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During an initial period of collaboration with Lepicq (from 1778 to 1786), Martín y Soler worked with the choreographer in Naples and other Italian cities, producing ballets that formed part of opera seria. The most significant part of this output pertains to this type of ballet d’action, performed as an intermezzo. Other works include La regina di Golconda (1872) for the Teatro Pubblico de Lucca (based on Aline, reine de Golconde by S. J. De Boufflers), Cristiano II, rè di Danimarca (1782) for the San Benedetto, Venice (choreography by Domenico Ricciardi), Aci e Galatea (1784) for the Ducale, Parma, La Sandrina, restaged at the Teatro de los Caños del Peral, Madrid (1786), probably composed in Naples, and Castore e Polluce for the Comunale, Faenza (1786). They were performed during acts one and two (ballo primo) or two and three (ballo secondo) of opere serie and, in general, bore no relation to the libretto of the opera.
Martín’s second period (1792-1799), in which he created masterpieces of the genre in conjunction with Lepicq, consists of his tragic ballets premiered in St. Petersburg: Didon abandonée (1792), taken from Marmontel’s Didon, L’Oracle (1793), Amour et Psyché (1793), based on Molière-Corneille-Quinaults’ Psyché, Tancrède (1799), based on Moretti’s Tancredo and Le retour de Poliorcète (1799). Martín y Soler’s ballet output represents the transition between dance as mere entertainment and ballet as a dramatic and theatrical experience. Thus, while opera consists of a succession of recitatives and arias, here there are pantomimic sequences and danced parts. These pieces reflect the suppression of the traditional, static corps de dance, with symmetrical choreography and the end of the use of masks by the dancers. Instead, tragic wardrobes and the use of make-up were incorporated, in accordance with dramaturgical themes taken from classical mythology (Aci e Galatea, Castore e Polluce, Didon abandonée, Amour et Psyché, L’Oracle), or based on the Middle Ages or Renaissance (La Griselda, Cristiano II or the Tancredi created by Tasso), without dismissing those referring to ancient history or exotic worlds (the Hindu Queen of Golconda, Thamas, a Turkish hero or Demetrio Poliorcetes, King of Macedon and Alexander the Great’s heir). This was Lepicq and Martín y Solers’ inspiration in bringing these “silent tragedies” to life. Their ballets are structured in an Aristotelian unity of narrative action, but their duration is shorter than opera seria and, just as occurs in this genre, restricted to a small number of characters –six or seven principal dancers, in contrast to the numerous roles of 17th century opéra-ballet. Martín didn’t hesitate to incorporate musical resources foreign to the genre per se: he yuxtaposes arias and poignant choruses with proper dance pieces to give preponderance to the voice for a few moments instead of gesture as a means of expression.
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