The Vestal

For the geometer moth, see Rhodometra sacraria.

The Vestal - Grand ballet in 3 Acts-4 Scenes, with choreography by Marius Petipa and music by Mikhail Ivanov.

The ballet was first presented by the Imperial Ballet on February 17/29, 1888 at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. Principal Dancers - Elena Cornalba (as Amata), Pavel Gerdt (as Lucio), Mariia Gorshenkova (as Claudia), Felix Kschessinsky (as Julius Flac), and Nikolai Aistov (as the High Priest).

Notes

• This ballet was a phenomenal success for the choreographer Petipa, and among ballet historians it is considered the predecessor of Petipa/Tchaikovsky The Sleeping Beauty. Many critics who saw the premiere commented unanimously that the work was the epitome of the Ballet à Grand Spectacle. Set in Ancient Rome, the ballet was built on fantastical themes, complete with gods and goddesses, Emperors, and the like. The sets, costumes, and props were considered the best yet seen on the Imperial stage. Mikhail Ivanov's music proved to be the first successful score for the ballet that was provided by a symphonic composer.

• Sections of this ballet were interpolated by Petipa into his 1899 revival of Le Corsaire, and were subsequently documented in the method of Stepanov Choreographic Notation (along with the rest of Petipa's 1899 production of Le Corsaire) by the Imperial Ballet's régisseur Nicholas Sergeyev. Today the notations are included in the Sergeyev Collection, which documents the Imperial Ballet's repertory at the turn of the 20th century.