History of “Spartacus” Ballet

Aram Khachaturyan was maturing the conception of “Spartacus” during the World War II, though for some reason the ballet was completed only in 1954. The ballet scenario based on motifs from the novel “Spartacus” by Raffaello Giovagnoli was written by N. Volkov, a Soviet playwright.

The premiere of “Spartacus” took place in 1956 on the stage of Leningrad Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre after S. Kirov (Mariinski Theatre). The first performance was staged by the famed choreographer L. Jacobson (conductor P. Feldman, set designer V. Khodasevich).

The Leningrad premiere was followed by a number of stagings both in the USSR and abroad. Bolshoy Theatre witnessed different interpretations of “Spartacus”: in 1958 by I. Moiseev, in 1962 by L. Jakobson. Nevertheless, none of the stagings met with success and soon were sidelined in the theater’s repertoire.

It took over ten years altogether for the ballet to find its worthy choreographic embodiment. The third staging referring to 1968 by an outstanding choreographer Yuri Grigorovich became a real triumph.
The choreography by Grigorovich supplemented the bright musical images with acting ones created by the dancers’ mastery.
The composer himself never hid his love for theatrics and used to confess that he would certainly engaged in theater, but that he become a composer. That passion for the theater, for creating dramatic characters on the stage materialized in the music, supplemented by Grigorovich’s felicitous staging. The ballet proved to differ from other ballets. The very staging by the principal choreographer of the Bolshoy Theatre, Yuri Grigorovich (conductor G. Rozhdestvenski, set designer S. Virsaladze) is still reasonably considered the most successful one.

In its lifetime “Spartacus” featured such ballet stars as A. Makarov, I. Zubkovskaya, A. Shelest, I. Lentovskaya, I. Jacobson, O. Zabotkina, I. Belski, Y. Groigorovich, Y. Maltsev, N. Petrova, V. Ryazanov, O. Moiseeva, K. Shatilov, I. Kolpakova, A. Gribov, S. Kuznetsov, B. Bregvadze, V. Vasiliev, E. Maximova, M. Plisetskaya, I. Muhamedov, M. Lavrovski, N. Bessmertnova, N. Timofeeva, M. Liepa, Y. Troyan, L. Brzhozovskaya, V. Galstyan, V. Khanamiryan, V. Sarkisyan and others.

History of “Spartacus” ballet in Armenia

In Armenia, “Spartacus” composed by Aram Khachaturyan was first produced in 1962 on the stage of Yerevan Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre after Al. Spendiaryan by an outstanding choreographer Yevgeniy Changa (conductor H. Voskanyan, painter Minas Avetisyan, set designer Robert Elibekyan)

The next two stagings refer to 1977 and 1982. Both of them were produced by a famed Armenian ballet-dancer and choreographer Vilen Galstyan (conductor H. Voskanyan).

That period “Spartacus” featured leading ballet dancers such as S. Baranov, R. Kharatyan, V. Abrahamyan (Spartacus), V. Galstyan, V. Khanamiryan, S. Avnikyan (Spartacus), G. Gevorgyan, O. Divanyan, Kh. Margaryan (Crassus), E. Mnatsakanyan, S. Minasyan, T. Grigoryan, A. Marikyan, B. Hovnanyan (Phrygia), N. Davtyan, E. Divanyan (Aegina). The ballet met with success abroad as well.