The Little Humpbacked Horse is one of the first ballets based on a Russian folk tale.
This fairytale ballet was scripted and choreographed by Alexander Radunsky.
Music by Rodion Shchedrin, it was first performed in Moscow in 1959.
In 1961, “The Little Humpbacked Horse” was filmed and was subsequently released commercially in the 1980′s in the format of VHS tapes.
Currently, two companies, VAI and Kultur, release the same title in DVD format.
In terms of content, they are exactly the same.
The DVDs are also supposed to be of comparable video quality, since the same master tapes have been used in the productions.
Cast:
Queen Maiden: Maya Plisetskaya
Ivan: Vladimir Vasiliev
King: Alexander Radunsky
The Little Humpbacked Horse: Annya Scherbinina
Synopsis:
The Little Humpbacked Horse is a colorful and comical tale.
This story is about a Russian boy named Ivan who lives on a farm with his father and two older brothers.
These two older brothers believe Ivan is simple-minded and therefore never want to include Ivan in anything that they do.
Because there are crops being destroyed on the farm in the nighttime, the father asks the two older brothers to go out after dark and watch the field for him. Instead of staying awake, the brothers fall asleep and take no notice of what happens in the field.
When Ivan goes to the field to look for his brothers, he sees an enchanted white horse leaping across the field. He grabs the tail of the horse and refuses to let the enchanted creature go. The horse begs Ivan to set her free.
In return, the magical creature grants Ivan with the gift of three horses.
Two of them are beautiful steeds and the third one is a little humpbacked horse.
The enchanted horse tells Ivan that he can sell the beautiful steeds if he prefers but advises him to keep the little humpbacked horse at his side always as the humpbacked horse will remain to be his most loyal friend forever.
After the enchanted horse is gone, a firebird appears in the sky and drops a feather.
The little humpbacked horse warns Ivan not to pick up the feather as the feather could bring bad luck. Unfortunately, Ivan doesn’t listen and rushes off chasing the feather.
Meanwhile, the two brothers wake up. Upon noticing the beautiful steeds, they decide to steal and sell the creatures in a market outside the palace of the king.
Upset by the disappearance of the steeds and his brothers, Ivan set off with the little humpbacked horse on a journey to find the brothers.
When he locates the brothers, the brothers are just about selling the steeds to the King. Because nobody but Ivan can tame the steeds, the King demotes the existing chief of the royal stables and makes Ivan the new chief.
The former chief is angry about the demotion and he vows to take revenge. When he notices the firebird feather that Ivan possesses, he decides to take the feather and report to the King of Ivan’s possession.
The King is fascinated by the feather.
As the feather reminds the King of a painting of firebirds that he owns, he decides to touch the painting with the firebird feather. All of a sudden, all the creatures in the painting, including a beautiful woman (the Queen Maiden), come to life. Although the creatures are only alive for a very brief moment, the King is struck by the beauty of the Queen Maiden.
Seeing this as an opportunity to seek revenge, the former chief suggests the King to order Ivan to look for the Queen Maiden.
With the help of the little humpbacked horse, Ivan locates the Queen Maiden and manages to kidnap her back to the palace.
When the King sees the Queen Maiden, he asks her to marry him. Knowing that she cannot refuse and say no to the King, the Queen Maiden tells the King that she’ll only marry him if he can find her the one and only precious ring that has been kept at the bottom of the sea.
The King again orders Ivan to do what seems to be the impossible.
With the help of the little humpbacked horse, Ivan goes underwater and seeks assistance from the water sprites and fishes. A rockfish finds the ring at the bottom of the sea and brings it to Ivan.
Ivan returns to the palace with the precious ring.
Since the Queen Maiden is now in love with Ivan, she knows she must come up with a plan to change her fate. She tells the King that if he really wants to marry her, he’ll have to immerse himself in a bath of boiled water to restore his youth. Foreseeing the danger of the boiling temperature, the King once again orders Ivan to immerse himself in the boiled water. Because of the magic that the little humpbacked horse performs, Ivan is not only protected but also undergoes a transformation that makes him appear younger and more good-looking.
Unaware of the magic being performed by the little humpbacked horse, the King thinks Ivan’s transformation is solely due to the magic of the bath of boiled water. He ends up throwing himself into the searing water and boils himself to death.
Because the King never comes out of the boiled water, the Queen Maiden is set free.
Ivan ends up in marriage with the Queen Maiden and both the couple and the little humpbacked horse live happily ever after.
Other Information:
The length of the video is about 84 minutes.
Due to the age of the film, there are some video imperfections but the overall picture quality is acceptable.
Comments:
Because I adore the legendary Maya Plisetskaya, I purchased the DVD when it was first released.
Maya Plisetskaya was in her mid-thirties when she danced in this production. Her jumps and turns were strong and she made all the difficult ballet movements look simple and easy.
Vladmir Vasiliev was only in his early twenties when this production was filmed. He infused his Russian folk dance with so much energy that it’s a pure joy to watch him perform.
The dances in the underwater scene, in my opinion, are beautiful. The costumes are traditional yet pretty.