| Le Spectre de la rose | |
|---|---|
 Karsavina and Nijinsky, 1911 | |
| Choreographer | Michel Fokine |
| Music | Hector Berlioz's orchestration of Carl Maria von Weber's Aufforderung zum Tanz as L'Invitation à la Valse |
| Libretto | Jean-Louis Vaudoyer |
| Based on | Théophile Gautier's poem "Le Spectre de la rose" |
| Premiere | 19 April 1911 Théâtre de Monte-Carlo |
| Original ballet company | Diaghilev's Ballets Russes |
| Characters | The Young Girl The Rose |
| Design | Léon Bakst |
| Setting | The Young Girl's Bedroom, about 1830 |
| Created for | Tamara Karsavina Vaslav Nijinsky |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Type | Neo-Classical ballet |
Le Spectre de la rose (The Spirit of the Rose) is a short ballet about a young girl who dreams of dancing with the spirit of a souvenir rose from her first ball.[1] The ballet was written by Jean-Louis Vaudoyer who based the story on a verse by Théophile Gautier and used the music of Carl Maria von Weber's piano piece Aufforderung zum Tanz (Invitation to the Dance) as orchestrated by Hector Berlioz.
The ballet premiered in Monte Carlo on 19 April 1911, produced by the Ballets Russes ballet company. Michel Fokine was the choreographer and Léon Bakst designed the original Biedermeier sets and costumes. Nijinsky danced The Rose and Tamara Karsavina danced the Young Girl. It was a great success. Spectre became internationally famous for the spectacular leap Nijinsky made through a window at the ballet's end.