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67-606: San Francisco Ballet School was founded in 1933 as part of the San Francisco Operatic and Ballet School when Gaetano Merola , the founder of the San Francisco Opera , perceived a need for an institution where dancers could be trained to perform in opera productions. Under the direction of founding ballet director, Adolph Bolm , the San Francisco Operatic and Ballet School opened in 1933 and offered classes in ballet, tap , modern , and interpretive dance. The school

134-715: A Standard Hour radio broadcast at the California State Fair in Sacramento. As his health and energy declined over the next decade, Merola turned over more and more of his duties to Adler, though he remained at the helm of the company until his death in 1953 - an impressive stewardship of 30 years. He died while conducting an excerpt from Puccini's Madama Butterfly during a concert at Sigmund Stern Grove , an outdoor amphitheatre in western San Francisco where free summer concerts have been given since 1938. Upon succeeding Merola as general director, Kurt Herbert Adler established

201-597: A deficit, he pressed on and founded the San Francisco Opera Association the following year, 1923, adapting the Civic Auditorium to his purposes. He recruited some 2,000 individuals and local businesses to become Founders of his opera company. By 1927, he presented the local premieres of Tristan und Isolde and the then-new Turandot , and in the following years, he introduced Falstaff , La Fanciulla del West and Die Meistersinger . For years,

268-613: A long history of opera houses dating back to the Gold Rush . Recognizing the city's potential as a major opera center, by 1921 Merola decided to stay in the Bay Area and launched his first Bay Area opera season in 1922 with a summer season of Carmen , I Pagliacci and Faust at the Stanford University football stadium where over 30,000 attended. Though the Stanford season resulted in

335-528: A string of beautiful flowers perform a waltz. To conclude the night, the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier perform a dance. A final waltz is performed by all the sweets, after which the Sugar Plum Fairy ushers Clara and the Prince down from their throne. He bows to her, she kisses Clara goodbye, and leads them to a reindeer-drawn sleigh. It takes off as they wave goodbye to all the subjects who wave back. In

402-428: Is an 1892 two-act classical ballet (conceived as a ballet-féerie ; Russian: балет-феерия , romanized:  balet-feyeriya ) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , set on Christmas Eve at the foot of a Christmas tree in a child's imagination. The plot is an adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' 1844 short story The Nutcracker , itself a retelling of E. T. A. Hoffmann 's 1816 short story The Nutcracker and

469-460: Is her doll's name. In the adaptation by Dumas on which Petipa based his libretto, her name is Marie Silberhaus. In still other productions, such as Balanchine's, Clara is Marie Stahlbaum rather than Clara Silberhaus. Scene 1: The Stahlbaum Home In Nuremberg, Germany on Christmas Eve in the 1820s, a family and their friends gather in the parlor to decorate the Christmas tree in preparation for

536-466: Is in session from September to June, with students at Levels 1 through 3 attending classes two or three days a week and students at Level 4 and up attending five to six days a week. Advanced students must attend during the regular school day; many must make accommodations to their regular school schedules. The curriculum includes classes in contemporary dance , corps de ballet , music, conditioning/floor barre, and character dance . The program culminates in

603-579: Is included in the Romophone Muzio series), followed a few days later by a charming 27-year-old Lily Pons in Lucia di Lammermoor . With a new house, Merola's company grew rapidly in its first decade, producing its first Richard Wagner Ring Cycle in 1935 starring Kirsten Flagstad (in her first complete Ring anywhere) and Lauritz Melchior , and introducing conductors Fritz Reiner in 1936 and Erich Leinsdorf in 1938. Part of Merola's southern strategy

670-400: Is transformed into a human prince. He leads Clara through the moonlit night to a pine forest in which the snowflakes dance around them, beckoning them on to his kingdom as the first act ends. The Land of Sweets Clara and the Prince travel to the beautiful Land of Sweets, ruled by the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Prince's place until his return. He recounts for her how he had been saved from

737-555: Is written for an orchestra with the following instrumentation. Woodwinds Brass Percussion Keyboard Voice Strings Titles of all of the numbers listed here come from Marius Petipa's original scenario as well as the original libretto and programs of the first production of 1892. All libretti and programs of works performed on the stages of the Imperial Theatres were titled in French, which

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804-553: The Christmas season . ) Tchaikovsky is said to have argued with a friend who wagered that the composer could not write a melody based on a one-octave scale in sequence. Tchaikovsky asked if it mattered whether the notes were in ascending or descending order and was assured it did not. This resulted in the Adagio from the Grand pas de deux , which, in the ballet, nearly always immediately follows

871-630: The Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Although the libretto was by Marius Petipa , who exactly choreographed the first production has been debated. Petipa began work on the choreography in August 1892; however, illness removed him from its completion and his assistant of seven years, Lev Ivanov , was brought in. Although Ivanov is often credited as the choreographer, some contemporary accounts credit Petipa. The performance

938-791: The Naples conservatory . He emigrated to the United States in 1899 and served as an assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera , Henry Wilson Savage 's opera company in Boston, and Fortune Gallo 's traveling San Carlo Opera Company . Oscar Hammerstein I hired Merola as choral conductor of his Manhattan Opera Company where Merola remained until the company folded in 1910. He then served as conductor in Hammerstein's London Opera House before returning to New York as an operetta conductor. Merola conducted

1005-628: The Royal Ballet and the Birmingham Royal Ballet . In recent years, revisionist productions, including those by Mark Morris , Matthew Bourne , and Mikhail Chemiakin have appeared; these depart radically from both the original 1892 libretto and Vainonen's revival, while Maurice Béjart 's version completely discards the original plot and characters. In addition to annual live stagings of the work, many productions have also been televised or released on home video. The following extrapolation of

1072-1047: The San Francisco Opera Association to the Shrine Auditorium . That first season included Lauritz Melchior and Kirsten Flagstad in Tristan und Isolde conducted by Fritz Reiner , Melchior in Lohengrin , Pons and Ezio Pinza in Lakmé , Gina Cigna and Giovanni Martinelli in Aida and Maria Jeritza in Tosca . The result was an unbroken string of yearly Los Angeles performances through 1965. In 1943, Merola brought Kurt Herbert Adler to San Francisco to serve initially as chorus master; in time, he would take on additional duties as conductor, choral director and chief deputy. Adler had been Toscanini's assistant at Salzburg in 1936 and had arrived in

1139-521: The "Waltz of the Flowers". A story is also told that Tchaikovsky's sister Alexandra (9 January 1842 — 9 April 1891 ) had died shortly before he began composition of the ballet and that his sister's death influenced him to compose a melancholy, descending scale melody for the adagio of the Grand Pas de Deux. However, it is more naturally perceived as a dreams-come-true theme because of another celebrated scale use,

1206-493: The Bay Area in a variety of settings, including some overseas. The School's summer session offers two programs for student dancers ages 12 to 18 at the intermediate and advanced/pre-professional levels. Program 1 is a three-week intermediate program. Program 2 is a four-week intensive program for advanced and pre-professional students. Prior to 2015, the School's Pre-ballet program was for children aged six and seven. Starting in 2015,

1273-498: The Christensen-founded Ballet West . The New York City Ballet gave its first annual performance of George Balanchine 's reworked staging of The Nutcracker in 1954. The performance of Maria Tallchief in the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy helped elevate the work from obscurity into an annual Christmas classic and the industry's most reliable box-office draw. Critic Walter Terry remarked that "Maria Tallchief, as

1340-670: The Foundation allowed the two schools to conduct nationwide auditions, with the SF Ballet School focusing on the Western states. When the grant ended, the School was able to support its own audition process, which has extended to include the Eastern U.S. since 1979. San Francisco Ballet School has a longstanding relationship with the Prix de Lausanne , awarding full one-year scholarships to the winners of

1407-462: The Foundation offered grants covering tuition and expenses for advanced ballet students selected to attend either New York City Ballet's School of American Ballet or San Francisco Ballet School. In 1963, the Foundation then awarded a substantial ten-year grant to the SF Ballet School, establishing it, along with the School of American Ballet , as vocational schools of national stature. The grants awarded by

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1474-715: The Mouse King . The ballet's first choreographer was Marius Petipa , with whom Tchaikovsky had worked three years earlier on The Sleeping Beauty , assisted by Lev Ivanov . Although the complete and staged The Nutcracker ballet was not initially as successful as the 20-minute Nutcracker Suite that Tchaikovsky had premiered nine months earlier, it became popular in later years. Since the late 1960s, The Nutcracker has been danced by many ballet companies, especially in North America. Major American ballet companies generate around 40% of their annual ticket revenues from performances of

1541-549: The Mouse King ", by Alexandre Dumas called "The Story of a Nutcracker". The plot of Hoffmann's story (and Dumas' adaptation) was greatly simplified for the two-act ballet. Hoffmann's tale contains a long flashback story within its main plot titled "The Tale of the Hard Nut", which explains how the Prince was turned into the Nutcracker. This had to be excised for the ballet. Petipa gave Tchaikovsky extremely detailed instructions for

1608-478: The Mouse King by Clara and transformed back into himself. In honor of the young heroine, a celebration of sweets from around the world is produced: chocolate from Spain, coffee from Arabia, tea from China, and candy canes from Russia all dance for their amusement; Marzipan shepherdesses perform on their flutes; Mother Ginger has her children, the Polichinelles , emerge from under her enormous hoop skirt to dance;

1675-623: The San Francisco Ballet School in September 2012, after serving for two years as principal of the SF Ballet School Trainee Program. Notable alumni of the school include: 37°46′43″N 122°25′18″W  /  37.77849°N 122.4218°W  / 37.77849; -122.4218 Gaetano Merola Merola was born in Naples , the son of a Neapolitan court violinist and studied piano and conductor at

1742-682: The San Francisco Opera and other ballet companies that tour the Bay Area. The San Francisco Ballet School Trainee Program, established in 2004, is a one- to two-year pre-professional program for advanced students who have been invited to join by San Francisco Ballet's artistic director and the School's associate director. Trainees ranging in age from 16 to 19 participate in daily classes, as well as rehearse and perform SF Ballet repertory and works staged specifically for them. Trainees also participate in workshops and in community outreach, and they perform regularly with San Francisco Ballet and throughout

1809-735: The San Francisco Opera's training program for gifted singers and directors during the 1954–55 season. In 1957, the program was officially named the Merola Opera Program in honor of the company's founder and longtime general director, Gaetano Merola. The Merola Opera Program provides intensive training, coaching and master classes for eleven weeks every summer with established professionals in the various operatic fields, and its many graduates have gone on to important careers in opera. The Nutcracker The Nutcracker ( Russian : Щелкунчик , romanized :  Shchelkunchik , pronounced [ɕːɪɫˈkunʲt͡ɕɪk] ), Op. 71,

1876-433: The School became and remained a strictly classical academy for the 33 years that Christensen served as its head. This was particularly advantageous in light of the many directorial changes at SF Ballet, as school students who became company members were able to provide valuable continuity in the face of multiple directorial changes. The Ford Foundation established its first ballet training program in 1958; beginning in 1959,

1943-408: The School in 1985, he appointed San Francisco Ballet ballerina Nancy Johnson as its head. In 1993, Lola de Avila was appointed to lead the School (Associate Director, SF Ballet School), and she held that position until 1999. When de Avila left, Gloria Govrin stepped into the position. De Avila returned in 2006 to serve as associate director until 2012. Patrick Armand was appointed associate director of

2010-524: The Sugar Plum Fairy, and Jocelyn Vollmar as the Snow Queen. After the enormous success of this production, San Francisco Ballet has presented Nutcracker every Christmas Eve and throughout the winter season, debuting new productions in 1944, 1954, 1967, and 2004. The original Christensen version continues in Salt Lake City , where Christensen relocated in 1948. It has been performed every year since 1963 by

2077-520: The Sugar Plum Fairy, is herself a creature of magic, dancing the seemingly impossible with effortless beauty of movement, electrifying us with her brilliance, enchanting us with her radiance of being. Does she have any equals anywhere, inside or outside of fairyland? While watching her in The Nutcracker, one is tempted to doubt it." Since Gorsky, Vainonen and Balanchine's productions, many other choreographers have made their own versions. Some institute

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2144-531: The Swiss-based competition. Admission to the school is by audition only. All students are accepted on a trial basis, with a yearly renewal process that involves evaluation by the faculty and associate director. Students may be awarded merit-based scholarships and Dance in Schools Continuing Scholarships by the School associate director, and they may apply for need-based financial aid. The School

2211-496: The United States in 1938. Merola also continued to attract important new singers - often before they'd performed in other major American opera houses. Notable singers he introduced after the Second World War included Tito Gobbi , Ferruccio Tagliavini , Elena Nikolaidi , Renata Tebaldi and Mario del Monaco . In addition, he spotted West Coast talents, including soprano Dorothy Warenskjold , whom he discovered while conducting

2278-530: The ascending one in the Barcarolle from The Seasons . Tchaikovsky was less satisfied with The Nutcracker than with The Sleeping Beauty . (In the film Fantasia , commentator Deems Taylor observes that he "really detested" the score.) Tchaikovsky accepted the commission from Vsevolozhsky but did not particularly want to write the ballet (though he did write to a friend while composing it, "I am daily becoming more and more attuned to my task"). The music

2345-539: The ballerina did not dance until the Grand Pas de Deux near the end of the second act (which did not occur until nearly midnight during the program). Some found the transition between the mundane world of the first scene and the fantasy world of the second act too abrupt. Reception was better for Tchaikovsky's score. Some critics called it "astonishingly rich in detailed inspiration" and "from beginning to end, beautiful, melodious, original, and characteristic". But this also

2412-600: The ballet have been staged there since 1952. Another abridged version of the ballet, performed by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo , was staged in New York City in 1940, Alexandra Fedorova – again, after Petipa's version. The ballet's first complete United States performance was on 24 December 1944 by the San Francisco Ballet , staged by its artistic director, Willam Christensen , and starring Gisella Caccialanza as

2479-417: The ballet. Its score has been used in several film adaptations of Hoffmann's story. Tchaikovsky's score has become one of his most famous compositions. Among other things, the score is noted for its use of the celesta , an instrument the composer had already employed in his much lesser known symphonic ballad The Voyevoda (1891). After the success of The Sleeping Beauty in 1890, Ivan Vsevolozhsky ,

2546-574: The changes made by Gorsky and Vainonen while others, like Balanchine, utilize the original libretto. Some notable productions include Rudolf Nureyev 's 1963 production for the Royal Ballet , Yury Grigorovich for the Bolshoi Ballet , Mikhail Baryshnikov for the American Ballet Theatre , Fernand Nault for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens starting in 1964, Kent Stowell for Pacific Northwest Ballet starting in 1983, and Peter Wright for

2613-405: The characters (in order of appearance) is drawn from an examination of the stage directions in the score. Below is a synopsis based on the original 1892 libretto by Marius Petipa. The story varies from production to production, though most follow the basic outline. The names of the characters also vary. In the original Hoffmann story, the young heroine is called Marie Stahlbaum and Clara (Klärchen)

2680-455: The choreography of the battle scene as confusing: "One can not understand anything. Disorderly pushing about from corner to corner and running backwards and forwards – quite amateurish." The libretto was criticized as "lopsided" and for not being faithful to the Hoffmann tale. Much of the criticism focused on the featuring of children so prominently in the ballet, and many bemoaned the fact that

2747-569: The community. Established in 1979, Dance in Schools and Communities (DISC) teaches dance and movement to 3,500 students in the San Francisco Unified School District. Of these students, 60-70 are chosen to attend San Francisco Ballet on a continuing education scholarship. Two times a season, San Francisco Ballet holds community matinees for students across the Bay Area. These matinees are shortened programs with excerpts of ballets

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2814-739: The company is currently performing. After the retirement of Harold Christensen in 1975, Richard L. Cammack was brought in as School director by the SF Ballet Company's new co-director, Michael Smuin . Under Cammack's leadership, SF Ballet School was federally approved for foreign students and received authorization from the California Department of Education . Cammack also oversaw the School's move to its current state-of-the-art facilities on Franklin Street in 1983. When Helgi Tomasson became San Francisco Ballet's new artistic director and leader of

2881-549: The composition of each number, down to the tempo and number of bars. The completion of the work was interrupted for a short time when Tchaikovsky visited the United States for twenty-five days to conduct concerts for the opening of Carnegie Hall . Tchaikovsky composed parts of The Nutcracker in Rouen , France. The first performance of the ballet was held as a double premiere together with Tchaikovsky's last opera, Iolanta , on 18 December [ O.S. 6 December] 1892, at

2948-632: The concert stage, and was excerpted in Disney 's Fantasia , omitting the two movements prior to the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. The outline below represents the selection and sequence of the Nutcracker Suite made by the composer: The Paraphrase on Tchaikovsky's Flower Waltz is a successful piano arrangement from one of the movements from The Nutcracker by the pianist and composer Percy Grainger . The pianist and conductor Mikhail Pletnev adapted some of

3015-491: The construction, and a bond issue was approved by the voters in 1927. By October 1931, when the twin cornerstones were laid, the stock market crash and ensuing Depression had significantly reduced the construction costs, and the two buildings were completed within the year for US$ 5.5 million. The War Memorial Opera House opened on October 15, 1932 with an inaugural production of Tosca starring Claudia Muzio and Dino Borgioli (a primitive recording of Act 1 has survived, and

3082-415: The delight of all. He then has them put away for safekeeping. Clara and her brother Fritz are sad to see the dolls being taken away, but Drosselmeyer has yet another toy for them: a wooden nutcracker doll , which the other children ignore. Clara immediately takes a liking to it, but Fritz accidentally breaks it. Clara is heartbroken, but Drosselmeyer fixes the nutcracker, much to everyone's relief. During

3149-406: The director of the Imperial Theatres, commissioned Tchaikovsky to compose a double-bill program featuring both an opera and a ballet. The opera would be Iolanta . For the ballet, Tchaikovsky would again join forces with Marius Petipa, with whom he had collaborated on The Sleeping Beauty. The material Vsevolozhsky chose was an adaptation of E. T. A. Hoffmann 's story " The Nutcracker and

3216-473: The local citizenry had spoken of building a new opera house. The aftermath of World War I had also kindled a desire to honor the city's war heroes with a veteran's building or art museum. Eventually, those ideas coalesced into a joint project that was to consist of two Palladian-style edifices. One building would house an art museum with veterans rooms while the other would be home to Merola's San Francisco Opera . Two lots across from City Hall were appropriated for

3283-409: The mice, led by their king. The nutcracker appears to lead the gingerbread men, who are joined by tin soldiers, and by dolls who serve as doctors to carry away the wounded. As the seven-headed Mouse King advances on the still-wounded nutcracker, Clara throws her slipper at him, distracting him long enough for the nutcracker to stab him. Scene 2: A Pine Forest The mice retreat and the nutcracker

3350-440: The night, after everyone else has gone to bed, Clara returns to the parlor to check on the nutcracker. As she reaches the small bed, the clock strikes midnight and she looks up to see Drosselmeyer perched atop it. Suddenly, mice begin to fill the room and the Christmas tree begins to grow to dizzying heights. The nutcracker also grows to life size. Clara finds herself in the midst of a battle between an army of gingerbread soldiers and

3417-618: The original libretto, the ballet's apotheosis "represents a large beehive with flying bees, closely guarding their riches". Just like Swan Lake , there have been various alternative endings created in productions subsequent to the original. The Nutcracker is one of the composer's most popular compositions. The music belongs to the Romantic period and contains some of his most memorable melodies, several of which are frequently used in television and film. (They are often heard in TV commercials shown during

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3484-410: The party. Once the tree is finished, the children are summoned. When the party begins, presents are given out to the children. When the owl-topped grandfather clock strikes eight, a mysterious figure enters the room. It is Drosselmeyer— a councilman, magician, and Clara's godfather. He is also a talented toymaker who has brought with him gifts for the children, including four lifelike dolls who dance to

3551-556: The piano reduction score by Sergei Taneyev (1892), both published by P. Jurgenson in Moscow, and the Soviet collected edition of the composer's works, as reprinted Melville, New York: Belwin Mills [n.d.] Tchaikovsky made a selection of eight of the numbers from the ballet before the ballet's December 1892 première, forming The Nutcracker Suite , Op. 71a, intended for concert performance. The suite

3618-563: The position of school director. In 1942, the two Christensen brothers purchased both the ballet company and the school from the Opera Association, renaming the company San Francisco Ballet . Harold Christensen continued as director of the newly named San Francisco Ballet School until his retirement in 1975. Under Harold Christensen, a nonprofessional curriculum flourished alongside its professional training, with programs targeted at students from very young children to working adults. However,

3685-565: The pre-ballet program was expanded to include classes for children aged four and five. Pre-ballet requires no audition, though class size is limited. The program's classes meet once a week; the children focus on basic ballet technique, proper body alignment, and musicality. After completing the program, students of age who wish to continue their studies must audition to enter the SF Ballet School at Level 1. The San Francisco Ballet Center for Dance Education supports community programs touching over 25,000 people annually and donates over 4,000 tickets to

3752-478: The premieres of several shows, including Victor Herbert 's Naughty Marietta , Rudolf Friml 's The Firefly and Sigmund Romberg 's Maytime . It was while touring with the San Carlo Opera that Merola began making annual visits to San Francisco. He first heard Luisa Tetrazzini , a recent arrival to America, at the city's Tivoli Opera House in 1906 and recommended her to Hammerstein . San Francisco had had

3819-412: The year-end SF Ballet School Student Showcase, which offers the public an opportunity to experience the work of students at all levels of the School. Performance proceeds support the scholarship programs. In addition to their performances in the annual Student Showcase at the end of the school year, students have other performance opportunities. Approximately 150 students are chosen by audition to dance in

3886-417: The yearly San Francisco Ballet production of Nutcracker . Students also have the opportunity to dance in productions such as Romeo and Juliet , The Sleeping Beauty , Giselle , Don Quixote , Coppélia , and Swan Lake . The most advanced students may also dance with SF Ballet in repertory and participate in company tours. Students may also have the opportunity to participate in performances of

3953-650: Was conducted by Italian composer Riccardo Drigo , with Antonietta Dell'Era as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Pavel Gerdt as Prince Coqueluche, Stanislava Belinskaya as Clara, Sergei Legat as the Nutcracker-Prince, and Timofey Stukolkin as Drosselmeyer. Unlike in many later productions, the children's roles were performed by real children – students of the Imperial Ballet School in Saint Petersburg , with Belinskaya as Clara, and Vassily Stukolkin as Fritz – rather than adults. The first performance of The Nutcracker

4020-659: Was first performed outside Russia in Budapest (Royal Opera House) in 1927, with choreography by Ede Brada. In 1934, choreographer Vasili Vainonen staged a version of the work that addressed many of the criticisms of the original 1892 production by casting adult dancers in the roles of Clara and the Prince, as Gorsky had. The Vainonen version influenced several later productions. The first complete performance outside Russia took place in England in 1934, staged by Nicholas Sergeyev after Petipa's original choreography. Annual performances of

4087-581: Was first performed, under the composer's direction, on 19 March 1892 at an assembly of the Saint Petersburg branch of the Musical Society. The suite became instantly popular, with almost every number encored at its premiere, while the complete ballet did not begin to achieve its great popularity until after the George Balanchine staging became a hit in New York City. The suite became very popular on

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4154-815: Was located in the William Taylor Hotel , with affiliate branch schools in nearby Bay Area locations Berkeley , Burlingame , Marin County , San Mateo , and Oakland . After Bolm left in 1937, new Opera ballet mistress Mildred Hirch added a fencing master during her year-long direction; Willam Christensen , previously director of the Oakland Branch School, became SF Opera ballet master and full school director in 1938. As San Francisco Opera Ballet expanded its touring schedule, it became increasingly difficult for Christensen to serve in both of his professional capacities. In 1940, his brother Harold Christensen took over

4221-470: Was not deemed a success. The reaction to the dancers themselves was ambivalent. Although some critics praised Dell'Era on her pointework as the Sugar Plum Fairy (she allegedly received five curtain-calls), one critic called her "corpulent" and "podgy". Olga Preobrajenskaya as the Columbine doll was panned by one critic as "completely insipid" and praised as "charming" by another. Alexandre Benois described

4288-517: Was not unanimous, as some critics found the party scene "ponderous" and the Grand Pas de Deux "insipid". In 1919, choreographer Alexander Gorsky staged a production which eliminated the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier and gave their dances to Clara and the Nutcracker Prince, who were played by adults instead of children. This was the first production to do so. An abridged version of the ballet

4355-421: Was that L.A. audiences heard Muzio and Bonelli in La traviata and Il trovatore and Pons in Lucia and Rigoletto just days before their War Memorial debuts. Other notable productions included The Bartered Bride with Elisabeth Rethberg and an immense Le Coq d'Or in 1934. In 1937, Merola shed all pretense of a Los Angeles company and formally established a long-running series of annual visits by

4422-423: Was the official language of the Imperial Court, as well as the language from which balletic terminology is derived. Casse-Noisette . Ballet-féerie in two acts and three tableaux with apotheosis. Act I Act II List of acts, scenes (tableaux) and musical numbers, along with tempo indications . Numbers are given according to the original Russian and French titles of the first edition score (1892),

4489-474: Was to augment his company's home season with run-out performances at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles . He had been a partner in the formation of Los Angeles Grand Opera, which had a successful run from 1924 to 1931. With the opening of the War Memorial in October 1932, Merola entered into a business agreement with the Los Angeles arts impresario L.E. Behymer to present stars of the San Francisco Opera in an abbreviated season of locally produced operas. So it

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