Eglė, the Queen of Serpents

Guest Performance by the Klaipėda State Music Theatre

A two-act ballet by Lithuanian composer Eduardas Balsys and choreographer Martynas Rimeikis.

Eduardas Balsys’s neoclassical ballet Eglė žalčių karalienė (Eglė, the Queen of Serpents, 1960) is the most popular and frequently revived work of 20th-century Lithuanian classical music. The musical piece is inspired by the poem of the same name (1940) by poet Salomėja Nėris and a well-known Lithuanian myth that tells the touching story of Eglė, a young woman who falls in love with Žilvinas, the Serpent King who emerges from the sea. They marry and live happily in an underwater palace. Years later, Eglė wishes to visit her childhood home with their four children. Žilvinas allows her to go but asks her not to reveal the secret of how to summon him from the sea. However, Eglė’s brothers discover the secret and kill Žilvinas to prevent her return to the sea. Upon learning of her husband’s death, Eglė is overcome with grief. In her despair, she transforms herself and her children into trees — symbols of mourning and remembrance.

The production premiered in 2019 at the “Musical August by the Sea” festival in the Palanga Concert Hall, becoming a highlight of the festival and a major cultural event in Lithuania. In April 2021, the dance production premiered on the French cultural channel Mezzo. Director Martynas Rimeikis received Lithuania’s highest theatre award, the Golden Stage Cross, for this production.