Ondine, ou La naïade

The Times, a London newspaper, described Pugni's score as ... singularly appropriate, quite descriptive, and adds charm and perfection to the ballet.

In the scene where the young fisherman Mattéo is conveyed into the depths of the sea, and the naiads dance their many fascinations around him, the musical accompaniments which describe the rise and fall of the waves are eminently characteristic and beautiful: the very ripple of the flow, and the rushing sound of the ebb over the pebbly strand are heard, and fully satisfy the ear.The ballet bore little resemblance to de la Motte Fouqué's Undine: The plot is no more like the romantic baron's story than it is like that of Robinson Crusoe, excepting so far as a water-nymph is the heroine.

During his engagement as Premier Maître de Ballet of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres in Russia, Jules Perrot presented an elaborately expanded production of Ondine, ou La Naïade under the title La Naïade et le pêcheur (The Naiad and the Fisherman) at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre on 11 February [O.S.

11 July] 1851, Perrot presented his production for a performance at Peterhof Palace staged especially for the celebrations held in honor of the name-day of the Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, daughter of Emperor Nicholas I.

Petipa later staged his own complete revivals of the full-length work: Cesare Pugni's grandson, Second Maître de Ballet of the Imperial Theatres and former premier danseur Alexander Shiryaev, mounted a revival of La Naïade et le pêcheur especially for the prima ballerina Anna Pavlova.

Sir Frederick Ashton paid tribute to Perrot in his own choreography for Hans Werner Henze's music for Ondine by incorporating his own version of the Shadow Dance into the first act.