Staged and performed by the Royal Ballet 2022

Choreography: Kenneth Macmillan
Scenario: Gillian Freeman
Music: Franz Liszt
(arranged and orchestrated by John Lanchberry)
Designer: Nicholas Georgiadis
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Crown Prince Rudolph : Steven McRae
Baroness Mary Vetsera: Sarah Lamb
Countess Mary Larisch: Yasmine Naghdi
Empress Elisabeth: Annette Buvoli
Princess Stephanie: Anna Rose O’Sullivan
Mitzi Caspar: Mayara Magri

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Mayerling is one ballet I have been longing to see for years, so I was thrilled to hear that it was being performed this Autumn. However, I never realised that the scenario had been based upon a true story; the suspected suicide-pact between Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria (aged 30) and his lover Baroness Mary Vetsera (aged 17), who were found dead on the 30th of January 1889 in an imperial hunting lodge in Mayerling (a small village in Austria). In many ways there are some comparisons that could be made to the tragic story of Romeo & Juliet. The episode became known as ‘The Mayerling Incident’, and Mayerling of course became the fitting title of this ballet.

Seeing the ballet live on stage was gripping. I think it is the first ballet I have ever seen that had so many gunshots in it. All the way through you are teetering on the edge wondering when the trigger is going to be pulled. Macmillan’s choreography is wonderfully unusual for what initially seems like quite a classical ballet. There are so many incredibly passionate pas de deux full of emotion, romance, and remarkable story-telling, with usually at some point the gun appearing and used to tease or to terrorise. Macmillan is masterful in the way he shapes his choreography, using movement to sculpt the characters and giving space for the dancers to act, while retaining a certain standard of elegance. Nothing comes across as visually out of place, nor improperly thought out. The choreography, performance, costumes and set marvellously unite together creating a fascinating world for the audience to explore throughout each of the three acts.

The music by Franz Liszt was, of course, not written for the ballet but re-worked to suit the scenario during Mayerling’s first iteration in the late 1970’s. I imagine the decision to use the music of Franz Liszt was because, having died in 1886, he was a composer active in the general era when this incident took place. Not to mention the fact that Liszt was born in the Austrian Empire as well. Therefore, setting the story to music related to a similar time and place does well to set the scene, historically speaking.

However, for me, the choice is not quite to my taste. Not because I dislike Liszt’s music, in fact there are sections of the Mayerling score that are quite beautiful, however when put against the dramatic and intense story, the overall sound world seems a little dull. A lot of it blends into each other and is often indistinct between the various acts, scenes and dances. There isn’t much that highlights certain characters or events, nor anything that I found particularly memorable. This is an issue that is difficult to avoid when adapting music to a story with strong characters. It is hard to find or assign themes to the characters if the music hasn’t been written for them, since the composer was likely writing with different ideas in mind. Equally, it isn’t terrible and does well to support the rather complex story, but I don’t feel it does much more to add to the performance. The music was clearly a secondary participant during the original choreography of the ballet, rather than one with equal footing.

Mayerling has such a strong choreography, story and visual prominence, I wonder whether anyone would choose to rework it to a new or different score. Many of the famous ballets we know and love have been choreographed and re-choreographed, yet rarely does the music change. Often it is through updated choreography and re-imaginings that the work can reach new audiences. However, ballet scores come with different rules, it seems. On one hand, the most famous and successful ballet scores that we know and love- Swan Lake, Petrouchka, and Romeo & Juliet, for example, should remain untouched. In fact, I did once see a production of Romeo & Juliet, in which the choreographer had requested an obliteration of the original score, and the results were catastrophic. However, when the music has been found and used, completely unbeknownst to the composer themselves, likely because they died many moons ago, is there any real reason to remain loyal to it? I’m not so sure.

Perhaps with a new vision, or even a living and breathing composer, some of these ballets can be given a new lease of life, regarding the music.

Performance I attended: 1pm 15th October 2022, Royal Opera House