Ondine

Ondine ballet. Choreographed by Sir Frederick Ashton to a score by Hans Werner Henze. Performed 2009 at the Royal Opera House. Stars Miyako Yoshida, Edward Watson, Genesia Rosato, Ricardo Cervera, and Gary Avis with Mara Galeazzi, José Martin, Helen Crawford, Samantha Raine, Brian Maloney, Sergei Polunin and other artists of the Royal Ballet. Barry Wordsworth conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House (Concert Master Peter Mannig). Solo piano Robert Clark. Designs by Lila de Nobili; lighting by John B. Read; staging by Christopher Carr and Grant Coyle; ballet mistress Ursula Hageli; principal coach Jonathan Cope; directed for TV by Ross McGibbon. Released 2010,  disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade:  A

Based on an old water-nymph fairy tale, Ondine is one of the few modern ballets with a long score written just for it. It was  first staged in 1958 by  The Royal Ballet with Margot Fonteyn dancing the lead. In this 2009 show, Ondine is danced by Miyako Yoshida, who was then 45 but looked 30. (She retired a year later.) Beautiful and voluptuous for a ballerina, Yoshida's Japanese features give her an air of mystery in the gothic revival setting.  Edward Watson projects the neurotic tension you would expect from a man who would fall in love with an illusion.

The story of a marriage between a Prince and a water spirit wouldn't seem to hold much dramatic interest today, but I find myself more affected by the story each time I see it. The dancing, acting, sets, costumes, props, lighting, and special effects (all purely physical) charm you until you begin to think that the Prince can pull it off. The atmosphere of wonder is enhanced by Henze's exotic score,  which sounds fresh 50 years after it was written. At first the music seems incongruous with the sets and costumes from olden times; but after you get used to it, you realize that every note is right.

But since he's just a man, the Prince will eventually go back to a woman of flesh and blood. And once he betrays his nymph, it's certain he will pay a terrible price.  He gets one more kiss from Ondine. The he dies, and the Lord of the Sea destroys everyone else in the castle.

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Update on Sunday, October 30, 2011 at 2:06PM by Henry McFadyen Jr.

For another HDVD about a water-nymph, try the Martin Kušej version of the opera Rusalka, which combines romantic music from Dvořák with a surreal modern setting and plot (the opposite of the Ondine ballet with a traditional setting and modern music).