Abstract
The beautiful Anna Karenina is living in a joyless marriage with an austere, highly respected government official in St. Petersburg. When Anna encounters the happy-go-lucky officer Count Vronsky, she falls in love with him at first sight, but is initially reluctant to embark on an affair. Vronsky woos her until she becomes his secret lover. The amour fou doesn’t remain a secret for long, and society ostracises the adulteress. Anna, caught between her moral duty as a wife and love, is in despair. The catastrophe takes its course. With Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy wrote a novel of world stature. He not only tells the story of a love affair that founders due to prevailing moral attitudes, but also presents a subtle, panoramic view of Russian society in the late 19th century. In Tolstoy’s opulent portrayal of social mores, the upright landowner Levin and Kitty, the daughter of a St. Petersburg prince, are the antithesis of Anna and Vronsky. Their relationship is not dominated by passion, but by a sense of responsibility, sincerity and tenderness, and finds its fulfilment in a contented life in the country.
Christian Spuck has adapted this demanding novel as a ballet, and in so doing has thrilled not only audiences in Zurich, but also in Oslo. His interpretation of Anna Karenina is even soon to be premiered in Moscow. Christian Spuck focuses on the fate of the heroine, but also explores the way of life of the other principal characters. To the accompaniment of symphonic and chamber music by Sergei Rachmaninoff and Witold Lutoslawski, he translates the fate of Tolstoy’s protagonists into vivid choreographic images.