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''The Shagreen Bone'' ((フランス語:L'Os de chagrin), (ロシア語:Шагреневая кость)) Op. 37-38 (1990) is a full-length ballet in three acts and an opera ''entr’acte'' in one act by Yuri Khanon, to a libretto by the composer based on Balzac’s 1831 novel ''The Shagreen Skin''. == Background == The ballet (Op.37) and the ''entr’acte'' (Op.38) were written in 1990 on commission from the Mikhaylovsky Theatre in Leningrad. The libretto is based entirely on the dialogues between the two characters – Pauline and Raphael. In 1992, an avant-garde film-opera ''The Shagreen Bone'' was shot at the Saint Petersburg Documentary Film Studio, with Yuri Khanon in the main role. The soundtrack contained the ''entr’acte'' and some of his other works: ''The Song about Death No.1'' and ''Mechanics of Thought Movement'' (from the cycle ''Public Songs'', Op. 34). The film choreographer and scenographer was Andrey Bosov, the leader of the youth group of the Kirov Ballet. ''The Shagreen Bone'' is written in the genre of "tendentious classical ballet" or "ballet with comments." Paradoxically, it was Ludwig Minkus's ''Don Quixote'' and Eric Satie's ''Parade'' which served as reference for the composer.〔p.48-49 in:Larisa Yusipova. "Primary position" (interview). The magazine ''Soviet Ballet'' No. 1 – 1991 ISSN 0207-4788〕 When working on the ballet libretto Khanon noticed how "hastily and carelessly this novel was written." Throughout the text one feels how Balzac was in a hurry to finish on time. Under the pressure of his creditors, he worked himself to the point of exhaustion.〔p.48-49 in: The magazine ''Soviet Ballet'' No. 1 – 1991 ISSN 0207-4788〕 As composer and librettist in one, Khanon created a complete spectacle, a compressed version, a sort of extract of the formal ballet language. His aim was to stage not only a ballet but a "ballet about ballet." ''The Shagreen Bone'' was defined by the author as a rearguard ballet. This is a reference to the past, while keeping the odor of the present.〔p.3 in:Yuri Khanon: "Rearguard ballet" (interview). Newspaper ''The Dance'' January, 1991 (No. 1-2)〕 A question that often arises is how has it happened that the "Wild Ass's Skin" turned into a "Bone"? One can answer like this, for example: how many years have passed "since then"? Anything that does not decompose ossifies and then petrifies. In the novel Vanière, the gardener of monsieur Raphael de Valanten, examines with surprise a shagreen he found in a well and says: "dry as wood and not greasy at all." Thus, the work illustrates the idea of ossification of any culture, including classical ballet.〔p.12-13 in:Irina Lubarskaya: ''Vector live''. The magazine ''Theater Life'' No. 12-1990〕 ''The Shagreen Bone'' is somehow the "reset" (rejection) of the culture of ballet. Subjected to the laws of ballet and summarizing the results of its development, the work demonstrates the absurdity of ballet and its stagnant forms. The composer seems to rise from the orchestra pit and throw bones in the face of the audience, that is to say, ballet clichés: grand pas, fouettés, variations, adagios. Yet the result is a beautiful romantic ballet, showed twice: firstly the ballet as such, with its meaningless joy and conventional character, and secondly with the author's attitude. This was one of the reasons, among others, for changing the title and replacing the "skin" with a "bone."〔p.118-119 in:Irina Morozova: ''Composer one of the three''. The magazine ''Stolitca'' No. 11-12 – 1991 ISSN 0868-698 х〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Shagreen Bone」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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