The Museum of Theater and Music houses the costume of Sergey Gustavovich Legat for the role of an honorable knight Jean de Brienne in the ballet “Raymonda” with music by Alexander Glazunov. Sergey Legat wore this costume onstage at the Mariinsky Theater in 1898. The silver costume with winged sleeves is decorated with heraldic symbols to allude to the medieval setting of the ballet.

The premiere of the ballet “Raymonda” staged by Marius Petipa, a famous choreographer, took place in January 1898. The leading roles in the ballet were assigned to Pierina Legnani and Sergey Legat. Marius Petipa was 79 at the time, and “Raymonda” was one of his latest projects. He used this play to encompass all his best ideas that he accumulated within over fifty years of work in the imperial theaters. He choreographed over 60 ballets, including original and revised ones. “Raymonda” was a success — its music, performance, rich scenery, machinery and costumes received high praise.

The ballet plot was on a medieval legend and written by Lidiya Pashkova. The initial plot had quite a lot of discrepancies. The Hungarian knight Jean de Brienne had a French name, King of Hungary Andrew II, who was in reality defeated by Saracens, appeared as a winner, and it was unclear as to why the setting was changed to Provence.

Marius Petipa and the Director of the Imperial Theaters Ivan Vsevolozhsky decided to make changes to the plot. The libretto was based on a fascinating story about the young Raymonda, her fiancée Jean de Brienne and a Saracen named Abderakhman who was in love with her. Such a plot allowed for a complex development of the female lead and a contrast between two male characters.

Marius Petipa also took part in the composition of music for the new ballet. The choreographer worked with the composer Alexander Glazunov and often dictated not only the tempo, the rhythm and the duration of a scene but also the mood for the music. Glazunov reminisced about this experience,

As a result, the music of “Raymonda” turned out harmonious and consistent. The composer’s penchant for the music of the East, Hungary and Spain came in handy — some of his first plays featured the mazurka, the Krakowiak and the sarabande. At the premiere of the ballet, Glazunov was invited onstage for a curtain call after the first act, and at the end he was given a laurel wreath.