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Marius Petipa

Marius Ivanovich Petipa (Мариус Иванович Петипа), born Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa (11 March 1818 – 14 July 1910), was a French and Russian ballet dancer, pedagogue and choreographer. Petipa is one of the most influential ballet masters and choreographers in ballet history.

Marius Petipa is noted for his long career as Premier maître de ballet (First Ballet Master) of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres, making him Ballet Master and principal choreographer of the Imperial Ballet (today known as the Mariinsky Ballet), a position he held from 1871 until 1903. Petipa created over fifty ballets, some of which have survived in versions either faithful to, inspired by, or reconstructed from his originals. He is most noted for The Pharaoh's Daughter (1862); Don Quixote (1869); La Bayadère (1877); Le Talisman (1889); The Sleeping Beauty (1890); The Nutcracker (choreographed jointly with Lev Ivanov) (1892); Le Réveil de Flore (1894); La Halte de cavalerie (1896); Raymonda (1898); Les Saisons (1900), and Les Millions d'Arlequin (a.k.a. Harlequinade) (1900).

Petipa also revived a substantial number of works created by other choreographers. Many of his revivals have become the basis of the majority of subsequent productions of those works. The most famous of Petipa's revivals are Le Corsaire, Giselle, La Esmeralda, Coppélia, La Fille Mal Gardée (with Lev Ivanov), The Little Humpbacked Horse and Swan Lake (with Lev Ivanov).

Many individual numbers taken from Petipa's work (both from original works and from revivals) continued to be performed independently, in spite of the fact that the full-length ballets that spawned them had disappeared from the Imperial Ballet's repertoire. Many of these pieces have endured in versions either based on the original or choreographed anew by others – the Grand Pas classique, Pas de trois and Mazurka des enfants from Paquita; Le Carnaval de Venise Pas de deux; The Talisman Pas de deux; La Esmeralda Pas de deux; the Diana and Actéon Pas de deux; La Halte de Cavalerie Pas de deux; the Don Quixote Pas de deux; La Fille Mal Gardée Pas de deux; and the Harlequinade Pas de deux.

Early life and career
Marius Petipa was born Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa in Marseille, France on 11 March 1818. His mother, Victorine Grasseau, was a tragic actress and teacher of drama, while his father, Jean-Antoine Petipa, was among the most renowned Ballet Masters and pedagogues in Europe. At the time of Marius's birth, Jean Petipa was engaged as Premier danseur (Principal Male Dancer) to the Salle Bauveau (known today as the Opéra de Marseille), and in 1819 he was appointed Maître de ballet to that theatre.

Marius Petipa spent his early childhood traveling throughout Europe with his family, as his parents' professional engagements took them from city to city. By the time Marius was six years old, his family had settled in Brussels in what was then the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, where his father was appointed Maître de ballet and Premier danseur to the Théâtre de la Monnaie. The young Marius received his general education at the Grand College in Brussels, while also attending the Brussels Conservatory where he studied music and learned to play the violin.

Just as he had done with his other children, Jean Petipa began giving the young Marius lessons in ballet at the age of seven. At first the young boy resisted, caring very little for dance. Nevertheless, he soon came to love this art form that was so much the life and identity of his family, and he excelled quickly. At the age of nine Marius performed for the first time in a ballet production as a Savoyard in his father's staging of Pierre Gardel's 1800 ballet La Dansomanie in 1827.

On 25 August 1830, the Belgian Revolution erupted after a performance of Daniel Auber's opera La muette de Portici at the Théâtre de la Monnaie, where Marius' father now served as Premier maître de ballet. The violent street fighting that followed caused all theatres to be shut down for a time, and consequently Jean Petipa found himself without a position. The Petipa family was left in dire straits for some years.

The Petipa family relocated to Bordeaux, France, in 1834 where Marius' father had secured the position of Premier maître de ballet to the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux. While in Bordeaux, Marius completed his ballet training under the great Auguste Vestris. By 1838 he was appointed Premier danseur to the Ballet de Nantes in Nantes, France. During his time in Nantes the young Petipa began to try his hand at choreography by creating a number of one-act ballets and divertissements.

The 21-year-old Marius Petipa accompanied his father on a tour of the United States with a group of French dancers in July 1839. Among the many engagements was a performance of Jean Coralli's La tarentule at the National Theatre on Broadway, being the first ballet performance ever seen in New York City. The tour proved to be a disaster, as many in the uncultured American audiences of that time had never before seen ballet. To add to the fiasco, the American impresario who arranged the engagements stole a large portion of the troupe's receipts and quickly disappeared without a trace. Upon leaving for France, Petipa's ticket only allowed him passage to Nantes, but instead of returning to that city he stowed away in the cabin of a woman he had seduced so that he could secure passage to Paris.

By 1840, Petipa had made his début with the ballet company of the Comédie Française in Paris. His first performance with this troupe was given as a benefit performance for the actress Rachel where he partnered the legendary ballerina Carlotta Grisi. Petipa also took part in performances at the Paris Opéra where his brother Lucien Petipa was engaged as Premier danseur.

Bordeaux
Petipa was offered the position of Premier danseur to the Grand Théâtre in Bordeaux in 1841. There, he studied further with the great Vestris, all the while dancing the leads in such ballets as La Fille Mal Gardée, La Péri and Giselle. While performing with the company his skills as not only a dancer but as a partner were much celebrated. His partnering of Carlotta Grisi during a performance of La Péri was much celebrated, particularly his almost acrobatic lifts and catches of the ballerina that dazzled the audience. While in Bordeaux, Petipa began mounting his own original full-length productions. Among these works were La Jolie Bordelaise (The Beauty of Bordeaux), La Vendange (The Grape Picker), L'Intrigue Amoureuse (The Intrigues of Love) and Le Langage des Fleurs (The Voice of the Flowers).

Madrid
In 1843, Petipa was offered the position premier danseur at the Teatro del Circo in Madrid, Spain. For the next three years he would acquire an acute knowledge of traditional Spanish Dancing while producing new works based on Spanish themes – Carmen et son toréro (Carmen and the Bullfighter), La Perle de Séville (The Pearl of Seville), L’Aventure d’une fille de Madrid (The Adventures of a Madrileña), La Fleur de Grenade (The Flower of Granada) and Départ pour la course des taureaux (Leaving for the Bull Fights). In 1846, he began a love affair with the wife of the Marquis de Chateaubriand, a prominent member of the French Embassy. Learning of the affair, the Marquis challenged Petipa to a duel. Rather than keep his fateful appointment, Petipa quickly left Spain, never to return. He then travelled to Paris where he stayed for a brief period. While in the city he took part in a performance at the Théâtre de l’Académie Royale de Musique where he partnered the ballerina Thérèse Elssler, sister of Fanny Elssler.

St. Petersburg, Russia
In 1847 Marius seduced yet another man's wife, and the husband called for a duel, yet again. Duels were banned, and the threat of court repercussions loomed over Marius, so the family decided it was best for him to leave France. Marius' brother, Lucien Petipa, was familiar with working in Russia and sent an inquiry to Antoine Titus in St. Petersburg.

This coincided with a need to find a strong male lead for the Russian ballet prima ballerina Yelena Andreyanova, (who was the mistress of the Director of the Imperial Theaters, Alexandr Gedeonov). Antoine Titus resolved dilemmas for both parties and introduced the two sides, after which Petipa and his father were invited to Russia.

So, Marius Petipa found himself in St. Petersburg late in the same year, beginning his career ascent to become one of the most influential choreographers in history.

Early career
In 1847, Petipa accepted the position of premier danseur to the Imperial Theatres of St. Petersburg, at that time the capital of the Russian Empire. The position of premier danseur had become vacant upon the departure of the French danseur Emile Gredlu, and Petipa soon relocated to Russia. On 5 June 1847 the twenty-nine-year-old Petipa arrived in the imperial capital. In 1848 Petipa's father also relocated to St. Petersburg, where he taught the Classe de perfection at the Imperial Ballet School until his death in 1855.

For his début, the director of the Imperial Theatres Alexander Gedeonov commissioned Petipa and the Ballet Master Pierre-Frédéric Malevergne to create the first Russian production of Joseph Mazilier's celebrated ballet Paquita, first staged at the Paris Opéra in 1846. The ballet premiered in St. Petersburg on 8 October 1847 with the Prima ballerina Yelena Andreyanova in the title rôle and Petipa himself in the largely mimed rôle of Lucien d’Hervilly.

The following season Petipa and his father staged a revival of Mazilier's 1840 ballet Le Diable amoureux (The Devil in Love), which premiered under the title Satanella on 22 February 1848. The prima ballerina Andreyonova performed the title rôle, with Petipa in the rôle of Fabio.

At the time Petipa had arrived in St. Petersburg, the Imperial Ballet had experienced a considerable decline in popularity with the public since the 1842 departure of Marie Taglioni, who had been engaged in the Imperial capital as guest ballerina. The productions of Paquita and Satanella brought about a measure of prestige and attention for the company. Critic Raphael Zotov reflected, "Our lovely ballet company was reborn with the productions of Paquita and Satanella, and its superlative performances placed the company again at its former level of glory and universal affection."

In the winter of 1849, the French Ballet Master Jules Perrot arrived in St. Petersburg, having accepted the position of premier maître de ballet of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres. He was accompanied by his chief collaborator, the prolific Italian composer Cesare Pugni, who was appointed Ballet Composer of the Imperial Theatres, a position created especially for him. Aside from dancing the principal rôles in many of Perrot's productions, Petipa rehearsed older works with the company and assisted Perrot in staging revivals (such as Giselle in 1850, and Le Corsaire in 1858), all the while learning a great deal from the man who was at that time the most celebrated choreographer in Europe. Although Petipa did not create his own original works during this period, he nevertheless staged many dances for various operas, and on occasion revised dances for Perrot's many revivals of older works.

By 1850 Petipa's first child, a son named Marius Mariusovich Petipa (1850–1919) was born. His mother, Marie Thérèse Bourdin— with whom Petipa had a brief liaison—died five years after the birth of their child. In 1854 Petipa married the Prima ballerina Mariia Surovshchikova-Petipa. Together they had two children: Marie Mariusovna Petipa (1857–1930), who would go on to become a celebrated dancer in her own right, and Jean Mariusovich Petipa (1859–1871).

On 21 January 1855 Petipa presented his first original ballet in over six years, a ballet-divertissement titled L’Étoile de Grenade (The Star of Granada), for which he collaborated for the first time with the composer Cesare Pugni. The work was presented for the first time at the Palace of the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, a fanatic balletomane and patron of the arts. L’Étoile de Grenade was followed by La Rose, la violette et le papillon (The Rose, the Violet and the Butterfly) in 1857, Un Mariage sous la Régence (A Marriage Under the Regency) in 1858, Le Marché des parisien (The Parisian Market) in 1859, Le Dahlia Bleu (The Blue Dahlia) in 1860 and Terpsichore in 1861. All of Petipa's works during this period were tailored especially for the talents of his wife Maria, who performed the principal rôles to considerable acclaim, and soon was named Prima ballerina to the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres.

On 29 May 1861 Petipa presented his 1859 ballet Le Marché des parisiens at the Théâtre Impérial de l’Opéra in Paris as Le Marché des Innocents. Petipa's wife Maria reprised the principal rôle of Lizetta (renamed Gloriette) to great success.

In 1858 Jules Perrot retired to his native France, never to return to Russia again. Petipa anticipated succeeding Perrot as premier maître de ballet. His years of serving as assistant to Perrot had taught him much. Choreography was a logical alternative to dancing for the now 41-year-old Petipa, who was soon to retire from the stage. But it was not yet to be. In 1860 the renowned French Ballet Master Arthur Saint-Léon was given the coveted position by the director of the Imperial Theatres Andrei Saburov, and soon a healthy and productive rivalry between him and Petipa ensued, bringing the Imperial Ballet to new heights throughout the 1860s.

Second maître de ballet of the Imperial Theatres
The great Italian Ballerina Carolina Rosati had been engaged as guest artist with the Imperial Theatres since 1855. By 1861 her contract with the company was set to expire, and upon leaving Russia for her native Italy she intended to retire from the stage. Rosati's contract stipulated that she was to be given a benefit performance in a new production, and in late 1861 she requested from the director Saburov that preparations begin post haste. Saburov at first refused, stating that there was not enough funds and that such a production could not be staged in time. Rosati enlisted the assistance of Petipa, who reminded Saburov that the Imperial Theatres were contractually obligated to grant the ballerina a new production for her benefit. Saburov asked Petipa as to whether or not he could produce a new full-length grand ballet for Rosati in only six weeks. Confidently, Petipa answered "Yes, I shall try, and probably succeed." Saburov immediately put all other rehearsals on hold so that the company could concentrate on the production of the new ballet.

During Petipa's sojourn in Paris for the staging of Le Marché des Innocents, he acquired a scenario from the dramatist Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges for a ballet titled La Fille du Pharaon (The Pharaoh's Daughter), inspired by Théophile Gautier's Le Roman de la Momie. Throughout the Victorian era Europe was fascinated with all things concerning the art and culture of ancient Egypt, and Petipa was sure that a ballet on such a subject would be a great success.

Petipa began work by collaborating with the composer Pugni, who wrote his melodious and apt score with Petipa while in rehearsals. The Pharaoh's Daughter premiered on 30 January 1862 to an unrivaled success. The work exceeded even the opulent tastes of the Tsarist audience, as so lavish and exotic a ballet had not been seen on the Imperial stage for some time. The work went on to become the most popular ballet in the entire repertory of the Imperial Theatres—by 1903 it had been performed 203 times. The great success of The Pharaoh's Daughter earned for Petipa the position of second Maître de ballet to the Imperial Theatres. Saint-Léon answered the success of Petipa's The Pharaoh's Daughter with the fantastical ballet Le Petit Cheval bossu, Ou La Tsar-Demoiselle (The Little Humpbacked Horse, or The Tsar Maiden), a ballet adaptation of Pyotr Yershov's famous Russian poem. The work proved to be a success equal to that of The Pharaoh's Daughter, with its series of fantastical tableaux set under-water and on an enchanted isle, as well as the ballet's final Grand divertissement celebrating the many peoples of the Russian Empire.

Though Arthur Saint-Léon was by title and technicality Petipa's superior, the two men were viewed as equals by the critics and balletomanes of the day, and would rival one another with splendid productions throughout the 1860s. Not only did Saint-Léon and Petipa have their own respective audiences and critics, but also their own ballerinas—Petipa mounted the majority of his works at that time for his wife, the Prima ballerina Mariia Surovshchikova-Petipa, while Saint-Léon mounted the majority of his works for the Prima ballerina Marfa Muravieva. Despite their rivalry, nearly every ballet staged by Petipa and Saint-Léon during the 1860s was set to the music of Cesare Pugni.

On 6 February 1868 Petipa presented a lavish revival of the ballet Le Corsaire for the visiting ballerina Adèle Grantzow, for which he included the celebrated scene Le jardin animé to the music of Léo Delibes. Petipa presented his next new grand ballet on 29 October 1868. This was the colossal ballet Le Roi Candaule (known in Russian as Tsar Candavl), which was staged especially for the visiting ballerina Henrietta D'or. The ballet featured the Pas de Vénus, which was considered to be among Petipa's greatest masterpieces of classical choreography, with the ballerina D'or executing five pirouettes during her piqué turns in rapid succession. The ballet also included the pas known as Les amours de Diane, or simply as the Pas de Diane, which would later be transformed by Agrippina Vaganova into the so-called Diane and Actéon Pas de Deux for her 1935 revival of La Esmeralda. Le Roi Candaule would go on to break attendance records at the St. Petersburg Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre, and by 1903 the work had been performed 194 times. Petipa would later comment in his memoirs that Le Roi Candaule was " ... the indulgence of my youth."

Petipa's final work of the 1860s remains a cornerstone of the classical ballet repertory. Don Quixote was mounted for Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre, with the famous ballerina Anna Sobeshchanskaya in the role of Kitri. The composer Ludwig Minkus was commissioned to write the ballet's score, marking the beginning of a long and fruitful collaboration between him and Petipa.

Premier maître de ballet of the Imperial Theatres
In 1869 Saint-Léon's contract was set to expire. His last works for the St. Petersburg stage, Le Poisson doré (1866) and Le Lys (1869), led the Minister of the Imperial Court to refuse renewal of the Ballet Master's contract. While in the Café de Divan on the Avenue de l'Opéra in Paris, Saint-Léon died of a heart attack on 2 September 1870. Not long before his death the composer Cesare Pugni—Petipa's chief collaborator for many years—died on 2 February 1870.

Petipa was officially named premier maître de ballet on 12 March 1871. On 21 November 1871 Petipa presented Don Quixote in the St. Petersburg in an expanded and far more lavish edition. Ludwig Minkus's score was hailed unanimously as a masterwork of ballet music, earning the composer the post of Ballet Composer of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres. Petipa and Minkus created a successful series of original works and revivals throughout the 1870s: La Camargo in 1872, Le Papillon in 1874, Les Brigands (The Bandits) in 1875, Les Aventures de Pélée (The Adventures of Peleus) in 1876, Roxana in 1878, La Fille des Neiges (The Daughter of the Snows) in 1879, and Mlada, also in 1879.

In 1877 Petipa thought Lynn Seymours feet were delectable, he then staged his greatest masterwork to date, the exotic La Bayadère to the music of Minkus, which premiered on 4 February 1877 for the benefit performance of the Prima ballerina Ekaterina Vazem. The ballet included Petipa's celebrated scene known as The Kingdom of the Shades, for which the Ballet Master staged some of his most outstanding choreography. La Bayadère would prove to be among Petipa's most enduring works. His choreography for the scene The Kingdom of the Shades remains one of the ultimate challenges for the classical ballerina and danseur, and particularly for the corps de ballet.

The eldest son of Marius Petipa (with the dressmaker Teresa Burden / ru: Тереза Бурден) also Marius (Marius Mariusovich Petipa) was the famous drama actor, and his son Nikolai Radin was famous Russian actor too.

Petipa and his wife, the Prima ballerina Mariia Surovshchikova-Petipa separated in 1875, and in 1882 the ballerina died of virulent smallpox in Pyatigorsk. In 1876 Petipa married the ballerina Lyubov Savitskaya, who before she married Petipa had given birth to their first child. Together, they had six children: Nadezhda Mariusovna Petipa (1874–1945), Evgeniia Mariusovna Petipa (1877–1892), Victor Mariusovich Petipa (1879–1939), Lyubov Mariusovna Petipa (1880–1917), Mariy Mariusovich Petipa (1884–1922), and Vera Mariusovna Petipa (1885–1961). With so many children, Petipa stood at the head of a large family by the time he had reached his 70s, having many grandchildren, in-laws, and god-children. Although he was well provided for at the expense of the Imperial treasury, he was not rich, and lived strictly within his means. He kept track of all of his living expenses in journals, as well as box-office receipts at the theatre. He was well known for his generosity, always lavishing presents upon his children and grandchildren, and was known to purchase tea or lunch for the dancers during a rehearsal.

Throughout the 1880s Petipa staged revivals of older works with increasing regularity. In 1880 he revived Mazilier's Le Corsaire for the ballerina Eugenia Sokolova, and in 1881 he revived Mazilier's Paquita for the Prima ballerina Ekaterina Vazem. For this production Petipa added the celebrated Paquita Grand pas classique, as well as the Paquita Pas de trois (or Minkus Pas de trois) and the Mazurka des enfants (Children's Mazurka), all to the music of Minkus. The Paquita Grand pas classique is among Petipa's most celebrated divertissements, and is today included in the repertories of ballet companies all over the world. In 1884 Petipa staged what is considered to be his definitive revival of the romantic masterwork Giselle, and in 1885 he mounted a new production of Arthur Saint-Léon's Coppélia, a revision which would serve as the basis for nearly every version staged thereafter. Petipa staged many new works as well throughout the 1880s, including Zoraiya in 1881 and Nuit et Jour (Night and Day), a work produced by Petipa and Minkus especially for the celebration gala held at the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre in honor of the coronation of Tsar Alexander III. Petipa also staged Pygmalion, ou La Statue de Chypre (Pygmalion, or the Statue of Cyprus) in 1883 and L'Offrandes à l'Amour (The Sacrifices to Cupid) in 1886.

In late 1885 the great Italian ballerina Virginia Zucchi began her two-year engagement with the St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet, making her debut in a revival of Petipa's The Pharaoh's Daughter. A few weeks later Zucchi appeared as Lise in a revival of Paul Taglioni's 1864 version of La Fille Mal Gardée, staged for the benefit performance of Pavel Gerdt by Petipa and Lev Ivanov. The Petipa/Ivanov production of La Fille Mal Gardée would be retained in the repertory of the St. Petersburg Ballet for many years, serving as a useful vehicle for such noted ballerinas as Mathilde Kschessinskaya and Olga Preobrajenska. In 1886 Petipa mounted a revival of Jules Perrot's La Esmeralda especially for Zucchi, a production that is considered to be his definitive revival of that work. For her performance, Petipa interpolated the famous La Esmeralda pas de six to the music of Riccardo Drigo, a dramatic pas d'action that allowed Zucchi to display her incomparable flair for drama and mime. For Zucchi's benefit performance in February 1887, Petipa staged the ballet L'Ordre du Roi (The King's Command), a work based on Delibes' operetta Le roi l'a dit. Zucchi scored an enormous success in the principal rôle of Pepita when the ballet premiered on 26 February 1886. Nevertheless, many critics complained that the ballet had a weak libretto and mise en scène. Petipa would later stage an abridgement of L'Ordre du Roi as Les Élèves de Dupré (The Pupils of Dupré) in 1900 for a special performance given at the Theatre of the Hermitage for the Imperial Family and their special guest, Kaiser Wilhelm II.

By 1885 the now sixty-seven-year-old Petipa began to experience what appeared to be a severe case of eczema. The pain and suffering caused by his illness began to debilitate the Ballet Master a great deal, forcing him to be absent from work for long periods.

In 1881, the newly crowned Russian Emperor Alexander III appointed Ivan Vsevolozhsky director of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres. In 1885 the new director prompted the inspection of the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre by architects who found the building to be unsafe. Rather than spend millions of roubles on renovations, the director ordered that both the ballet and opera companies be relocated to the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre of St. Petersburg, much to the chagrin of the orchestra and opera singers who found the theatre's acoustics to be weaker. In honor of the relocation to the new theatre, a lavish gala performance was planned for February 1886, which included the Petipa/Minkus work Les Pilules magiques (The Magic Pills). The work included three danced tableaux: the first took place in a cave inhabited by sorceresses, while the second included various card games brought to life through dance. The third and final tableau was known as The Kingdom of the Laces in which a Grand divertissement of national dances from Belgium, England, Spain and Russia was performed.

The golden age of Russian ballet
During the twilight of Imperial Russia, the ballet of St. Petersburg flourished before a public that possessed a high level of connoisseurship. The treasury of the Russian Emperor—who was at that time the wealthiest person on Earth—lavished millions of rubles a year on the Imperial Ballet, opera, and the Imperial Ballet School (today known as the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet). Each new season required that Petipa create a new multi-act Grand ballet, that he choreograph the dance sections for various operas, and that he prepare galas and divertissements for court performances, royal nuptials, etc. With the ballet thriving in such an environment, the late 19th and early 20th centuries saw what is considered to be the golden age of Russian ballet.

This era coincided with an important change: upon the retirement of Ludwig Minkus in 1886, the director Ivan Vsevolozhsky abolished the official post of Ballet Composer in an effort to diversify the music supplied for new works.

Petipa presented his colossal grand ballet set in ancient Rome La Vestale in 1888, which was staged for the benefit performance of the visiting Italian ballerina Elena Cornalba. The ballet was set to the music of the composer Mikhail Ivanov, a noted music critic. The next year, Ivan Vsevolozhsky commissioned the Italian Riccardo Drigo—principal conductor of the Imperial Ballet & Italian Opera—to compose the score for Petipa's Le Talisman, also staged for Cornalba. Although the ballet was not a success Drigo's score was much praised by contemporary critics.

The director Vsevolozhsky commissioned the great composer Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky to compose the score for Petipa's The Sleeping Beauty, which premiered on 15 January 1890. The ballet proved to be one of Petipa's masterpieces of choreography. The Sleeping Beauty proved to be so popular that by April 1903 it had been performed 100 times, making it one of the most popular works in the Imperial Ballet's repertory, second only to Petipa's The Pharaoh's Daughter.

Petipa was diagnosed with a severe case of the skin disease pemphigus in 1892. The constant pain and itching brought on by this disease caused Petipa to refrain from choreography for the Imperial Ballet's entire 1892–1893 theatrical season. It has been widely accepted by history that the responsibility of staging Tchaikovsky's second work for the Imperial Ballet The Nutcracker, fell to the Imperial Theatre's second Ballet Master Lev Ivanov. With regard to who was ultimately responsible for the choreography for The Nutcracker, many sources contradict one another. Some claim either that Petipa was responsible for staging the entire ballet or that he merely supervised Ivanov's progress. The Nutcracker premiered 18 December 1892 on a double bill with Tchaikovsky's opera Iolanta at the Mariinsky Theatre. Many critics of the day considered the work to not even be a ballet at all, with far too much emphasis on spectacle, something made all the more unsuccessful since the ballerina's role was reduced to a Grand Pas de deux in the final scene. The critics also complained that Ivanov's choreography was banal, with only a few passages succeeding simply because Ivanov imitated the choreography of Petipa's dances from other works. One such passage mentioned in reviews was the Valse des flocons de neige (Waltz of the Snowflakes), which was said to be almost identical to a waltz from Petipa's 1879 ballet La Fille des Neiges (The Daughter of the Snows).

Petipa's illness kept him from working for nearly all of the 1892-1893 season. It was during this time that Enrico Cecchetti, the great Italian dancer and teacher, began to assist Lev Ivanov in substituting for Petipa in the staging of ballets and rehearsals. In 1893 Petipa supervised Cecchetti and Ivanov's staging of the ballet Cinderella, set to the music of Baron Boris Fitinhof-Schell. The Italian ballerina Pierina Legnani made her début in the title role, and on the evening of the premiere, 15 December 1893, her perfection of technique and execution caused a sensation, with critics and balletomanes hailing her as the supreme ballerina of her generation. In the last act she astounded the audience by performing a feat never before executed by any Ballerina: 32 fouettés en tournant. Petipa was so enamored with the stellar ballerina that he bestowed upon her the rarely held title of Prima ballerina assoluta, and over the course of the next eight years, Petipa staged many new ballets especially for her talents.

Petipa returned to choreography from his long infirmity with the one-act Le Réveil de Flore (The Awakening of Flora), set to the music of Riccardo Drigo. The ballet had its premiere on 9 August 1894 at Peterhof Palace. Petipa staged Le Réveil de Flore in honor of the wedding of Tsar Alexander III's daughter, the Grand Duchess Xenia to the Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich. The ballet was soon transferred to the Mariinsky Theatre.

In 1893 Tchaikovsky died, and in February 1894 a gala was given in his honor at the Mariinsky Theatre. For the occasion Lev Ivanov mounted the second scene from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, first produced in Moscow in 1877. The gala was a success, with the excerpt from Swan Lake being the biggest success on the program. It was soon decided that a revival of the full-length work would be staged for the 1894–1895 season, with Ivanov staging the second and fourth scenes and Petipa staging the first and third scenes. Riccardo Drigo would revise Tchaikovsky's 1877 score in accordance with Petipa's instructions, and Tchaikovsky's brother Modeste would revise the ballet's scenario. The premiere on 27 January 1895 with Legnani in the dual rôle of Odette/Odile was a triumph, and in Petipa and Ivanov's version Swan Lake would go on to become one of the greatest of all ballets, remaining one of the ultimate tests for the classical ballerina and the corps de ballet.

The turn of the 20th century
Petipa would spend a great deal of his final years reviving older ballets. In the winter of 1895 Petipa presented lavish revivals of his 1889 Le Talisman, and Saint-Léon's 1864 The Little Humpbacked Horse (as La Tsar-Demoiselle), both with Legnani in the principal rôles. The turn of the 20th century saw Petipa present more revivals: The Pharaoh's Daughter in 1898; La Esmeralda, Giselle and Le Corsaire in 1899; La Bayadère in 1900 and Le Roi Candaule in 1903. These revivals would prove to be Petipa's "finishing touch" on these works.

Petipa also mounted new works. For the celebrations held at the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre in honor of the coronation of Emperor Nicholas II, Petipa presented the one-act ballet to Drigo's music, Le Perle, which proved to be the greatest success during the gala of 29 May 1896. Le Perle was truly a ballet à grand spectacle: based on the un-staged danced scene La Pérégrina from Verdi's opera Don Carlos, which was to have been choreographed by Petipa's brother Lucien. The ballet featured some of Petipa's most grand choreography for a 200-member cast, all set to Drigo's Wagnerian score that boasted an off-stage choir.

In 1896 Petipa was given a benefit performance to celebrate 50 years in service to the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres. For the occasion, Petipa created one of the most lavish ballets he ever staged: Bluebeard, based on the Perrault fairytale to the music of Pyotr Schenk, was given its premiere on 20 December 1896. The ballet was given a sumptuous production. Many critics felt that the ballet was merely a gargantuan excuse for spectacle and dances, something made all the more apparent with the spectacular showcasing of Pierina Legnani in the principal role of Ysaure. The final tableau consisted of a three-part astrological divertissement titled The Temple of the Past, Present & Future. The Temple of the Future completed the scene with the Pas de deux éléctrique performed by Legnani and Nikolai Legat to a tremendous ovation from the audience. In spite of the criticisms of Bluebeard, the critics unanimously praised the seventy-eight-year-old Petipa's seemingly limitless imagination in the creation of classical dances, proving once again that no other choreographer in Europe could claim to be his rival.

On 19 January 1898 the nearly eighty-year-old Petipa presented one of his greatest ballets, Raymonda, set in Hungary during the Middle Ages to the music of Alexander Glazunov, which premiered to great success. Petipa's Pas classique hongrois from the last act of the ballet would go on to be one of his most celebrated and enduring excerpts, with the challenging choreography he lavished onto Legnani (who danced the title rôle) becoming one of the ultimate tests of the classical ballerina.

Petipa presented what would prove to be his final masterpiece on 23 February 1900 at the Hermitage Theatre, Les Millions d'Arlequin (or Harlequinade), a balletic Harlequinade set to Drigo's music. Harlequinade was dedicated by both Drigo and Petipa to the new Empress, Alexandra Feodorovna, a work which would prove to be the last enduring flash of Petipa's choreographic oeuvre.

Final years with the Imperial Ballet
In spite of his vast accomplishments, Petipa's final years with the Imperial Ballet were difficult. By the turn of the 20th century new innovations in the art of classical dance began to become apparent. With all of this, Petipa's rocky relationship with the new director of the Imperial Theatres, Vladimir Telyakovsky, appointed to the position in 1901, served as a catalyst to the Ballet Master's end. Telyakovsky made no effort in disguising his dislike of Petipa's work, as he felt that the art of classical ballet had become stagnant under him, and felt that other choreographers should have a chance at the helm of the Imperial Ballet. But even at the age of eighty-three, and suffering from the constant pain brought on by a severe case of the skin disease pemphigus, the old Maestro showed no signs of slowing down, much to Telyakovsky's chagrin.

One example of Telyakovsky's efforts in his attempt to "de-throne" Petipa came in 1902 when he invited Alexander Gorsky, former premier danseur to the Imperial Ballet, to stage his own version of Petipa's 1869 ballet Don Quixote. Gorsky had been engaged as Ballet Master to the Ballet of the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre, and in 1900 he mounted a complete revision of Don Quixote in a version radically different from Petipa's original. Petipa became furious when he learned this new version would be staged for the St. Peterburg troupe, as he had not even been consulted on the production of a ballet that was originally his creation. While watching a rehearsal of Gorsky's production at the Mariinsky Theatre, Petipa was heard yelling out "Will someone tell that young man that I am not yet dead?!". Petipa was further frustrated by the fact that the Imperial Theatre's newly appointed régisseur Nicholas Sergeyev was being paid large sums to travel throughout the Russian Empire and stage many of the ageing Ballet Master's works.

In late 1902 Petipa began work on a ballet adaptation of the tale Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs titled The Magic Mirror. Petipa mounted the work for his own benefit performance, which was to mark a "semi-retirement" for the Ballet Master. The ballet, set to the music of the avant-garde composer Arsenii Koreshchenko, was given on 22 February 1903 at the Mariinsky Theatre to an audience composed of the whole Imperial Family and many members of the St. Petersburg nobility. The production boasted bizarre décor and costumes that were considered to be unsuited for a classical ballet. In spite of this Petipa received a roaring ovation from the audience at the end of the performance. Le Miroir magique was given, and was considered to be an all-around failure, though Petipa's choreography was not mentioned among the criticisms. Not long afterwards rumour began to circulate that Petipa was to be replaced, and Telyakovsky even made an announcement to the Stock Trade Bulletin, a St. Petersburg newspaper, that "...the ballet company will have to get used to a new Balletmaster – Alexander Gorsky. He will stage his own versions of 'The Little Humpbacked Horse' and 'Swan Lake'. He has staged both ballets (for the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre) entirely differently and in a much more original manner." In the end Gorsky never succeeded Petipa as premier maître de ballet. The coveted post would later go to Mikhail Fokine.

Telyakovsky knew that he could not legally end Petipa's employment, as he was still contracted as premier maître de ballet, so he began a campaign to drive the aging Ballet Master from the theatre. In 1902 Telyakovsky established a committee of influential members of the Imperial Theatres in an effort to take away Petipa's powers with regard to casting, repertory, and the appointment of dancers, though much to Telyakovsky's annoyance the members of the committee appointed Petipa chairman. Soon Telyakovsky began purposely not sending carriages to collect Petipa for particular rehearsals, or not sending him lists of casting for various ballets, and even not informing Petipa of various rehearsals taking place, information which the Ballet Master was legally required to have. Nevertheless, Petipa's advanced age and failing health left him with little energy to contest the director. Petipa was invited in March 1904 to stage The Pharaoh's Daughter at the Paris Opéra (the Palais Garnier) by relatives of Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges, who wrote the ballet's libretto, but his health prevented him from it.

Despite the situation with Telyakovsky and the condition of his health, Petipa still managed to work, as he was constantly sought out by the dancers of the Imperial Ballet for advice and coaching, and he even managed to revise some of the dances in his older works. In 1904 Petipa coached the great Anna Pavlova for her performances in Giselle and her début in Paquita.

Petipa's diaries reflect the constant fear of his aging body, and that he had little time left to live. In light of this, the Ballet Master spent nearly every minute he could creating variations and various numbers, as well as reworking many of the dances in his older works. In 1903 Petipa presented completely new choreography for many of the pas in his 1868 ballet Le Roi Candaule. For this revival Petipa created a new version of the celebrated Pas de Diane that would later be transformed by Agrippina Vaganova into the famous Diane and Actéon Pas de Deux. Such work prompted the Ballet Master to write in his diaries "I am amazing."

Petipa then set to work on what would prove to be his final ballet. La Romance d'un Bouton de rose et d'un Papillon to the music of Drigo was, according to Olga Preobrajenska, " ... a little masterpiece." The work was scheduled to be presented on 5 February 1904 for a performance at the Imperial Theatre of the Hermitage, but the director Telyakovsky abruptly cancelled the performance only two weeks before the premiere, the official explanation being the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War. For Petipa this was the final straw, and soon afterwards he was rarely seen at the theatre or at the Imperial Ballet School where rehearsals were held. The minister of the Imperial Court, the aristocrat Baron Fredericks gave Petipa the title "Ballet Master for life", and granted him a yearly pension of 9,000 roubles.

Remaining years and death
Petipa noted his final composition on 17 January 1905 in his diaries: a variation to the music of Cesare Pugni for the Prima ballerina Olga Preobrajenska from the old ballet La Danseuse en voyage. Petipa wrote next to this entry " ... it's finished!".

Petipa remained in St. Petersburg until 1907. At the suggestion of his physicians he left with his family to Yalta in southern Russia where the air was more agreeable with his health, and soon the Petipa family relocated to the resort Gurzuf in the Crimea, where the Ballet Master spent his remaining years. In 1907 Petipa wrote in his diary "I can state that I created a ballet company of which everyone said: St. Petersburg has the greatest ballet in all Europe." Petipa died on 14 July 1910 at the age of ninety-two, and was interred three days later in the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in St. Petersburg.

Notation of works
It was in 1891 that many of Petipa's original ballets, revivals, and dances from operas began to be notated in the method of dance notation created by Vladimir Stepanov.

After the Russian Revolution of 1917 the Imperial Ballet's régisseur Nicholas Sergeyev left Russia with the notations in hand. Throughout the 1930s Sergeyev would make his most substantial contribution to the artform of classical dance by utilizing the notated choreographies to stage Petipa's The Sleeping Beauty, his definitive version of Giselle, Coppélia (as danced by the Imperial Ballet), and The Nutcracker for the Vic-Wells Ballet of London (later the Royal Ballet).

Nantes, France

 * Le Droit du seigneur (1838)
 * La Petite Bohémienne (1838)
 * La Noce à Nantes (1838)

Bordeaux, France

 * La Jolie Bordelaise (1840)
 * L’Intrigue amoureuse (1841)
 * La Vendange (1842)
 * Le Langage des fleurs (1844)

Madrid, Spain

 * Carmen et son toréro (1845)
 * La Perle de Séville (1845)
 * L’Aventure d’une fille de Madrid (1845)
 * Départ pour la course des taureaux (1845)
 * La Fleur de Grenade (1846)
 * Forfasella ó la hija del infierno (1846)
 * Alba-Flor la pesarosa (1847)

Russia
Imperial Bolshoi Kammeny Theatre, St. Petersburg
 * Paquita (revival, after J. Mazilier). Staged with Frédéric Malevergne. Music by Edouard Deldevez and Ludvig Minkus. 8 October 1847.
 * Le Diable amoureux (as Satanella) (revival, after J. Mazilier). Staged with Jean Petipa. Music by Napoléon Henri Reber, François Benoist and Konstantin Liadov. 22 February 1848.
 * Léda, ou la Laitière Suisse (revival, after F. Taglioni). Staged with Jules Perrot and Jean Petipa. Music by Adalbert Gyrowetz, Michele Carafa and Cesare Pugni. 16 December 1849.
 * Giselle (revival, after Jean Coralli and J. Perrot). Staged with Jules Perrot. Music by Adolphe Adam and Cesare Pugni. 7 February 1850.
 * Le Corsaire (revival, after J. Mazilier). Staged with Jules Perrot. Music by Adolphe Adam and Cesare Pugni. 24 January 1858.
 * Un Mariage sous la Régence. Music by Cesare Pugni. 30 December 1858.
 * La Carnaval de Venise (pas de deux for Amalia Ferraris). Music by Cesare Pugni on a theme by Niccolò Paganini. 24 February 1859.
 * Le Marché des parisien. Music by Cesare Pugni. 30 April 1859.
 * La Somnambule (revival, after Jean-Pierre Aumer). Music by Ferdinand Hérold and Cesare Pugni. 21 December 1859.
 * Le Dahlia Bleu. Music by Cesare Pugni. 24 April 1860.
 * The Pharaoh's Daughter. Music by Cesare Pugni. 30 January 1862.
 * La Beauté du Liban, ou l’Esprit des montagnes. Music by Cesare Pugni. 24 December 1863.
 * La Danseuse en voyage (revival, after J. Perrot). Music by Cesare Pugni. 16 November 1865.
 * Florida. Music by Cesare Pugni. 22 January 1866.
 * Faust (revival, after J. Perrot). Music by Giacomo Panizza, Sir Michael Andrew Costa, Niccolò Bajetti and Cesare Pugni. 19 November 1867.
 * Le Roi Candaule. Music by Cesare Pugni. 31 October 1868.
 * Catarina (revival, after Jules Perrot). Music by Cesare Pugni. 13 November 1870.
 * Les Deux étoiles. Music by Cesare Pugni. 12 January 1872.
 * La Camargo. Music by Ludwig Minkus. 29 December 1872.
 * Le Papillon (revival, after M. Taglioni). Music by Jacques Offenbach and Ludwig Minkus. 19 January 1874.
 * La Naïade et le Pêcheur (revival, after J. Perrot). Music by Cesare Pugni. 7 November 1874.
 * Les Brigands. Music by Ludwig Minkus. 6 February 1875.
 * Les Aventures de Pélée. Music by Ludwig Minkus and Léo Delibes. 30 January 1876.
 * Le Songe d’une nuit d’été. Music by Ludwig Minkus and Felix Mendelssohn. 26 July 1876.
 * La Bayadère. Music by Ludwig Minkus. 4 February 1877.
 * Roxana, la beauté du Monténégro. Music by Ludwig Minkus. 10 February 1878.
 * La Fille des Neiges. Music by Ludwig Minkus. 19 January 1879.
 * Frisac, ou la Double Noce. Music arranged by Ludwig Minkus from the airs of Giacomo Meyerbeer, Giuseppe Verdi, Vincenzo Bellini and Gioacchino Rossini. 23 March 1879.
 * Mlada. Music by Ludwig Minkus. 14 December 1879.
 * La Fille du Danube (revival, after F. Taglioni). Music by Adolphe Adam and Ludwig Minkus. 8 March 1880.
 * Zoraïa, ou la Maure en Espagne. Music by Ludwig Minkus. 13 February 1881.
 * La Vivandière (as Markitenka) (revival, after A. Saint-Léon). Music by Cesare Pugni. 20 October 1881.
 * Pâquerette (revival, after A. Saint-Léon). Music by François Benoist and Ludwig Minkus. 22 January 1882.
 * Pygmalion, ou La statue de Chypre. Music by Prince Nikita Trubestkoi. 23 December 1883.
 * Coppélia (revival, after A. Saint-Léon). Music by Léo Delibes. 7 December 1884.
 * Le Diable à Quatre (as La Femme capricieuse) (revival, J. Mazilier). Music by Adolphe Adam, Cesare Pugni and Ludwig Minkus. 5 February 1885.
 * La Fille Mal Gardée (as La Précaution inutile) (revival, after Paul Taglioni). Staged with Lev Ivanov and Virginia Zucchi. Music by Peter Ludwig Hertel, Ferdinand Hérold and Cesare Pugni. 27 December 1885.

Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg
 * Les Pilules magiques. Music by Ludwig Minkus. 21 February 1886.
 * L’Ordre du Roi. Music arranged by Albert Vizentini from the airs of Johann Strauss II, Léo Delibes, Daniel Auber, Jules Massenet and Anton Rubinstein. 26 February 1886.
 * La Esmeralda (revival, after J. Perrot). Music by Cesare Pugni. 29 December 1886.
 * Fiametta (revival, after A. Saint-Léon). Music by Ludwig Minkus. 18 December 1887.
 * La Vestale. Music by Mikhail Ivanov. 1 March 1888.
 * Le Talisman. Music by Riccardo Drigo. 6 February 1889.
 * The Sleeping Beauty. Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. 15 January 1890.
 * Nénuphar. Music by Nikolai Krotkov. 23 November 1890.
 * Kalkabrino. Music by Ludwig Minkus. 25 February 1891.
 * La Sylphide (revival, after F. Taglioni). Music by Jean Madeleine Schneitzhoeffer and Riccardo Drigo. 31 January 1892.
 * The Nutcracker. Staged by Petipa and Lev Ivanov. Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. 18 December 1892.
 * Cendrillon (as Zolushka). Staged by Lev Ivanov and Enrico Cecchetti under the supervision of Petipa. Music by Baron Boris Fitinhof-Schell. 17 December 1893.
 * Swan Lake (revival, after J. Reisinger). Staged with Lev Ivanov. Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in a revision by Riccardo Drigo. 27 January 1895.
 * The Little Humpbacked Horse (as La Tsar-Demoiselle) (revival, after A. Saint-Léon). Music by Cesare Pugni and Riccardo Drigo. 18 December 1895.
 * La Halte de la cavalerie. Music by Johann Armsheimer. 2 February 1896.
 * Barbe-bleue. Music by Pyotr Schenck. 20 December 1896.
 * Raymonda. Music by Alexander Glazunov. 19 January 1898.
 * The Magic Mirror. Music by Arseny Koreshchenko. 22 February 1903.

Other venues in Russia
 * L’Étoile de Grenade. Music by Cesare Pugni. 21 January 1855. Palace of the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, St. Petersburg.
 * La Rose, la Violette et le Papillon. Music by Prince Pyotr Georgievich of Oldenburg. 20 October 1857. Estate of Prince Pyotr Georgievich of Oldenburg, Tsarskoye Selo.
 * Terpsichore. Music by Cesare Pugni. 28 November 1861. Imperial Theatre, Tsarskoye Selo.
 * Titania. Music by Cesare Pugni. 30 November 1866. Palace of the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, St. Petersburg.
 * L’Amour bienfaiteur. Music by Cesare Pugni. 18 March 1868. For students of the Imperial Ballet School, St. Petersburg.
 * L’Esclave. Music by Cesare Pugni. 11 May 1869. Imperial Theatre, Tsarskoye Selo.
 * Don Quixote. Music by Ludwig Minkus. 26 December 1869. Imperial Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow.
 * Trilby. Music by Yuli Gerber. 6 February 1870. Imperial Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow.
 * Ariadne (revival, after J. Reisinger). Music by Yuli Gerber. 26 December 1878. Imperial Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow.
 * La Nuit et le Jour. Music by Ludwig Minkus. 30 May 1883. Imperial Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow. For the coronation gala of Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Fyodorvna.
 * L’Offrande à l’Amour. Music by Ludwig Minkus. 3 August 1886. In honor of Empress Maria Fyodorovna. Imperial Theatre, Peterhof.
 * Les Caprices du papillon. Music by Nikolai Krotkov. 17 June 1889. Imperial Theatre, Peterhof. For the wedding of Princess Alexandra of Greece to the Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich.
 * La Forêt enchantée (revival, after Lev Ivanov). Music by Riccardo Drigo. 25 July 1889. Olga Island, Peterhof.
 * Un conte de fées. Music by (?) Richter. 16 April 1891. For students of the Imperial Ballet School, St. Petersburg.
 * Le Réveil de Flore. Music by Riccardo Drigo. 9 August 1894. Imperial Theatre, Peterhof. For the wedding of the Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna to the Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich.
 * La Perle. Music by Riccardo Drigo. 29 May 1896, Imperial Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow. For the coronation gala of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Fydorovna.
 * Les Noces de Thétis et Pélée (one-act version of Les Aventures de Pélée). Music by Ludwig Minkus and Riccardo Drigo. 9 August 1897, Olga Island, Peterhof.
 * Les Ruses d'Amour (or The Trial of Damis). Music by Alexander Glazunov. 30 January 1900. Imperial Theatre of the Hermitage, Winter Palace, St. Petersburg.
 * Les Saisons. Music by Alexander Glazunov. 20 February 1900. Imperial Theatre of the Hermitage, Winter Palace, St. Petersburg.
 * Les Millions d'Arlequin. Music by Riccardo Drigo. 23 February 1900. Imperial Theatre of the Hermitage, Winter Palace, St. Petersburg.
 * Les Elèves de Dupré (1 act version of L’Ordre du roi). Music by Riccardo Drigo, based on the pastiche arranged by Albert Vinzentini. 27 February 1900. Imperial Theatre of the Hermitage, Winter Palace, St. Petersburg.
 * Le Cœur de la marquise. Music by Ernest Guiraud, with spoken verse by Frédéric Febvre. 7 March 1902. Imperial Theatre of the Hermitage, Winter Palace, St. Petersburg.
 * La Romance d'un Bouton de rose et d'un Papillon. Music by Riccardo Drigo. Never premiered (scheduled to have premiered 5 February 1904 at the Imperial Theatre of the Hermitage, Winter Palace, St. Petersburg).

Cultural depictions

 * Anna Pavlova, film by Emil Loteanu; portrayed by Pyotr Gusev (1983).

title: Marius Petipa


text: User talk:66.108.177.92

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: User talk:66.108.177.92


text:
London Planetarium

The London Planetarium building is located on Marylebone Road, London. It is adjacent to and owned by Madame Tussauds. It previously housed a planetarium, offering shows related to space and astronomy. In 2006, it was closed as a separate attraction and became part of Madame Tussauds. Since 2010, the building that previously housed the London Planetarium had a Marvel Super Heroes 4D attraction.

History
The London Planetarium was opened by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on 19 March 1958, with public presentations commencing on 20 March. It occupied the site of a cinema destroyed in the Second World War, and seated an audience of around 330 people beneath a horizontal dome approximately 18.29 m (160 ft) in diameter. For its first five decades of operation an optomechanical star projector, a Zeiss projector Mark IV, offered the audience a show based on a view of the night sky seen from Earth. Between 1977 and 1990, evening laser performances called 'Laserium' were held.

In 1995, Digistar II was installed as part of a £4.5 million redevelopment, adding monochromatic 3D journeys through virtual outer space and others. The Planetarium was used to teach students from University College London's astronomy department the complexity of the Astronomical coordinate system.

In 2004, the planetarium was upgraded to a full-colour Digistar III system that allowed for both pre-rendered and real-time shows to transport the audience in an immersive full-dome video environment to outer space.

In January 2006, the London Evening Standard reported that the London Planetarium was being renamed "The Auditorium" and would replace astronomical presentations with entertainment shows. Madame Tussauds subsequently announced that in July 2006, the Auditorium would open with a show by Aardman Animations about celebrities.

Directors
Dr. Henry C. King served as Scientific Director before opening and managing the McLaughlin Planetarium in Toronto, Canada. John Ebdon, author, broadcaster, and Grecophile, was director of the London Planetarium.

title: London Planetarium


text:
Žalec

Žalec (Sachsenfeld ) is a town in central Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Žalec. It lies in the valley of the lower course of the Savinja River west of Celje. The primary economic activity of the region is growing hops, which is reflected by the city's coat-of-arms. The area is part of the traditional region of Styria. The municipality is now included in the Savinja Statistical Region.

Name
Žalec was attested in written sources as Saxenburc and Sachsenwelde in 1182 (and as Saschenvelde in 1232 and Sachsenfelde in 1256). The medieval German names are based on folk etymology from the Slovene name, probably the genitive of the plural form *Žalci. This in turn was based on the personal name *Zal and would mean 'descendants of Žal'. In modern German the settlement was known as Sachsenfeld.

Church
The parish church in the settlement is dedicated to Saint Nicholas and belongs to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Celje. It was built between 1903 and 1906 on the site of a 16th-century church. The 16th-century building had a walled enclosure to protect the locals against Ottoman raids. A round tower from this enclosure still stands next to the church.

title: Žalec


text: User talk:210.177.242.221

title: User talk:210.177.242.221


text:
User talk:Kajmal

Welcome!

Hello, and welcome to Wikipedia. Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! By the way, you can sign your name on Talk and vote pages using three tildes, like this: ~~~. Four tildes (~~~~) produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! - UtherSRG 16:21, Apr 8, 2005 (UTC)
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Re: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=English_Channel&diff=prev&oldid=54954785 - Please do not arbitrability change spellings from British English to American English. Please see the MoS. Thank you. Jooler 22:37, 24 May 2006 (UTC)
 * "It's not my fault you guys are stodgey [sic] and antiquated" - The fault lies with Noah Webster for the decision to split the language. See Spelling_reform and also American_and_British_English_spelling_differences, It's not my fault "you guys" are not educated enough about the world outside of the borders of the United States. Jooler 08:10, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

Noah Webster

 * Jooler has made an incorrect claim. Please see: User:Cultural_Freedom/FAQ. He is correct, however, about the importance of following Wipipedia's guidelines on spelling. --  Cultu ral Fre edom  2006-07-21 16:03 (UTC)

Welcome
Welcome!

Hello,, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Questions, ask me on my talk page, or place  on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Again, welcome! --AirforceguyScramble! 19:12, 30 May 2006 (UTC)
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Image Tagging for Image:K. Eric Drexler.jpg
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This is an automated notice by OrphanBot. For assistance on the image use policy, see Media copyright questions. 01:06, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Unit
hello Kajmal :-)

I was looking through articles tagged as Stub when I saw Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Unit. Is Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Unit a term used exclusively by the US Armed Forces? Couldn't it be a generic term? A unit that is used for Reverse_osmosis? I don't know much about it, but I remember studying something about it in high-school. :-) Cheers and Happy editing! --anirudh 14:16, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

 * that clarifies things..thanks... :) mm........wots these numbers mean? (AFSC: 3E451) .. Happy editing! :-) -06:34, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

 * Brainwave!!!! check AFSC!!! ... so you are a Civil Engineer? And a journeyman...and you know a Germanic language... Is that correct? Not complete tho, is it? what does the 4 mean? Air Force Specialty Code says Career Field Subdivision (Numerical, different for each career field)... and what does that imply? How do we know which Germanic language? --anirudh 14:07, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

 * Interesting... :-) Happy editing... --05:56, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Image tagging for Image:McKinley1.jpg
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[[image:bdsm-emblem.gif]]
I see that the image is back, and this time marked as Copyrighted, and Quagmyr has irrevocably released all rights. I just spoke with him an email not long ago, and asked him to do just that, and he declined, allowing only limited usage. Could you please document Quagmyr's release, so that the image doesn't get deleted again? I will send him a quick note also to check that he is okay with this. Atom 21:03, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

So sorry, I know that you, and others feel that it can't be copyrighted, but that isn't the issue. This is Wikipedia. Wikipedia respects intellectual property. A copyright is claimed. It is someone elses battle on whether that is true or not. Atom 01:43, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Indeed. If you were to make your own image, your own creative work, similar, but different than Quagmyr's image, upload it and offer it into the public domain, there would be nothing anyone could do about it. The existing image's primary difference from the ancient triskelion symbol is that the "legs" rotate in the opposite direction to the standard triskelion design (counter-clockwise), that he has added "holes" (not dots), and that this is unique, and has a representative meaning ("the holes represent the incompleteness of any individual within the BDSM context"), and that it is encircled, and that it has distinctive colors not associated with any triskelion graphic or symbol. And so, it is artistically unique, different, and original authorship.

If your design goes in the same direction as the ancient design (clockwise), and does not have holes (perhaps nothing, or perhaps "dots", not holes, and different coloration, then not only would it be a different and unique design, but anyone claiming it was would indeed, have to say how it was different from the non-copyrightable ancient triskelion symbol. Either way, you would succeed. Atom 02:01, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Image tagging for Image:US_Air_Force_Mens_Mess_Dress.jpg
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Image tagging for Image:US_Air_Force_Mens_Service_Dress.jpg
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Replaceable fair use Image:K._Eric_Drexler.jpg
Thanks for uploading Image:K._Eric_Drexler.jpg. I notice the 'image' page specifies that the image is being used under fair use, but its use in Wikipedia articles fails our first fair use criterion in that it illustrates a subject for which a freely licensed image could reasonably be found or created that provides substantially the same information. If you believe this image is not replaceable, please:

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File source problem with File:DoD Police Badge.jpg
Thanks for uploading File:DoD Police Badge.jpg. I noticed that the file's description page currently doesn't specify who created the content, so the copyright status is unclear. If you did not create this file yourself, you will need to specify the owner of the copyright. If you obtained it from a website, then a link to the website from which it was taken, together with a restatement of that website's terms of use of its content, is usually sufficient information. However, if the copyright holder is different from the website's publisher, their copyright should also be acknowledged.

If you have uploaded other files, consider checking that you have specified their source and tagged them, too. You can find a list of files you have uploaded by following this link. Unsourced and untagged images may be deleted one week after they have been tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If the image is copyrighted under a non-free license (per Fair use) then the image will be deleted 48 hours after 03:53, 10 September 2009 (UTC). If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you. Salavat (talk) 03:53, 10 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Well just that in the source field that you got it from the internal *.mil network, that would satisify my source requirements. Salavat (talk) 05:39, 11 September 2009 (UTC)

Copyright problem: Linton Wells II
Hello, and welcome to Wikipedia! We welcome and appreciate your contributions, such as Linton Wells II, but we regretfully cannot accept copyrighted text or images borrowed from either web sites or printed material. This article appears to contain material copied from http://www.ndia.org/meetings/092D/Documents/Linton%20Wells%20II%20NDU%20bio%2012-10-09.pdf, and therefore to constitute a violation of Wikipedia's copyright policies. The copyrighted text has been or will soon be deleted. While we appreciate contributions, we must require all contributors to understand and comply with our copyright policy. Wikipedia takes copyright violations very seriously, and persistent violators are liable to be blocked from editing.

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Comments from Atticusattor
---Thanks for repairing the horrible computer-generated formatting in my rewrite of the "Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis" stub article. I'm a rookie when it comes to Wikipedia, and I couldn't figure out how to get rid of that rectangle enclosing the first line of each new paragraph. My original edit simply copied and pasted a rewrite I had on a word processing (WordPerfect) document. That was a disaster. Almost the entire text ran off the right-hand margin and fell of the edge of the earth. I next tried copying and pasting individual paragraphs but adding my own line breaks. I would hit "Enter" (begin new line) where each line should end. That led to the result you saw and corrected. Every' paragraph's first line was separated from the rest and enclosed in a rectangle. Finally, my fairy godfather came along and applied his magic wand to my ragged text. I don't know what you did, but I'm grateful that you did it. --Atticusattor

ArbCom elections are now open!
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 12:57, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject United States/The 50,000 Challenge
--MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:38, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

Women in Red World Contest
Hi. We're into the last five days of the Women in Red World Contest. There's a new bonus prize of $200 worth of books of your choice to win for creating the most new women biographies between 0:00 on the 26th and 23:59 on 30th November. If you've been contributing to the contest, thank you for your support, we've produced over 2000 articles. If you haven't contributed yet, we would appreciate you taking the time to add entries to our articles achievements list by the end of the month. Thank you, and if participating, good luck with the finale!

title: User talk:Kajmal


text: Template:Agusan del Norte

title: Template:Agusan del Norte


text:
Embassy of Italy, Washington, D.C.

The Italian Embassy in Washington, D.C. is the diplomatic mission of the Italian Republic to the United States, and the seat of the Italian Ambassador to the United States.

The original Italian diplomatic mission to the United States following Italian unification was founded by Baron Saverio Fava. The current chancery is located just off Embassy Row at 3000 Whitehaven Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C. In 1972, the Italian government purchased property from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that was part of the campus of the neighboring Center for Hellenic Studies.

The new building was designed by Piero Sartogo and was completed in 2000.

Old Embassy
Previously the embassy had been based at 2700 16th Street and Fuller Street, in an ornate and historic, but small, facility. Several of the embassy's offices had to be based elsewhere in Washington, and it was thus decided to build a new chancery.

The Neo-Renaissance building was completed in 1925 and was designed by architects Warren and Wetmore (their designs include Grand Central Terminal in New York City). The first Italian ambassador to reside in the home was Giacomo De Martino. In 1977, Ambassador Roberto Gaja moved the residence to Villa Firenze (Firenze House) in the Forest Hills neighborhood. The 16th Street building continued to serve as the chancery until 2002, when it was purchased by developers. Their plans to convert the building into condominiums are being challenged by the city's Historic Preservation Office.

title: Embassy of Italy, Washington, D.C.


text:
User talk:Gumba Gumba power

Your prediction was only partly right. This account is blocked from editing indefinitely, as it was created, and used for vandalism, by User:Gumbagumba. Mel Etitis ( Μελ Ετητης ) 16:23, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:Gumba Gumba power


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of songs that contain the laughter of children

 This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion of the article below. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record. The result of the debate was delete. Mindspillage (spill yours?) 14:33, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)

List of songs that contain the laughter of children
Just.. no. --Conti|✉ 16:24, Apr 8, 2005 (UTC)

 * Delete, before I start considering why someone would want to know this --Asriel86 16:37, Apr 8, 2005 (UTC)

 * Keep interesting list, could be expanded. Grue 16:38, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)

 * Keep Interesting list, valid as trivia. --GF 16:52, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * This is the user's first edit here. --Conti|✉ 17:01, Apr 8, 2005 (UTC)
 * No, it's not. I have good reason for not using my real account. This is not a true sock puppet account in that it constitutes my one and only vote. The other two are not me. --GF 22:05, 9 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Could you elaborate, in general terms at least? --TenOfAllTrades | Talk 00:21, 11 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete non-encyclopaedic. Fawcett5 16:53, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep: equally as valid as List of songs about masturbation, etc. -- mrry 16:55, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * This is the user's first edit here. --Conti|✉ 17:01, Apr 8, 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep: don't see any harm in it, interesting to know -- MattGemmell 16:59, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * This is the user's first edit here. --Conti|✉ 17:01, Apr 8, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete not a subject worthy of a list. DDerby 17:29, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Not useful information. Eric119 17:30, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. Interesting list. Why not? Dave the Red (talk) 18:57, Apr 8, 2005 (UTC)
 * Comment if it were up to me, most of these trivial song lists would get the boot. They are sometimes mildly interesting, but I cannot imagine a need for them except to pad a really boring research paper. --Asriel86 19:16, Apr 8, 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep--that said, I strongly discourage the use of sockpuppet accounts and/or vote spamming. Meelar (talk) 19:17, Apr 8, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, trivial, notability not established. Megan1967 19:59, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Non-notable. Hedley 20:34, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Not a notable genre of song. P Ingerson 20:35, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Yes, I even added a song to the list, but it's so thematically unconfined that I don't think it's wikipedic. Unlike the lists of songs about bipolar disorder, unrequited love, and masturbation, this is not about the theme of the song, but about some gimmick that it contains... which does not reflect anything about, say, the nature of our society as a whole, which the other lists do. -- 8^D gab 20:38, 2005 Apr 8 (UTC)
 * Delete per Asriel86. --Angr/comhrá 20:51, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. List of songs that contain Foo will quickly spiral out of control and consume us all. Does anyone really need to know the eight songs that contain the sound of cows lowing as the sun crests the eastern horizon? Feco 20:55, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete with prejudice and move to BJAODN. — Asbestos | Talk  22:17, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Acceptable level of sock puppet keep votes has been surpassed.  RickK 23:19, Apr 8, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Trivia. --Carnildo 23:50, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep Interesting List Klonimus 01:47, 9 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete per Feco. Radiant_* 09:47, Apr 9, 2005 (UTC)
 * Comment Further to my vote and after a little consideration, I can understand why this might be considered to niche and/or creepy. Might I suggest broadening the list to something like "list of songs containing children in the backing track"? Less creepy, less niche, more useful.--GF 22:05, 9 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete Beyond the sub-trivial, somewhere between "list of comedy sketches not containing the letter 'e'" and "list of kebab shops with no known cases of food poisoning". Chris 00:31, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Although List of kebab shops with known cases of food poisoning would be highly useful. :)  RickK 21:42, Apr 10, 2005 (UTC)
 * delete Mozzerati 21:02, 2005 Apr 10 (UTC)
 * Delete There should be policy against such nonsenses. Pavel Vozenilek 00:52, 13 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. --Myles Long 20:16, 20 Apr 2005 (UTC)

 * This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and, like some other VfD subpages, is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue, the deletion, or the decision-making process should be placed on the relevant 'live' pages. Please do not edit this page.


text:
Fort Totten (Queens)

Fort Totten is a former active United States Army installation in the New York City borough of Queens. It is located on the Willets Point peninsula on the north shore of Long Island. Fort Totten is at the head of Little Neck Bay, where the East River widens to become Long Island Sound. While the U.S. Army Reserve continues to maintain a presence at the fort, the property is now owned by the City of New York.

Civil War era
Construction began on the Fort at Willets Point in 1862 (named Fort Totten in 1898), after the land was purchased by the U.S. Government in 1857 from the Willets family. The fort is close to the Queens neighborhoods of Bay Terrace, Bayside, Beechhurst and Whitestone. The original purpose was to defend the East River approach to New York Harbor, combined with the preceding Fort Schuyler, which faces it from Throggs Neck in the Bronx on the opposite side of the river entrance. The fort was among several forts of the third system of seacoast defense in the United States begun in the first year of the Civil War. The initial design was drawn up by Robert E. Lee in 1857 and modified during construction by Chief Engineer Joseph G. Totten. Unusually, it was designed with four tiers of cannon facing the water totaling 68 guns. In the United States, only Castle Williams on Governors Island, Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island, and Fort Point in San Francisco shared this feature. However, construction was abandoned after the war, as masonry forts were considered obsolete following severe damage to some in the American Civil War. Only one tier and part of a second tier of the two seacoast walls was completed; the three landward walls received little work. From 1861 to 1898 the fort area was known as Camp Morgan, named for New York Governor Edwin D. Morgan.

1869-1890
In 1869 the Engineer School of Application was established at the future Fort Totten, remaining there until 1901. One of its first missions was the development of underwater minefields, which with some modernization would remain an important coast defense element through World War II. Major Henry Larcom Abbot, the first commander of the school, was instrumental in developing these. Two earthwork batteries were built in the 1870s; the first was a battery of 27 guns as part of a short-lived fort improvement program, while the second was a battery of 16 mortars. The latter was the prototype for the "Abbot Quad" arrangement, developed by Major Abbot and used for the first 12-inch coast defense mortar deployments in the 1890s. In 1871 a tunnel was built connecting the upper 27-gun battery with the incomplete fort. In 1890 the Engineer School experimented with the Sims torpedo, an electric self-propelled torpedo partly designed by Thomas Edison.

Endicott era (1890–1916)
In 1885 the Endicott Board made sweeping recommendations for new coast defenses, and among them was upgrading Fort Totten. The fort was named in 1898 after former Chief of Engineers Major General Joseph Gilbert Totten, the premier American designer of forts in the early 19th Century, and new gun batteries were built 1897-1904 as part of the Coast Defenses of Eastern New York as follows:

Battery King was built by converting two of the four pits of the earlier mortar battery to concrete, with four mortars in each pit. A mine casemate, part of a controlled underwater minefield, was also built circa 1900, replacing an experimental 1876 casemate. Unusually, the Coast Defenses of Eastern New York were soon superseded by the concurrently-built Coast Defenses of Long Island Sound, with most of the guns of the former removed in World War I, and almost all of Fort Totten (except the 3-inch guns) disarmed by 1935. In 1901 the Engineer School was transferred to Washington, DC, and the emerging United States Army Coast Artillery Corps took over the further development of coast defenses.

World War I
After the American entry into World War I a number of changes took place at most stateside coast defense forts. With the threat from German surface ships unlikely, they became more important as mobilization and training centers. Their garrisons were reduced to provide trained heavy artillery crews for the Western Front, and many of their weapons were removed with a view to getting them into the fight eventually. The Coast Artillery operated almost all US heavy and railway artillery in that war, primarily weapons purchased from the French and British. Fort Totten's 5-inch, 8-inch, 10-inch, and 12-inch batteries were dismounted in 1917-1918 as potential railway or, in the case of the 5-inchers, field artillery. Battery Mahan's two 12-inch guns and Battery Sumner's pair of 8-inch guns were transferred to the railway artillery program. Battery Graham's pair of 10-inch guns were transferred to Fort Hamilton in 1919, probably to replace similar guns there. Battery Stuart's 5-inch guns were mounted on field carriages and sent to France. However, a history of the 5-inch regiment in France indicates that they never received ammunition and did not complete training before the Armistice. Another history states that only three 8-inch guns arrived in France of the US Army's World War I railway artillery program; most railway guns were not completed until after the Armistice.

Between the wars
In 1920 Battery Baker's pair of 3-inch M1898 guns was removed, part of a general removal from service of this type of weapon. Around this time a 3-gun anti-aircraft battery was built, probably armed with the 3-inch gun M1917. In 1935 Fort Totten's last heavy armament, the mortars of Battery King, were removed and the Harbor Defenses of Eastern New York effectively inactivated, although a minefield possibly remained in reserve and the command remained in service until mid-1942. This left Fort Totten with four 3-inch guns that served through World War II, probably to guard the potential minefield.

World War II
In December 1941 Fort Totten became the headquarters for the anti-aircraft portion of the Eastern Defense Command, organizing anti-aircraft defenses for the entire east coast. On 9 May 1942 the Harbor Defenses of Eastern New York was inactivated and consolidated into the Harbor Defenses of New York; HD Eastern New York eventually disbanded on 22 May 1944.

Cold War
In 1954, the fort became a Project Nike air defense site. Although no Nike missiles were located at Fort Totten, it was the regional headquarters for the New York area; administrative offices and personnel housing were located at the fort. By 1966 the fort was home to the headquarters of the 1st Region, Army Air Defense Command. Fort Totten was also headquarters for the 66th Anti-Aircraft Missile Battalion and the 41st AAA Gun Battalion. The 66th Anti-Aircraft Missile Battalion's missiles were placed at nearby Hart Island, with the radars at Fort Slocum on Davids Island. The 90 mm gun batteries of the 41st were located throughout Long Island.

1970s
According to rumor, Fort Totten was the location of the safe house where Joe Valachi, the Genovese family mob turncoat and subject of a book called "The Valachi Papers", was hidden in 1970; he was later sent to a Federal prison in Texas where he died the following year. In 1974, as part of defense budget reductions following the end of the Vietnam War, and due to the disestablishment of the Nike missile system in CONUS, Fort Totten was closed as a Regular Army installation and the remaining military presence assumed by the Army Reserve.

Current status

The current military presence at Fort Totten is centered on the 77th Sustainment Brigade, its subordinate units, and the 533rd Brigade Support Battalion of the U.S. Army Reserve. Much of the fort has become a public park and is open for tours by the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. It is accessible by the Cross Island Parkway and Clearview Expressway (I-295). The Fort Totten Visitor's Center has been refurbished and houses a museum with exhibits about the history of Fort Totten. Parts are used by the New York Police Department (including the former naval minefield facilities) and the FDNY as a training center. Also, the US Coast Guard Auxiliary, Flotilla 12-1 is located here.

During the winter months, a large variety of migratory waterfowl can be observed in the surrounding waters: Little Bay to the west, Long Island Sound to the north, and Little Neck Bay to the east. Most buildings are dilapidated and unused. Fort Totten is also a sports complex, with an outdoor pool, baseball fields and three soccer fields used for youth soccer.

Fort Totten is designated as a New York City Historic District.

Fort Totten Officers' Club
The Fort Totten Officers' Club, known as "the Castle", is home to the Bayside Historical Society, which hosts events, historic exhibitions and cultural programs. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

The club building was designed by Robert E. Lee in his pre-Civil War capacity as a military engineer but not built until the 1870s, although some historians believe that the actual design was done by a subordinate and merely approved by Lee. The building was designed in the neo-Gothic style popular at the time and was not created specifically for Fort Totten but rather was a generic design approved by the Army for use at military installations. Identical structures were built at other Army forts and the Castle design was adopted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as their insignia, although the reason for this action is murky. A local tradition is that the Corps of Engineers symbol derived from the Fort Totten building, but the reverse is more likely: the building design was based on a castle in part because this symbol had long been identified with Army engineers. The club was built in the 1870s and the engineer castle symbol dates from circa 1840. When Fort Totten's Castle was restored in the 1990s, the Corps of Engineers was contacted in the hope that they would participate, particularly since the Fort Totten Castle was occupied at one time by the Corps of Engineers, but the military failed to show any interest.

In popular culture

 * In the TV series The Endgame, Fort Totten is used as a government black site, and is where criminal mastermind Elena Federova is detained upon her capture.
 * The music video for Jay-Z's collaboration with Kanye West and Rihanna, "Run This Town", was filmed on August 6, 2009 at Fort Totten.
 * Fort Totten appeared in the TV series White Collar, episode 13 season 5, "Diamond Exchange".
 * Fort Totten appears in season 4 episode 13 of Blue Bloods (TV Series), "Unfinished Business".
 * Fort Totten appears in season 5 episode 17 of Third Watch (TV Series), "Family Ties: Part II".
 * Fort Totten appears in season 1 episode 1 of the TV series adaptation of Fallout, "The End".

title: Fort Totten (Queens)