Amal Choucri Catta is enchanted by Cairo Opera House's new production of Don Quixote Don Quixote by Leon Minkus, presented by Cairo Opera Ballet Company; dir. Erminia Kamel; artistic supervisor Abdel-Moneim Kamel, with Cairo Opera Orchestra, conductor Ivan Filev. Venue: Cairo Opera House, Main Hall, 4, 5, 6 & 7 December, 8pm Don Quixote, that masterpiece of world literature by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, has been the inspiration for many musical works. Over 16 composers have given the tale of the wandering hero in search of the lovely Dulcinea operatic treatment including Paisiello, Mendelssohn, Massenet, Donizetti, Mercadante, Clay and De Falla, while incidental music to a play by d'Urfey was written by Henry Purcell, and Richard Strauss composed a tone poem on the subject in 1896. There is too Teleman's Suite for orchestra, and Maurice Ravel's lovely melodies under the title "Don Quichotte a Dulcinée". Don Quixote ballets are likewise numerous, including Petipa's of 1869 with music by Minkus, Gerhard's in 1940, Petrassi's in 1947 and Ibert's in 1950. When the Cairo Ballet Company moved to the new Opera House in 1989 they opened their first new ballet season with Leon Minkus's Don Quixote, with prima ballerina Erminia Kamel as Kitri and the Russian "danceur étoile" Serguey Gorbatchov as Basil. He had a way of carrying the diva that was fabulous and exciting and never repeated again. In subsequent years there were new ballet productions -- Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, The Nutcracker, Giselle and others -- while good old Don Quixote de la Mancha disappeared for several seasons. He reappeared for four charming nights last week at the Main Hall, the production marking the fourth centennial of his creation, under the expert direction of Erminia Kamel, with the Cairo Opera Orchestra conducted by the Bulgarian Ivan Filev who has been living and conducting orchestras in Egypt since the opening of the new opera house in 1988. His interpretation of Minkus's music, though often tempestuous, had agreeable moments. Born in Vienna in 1826, Aloisius Ludwig, known as Leon Minkus, is one of the lesser known Austrian musicians. He collaborated with the French composer Léo Delibes on La Source in Paris in 1866 prior to settling in Russia and writing music for many of Marius Petipa's ballets in St Petersburg, among which Don Quichote, produced in 1869, and La Bayadere of 1877 seem to be the most popular. From 1872 to 1885 Minkus was Court Composer for Imperial Theatres in St Petersburg. He retired in 1891 and returned to Vienna where he died in 1917. From the musical point of view he had the misfortune to be a contemporary of Tchaikovsky's. His music is filled with the loveliest melodies and his rhythms are entertaining, vivacious and of an immediate appeal. Inspired by Cervantes's tale, the ballet opens with a charming introduction to the old Don asking his squire Sancho Panza to prepare for a long journey in search of Dulcinea, his lady love. Originally written in four acts the ballet has been reduced to three, keeping the marvellous scene of the Don's dream in the second part of Act Two, without changing the sets or the décor. Based on a series of choreographic sequences the ballet does not present a real plot, as in Swan Lake or Romeo and Juliet, but relates the love of Basil the barber and Kitri the innkeeper's daughter. Act One opens with a square in Barcelona: lights are bright, colours vivid, costumes splendid and everyone is having fun. Lorenzo, Kitri's father, seems to be the only unhappy person: he wants her to marry Gamache, a vain, rich nobleman and each time Basil starts dancing with Kitri Papa Lorenzo turns him away. Don Quixote arrives with Sancho Panza and when he sees Kitri he believes he has found his very own Dulcinea. He is bewitched by her beauty but Gamache pushes him away declaring he is the only man for Kitri, who then decides to escape with Basil and their friends. The first scene of Act Two opens with the lovers being chased by father Lorenzo, Gamache and the Don in the tavern. Basil pretends to stab himself while the Don asks Kitri's father to bless the lovers' marriage, which he finally does, and Gamache is surprised to find Basil alive. The Don decides he will soon have to leave and, separating himself from the crowd wanders into dreamland. In the second scene of Act Two he finds himself under dark skies surrounded by beautiful sylphs, elemental spirits of the air, graceful and slender in their gorgeous tutus, dancing splendid solos and pas-de-deux and de-trois. Cupid, who is an excellent dancer, presents Dulcinea to the Don who pledges eternal love and loyalty to the lady. The sylphs disappear as the curtain falls. This is the only scene considered a "ballet blanc": the music is mythical, the mood mysterious and the performance was superb. Act Three is overwhelmingly joyful: it is Kitri and Basil's wedding day and there is a grand "pas-de-deux," lots of solos and brilliantly danced "grand pas" sequences by soloists Katia Ivanova, Gezel Sulimanova, Ahmed Yehia, Alexander Onychenko, Nadine Farouk, Ira Prokopenko, Oxana Betsmanova, Nelly Karim, Serguey Bolonsky, Hani Hassan, Alexander Kiriniok, Adel Hassan, Safwat Fathi and many more of the recently reorganised corps de ballet. In the end, however, Don Quixote realises he has not found Dulcinea and sets off with Sancho Panza to continue his search. Cervantes was born in 1547 and died in 1616. His life bears many parallels to that of his hero -- he was a seaman, an explorer and an adventurer. Among his works Don Quixote is undoubtedly the best known though others, such as La Galatea (1585), Novelas Ejemplares, (1613), El Cerco de Numancia, a tragedy in four acts written between 1581 and 1583 and Trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda, a novel in four volumes published posthumously by his widow 1617 surely deserve more popularity. The audience appeared to thoroughly enjoy this new production of Don Quixote with its splendid sets and costumes and solo sequences of the street dancer, the toreador, the gipsy girl et al. The performances were brilliant: one can only hope they will grace the opera's Main Hall more regularly.
