''Caroline Mathilde'' is a two-act

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

to music by Sir

Peter Maxwell Davies Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (8 September 1934 – 14 March 2016) was an English composer and conductor, who in 2004 was made Master of the Queen's Music. As a student at both the University of Manchester and the Royal Manchester College of Musi ...

. Its original choreographer was

Flemming Flindt Flemming Flindt (30 June 1936 – 3 March 2009) was a Denmark, Danish choreographer born in Copenhagen. He studied at the Royal Danish Ballet and Ballet de l'Opéra National de Paris, Paris Opera Ballet schools, joined the Royal Danish Ballet and ...

in 1991. It tells the story of the eighteenth-century English

princess Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. Princess as a subst ...

Caroline Mathilde (sister of

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

), who was sent to

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

aged 15 to be married to the 17-year-old

schizophrenic Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withdra ...

Danish King,

Christian VII Christian VII (29 January 1749 – 13 March 1808) was a monarch of the House of Oldenburg who was King of Denmark–Norway and Duke of Duchy of Schleswig, Schleswig and Duchy of Holstein, Holstein from 1766 until his death in 1808. For his motto ...

. The ballet portrays her unhappy marriage, the King's growing madness and her fatal love-affair with Struensee, the King's influential physician, which ultimately leads to their arrest, his execution and her exile at the age of 20, separated from her two young children. As with Davies' earlier ballet, '' Salome'', it was a commission by the

Royal Danish Ballet The Royal Danish Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Danish Theatre in Kongens Nytorv, Copenhagen, Denmark. It is one of the oldest ballet companies in the world and originates from 1748, when the Ro ...

. It was first performed on 14 March 1991 at the

Royal Danish Theatre The Royal Danish Theatre (RDT, Danish: ') is both the national Danish performing arts institution and a name used to refer to its old purpose-built venue from 1874 located on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. The theatre was founded in 1748, first s ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. The orchestra was conducted by Markus Lehtinen. Davies prepared two Concert Suites, each based on an act of the ballet.

References

Archived details of the ballet at Maxopus.com
Ballets by Flemming Flindt Ballets by Peter Maxwell Davies 1991 ballet premieres Ballets based on actual events Cultural depictions of Christian VII of Denmark Cultural depictions of Caroline Matilda of Great Britain Cultural depictions of Frederick VI of Denmark {{ballet-stub

See also

References