Checkmate (de Valois/Bliss)

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JustinHorton
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Checkmate (de Valois/Bliss)

Post by JustinHorton » Tue Jun 15, 2021 10:40 am

The ROH informs us that this is the anniversay of the first performance of the ballet. Has anybody here ever attended a performance, either of the ballet itself or of the musical score?
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

lostontime.blogspot.com

Simon Brown
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Re: Checkmate (de Valois/Bliss)

Post by Simon Brown » Tue Jun 15, 2021 11:29 am

I was in an orchestra which performed the suite, rather than the ballet, in the 90s. Not a great fan of Bliss, though he wrote some decent viola music.

Geoff Chandler
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Re: Checkmate (de Valois/Bliss)

Post by Geoff Chandler » Wed Jun 16, 2021 9:46 am

Hi Justin,

I've never been to any ballet performance but it is on Mrs. C's (so therefore by proxy mine as well ) bucket list. I'd go and see this.

a clip of what appears the red pieces being set up before the game.

https://www.facebook.com/bhamroyalballe ... 391283485/

From the wiki link: (spoiler alert)

"This game leads to a duel between the Red Knight and the Black Queen, where the Red Knight is victorious over the Black Queen. However, he cannot bring himself to kill her because of his love for her. In one moment, he turns his back and recalls the rose from the Black Queen. The Black Queen takes advantage and fatally stabs the Red Knight. The funeral cortège for the Red Knight is described as "Death leading, Love at the end of the procession"

The Black Queen then turns on the Red King, and the Black forces surround him. The Red King has one last moment of recalling his youth before the Black Queen stabs him in the back with a spear, in the final "checkmate".

Wow!.
Need a game game where a white (red) Knight can win a Queen but it has been missed,
the Queen takes the Knight and later delivers checkmate.

Geoff Chandler
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Re: Checkmate (de Valois/Bliss)

Post by Geoff Chandler » Wed Jun 16, 2021 9:42 pm

Found a game I can use on the first search.

Also came across a vid of the Red Knight and Black Queen dance of betrayal.

https://youtu.be/Kco4F_8t7x0

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