10 questions · Music
Anna Pavlova was born in Saint Petersburg in 1881 to humble circumstances; who her father was has never been settled for certain. When she was eight, her mother took her to the theatre, where “The Sleeping Beauty” was playing. The girl saw the fairies, the prince and the magic on stage and knew from that evening what she wanted to be. The imperial ballet school turned her away at first as too young and too frail. Two years later it took her in. In 1899 she began at the Mariinsky Theatre, and her slender, supple body, which hardly matched the ideal of the day, soon became her trademark. Her fellow pupil Michel Fokine created a short solo for her to music by Camille Saint-Saëns: “The Dying Swan”. Only a few minutes long, a fluttering arm, a last tremor, and the bird sinks to the ground. The piece made her immortal, and she danced it thousands of times throughout her life. Pavlova wanted to bring ballet to everyone, not just to the great opera houses. With her own company she toured the Americas, Asia, Australia and Africa, dancing in towns that had never seen a ballerina. From 1912 London was her home, a house with a garden and a pond on which her swans swam. After a tour of Australia and New Zealand, a cake of meringue, cream and fruit was named after her. In January 1931 she fell ill on a journey and died in The Hague, a few weeks before her fiftieth birthday. On her deathbed she is said to have asked for her swan costume to be made ready.
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The Dying Swan
The solo lasts only a few minutes and shows a swan’s last moments.
💡 Did you know? She danced it thousands of times in her life, on great stages and in small provincial halls alike.
Michel Fokine
The two knew each other from the imperial ballet school in Saint Petersburg.
💡 Did you know? Fokine later became the leading choreographer of the Ballets Russes.
Camille Saint-Saëns
It is “The Swan” from “The Carnival of the Animals”, a melody for cello.
💡 Did you know? In his lifetime Saint-Saëns allowed only “The Swan” from “The Carnival of the Animals” to be published.
Meringue
The cake of crisp meringue, cream and fruit appeared after her tours in the 1920s.
💡 Did you know? Australia and New Zealand still argue over who invented it.
Saint Petersburg
She grew up in humble circumstances, for a time with her grandmother in the countryside.
💡 Did you know? Who her father was has never been settled for certain.
Mariinsky Theatre
She had graduated from the imperial ballet school, which had admitted her only at the second attempt.
💡 Did you know? In 1906 she became a prima ballerina there.
The Sleeping Beauty
Her mother took her to the ballet by Tchaikovsky and Petipa.
💡 Did you know? The ballet school then turned her down at first, finding her too young and too frail.
London
She bought Ivy House in Hampstead there, with a garden and a pond.
💡 Did you know? She kept swans on the pond; one, called Jack, let her hold him in her arms.
The Hague
She fell ill with pleurisy on the journey and died at the Hotel des Indes.
💡 Did you know? At the next performance a spotlight is said to have moved across the empty stage where she would have danced.
1931
She died a few weeks before her fiftieth birthday.
💡 Did you know? Her ashes rest at Golders Green Crematorium in London.
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