Khachaturian Spartacus
Khachaturian Spartacus Program Notes
Aram Khachaturian (1903-78) is Armenia’s most famous composer. The second-most is probably Arno Babajanian… it’s fairly safe to guess that most people with names ending “-ian” have Armenian ancestry (this includes the celebrity family the Kardashians!). Khachaturian was celebrated through most of his career in the USSR, as a composer who successfully incorporated folk elements of Armenian music into a symphonic style leaning on Rimsky-Korsakov more than his contemporaries Shostakovich or Prokofiev. Spartacus is Khachaturian’s third ballet, premiered by the Kirov (Leningrad) in 1956. Based on a historical story, it’s a well-chosen plot line for a Soviet climate: the slave/proletariat leader (though former king) Spartacus leads a rebellion against immoral and conquering Westerners, the Romans. Finding some success, he rescues his wife Phrygia (their love scene is the first movement, Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia). The suite continues with one of those ballet scenes lending spectacle if not plot development: Entrance of the Merchants – Dance of a Roman Courtesan – General Dance. Sadly, Spartacus’s rebellion fails – his allies quarrel, and Spartacus is betrayed by the mercenary pirates on whom they depended.Spartacus is a full-length ballet composed by Aram Khachaturian between 1950 and 1954, depicting the story of the Roman slave revolt led by Spartacus. It is one of the most spectacular ballets of the Soviet era, famous for its vivid orchestral colors and powerful dramatic scenes.
The ballet was premiered in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) on December 27, 1956, and achieved its greatest fame in the landmark 1968 Bolshoi Ballet production choreographed by Yuri Grigorovich.
The full ballet lasts approximately 2 hours. Concert suites drawn from the score typically last 20 to 30 minutes.
The Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia — the love theme from the ballet — is one of the most sweepingly romantic melodies in the repertoire and is immediately recognizable as the theme from the BBC television series The Onedin Line. Listen also for the fierce, driving rhythms of the battle scenes.
Spartacus won Khachaturian the Lenin Prize in 1959, one of the highest honors in the Soviet Union. Despite composing under the constraints of Soviet cultural policy, Khachaturian infused the score with the fiery Armenian folk influences that give his music its distinctive character.
