Gayane (ballet)

Gayane (ballet)

Gayane (also Gayaneh and Gayne, Armenian: Գայանե; Russian: Гаянэ, after the Armenian saint Gayane) is a four-act ballet with music by Aram Khachaturian. Originally composed in 1941-42, to a libretto by Konstantin Derzhavin (ru) and choreographed by his wife Nina Aleksandrovna Anisimova, the score was revised in 1952, and in 1957, with a new plot. The stage design was by Natan Altman (scenery) and Tatyana Bruni (costumes).

The first production was on 3 December 1942, staged by the Kirov Ballet while in Perm (Russia) for the duration of the Second World War and was broadcast on the radio.

Khachaturian's original Gayane was the story of a young Armenian woman whose patriotic convictions conflict with her personal feelings on discovering her husband's treason. In later years, the plot was modified several times, the resultant story emphasizing romance over nationalistic zeal.