''The Path of Thunder'' is a

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

in three acts with

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

Yuri Slonimsky Yuri may refer to: People Given name *Yuri (Slavic name), the Slavic masculine form of the given name George, including a list of people with the given name Yuri, Yury, etc. *Yuri (Japanese name), feminine Japanese given names, including a list o ...

, music by

Gara Garayev Gara Abulfaz oghlu Garayev (February 5, 1918May 13, 1982) was a prominent Soviet Azerbaijani composer. Garayev wrote nearly 110 musical pieces,Azad Sharifov"Remembering Gara Garayev: A Legend in His Own Time - 80th Jubilee" in Azerbaijan Inter ...

and

choreography Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

by Konstantin Sergeyev. Inspired by the 1948 eponymous novel of

Peter Abrahams Peter Henry Abrahams Deras (3 March 1919 – 18 January 2017), commonly known as Peter Abrahams, was a South African-born novelist, journalist and political commentator who in 1956 settled in Jamaica, where he lived for the rest of his life. Hi ...

, the ballet tells the story of a forbidden love between a black teacher and a white girl in 1940s

Apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. The ballet premiered at the

Mariinsky Theatre The Mariinsky Theatre (, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic opera house in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th-century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces ...

(called S. M. Kirov Leningrad State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet at the time) in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

(Leningrad at that time). Garayev used a soft, melodic music, which turns lyrical and passionate in the love scene, while the conflict with the girl's father and the other whites is accompanied by harsh, dissonant music. The lovers die in the course of conflict, but the people rise up against the

racial prejudice Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race or ethnicity over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination ...

s towards them, leading themselves to the Path of Thunder, the way of liberation. Many other versions of the ballet have been staged throughout the former

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, and in 1967 it won the

Lenin Prize The Lenin Prize (, ) was one of the most prestigious awards of the Soviet Union for accomplishments relating to science, literature, arts, architecture, and technology. It was originally created on June 23, 1925, and awarded until 1934. During ...

External links

''The Path of Thunder'', piano performance by Zema Baghirova
{{DEFAULTSORT:Path Of Thunder 1958 ballets Ballets by Gara Garayev Ballet in Azerbaijan Ballets based on literature Ballets set in the 20th century Works set in the 1940s Ballets set in South Africa Ballets about apartheid in South Africa

See also

External links