The commission for this ballet came unexpectedly, just at the time when the composer, who was celebrating his 80th birthday, was contemplating an opera libretto based on Gogo's "The Marriage". The idea for the ballet and its lebretto belongs to one of the most famous choreographers, Andrei Popov. He succeeded in intriguing the composer with the image of Napoleon Bonaparte - a complex, contradictory personality, who aroused the admiration of some and the hatred of others. This is how he appears in the ballet, whose creation took Khrennikov around two years.

The music of the ballet is as full of contrasts as its hero: there are charming Adagios, which have always been Khrennikov's strength, and pompous ballroom scenes, episodes of battle, and moments of philosophical reflection, of intimate lyricism. All this many-faceted pallette of emotions is realized with the help of Khrennikov's usual melodic richness, broadly breating music, brilliant and colorfull orchestration. The composer's score is not a typical ballet score. Rather, it is a vivid portrait of a man torn between a private life and the need for power, which, in the final analysis, destryed him. And therefore, despite its undoubted dance-like quality, it is not necessary to perceive the music of Napoleon Bonaparte through its visual expression created by a choreographer. For each of us, in one way or another, imagines this personality for himself, and it is better to simply project this individual knowledge and vision onto Tikhon Khrennikov's music.

The ballet was first staged in 1995 on the stage of the Kremlin Palace of Congresses.

Text to the booklet with the CD: Tikhon Khrennikov - Napoleon Bonaparte (RDCD 10 070).
Text in the booklet by Lev Ginsburg; translated by Svetlana Belsky.