Flower, costume flower

Pair of large roses (e-f) with petals made from vivid cerise and violet cotton, with central yellow stamens, green sepals and short brown paper-wrapped wire stems tied with a carnation coloured silk ribbon. The flowers are faded from display on the top. Used by Anna Pavlova in 'Autumn Bacchanale'.

Pavlova adapted the Bacchanale from Autumn/ L'Automne, the fourth tableau in Glazunov's 1900 one-act ballet 'The Seasons'. The Bacchanale is the ballet's culmination as all the seasons dance together while autumn leaves fall upon their celebrations. There is some confusion as to who choreographed the pas de deux, some sources say Mikhail Mordkin and others Mikhail Fokine.

Originally choreographed by Marius Petipa, Pavlova had danced the role in 1907 at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg. Aleksandr Golovin designed the costumes for the performance and would later design The Firebird for Diaghilev's Ballet Russes, prompting a fashion for Slavic folk styles.

The Autumn Bacchanale, as the shorter piece became known, remained a staple of Pavlova's touring company.