Musicology Annotation << Back «Mythological fairy-tale» in the ballet «The Prince of the Pagodas» by Benjamin Britten Elena An. Nikiforova The article is devoted to the ballet «The Prince of the Pagodas» (1956) by Вritish composer Benjamin Britten (1913–1976). When considering the characteristics of the libretto and score attention is paid to the genre aspect of this ballet, raised the issue of the sources of the story, which became a basis for creation of the libretto. Attempted disclosure of the defi nition of «mythological tale», which was chosen by the author of the libretto and the Director of the ballet by John Cranko. Musicological analysis of fragments of the score of «The Prince of the Pagodas» has demonstrated the validity of this designation genre regarding music and Britten. Covers some of the musical characteristics of the generated scores, in particular, imitation of sounds of the Indonesian gamelan means of the classical orchestra, by means of which the composer has created a unique atmosphere of the «mythological tales». Touching on the history of performances at major venues throughout the world in the UK, Germany and Russia. Keywords: ballet, fairy-tale, Mythological fairy-tale, Britten, Cranko, «The Prince of the Pagodas», musical score, libretto, performance, gamelan. Contacts: E-mail: Elena_Nikiforowa@list.ru Pp. 17-26.