He stands uncertainly and shakes his fist at the portrait of The Charlatan on the wall. The music is a violent rendition of the "Petrushka chord", now scored for trumpets. Petrushka falls to his knees. The music grows lyrical as he mimes his self-pity, his love for The Ballerina, and his hatred of The Charlatan.
The Ballerina enters "en pointe". When Petrushka sees her, he begins a display of frantic gestures and athletic leaps. The Ballerina is frightened and hurries away. Petrushka falls to the floor in despair. The clarinets mock him. He curses The Charlatan to the accompaniment of the "Petrushka chord" for full orchestra. For a moment, Petrushka peers out of his room at the crowd in Admiralty Square to the "crowd music" from Scene One. He collapses as clarinets mock him with the "Petrushka chord". A trumpet call signals the end of the scene.
Scene Three. Drumrolls are heard as the curtain rises. Whereas Petrusha's room was dark and chilly, The Moor's room is brilliant with color. The walls are decorated with palm trees, exotic flowers, white rabbits hopping about, and desert sands.
The Moor lies lazily on a daybed playing with a coconut. He shakes it. There's something inside! He tries to cut it open with his scimitar, but fails. He believes it a god and bows in worship before it.
The door opens. The Charlatan brings The Ballerina into the room. The Ballerina is attracted to The Moor's handsome appearance. She plays a saucy tune on a toy trumpet, represented by a cornet in the original 1911 orchestration. The Moor tries to dance with her but fails.
The Moor sits on the daybed. The Ballerina sits on his knees. They cuddle. They hear noises outside the door. Petrushka has broken free from his cell, and rushes into the room to rescue The Ballerina from seduction. Petrushka attacks the Moor, but quickly realizes he is too small and weak. The Moor beats Petrushka. The puppet flees for his life, with the Moor chasing him. The curtain falls.
Scene Four. The scene is again the Shrovetide Fair. Evening is falling. The crowd is having a lot of fun. A dancing bear and organ grinders entertain the crowd. Wet nurses perform a dance. Suddenly, Petrushka runs from the puppet booth. The Moor chases him, and kills him with a blow of his scimitar. The crowd is frightened. The Charlatan enters. He shows the crowd that Petrushka is nothing but a puppet filled with straw. The crowd slowly walks away, still stunned with what they have just seen. The Charlatan is left alone. The spirit of Petrushka appears on the roof of the puppet booth. He shakes his fist at The Charlatan. He is terrified and hurries away. Petrushka collapses over the roof of the puppet booth, his arms swinging to and fro in the night.
Serge Diaghilev, the impresario who brought together the three men who created "Petrushka", was the son of a nobleman. He was educated at home, and moved to St. Petersburg in 1890 to study law. He took music lessons from Rimsky-Korsakov, and developed a strong interest in the arts.
Diaghilev spent his inheritance traveling to Europe's major art museums. Between 1899 and 1905 he published "The World of Art", a magazine that had great influence on the Russian art world. Its success led Diaghilev to set even greater artistic goals for himself.
He managed to secure a position at the Imperial Ballet, but was fired after overstepping his authority. He organized concerts of Russian music for the Paris Opéra, and promoted Russian operas and short ballets. The Paris public was thrilled with these ballets.
In 1910, Diaghilev focused his efforts on ballet, and the Ballets Russes was organized. Stravinsky's "The Firebird" was one of the highlights of the 1910 season. In spite of the company's success, Ballets Russes did not have a permanent home. The dancers went back to their jobs at the Imperial Ballet when the Paris season was over.
When Nijinsky was fired from the Imperial Ballet for an incident possibly masterminded by Diaghilev, the impresario hired him. Nijinsky was an artist of the greatest magnitude who could lead the Ballets Russes to unheard of success and international renown.
Other artists joined the Ballets Russes, but the company still did not have a permanent home. It led a nomadic existence. "Petrushka" and "Le Spectre de la rose" were the highlights of the 1911 season, "Daphnis and Chloe" and "Afternoon of a Faun" of the 1912 season, and "The Rite of Spring" of the 1913 season. Nijinsky married in 1913, and broke with Diaghilev.
In the following years, Diaghilev persuaded disgruntled artists who had left the company to return Fokine and Benois, especially. In 1921, the company found a permanent home in Monte Carlo. It continued to produce the colorful ballets it was famous for. The company's international renown grew, but the excitement of its early Paris days was over.
"Petrushka" was the creation of four men: composer Igor Stravinsky, scenery and costume designer Alexandre Benois, choreographer Mikhail Fokine, and Ballets Russes impresario Serge Diaghilev. The four men worked closely with each other on the creation of "Petrushka".
Stravinsky and Benois each attributed the creation of the libretto to one another in the days following the ballet's successful premiere. The idea about a ballet based on a puppet was Stravinsky's, but the libretto was almost certainly the work of Benois. The subject was close to his heart, and he was, after all, an experienced librettist.
Alexandre Benois was born 3 May 1870 in St. Petersburg. His father was an architect. Benois did not plan a career in the arts, but graduated in law from the St. Petersburg Imperial University in 1894. In 1897, his watercolors were exhibited and noticed by Diaghilev and Bakst. The three men founded an art magazine that exerted great influence in Russia. In 1901, Benois was appointed scenic director for the Mariinsky Theatre, and in 1905 moved to Paris and began working for the Ballets Russes.
Benois was unavailable for comment when Stravinsky offered his undeveloped idea about a ballet for a puppet to Diaghilev in 1910. He had separated himself from the Ballets Russes after his libretto for "Schéhérazade" had been attributed to Léon Bakst in the ballet's theatre programmes. Diaghilev and Stravinsky tried to persuade Benois to return, but Benois refused. Time passed and Benois's pique softened. He rejoined his colleagues after learning the new ballet's subject was Petrushka.
Diaghilev was pleased to have Benois back on board and suggested the ballet be set during the Shrovetide Fair (a Mardi Gras-like celebration before Lent) in St. Petersburg about 1830. This period was one of Benois's favorites. Benois gave Petroushka a full-length body and two companions, The Ballerina and The Moor. Benois was designing costumes and scenery during the libretto's composition to give his colleagues a visual idea of the ballet's final appearance.
Benois, Stravinsky, and Diaghilev met in Rome in 1911. Rehearsals for "Petrushka" were in progress in the basement of the theatre where the Ballets Russes was performing though the music and libretto were yet to be completed. The ballet received a more definitive shape when Fokine began to rehearse the principal dancers, and, as often as possible, the dancers playing the different fairgoers in the crowd.
Igor Stravinsky was born on 17 June 1882 near St. Petersburg. His father, an opera singer with the Mariinsky Theatre, was of a noble Polish family. As a boy, Stravinsky studied piano and music theory. He later studied law, but passed most of his time with music. In 1905, he began music studies with Rimsky-Korsakov. In 1909, Stravinsky's "Fantastic Scherzo" and "Fireworks" were performed in St. Petersburg. Diaghilev heard both works and was deeply impressed.