complete break from the two motifs and instead places focus on the individual characters of the various court dances. The ballet's premiere received more favorable accolades than Swan Lake from the press but Tchaikovsky never had the luxury of being able to witness his work become an instant success in theatres outside of Russia. He died in 1893. By 1903, The Sleeping Beauty was the second most popular ballet in the repertory of the Imperial Ballet (the Petipa/Pugni The Pharaoh's Daughter was first), having been performed 200 times in only 10 years. A production mounted at the La Scala in Milan did not arouse much interest and it was not until 1921 that, in London, the ballet finally gained wide acclaim and eventually a permanent place in the classical repertoire. In 1999, the Mariinsky Ballet reconstructed the original 1890 production, including reproductions of the original sets and costumes. Although the 1951 Kirov production by Konstantin Sergeyev is available on DVD/Video, the 1999 "authentic" version was never commercially released. The Sleeping Beauty is Tchaikovsky's longest ballet, lasting nearly four hours at full length (counting the intermissions). The complete score runs practically 3 hours. It is nearly always cut. At the premiere, Tsar Alexander III summoned Tchaikovsky to the imperial box. The Tsar made the simple remark 'Very nice,' which seemed to have irritated Tchaikovsky, who had likely expected a more favorable response. In any case the Tsar immediately paid Tchaikovsky a substantial bonus. Performance history St. Petersburg premiere (world premiere) Date: 15 January 1890 Place: Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg Balletmaster: Marius Petipa Conductor: Riccardo Drigo Scene Designers: Henrich Levogt (Prologue), Ivan Andreyev (Act 1), Mikhail Bocharov (Acts 1 & 2), Matvey Shishkov (Act 3) Director of the Imperial Theaters: Ivan Vsevolozhsky Costumes: Original Cast: Feliks Krzesiński (King Florestan), Giuseppina Cecchetti (Queen), Carlotta Brianza (Princess Aurora), Marie Petipa (Lilac Fairy), Enrico Cecchetti (Carabosse, Bluebird), Pavel Gerdt (Prince Désiré), Varvara Nikitina (Princess Florine) Moscow premiere Date: 17 January 1899 Place: Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre Balletmaster: Aleksandr Gorsky Conductor: Andrey Arends Scene Designers: Anatoliy Geltser, Karl Valts (Waltz) Original Cast: Lyubov Roslavleva (Princess Aurora), M. Grachevskaya (Lilac Fairy), Vasily Geltser (Carabosse), Ivan Khlyustin (Prince Désiré) Other notable productions 1896, Milan, La Scala, staged by Giorgio Saracco, Carlotta Brianza as Aurora 1921, London, Alhambra Theatre, as The Sleeping Princess, Diaghilev production, staged by Nikolay Sergeyev, scenes by Léon Bakst 1937, Philadelphia, staged by Catherine