia herself is a life-size mechanical doll, constructed by the sinister Dr. Coppelius. Franz, a credulous village youth, becomes infatuated with the doll, but fortunately by the end of the ballet is reunited with his true love, Swanhilda.

Answer: Spartacus

The story of "Spartacus" is best known through Stanley Kubrick's 1960 film starring Kirk Douglas in the title role. However, a few years earlier it had become the subject of a full-length ballet with music by the Soviet composer Aram Khatchaturian (1903-78).

It was first performed in 1956 by the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad, and taken up two years later by Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet. In the ballet, Phrygia is Spartacus's wife, while the Roman consul, Crassus, is his rival. Aegina is Crassus's concubine. Outside Russia, the ballet is best-known for the pas-de-deux known as the "Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia", the theme of which has been used in several movies and TV shows.

For example, older British players will remember it as the theme for the 1970s BBC TV show "The Onedin Line".

Answer: Swan Lake

Arguably the most famous of all ballets, "Swan Lake" was the first full-length ballet by Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), and was given its première by Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet in 1877. Prince Siegfried is its hero, who falls in love with Odette, a young lady who (with her companions) has been cursed by the evil Von Rothbart to spend the daylight hours as a swan, only turning back into a woman by night. Odile is Von Rothbart's daughter, who he transforms into the likeness of Odette, fooling Siegfried into thinking she is his beloved.

It all ends in tears, with Odette and Siegfried choosing to die together rather than face separation. It should be noted that modern productions have frequently changed the ending, so that sometimes one (or indeed both) of the lovers survives.

Answer: Romeo and Juliet

The ballet "Romeo and Juliet" is, not surprisingly, based on the play by Shakespeare. It was composed by Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953), and first staged in Brno, Czechoslovakia, in 1938. For the benefit of those unfamiliar with either the play or the ballet, Tybalt is Juliet's cousin who is killed in a duel by Romeo; Paris is a young nobleman in love with Juliet; and Friar Laurence is the friar who marries the title characters, and whose unwise plan inadvertently leads to their deaths.

The stirring theme described in the score as the "Dance of the Knights", and popularly known as "Montagues and Capulets", has become well-known in the UK as the theme for the BBC version of the TV show "The Apprentice".

Answer: Petrushka

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) composed "Petrushka" in 1910/11 for Sergei Diaghilev's famous "Ballets Russes" company, and they gave its première in June 1911 in Paris. Stravinsky subsequently revised the score significantly in 1947, for a smaller orchestra.

The story concerns three puppets - Petrushka, the Ballerina and the Moor - all of whom are owned and controlled by the Magician. Petrushka, a poor clown, loves the Ballerina, although she has eyes only for the more glamorous Moor. In the ballet's climactic scene, Petrushka interrupts the Moor's seduction of the Ballerina, and is killed by him with his scimitar.

The ballet ends with Petrushka's ghost tormenting the Magician, casting doubt on whether he is only a puppet after all.

Answer: The Miraculous Mandarin

The Hungarian composer Béla Bartók (1881-1945) wrote two ballets; "The Wooden Prince" (1916) and "The Miraculous Mandarin" (1918-24). The latter had its first performance in Cologne, Germany, in 1926, where it caused something of a scandal because of the nature of its plot, which involves seduction, robbery and murder. Apart from the Mandarin of the title, the other characters include the seductive Girl, and the Rake and the Shy Young Man, both of whom she attempts to lure with her charms.

The wealthy Mandarin himself becomes her third victim, and it is he who is killed for his valuables.

He is "miraculous" because he will not die (despite being smothered, stabbed and hung from a hook) until he is finally allowed to embrace the Girl.

Answer: Sleeping Beauty

"Sleeping Beauty" is the second full-length ballet composed by Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), and is regarded by many balletomanes as the greatest of all classical ballets. It was first performed in January 1890 at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, with choreography by Marius Petipa. Princess Aurora is the "Sleeping Beauty" of the title, King Florestan is her father, and Carabosse is the wicked fairy who places a curse on the princess.

Answer: Don Quixote

The full-length ballet "Don Quixote" was composed by Ludwig Minkus (1826-1917), and was first performed in 1869 by the Ballet of the Imperial Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in a production choreographed by Marius Petipa. Sancho Panza is Don Quixote's faithful servant, Gamache is a nobleman who is engaged to be married to an innkeeper's daughter named Kitri, and Dulcinea is the lady with whom the Don imagines himself to be in love.

In most productions of the ballet, she appears to him in a dream sequence, and is usually danced by the ballerina who doubles as Kitri.