Säbeltanz - GB0610 | Music

The "Sabre Dance" by the Soviet-Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian comes from the ballet "Gayaneh". There is an instrumental suite, from which the famous "Sabre Dance" was repeatedly used as film music from the 1960s onwards. The ballet "Gayaneh", premiered in 1942, is based on the traditional classical ballet art of the 19th century, but contains the elements of socialist realism typical of that time. On the one hand there is a communist heroine, who is portrayed in an absolutely positive way, and on the other hand an opponent in the form of a drinker, indoctrinated by the imperialist West. The last scenes allude to the Second World War, when the Red Army soldiers go to war against fascism, while the cotton production continues undisturbed by the happily working people. The individual dances in the ballet "Gayaneh" are assigned to the ethnic groups of the Caucasus and use the corresponding rhythms of the respective traditional folk dances using their own instrumentation.