About the work
One-act ballet choreographed by Arthur Saint-Léon and Fanny Cerrito, who also danced the leading roles; the version now attributed to Cesare Pugni and generally performed today was first staged on 23 May 1844 at Her Majesty's Theatre in London. The actual premiere had already taken place on 26 November 1843 in Rome, under the title 'La Vivandière e il Postiglione' with music by Enrico Rolland.
Plot
The ballet centres on the canteen woman Kathi and the postman Hans, and incorporates a Bohemian national dance, the redowa. Its best-known section is the later 'Pas de Six', a virtuosic ensemble number still performed as a stand-alone piece today.
Cultural significance
Jules Perrot restaged the ballet in St Petersburg in 1855 under the title 'Markitenka', and Marius Petipa again at the Mariinsky Theatre in 1881. Saint-Léon recorded the choreography in his own notation system, 'Sténochorégraphie' (1852), which Ann Hutchinson Guest and Pierre Lacotte used in 1975 to reconstruct the Pas de Six.