This addendum was started several days ago. Then I stopped writing it thinking that most people would not be interested in reading it. Many bloggers prefer to talk about family, food, gardening, travel or other more palatable subjects than gun violence. I believe that if you are part of society, enjoying its pleasures and benefits is fine but remaining silent during its trials is almost being complicit. So I decided to finish writing it - if only one person in Tennessee changes their mind about voting for an extreme right-wing politician, then it is worth it.
Here is a continuation of my post of Thursday, April 6, 2023, Nashville grieving,explaining the shooting in Nashville at the Covenant School, a local elementary school. As I mentioned in that post I was trying to provide clear explanations to my family and readers from overseas in reply to their requests. Seen from overseas the US gun laws make no sense. They cannot understand why this country is unable to control gun violence. Please read my last post first then come back here to read the rest of the story... On Thursday March 30, 2023, three days after the shooting, a crowd entered the halls of the Tennessee Capitol where the lawmakers were gathered for a floor session. The Tennessee State Capitol was built on a hill in Nashville with the help of convicts and enslaved people and finished in 1859. See vintage postcards below. The picture on the right was the TN State Library until 1953 when it was moved.
The crowd of children, teenagers and parents came to demand action on gun safety and kept chanting "Shame on you" and "Children are dead and you don't care." Several lawmakers placed headphones on their ears so they would not hear, then microphones were turned off in the public areas to block out the chants and a 5-minute recess was called. During the recess, TN State Democratic Representatives Justin Jones of Nashville, joined Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, and Justin Pearson of Memphis, to the podium with a megaphone, to be heard and to conduct the "Gun control now!" chant with the people in the balcony where kids and adusts (even adults with babies) were chanting.
The rest of the lawmakers exited the chamber for about 1/2 hour and when they returned the Speaker of the House, Republican Cameron Sexton, said that this was "not acceptable behavior" and action would be taken in the next few days against the three Democrat representatives. On Monday April 3, 2023, the TN Republican lawmakers filed a resolution to expel those three, now nicknamed the Tennessee Three (TN 3.) They had already been removed from their committees and had their State Capitol identity badges deactivated. Speaker Sexton said they had broken "several rules of decorum and procedure on the House Floor." Below photo of floor of the TN State Legislature, courtesy ABC.
Speaker Sexton accused Rep. Justin Pearson of having given a "temper tantrum" like a spoiled kid wanting attention. Later he added: "What they did today was at least equivalent, maybe worse, depending on how you look at it, of doing an insurrection in the Capitol." Really? Worse than the insurrection on the Washington Capitol on January 6, when a horde armed with weapons stormed the Capitol looking to kill the US Speaker of the House, to hang the Vice-President, killing and injuring Capitol Police, and urinating and thrashing the building? Really? The Tennessee Three's violation of the rules of decorum was worse that this insurrection? Please... Dictionary definition of decorum "Decorums - the conventions or requirements of polite behavior." On Thursday April 6, 2023, the TN 3 were given twenty minutes each to speak and to answer questions. Then the Tennessee House voted to expel the two Justins (both 28 years old) but spared Gloria Johnson (aged 60) by one vote only. Photo below, courtesy WBIR.
By Thursday April 6th the US media as well as the international press were aware of the expulsion proceedings and were watching. I watched it also on television. The TN 3 gave amazing speeches with courage and eloquence. But to no avail. No surprise here with the Republicans having a supermajority in the TN House of Representatives. The political makeup of the 113th General Assembly is 75 Republicans, 23 Democrats and 1 vacancy. Tennessee is one of the reddest states in the union with only two blue counties: Memphis in Shelby County and Nashville in Davidson County. See map below of TN counties showing the 2022 gubernatorial election results, courtesy Wikimedia. I just read that Tennessee is the least democratic of the 50 United States.
It was noted how the Justin Jones and Justin Pearson (by then named the two Justins) were questioned in a demeaning and condescending way compared to Ms. Gloria Johnson. It sounded like "you should know your place and not have an uppitity behavior." When the expulsion was announced the crowd was screaming "shame!" Some wondered if it had not been "payback" for Justin Jones of Nashville who was leading a movement in 2019 to remove a bust of Confederate cavalry General Nathan Bedford Forrest, first Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard and trader of enslaved people. Finally in 2021 the bust was removed from its prominent place in the State Capitol. (Photo courtesy Tennessee Lookout.)
In the state of Tennessee expulsion or banishment from the Chamber has been used just several times since the Civil War. In 1866, six lawmakers were ousted for trying to prevent citizenship to formerly enslaved people as required by the 14th Amendment; in 1980 a member was convicted of taking a bribe to kill a bill; in 2016 a member was voted out after 22 women accused him of sexual misconduct and in 2022 a member was expelled after being convicted of using Federal Grant money on wedding expenses. These took a long time to investigate and were punishment for serious misconduct, not just for "violating rules of decorum." Speaking out of turn should be punished by censure, maybe, or a reprimand, but not expulsion of duly elected lawmakers who were voicing the requests of their constituents for reasonable legislation to reduce the killing of innocent children in schools. I read reports that the US public following the proceedings on television was outraged.
On Friday April 8, 2023, Vice-President Kamala Harris made an unscheduled and surprise trip to Nashville to meet with the Tennessee Three. She came to Fisk University, a historically Black college in Nashville, TN (3 miles from my house.) Civil Rights icon, John Lewis (1940-2020) was a graduate student with a degree in religion and philosophy from Fisk University. (You may remember that in September 2013, after meeting John Lewis in Decatur, GA., at a book signing I wrote a post "John Lewis and Richard Blanco at the Decatur Book Festival.") John Lewis was a Democratic US Representative for Atlanta, GA, for many years. He had organized the "March on Washington" with Martin Luther King, Jr. in August 1963. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, TN, on April 4, 1968.
After Lewis died in 2020 officials of the Minority Caucus of Metropolitan Nashville started proceedings to permanently changed Fifth Avenue in Nashville to "Rep. John Lewis Way." This gained public support and in July 2021 it was made official. However, in January 2023, a TN Republican representative sponsored a bill to rename this street into "President Donald Trump Boulevard" after this representative had also suggested lynching and hanging by tree as an alternative for execution of inmates on death row.
Vice-President Kamala Harris met with the three expelled democrats and delivered an impassioned speech (I watched it on television; even my cat seemed interested.) Later than evening President Jo Biden held a conferance call with the TN 3 and thanked them for "their leadership in seeking to ban assault weapons and standing up for our democratic values." He invited them to the White House at a later date. (Photo credit @POTUS.)
Those junior Tennessee lawmakers were only known in the three city districts they represented and would have stayed unknown to the rest of the state (and the country.) But now they have been introduced on the national stage. Their expulsion backfired and made them known nationally, and internationally. Parts of Rep. Justin Pearson's speech before his expulsion are shown on YouTube (I show one below.) One extract shown on Twitter has been viewed, so far, by 9.5 milllion people. Both Justins have been interviewed on national television.
On Monday, April 10, 2023, the Nashville Metro Council unanimously voted to reinstate Rep. Justin Jones as a representative (Memphis advised they would do so for Rep. Pearson on Wednesday April 12.) I watched on local news as Jones walked back into the House of Representative that evening. Will there be changes in Tennessee gun laws? Maybe, but the state is overwhelmingly Republican apart from a couple of large cities. Tennessee used to be politically moderate compared to other Southern states. In 2000 this started to change with the advent of extreme right propaganda TV networks and radio statons. The poor rural counties in Tennessee listen mostly to Fox News, launched in 1990. It was started by right-wing Republicans to intentionally air misrepresentation in order to exploit those who have been identified as easily manipulated. They pander to their implicit bias as well as sociopolitical and economic fears. In those counties health and education are below average. Many people working one or two jobs at minimum wage believe all the conspiracies and disinformation thrown at them and vote Republican. Photos below of Jones returning to the House Chamber, and meeting Joan Baez at the Nashville airport when coincidentally booked on same flight.
As I wrote in my first paragraph last Saturday April 8th, I had decided to stop writing this post and to return to Atlanta the next day. Over the weekend I thought better of it, so I stayed. Before I could finish writing it yesterday, Monday 10 April, there was another mass shooting. This time in Louisville, Kentucky, a city about 2 1/2 hour drive north from my home in Nashville (Atlanta is about 5 hour drive south.) A 25-year old portfolio banker killed 5 of his colleagues and wounded 8 others at Old National Bank, a regional bank in downtown Louisville. He used an AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle, an assault weapon that was just used in the Nashville shooting. As Vice-President Harris said in her speech at Fisk Universithy last Friday, "Assault weapons ...are weapons of war,"..."These are weapons that are designed to kill a lot of people quickly. They have no place on the streets of a civil society." Kentucky is a southern state like Tennessee with a Republican majority unwilling to place any restriction on these weapons. The Louisville mass shooting is the 146th since the beginning of 2023 and the 15th since April 1st. This violence is uniquely found in the United States. You can be shot anywhere here, at school, a grocery store, a dance hall, in a farm, movie theater, beauty parlor, etc. and now a bank. (Photo of another flower memorial, courtesy KLKY.)
All this is quite sad and generates a pessimistic attitude. There is hope though, as Generation Z (10 to 24 years old) does not get their news just from national or local outlets but via digital sources. They can find the facts and verify them on the Internet and avoid biased networks. Most of them say they never or rarely trust outlets such as Fox News and conservative Sinclair Broacasting Group that owns a majority of local news stations and build "local reports" that are untrue and air them to folks that don't realize they're being subjected to Sinclair's right-wing agenda. Generation Z is more motivated and not afraid to demonstrate, as seen in Nashville in the last few days. I'll end this with a quotation from a French revolutionary stateman, Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794) followed by a peaceful photo of spring in Jimmy Carter Presidential Library gardens in Atlanta, GA.
This is not the post I was planning to write but a senseless tragedy took place in my neighborhood on Monday March 27, 2023, and the Nashville community is grieving. In addition, family and friends from overseas who translate and read my posts (even if they do not comment) asked me to tell them what happened and explain the gun violence issues in the United States. I'll try to do this. Last Thursday, March 30, 2023, I walked to the Nashville Cheekwood Botanical Gardens and took photos of the blooming tulips and spring flowers. Viewing scenes of nature does help cope with sorrow. I'll include some below.
After attending the Don Quixote ballet in Atlanta I returned to Nashville soon after. I then wrote the post Don Quixote at the Atlanta Ballet on March 25, 2023. I was supposed to spend March 26, my birthday, with my younger daughter and family but my daughter and 9 years old granddaughter had caught a bad cold and we decided to celebrate at a later date. Instead I had lunch at an Uzbek restaurant with my neighbor who came from Kashmir not long ago to study at Vanderbilt U for his Ph.D.
On Monday March 27, 2023, at about 10:15 am I heard numerous police cars, ambulances and fire truck sirens as well as helicopters above. I thought there had been a bad traffic accident nearby. Before going grocery shopping at the Whole Foods in Green Hills, which is about 2 miles from my home, I quickly checked online to see if the traffic had cleared up. That is when I found out about the shootings at the Covenant School, a private Christian school, which is less than a mile from that grocery store. I stayed home and watched the news the rest of the day.
A 28-year old woman carrying two assault type weapons as well as a handgun had shot out a glass door to enter the Covenant School. The school was locked down and the hallways deserted. The Nashville Police received the 911 active shooter call at 10:13 am, arrived about 8 minutes later at the scene. The shooter was on the second floor, was engaged by 2 policemen and taken down. She had killed three 9-years old children and three adults. The killer had fired 152 rounds of ammunition during the attack. She had legally purchased seven firearms from five local stores said the Chief of Police, and used three of those during the assault (an AR-15, a Kel-Tec SUB 2000, and a handgun.) She was a former student of the Covenant School. No motive as yet has been found for the shooting.
The local TV news coverage was continuous for the next couple of days. I kept watching. I think the whole city was numb with emotion and grief. Members of the community started to lay flowers, stuffed animals and balloons at the gate of the school as a makeshift memorial. First Lady Jill Biden visited the memorial on Wednesday 29 March and laid some flowers. Later that day she attended the citywide vigil at the Nashville Public Square Park. She was joined by hundreds of people clutching white candles in front of the Metro Nashville Courthouse. Several people addressed the crowd including Mayor Jim Cooper who said "The Leading cause of kids' death now is guns and gunfire and that is unacceptable." Being "Music City" several Nashville performers came and sang including Sheryl Crow, Margo Price and Old Crow Medicine Show singer Ketch Secor. Ketch, accompanied by his young son on the harmonica, sang with the crowd "Will the Circle be Unbroken." Then a small group of people dressed in black gathered for a "mourner's walk."
Thursday morning, March 30, 2023, was a bright and sunny day. I drove to Whole Foods as I was out of groceries since I had left Georgia and also to buy some flowers. I then drove the approx. 1/2 mile to the Covenant School and placed my red flowers by the gate on the memorial. The school colors are red and black. A few people were assembled there, some from out of state (I talked with a lady from Michigan,) some had brought comfort dogs. (Click to enlarge.) Then on my way later to Cheekwood Botanical Gardens I saw many red and black ribbons of support on people's mail boxes in honor of the victims (as shown in my header photo.)
Now I'll try to explain the US gun violence to my family and friends from abroad. It is not easy, and since I was born and brought up in Paris, France, until adulthood, the French culture is more natural to me even though I have been living here for decades, but I have studied US history. It seems to me that violence has been defining American culture; it's almost an obsession. It started with the violent appropriation of Native lands by white settlers, then guns and violence were used to control and terrorize enslaved people. As soon as a politician displeases someone, he/she receives death threats. (In addition, military conflicts make 93% of US history.) The gun is the ultimate expression of "rugged individualism." Kids' cartoons and video games show aggression as well as professional football and hockey. Generations have been watching violent cop shows and westerns on television screens and in theatres. The Hollywood formula to attract audiences to their films is to show them with intense violence with plenty of guns, body destruction and brutal deaths. Movies have perpetuated the myth of the old west and conquest with the brutal outlaw, the good cowboy on horseback, the brave sheriff, the savage Indian, the vicious villain who gets to be gunned down at the end.
The US has 57 times as many shootings as the other six G7 countries combined. There are about 120.5 firearms per 100 persons in the US; it is the highest rate of civilian gun ownership in the world. As quoted by Zippia, in 2022 16.4 million firearms were sold across the US which contributed $51.3 billion to the economy (45% of American households own at least one firearm.) Conservatives say that mental health is the culprit, but there are mental health problems in other countries and they do not have the rate of gun deaths as in this country. Below are the statistics as of April 1, 2023, since the beginning of the year, courtesy the Gun and Violence Archives.
For my family and friends who might not know - the USA has two major political parties, and a minor one, the Independent: the Democrats are considered liberal, but in Europe would be central right and the Republicans, considered conservatives, but along the years have turned sharply to the right and are now more like Orban's Hungarian authoritarian party. Many moderate Republicans of yore are now switching to the Independent party. States with a Democratic majority are called Blue and those with a majority Republican are called Red. Most Southern States are Red including Tennessee. There are Democrats in Tennessee (40%) but the ultra right Republican majority has gerrymandered (divided) voting districts so as to give an unfair election advantage to their party. For example, last year the TN Republican supermajority redrew Nashville's voting district ("blue" for nearly 150 years) into three districts extending into conservative rural areas so that Democrats, even if they all vote, would not be successful. Current Democrat mayor John Cooper has decided not to seek re-election as he knows he will be unable to compete and have a fair chance. (In addition there is a low voter turnout in TN which is ranked 49th out of the 50 states.) This is the way gun laws are passed by the Republican conservatives who favor gun ownership. Map below showing 2020 US election results, courtesy Shutterstock.
Blue states are trying to pass laws aimed at curbing mass shootings. Weapon manufacturers with headquarters in those state are moving to gun friendly Red states. TN Governor Lee has overseen the loosening of gun laws (with resulting increase in gun deaths) in Tennessee and offered tax incentives to gun manufacturers to move to our state. In 2021 Governor Lee signed a new law that enables residents 21 years and over to carry handguns permit-free without going through training or a background check. He proudly signed this law at the Baretta factory (as shown below) newly moved from the state of Maryland (blue) to Gallatin, TN (although there was much opposition from Tennesseans.) Beretta makes massive long arms and received several million dollars in tax incentives to move to Tennessee. Another handgun accessory, parts manufacturer and distributor, GSGlockstore (the world's #1 source for Glock parts and accessories,) moved from California (blue) to Nashville, TN. Mark Smith, President and CEO of gun manufacturer Smith and Wesson said "We would like to specially thank Governor Lee for his decisive contributions and the entire state legislature for their unwavering support of the 2nd Amendment" as they decided to move in 2023 to Maryville, a town close to Knoxville, TN, from Massachusetts (a blue state) their headquarters since incorporation in 1852, as well as moving their facility in Connecticut (blue state) to Maryville. Tennessee gave Smith and Wesson a 9 million development land grant, a $1 per year lease and 60% tax break for 7 years. (Photos courtesy News Channel 5.)
The National Rifle Association (NRA) was founded in 1871 as a recreational group. In 1977 it formed its Political Action Committee (PAC) to channel funds to influence government policy against gun-control laws. It supports legislation to expand "open-carry" laws and opposes any restriction to gun ownership. Their lobbying group provides millions to Republican legislators. That is why, red states like Tennessee, refuse to pass any sensible gun laws. When TN Gov. Lee was asked about the Nashville school shooting his answer was to pray. Later he announced proposed actions to provide safety to schools including "$140 million to establish a School Resource Officer (SRO) grant fund to place a trained, armed security guard at every public school." (In fact turning schools into fortresses) but without mentioning any new gun safety legislation. The state will have to buy more guns to arm a guard in every public school in the state, thus profiting the gun manufacturers. Tennessee receives too much funding from the NRA and gun manufacturer lobbyists as it is. I hope this explain a little bit why it is so difficult to pass gun control legislation in Tennessee and also in the United States. Changes are not forthcoming unfortunately.
"Many of us who participate in outdoor sports are dismayed by some of the more extreme policies of the NRA and by the timidity of public officials who yield to their unreasonable demands. Heavily influenced and supported by the firearms industry, its primary client, the NRA has been able to mislead many gullible people into believing that all weapons are going to be taken away from us, and that homeowners will be deprived of the right to protect ourselves and our families. There are no real threats to our "right to bear arms," as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution." Jimmy Carter in 2022, US President, born October 1, 1924.
An Ipsos 2022 poll shows that 70% of Americans think enacting new gun control laws should take precedence over protecting ownership rights. I have always wondered why Americans don't protest more. There are pockets of protests such as for gay rights or after another police shooting, but the main population does not protest much. They support the First Amendment's "the right of assembly, and the right to petition Government for a redress of grievances." In reality, they hardly use this right, at least nowadays. In Israel last month about 450,000 were in the streets (the same percentage by population number would place about 15 million people in the US streets.) When Germany announced job cuts worldwide, 15,000 German workers demonstrated at the GM headquarters in Germany. In the US, a few workers at the GM plant did some small "sit-in" but that's about it. I won't even mention France's many demonstrations over the years. Is it because American workers are afraid? Or apathetic? Or not interested in the common good? Or just thinking of no.1 only? I don't know. But I have hope that the newer generation, Generation Z as it is called, is more involved in their future and care about social issues and injustice. (Photos courtesy Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle and Wall Street Journal.)
I'm optimistic because more than 7,000 high school kids from Nashville area schools as well as students from Vanderbilt and Belmont Universities walked out of their classes last Monday, April 3, 2023. They printed and distributed a flyer asking kids to join their march to the Nashville Capitol.
At 10:13 am, the same time when Metro Police received the active shooter call the week before, they sat for a moment of silence. Then they kept carrying signs and chanting demanding lawmakers pass gun safety legislation. Then hundreds of them, including parents with their young children, moved into the building on Monday evening before floor sessions.
"...the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die." Senator Edward "Ted" M. Kennedy (1932-2009.)
In June or July 2022 I watched an interview with the dancer and choreographer Mikhail Baryshnikov on the TV show CBS Sunday Morning. The music from the short clip of him dancing sounded very familiar; I did not know from which ballet this was. For the next several weeks I tried to find out on the Internet where this short dance came from. Finally I found out that it was called the Basilio Variation from the Ballet Don Quixote. I really wished to see this ballet that I had never seen. I had attended ballet performances in Paris at the Opera Garnier, at the San Francisco Opera House, Odessa National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre in Ukraine, and during my first stay in St. Petersburg, Russia, at the Mariinsky Ballet and Opera House, but never seen this ballet. It had been at least 5 years since I attended, with my late husband, the Moulin Rouge ballet in Atlanta, Georgia.
Then I researched for a while to find where this ballet might be performed within the next few months. I checked all the large cities ballets, such as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Chicago and more. Then I checked Paris, London, Amsterdam, Zurich, Vienna and Venice - It had been performed there in previous years but not in the near future. I almost gave up and then checked Atlanta. Surprise! It was on the Atlanta Ballet season for 2023, in March. I could not believe that it was so close to home. I waited for tickets to be available and quickly bought one last November. Then my younger daughter told me they were all going to San Salvador for spring break and would fly back into Atlanta just a couple of days before the performance, so I was lucky to find two tickets next to me for my daughter and granddaughter for the Saturday March 18, 2023 matinee performance at the Atlanta Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, where ballets take place.
Now I had time to do my favorite thing - research the story, history of the ballet, the music, the artistic directors and choreographers, where and when it had been performed for the first time and more. I found some interesting facts. First of all, the Spanish epic novel Don Quixote was written by Miguel de Cervantes in two parts, in 1605 and 1615. It is considered the first modern novel and one of the greatest. It has been translated into 50+ languages and is the best-selling novel of all times (at least 500 million copies so far.) It has had a great influence on Western books, plays, movies and works of art since then. It offers universal truths, commentaries on social life and provides escapism. Below is Miguel de Cervantes (29 September 1547 - 22 April 1616.)
and some book covers of his novels in several languages; the bottom right one one is an e-book. (Click on collage to enlarge.)
Italy in the 17th and 18th centuries was the European country where one should travel to visit Roman ruins, or view statues, paintings and so forth. But starting in the 19th century, around 1820, travelers switched their interest to Spain. Writers like Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas and others thought that Spain offered more inspiration and adventures. French and Russian writers, painters, musicians, and choreographers were inspired by Spain. Europe as a whole shared a fascination for Spain.
Alexander III (1845-1894) Emperor of Russia, was a patron of the ballet, and requested a Spanish-themed ballet be shown in Russia. The imperial theatre commissioned Marius Petipa to mount and choreograph a work in the Spanish style. Below photo of Petipa.
I found the life of Marius Petipa fascinating. Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa was born in 1818 in Marseille, France. His father Jean Antoine Petipa was working as principal dancer and Maitre de Ballet in Marseille. Petipa's mother, Victorine Grasseau, was a drama actress playing tragic roles. His brother Lucien became a distinguished dancer and his sister, Victorine, a noted singer. They were a close-knit family. His father began teaching ballet to Marius when he was seven, and at the age of nine he made his stage debut in one of his father's ballets at the Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels, Belgium. Marius was appointed to the Ballet of Nantes, France, as principal dancer then in Bordeaux. Below is the Petipa family, with Marius on the left, then his brother Lucien, his sister Victorine and mother Victorine.
In 1843 Marius started a 3-year working tour in Spain where he became master in Sevillian dances and castanets. He then began to choreograph his own ballets. He had already spent time in Paris where his brother Lucien was principal dancer at the Paris Opera. Lucien worked also in Russia and provided Marius with an invitation to travel to St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1847 to become principal dancer at the Imperial Ballet. A year later, in 1848, his father joined him there to be a teacher at the Imperial Ballet School (call the Vaganova Ballet Academy of Russian Ballet since 1957, and shown below.)
Marius Petipa signed a one-year contract in St. Petersburg but was to live there the rest of his life. Following his father's path as a ballet dancer he then had a career in choreography where he created more than 60 ballets, reworked 20 old pieces and re-arranged the dancing in over 35 operas. He also prepared galas and divertissements for court performances, royal nuptials, etc. The St. Petersburg's public adored the ballet and expected brilliant performances; news media reported every detail. Petipa had to keep the highest standards of excellence and perfection, and he did. Tsar Nicholas I attended Petipa's debut performance in October 1847 and a week later presented him with an Imperial gift of a ruby and diamond ring, the first Royal gift in Petipa's long career. The Russian Emperor's treasury (who at the time was the world's wealthiest person) - lavished millions of rubles a year on the Imperial Ballet and Opera, and demanded opulent ballets with perfect technique. Petipa became the Imperial Chief Ballet Master and principal choreographer until 1903 - at 85 years of age.
When Petipa in early 1869 was asked by an Imperial Special Commission to mount a Spanish-themed work he suggested that Ludwig Minkus write the music for the ballet he was considering, a tale from Cervantes' Don Quixote. I read on Minkus - he was also an interesting man. Ludwig Minkus was born on March 23, 1826, in Vienna (at the time the capital of the Austrian Empire.) Minkus' father was a wholesale wine merchant and owned in a district of Vienna a restaurant with its own orchestra. Ludwig started playing the violin at age four and made his public debut at a recital at the age of 8. Later he had an orchestra that competed with another Viennese conductor, the young Johann Strauss, II. In 1853 Ludwig immigrated to St. Petersburg to be the conductor of the orchestra for Prince Nikolai Yusupov. He went on to serve as conductor and principal violinist in the orchestra of the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre, and was then promoted to the prestigious position of Inspector of the Imperial Theatre Orchestras in Moscow. Below photo of Ludwig Minkus (1826-1917) taken between 1865-1870.
Minkus was an excellent choice to compose the music for the Don Quixote ballet. He was a connoisseur of ballet craft. His music bubbling like Champagne invited artists to dance. Petipa and Ludwig worked well together to create cheerful music and dances in the Spanish and Gypsy styles. Ludwig Fyodorovich Minkus (also known as Leon Minkus) became known as one of the greatest ballet composers who co-created with Petipa some of the most famous of classical ballets including La Source (1866, composed jointly with Leo Delibes,) Don Quixote (1869) and La Bayadere (1877.) Today, Minkus' ballet music is still quite popular and performed in the traditional classical ballet repertory. Cervantes' novel had been adapted into a ballet several times: in Austria in 1740, in Vienna in 1780, in 1809 in St. Petersburg, in 1839 in Berlin and in 1843 in Turin, Italy. For this new production Minkus reworked and expanded the score and supplied music filled with a great variety of Spanish-styled flair. The premiere of Don Quixote on 26th December 1869 for the ballet of the Imperial Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow was a resounding success. Below painting of the Imperial Bolshoi Theatre in 1939 by Alexandr Benois, Russian (1870-1960) followed by the current Bolshoi Theatre and interiors.
The Don Quixote Ballet was so successful that Petipa and Minkus wrote a revival libretto in 1871 which was shown at the St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre and became a classic. It still enchants the public today and is presented in various productions by different companies all over the world. Petipa went on to create spectacular ballets such as Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, the Nut Cracker, and many others. Petipa married and had 3 children. At the age of 76 he received Russian citizenship while permitted to keep his French citizenship. A year later he worked with Peter Tchaikovsky to stage the ballet Swan Lake. He is a legend, a lord of the dance, and came to be known as "the father of Russian ballet." His work is in the repertoire of most current companies. He retired in 1903 and spent his final years in Crimea where he died on 14 July 1910 at the age of 92. He is buried in the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in St. Petersburg. Below photos of the Mariinsky Theatre circa 1859, Petipa's grave, the Don Quixote's Dream Scene at the Mariinsky and the playbill.
Don Quixote has been staged in many versions, with different music scores and choreography. In 1900 Alexander Gorsky staged a revival of the ballet with music from French composer Antoine Simon. A modern version in 1965 was created by American choreographer George Balanchine to the music of Nicolas Nabokov. In 1966 Rudolf Nureyev danced and choreographed the ballet for Vienna. In 1980 Mikhail Baryshnikov mounted his version of the ballet as well. I always loved watching Mikhail dancing (born in Latvia in 1948.) He truly is one of the greatest dancers of his generation with flawless technique and incredible high jumps. He seems to float across the stage. Misha is a superlative dancer combining balance, control and artistry. He is semi-retired for now as he opened in 2005 the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York City, where he is active. Below are photos of Mikhail Baryshnikov in his younger years, dancing the Don Quixote ballet and receiving the prestigious Royal Academy of Dance's Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award at Buckingham Palace on November 16, 2022, presented by Camilla, the Queen Consort (her first solo reception since she assumed her new role.) Camilla, wearing a ballerina brooch on her coat, told him "It's a great honor to be able to give you the award. Nobody deserves it more."
Below is the YouTube clip of Mikhail that indicated to me last summer that I was looking for the Don Quixote ballet.
Looking at the Atlanta playbill I was pleased to see that the choreographer Yuri Possokhov (born in Lugansk, Ukraine) and the artistic director Gennadi Nedvigin (born in Rostov, Russia) had based their Don Quixote production of March 17-19, 2023, after Petipa and Minkus.
Saturday March 18, 2023 was a cool but sunny day in Atlanta. We arrived in plenty of time to walk around the foyer and take some pictures. As you can see from the photo of my grandaughter and me walking toward the orchestra seating of the theatre that she is about as tall as me at 9 years old (I am 5ft 3.) She takes after her mother who, in the photograph, is 6 ft tall with heels.
Another lovely scene from the ballet is Kitri's Entrance in Act I. It is danced by the talented Manuela Nunez in the video below. She is an Argentine-British ballerina born in Buenos Aires on March 23, 1982 and now principal dancer at the Royal Ballet in London.
Drawn from an episode in Part II of the Cervantes' novel this was a two hour but fast moving ballet. I enjoyed the vintage and cheerful Minkus music. The lavish and colorful costumes, the many male dancers (more than in other ballets.) the flamenco dancers, the cheeky humor and the comedy were delightful. Sancho Panza, the trusted sidekick and squire of Don Quixote, brought many laughs. The horse Rocinante, a puppet manned by two Atlanta Ballet students, was entertaining as well. Don Quixote by the Atlanta Ballet had been a fast-paced production with impressive dancing and amusing comedy. I was pleased to have found this enchanting ballet in Atlanta.
Photos courtesy the Atlanta Ballet, Atlanta Constitution and Arts Atlanta as photos were not allowed in the theatre.
