Drigo Riccardo Drigo

Riccardo Eugenio Drigo (Russian: Риккардо Эудженьо Дриго) (30 June 1846 – 1 October 1930) was an Italian composer of ballet music and Italian opera, a theatrical conductor, and a pianist.

Drigo is most noted for his long career as kapellmeister and Director of Music of the Imperial Ballet of Saint Petersburg, Russia, for which he composed music for the original works and revivals of the choreographers Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov. Drigo also served as Chef d'orchestre for Italian opera performances of the orchestra of the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre. During his career in Saint Petersburg, Drigo conducted the premieres and regular performances of nearly every ballet and Italian opera performed on the Tsarist stage.

Drigo is equally noted for his original full-length compositions for the ballet as well as his large catalog of supplemental music written ad hoc for insertion into already-existing works. Drigo is also noted for his adaptations of already-existing scores, such as his 1895 edition of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's score for Swan Lake. Many pieces set to the music of Drigo are still performed today, and are considered cornerstones of the classical ballet repertory.

Works

Operas

• Don Pedro di Portogallo. 25 July 1868, Teatro nuovo di Padova, Padua.
• La Moglie Rapita. 6 March [O.S. 22 February] 1884, Imperial Mariinsky Theatre.
• Flaffy Raffles. ? 1926, Teatro Verdi, Padua.
• Il Garafano Bianco. ? 1929. Garibaldi Theatre, Padua.

Ballets

• La Forêt enchantée. Ballet fantastique in one act. Choreography by Lev Ivanov. 5 April [O.S. 24 March] 1887, Imperial Ballet School. 15 May [O.S. 3 May] 1887, Imperial Mariinsky Theatre.
• Le Talisman. Grand ballet in four acts and seven tableaux with prologue and apotheosis. Choreography by Marius Petipa. 6 February [O.S. 25 January] 1889, Imperial Mariinsky Theatre.
• La Flûte magique. Ballet comique in one act. Choreography by Lev Ivanov. 4 February [O.S. 23 January] 1893, Imperial Ballet School. 23 April [O.S. 11 April] 1893, Imperial Mariinsky Theatre.
• Le Réveil de Flore. Ballet anacréontique in one act. Choreography by Marius Petipa. 8 August [O.S. 28 July] 1894, Imperial Theatre of Peterhof. 6 August [O.S. 25 July] 1894. 14 January [O.S. 2 January] 1895, Imperial Mariinsky Theatre.
• Les Dryades prétendues. Ballet in one act, two tableaux. Choreography by Pavel Gerdt. 11 April [O.S. 23 April] 1899, Imperial Theatre of the Russian Museum of His Majesty Emperor Alexander III. Music based on airs from Cesare Pugni's score for the ballet Éoline, ou La Dryade.
• La Perle. Ballet divertissement in one act with apotheosis. Choreography by Marius Petipa. 29 May [O.S. 17 May] 1896, Imperial Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow. 15 February [O.S. 3 February] 1898, Imperial Mariinsky Theatre.
• Les millions d'Arlequin (a.k.a. Harlequinade). Harlequinade in two acts. Choreography by Marius Petipa. 23 February [O.S. 10 February] 1900, Imperial Theatre of the Hermitage. 26 February [O.S. 13 February] 1900, Imperial Mariinsky Theatre.
• La Côte d’Azur. Ballet comique in two acts. Choreography by Alexander Shiryaev. 30 March 1902, Salle Garnier, Monte-Carlo.
• La Romance d'un Bouton de rose et d'un Papillon. Ballet fantastique in one act, three tableaux. Choreography by Marius Petipa. 5 February [O.S. 23 January] 1904, Imperial Theatre of the Hermitage (never premiered).
• Le Porte-bonheur (new version of Le Talisman). Choreography by Luigi Tornelli. 18 July 1908, La Scala, Milan.
• Le Conte du Bouton de rose (revival of La Romance d'un Bouton de rose et d'un Papillon). Choreography by Fyodor Lopukhov. 16 April 1919, Mariinsky Theatre.

Revisions to existing scores

• La Esmeralda, 1886. Original score by Cesare Pugni, 1844.
• Catarina, ou La Fille du bandit, 1888. Original score by Cesare Pugni, 1846.
• La Sylphide, 1892. Original score by Jean-Madeleine Schneitzhoeffer, 1832.
• Le Roi Candaule, 1891. Original score by Cesare Pugni, 1868.
• Swan Lake, 1895. Original score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, 1877.
• Les Caprices du Papillon, 1895. Original score by Nikoli Krotkov, 1889.
• Les Élèves de Dupré, 1897 (one act version of Marius Petipa's L'Ordre du Roi). Original score by Albert Vizentini, 1886.