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In Chapter 1 we will describe SLAs, discuss why they are important, and
demonstrate why they are on the way to becoming the driving concept behind
all service models.
Service level agreements (SLAs) are about making promises. In the case of
telecommunications, these are the promises that underlie all the fiber being
laid; all the optics and electronics being developed, bought, installed, and
turned up and the exact same promises that drove venture capitalists and
investors to back all those telecom businesses that had absolutely no chance—
none whatsoever—of ever making a dime.
Definition
In its most basic form, a service level agreement (SLA) is a contract or agree-
ment that formalizes a business relationship, or part of the relationship,
between two parties. Most often it takes the form of a negotiated contract
made between a service provider and a customer and defines a price paid in
exchange for an entitlement to a product or service to be delivered under cer-
tain terms, conditions, and with certain financial guarantees.
The TeleManagement Forum’s SLA Management Handbook defines an SLA
as “[a] formal negotiated agreement between two parties, sometimes called a
What Are Service Level
Agreements?
C HAPTE R
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Integrating service level agreements optimizing your OSS for SLA delivery 1st Edition John Lee
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- 5. Wiley Publishing, Inc. JohnJ. Lee Ron Ben-Natan Integrating Service Level Agreements Optimizing Your OSS for SLA Delivery
- 7. Integrating Service Level Agreements OptimizingYour OSS for SLA Delivery
- 9. Wiley Publishing, Inc. JohnJ. Lee Ron Ben-Natan Integrating Service Level Agreements Optimizing Your OSS for SLA Delivery
- 10. Publisher: Robert Ipsen Editor:Margaret Eldridge Developmental Editor: Kathryn Malm Managing Editor: Pamela Hanley New Media Editor: Brian Snapp Text Design & Composition: Wiley Composition Services Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. In all instances where Wiley Publishing, Inc., is aware of a claim, the product names appear in initial capital or ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. Readers, however, should contact the appropriate companies for more complete information regarding trademarks and registration. This book is printed on acid-free paper. ∞ Copyright © 2002 by John J. Lee and Ron Ben-Natan. All rights reserved. Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 750-4470. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspointe Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, (317) 572-3447, fax (317) 572-4447, E-mail: permcoordinator@wiley.com. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or com- pleteness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of mer- chantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suit- able for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the pub- lisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. For general information on our other products and services please contact our Customer Care Depart- ment within the United States at (800) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Lee, John (John J.), 1961- Integrating service level agreements : optimizing your OSS for SLA delivery / John Lee, Ron Ben-Natan. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-471-21012-9 1. Telecommunication—Quality control. 2. Service-level agreements. 3. Telecommunication—Customer service. 4. Internet service providers. 5. Information technology. I. Ben-Natan, Ron. II. Title. TK5102.84 .L44 2002 004.6'068—dc21 2002008682 Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
- 11. Contents v About the Authorsxvii Part One The Problem 1 Chapter 1 What Are Service Level Agreements? 3 Definition 3 Service Level Agreement Roles and Objectives 5 Defining Roles and Accountability 6 Managing Expectations 8 Controling Implementation and Execution 10 Providing Quality of Service Verification 11 Enabling Communications 13 Assessing Return on Investment 14 The Service Level Agreement Life Cycle 14 SLA Development 15 Negotiation and Sales 18 Implementation 19 Execution 19 Assessment 19 Customer-focused Assessments 20 Provider-focused Assessments 20 The Outlook for Service Level Agreements 22 The Growth in Outsourcing 22 The Emergence of Pure Content Providers 24 Summary 25 Chapter 2 The True Intent of Service Level Agreements 27 Evolution 27 Availability 28
- 12. Customer Care 29 UnderstandingNeed Hierarchies 30 The Service Level Agreement Need Hierarchy 31 The Emergence of the Business Impact Financial Model 33 Provider-Centric Methodology 34 Business Impact Methodology 36 Big Stick versus Business Impact 37 Service Level Agreement Success Factors 39 Definable End-to-End 40 Successfully Deliverable 41 Meaningful Entitlement Metrics 44 Measurable at the Service Access Point 46 Visible 49 Reconcilable 53 Summary 55 Chapter 3 The Long Ascent to True Service Level Agreement Delivery 57 Why Delivery Is Important 57 Where We’ve Been 58 Some Good Examples of Bad Service Level Agreements 60 Example Summary 64 Understanding the Complexities in the Network Environment 65 The Explosion of Data Networking 67 New Technology 67 The Premise Factor 68 New Market Entrants 70 Tight Labor Markets 72 Organizational Stovepipes 74 Work-Flow Complexity 77 Competition Adds Many More Players 78 New Technology and Business Models Add More Complexity 79 Summary: A Confluence of Factors 81 The Great Boom Commences 82 Operational Reality Interrupts the Party 82 What Issues Lie Ahead for Service Level Agreements? 84 Summary 85 Chapter 4 The Operations Support System 87 The Operations Support System 88 Thought Leadership and Industry Models 90 The TeleManagement Forum 90 The Telecommunications Management Network Model 90 The Network Element Layer 92 The Element Management Layer 92 The Network Management Layer 92 The Service Management Layer 93 The Business Management Layer 94 vi Contents
- 13. The Telecommunications OperationalMap 94 Understanding the Models 96 The Evolution of Network Management 96 The Transition to Service Management 98 The Emergence of Best-of-Breed 100 Best-of-Breed Problems and the OSS Spiral of Death 103 Lessons Learned 109 Asset Management Is Important 111 Understanding the Functional and Semantic Gaps 112 Work Flow Is the Glue That Binds the Organization, Not Middleware 115 The Outlook for Operations Support Systems 117 Summary 118 Chapter 5 Service Level Agreement Models 121 The Amdocs Service Level Agreement Blueprint 122 Customer-Facing Processes 122 Service Level Agreements in a Customer-Centric Approach 124 Creating a Contract Offering 127 Contract Life Cycle 131 Service Assurance Model 135 Micromuse Netcool 135 Orchestream Resolve 139 Summary 139 Part Two The Solution 141 Chapter 6 The Integrated Service Level Agreement Model 143 The Origin of the Integrated Service Level Agreement Concept 145 Technological Reality Check 146 The Integrated Service Level Agreement Framework 147 Enabling Technologies 149 Dynamic Work-Flow Automation 149 Dynamic Work-Flow Communities 150 Core Capabilities 151 Domains 153 The Presentation Domain 155 The Information Domain 155 The Product or Contract Domain 156 The Process or Work-Flow Domain 157 The Data Domain 157 The Provider or Workforce Domain 158 The Supply Domain 158 Sample Technical Architecture 159 Portal Architecture 160 The User Interface 161 Wireless and Voice Portals 162 Contents vii
- 14. Business Intelligence Architecture163 Work-Flow Automation Architecture 164 The Work-Flow Engine 165 Business Transaction Framework 166 Business Rules Framework 166 Integration Architecture 166 XML and the Integration Server 168 Integration Server Tools 168 NGOSS Architecture 170 Service Level Agreement Compliance Reporting 170 Service Level Agreement Risk Mitigation 174 Summary 175 Chapter 7 Integration Techniques 177 Technical Integration 177 Semantic Integration 178 Concepts of Distributed Computing 179 Batch Processes 179 Real-Time Integration 181 Integration Paradigms 181 The Invocation or Remote Procedure Call 181 Message-Oriented Middleware 182 Publish and Subscribe 182 Integration Paradigms and OSS 182 CORBA 183 Object Request Brokers 183 Object Services 183 Interface Definition Language 184 Storing and Retrieving Information 185 Invoking an Object 185 Object Request Broker Interoperability and TCP/IP 186 Message-Oriented Middleware 188 Business Events 189 Publish-Subscribe 191 Extensible Markup Language 193 Extensible Markup Language Document 193 Why Extensible Markup Language? 195 Document Type Definitions 197 Document Object Model 197 Simple Application Program Interface for Extensible Markup Language 198 Extensible Style Language Transformation 199 Extensible Style Language Transformation Rules 200 Web Services 201 The Three Elements of Web Services 202 The Simple Object Access Protocol 203 viii Contents T E A M F L Y
- 15. The Web ServicesDescription Language 203 Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration 204 The TeleManagement Forum’s System Integration Map 204 Summary 206 Chapter 8 Work-Flow Automation 207 Managing Business Processes 207 Manual Work Flow 208 Work-Flow Management Systems 209 Work-Flow Definitions 209 Three Elements of Work Flow 210 The Process Editor 211 Process Templates and Tokens 212 Process Steps 214 Properties 214 Subprocesses 218 Exporting Work-Flow Definitions 220 The Process Engine 223 Working and Monitoring 223 The Work-Flow Monitor 223 To Do List 225 Personal Assignment and Role Assignment 228 Dynamic Queues 229 Summary 230 Chapter 9 Organizational Issues 231 The Stovepipe Service Provider 231 Integrated Service Level Agreement Change Enablers 235 Unified Presentation 235 Dynamic Work-Flow Communities 236 Dynamic Work-Flow Automation 236 Workforce Management 237 Business Intelligence 237 Integrated Service Level Agreement-Based Organizational Optimization 237 The Work-Flow Community 239 Definition Hierarchy 240 Users 240 Groups 241 Communities 244 The Integrated Service Level Agreement-Aware Service Provider 245 Solutions 246 The Business Management Layer and Delivery Assurance 248 Product Engineering 250 Work-Flow Engineering 250 Organizational Engineering 250 Intelligence Engineering 250 Contents ix
- 16. The Service ManagementLayer 251 Customer Care 251 Order Management 252 Work-Flow Control 252 Technical Support 252 The Network Management Layer 253 The Network Operations Center 253 Network Engineering 254 The Network Element Layer 254 Field Operations 255 Logistics 255 Organizational Summary 256 Summary 259 Chapter 10 Contractual Commitments and Penalties 261 Customer Obligations 262 Early Termination 262 Minimal Service Access Points 262 Usage-Based Penalties 263 The Effects of Regulation 263 Deregulated Environments 264 Regulated Environments 264 Example Service Level Agreements and Penalties 267 Service Level Agreement Contract for Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network: Sample 1 267 Security Services 267 Access Services 270 Service Level Agreement Contract for Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network: Sample 2 272 Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network—Dedicated Access Service Level Agreement 272 Example Service Level Agreements and Penalties Summary 278 Terms 280 A Multisite Contract Example 281 Summary 284 Chapter 11 Operational Process, Work Flow, Notification, and Alerts 287 Dynamic Work Flow 288 Universal Presentation 290 Work-Flow Automation 291 Business Intelligence 292 Dynamic Work-Flow Processes 292 The Delivery Work Flow 293 Generation 294 Assignment 294 x Contents
- 17. Prioritization and/or Escalation295 Allocation 299 Execution 300 Updating/Evaluating 301 Closure 304 Reporting/Reconciliation 305 The Integrated Service Level Agreement Compliance Work Flow 305 Define Entitlements 306 Event Generation 307 Identify Provisioning and/or Troubleshooting Work Flows 307 Extract Performance Data 307 Work-Flow Activity 308 Network Statistics 308 Performance Analysis 309 Real-Time Analysis 309 Historical Analysis 310 Identify Exceptions 310 Respond 310 Calculate Financial Impact 311 Reconcile 312 Summary 313 Chapter 12 Metrics and Performance Reporting 315 Metrics and Measures 315 The General Information Framework 319 The Data Mart 320 Extraction Routines 322 Star Schema 323 Implementing Key Performance Indicators 325 An Example of Installation Follow-Ups 327 Data Availability 327 Building the Template 328 Dimensions 329 Defining the Instance 331 Defining the Target 331 Defining the Display Properties 332 Performance Reports 336 Paperless Reporting 337 Reporting Solutions 338 Designing Reports 340 Web Delivery 342 Summary 345 Contents xi
- 18. Chapter 13 ServiceLevel Agreement Portals: A Unified Presentation Layer 347 Unified Presentation 348 Information Portals 348 Enterprise Information Portals 349 The Service Level Agreement Portal 349 Uniform Resource Locator Automation and Scripting 352 Automating the Flow 357 Uniform Resource Locator Automation Using Work Flow 360 An Application Session 360 Web “Scraping” 360 Chaining Requests 361 Enter Work Flow 361 Using the Work-Flow Token 361 Extracting Data from Scraped Pages 362 Security, Access Control, and Profiles 363 Integrating Interface Layers 364 Directory Services and the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol 365 Summary 366 Chapter 14 Notification, Mobile Computing, and Wireless Access 369 Notification 370 Synchronous and Asynchronous Notification 371 Internet-Based Notification 371 Paging 373 Telocator Alphanumeric Protocol and Simple Mail Transfer Protocol 376 Simple Network Paging Protocol 380 Wireless Communications Transfer Protocol 381 Short Message Service 383 Workforce Management 384 Meeting Service Level Agreements through Efficient Use of the Workforce 384 Mobile Computing 387 Wireless Infrastructure for Mobile Computing 388 Summary 390 Chapter 15 Service Marketplaces and Bandwidth Exchanges 391 The Liquidity Issue 393 Success Factors 395 Product 395 Price 395 Implementation 395 Quality 396 Settlement 396 Consolidating the Factors 396 xii Contents
- 19. The Vision 396 TheNeed 399 Solutions 401 Product 402 Price 403 Implementation 404 Quality 405 Settlement 406 The Outlook for Exchanges 406 Summary 409 Chapter 16 Applying the Model to Other Industries 411 Utilities 412 Customer Service and Service Delivery 417 Quality Assurance 422 ISO 9000 422 Six Sigma 423 Summary 425 Appendix Acronyms 427 Bibliography 433 Index 437 Contents xiii
- 21. “There is awisdom of the head and a wisdom of the heart” Charles Dickens To our wives, Becky and Rinat, whose endless dedication and tireless support form the foundation of our success.
- 23. John J. Leeis Vice President of Strategy and Business Solutions at ViryaNet, a company that provides wireless workforce solutions. He is an expert in the development of operation and business support systems and a frequent con- tributor to industry publications. Ron Ben-Natan is CTO at ViryaNet and has been building distributed systems and applications at companies like Intel, Merrill Lynch, J. P. Morgan, and AT&T Bell Labs for the past 20 years. He has authored several successful books on distributed systems and the application of advanced technologies in busi- ness environments. About the Authors xvii
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- 27. 3 In Chapter 1we will describe SLAs, discuss why they are important, and demonstrate why they are on the way to becoming the driving concept behind all service models. Service level agreements (SLAs) are about making promises. In the case of telecommunications, these are the promises that underlie all the fiber being laid; all the optics and electronics being developed, bought, installed, and turned up and the exact same promises that drove venture capitalists and investors to back all those telecom businesses that had absolutely no chance— none whatsoever—of ever making a dime. Definition In its most basic form, a service level agreement (SLA) is a contract or agree- ment that formalizes a business relationship, or part of the relationship, between two parties. Most often it takes the form of a negotiated contract made between a service provider and a customer and defines a price paid in exchange for an entitlement to a product or service to be delivered under cer- tain terms, conditions, and with certain financial guarantees. The TeleManagement Forum’s SLA Management Handbook defines an SLA as “[a] formal negotiated agreement between two parties, sometimes called a What Are Service Level Agreements? C HAPTE R 1
- 28. service level guarantee.As depicted in Figure 1.1, it is a contract (or part of one) that exists between the service provider and the customer, designed to create a common understanding about services, priorities, responsibilities, etc.” (GB 917) Service level agreements emerged in the early 1990s as a way for Informa- tion Technology (IT) departments and service providers within private (usu- ally corporate) computer networking environments to measure and manage the quality of service (QoS) they were delivering to their internal customers. Ser- vice level agreements are the contractual component of QoS and are usually implemented as part of a larger service level management (SLM) initiative. Service level management has been defined by Sturm, Morris, and Jander in Foundations of Service Level Management as “the disciplined, proactive method- ology and procedures used to ensure that adequate levels of service are deliv- ered to all (IT) users in accordance with business priorities and at acceptable cost” (2000). Quality of service is defined by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU-T) as “the collective effect of service performances, which deter- mine the degree of satisfaction of a user of the service. Note that the quality of service is characterized by the combined aspects of service support perfor- mance, service operability performance, service integrity and other factors specific to each service.” In the last 10 years, SLM and QoS initiatives have routinely been imple- mented within the IT arena with much success. Originally, much of the SLM data were used to justify procurement and staffing budgets for IT groups that Figure 1.1 Service level agreements as depicted by the TeleManagement Forum in GB 917. Customer SLA Management = Relationship Management Provider Contract SLA 4 Chapter 1
- 29. were still consideredcost centers and whose real value to the business was not yet fully appreciated. Much of the reporting consisted of QoS data showing customer satisfaction owing to contributions made by IT to user productivity and the bottom line. Much has changed in the last 10 years. The value of computers in all seg- ments and industries within the business world (as well as in our personal lives) has gone from unproven to absolutely essential. We have entered an era of business specialization, industry consolidation, and realization of large effi- ciency gains owing largely to technology. The standardization of hardware, networking, operating system, and many business software standards has made a relative commodity of providing tra- ditional IT department functions such as PC hardware configuration, network connectivity, and email access. Today the products and services that are routinely contracted for and managed using SLAs seem almost limitless. In the telecommunications space, customers most typically demand financial guarantees on the accurate and timely performance of the network itself, normally measured using statistical indicators such as circuit availability, reliability, and other key performance indi- cators (KPIs), as well as service-related activities such as provisioning, installa- tions, trouble response, and fault correction. Other areas such as responsive customer service, accurate billing, and immediate availability of additional network capacity can also be guaranteed by an SLA. It seems that the main qualifying criteria is that the service be mis- sion-critical and provided by an outside source. SLAs are also used extensively in other industries, most notably in the utility, transportation, and manufac- turing fields. Service Level Agreement Roles and Objectives Implementing a service level management (SLM) program that works for both the service provider and the customer is a very difficult undertaking. Service level agreements are technically complex to pull off from an operational stand- point, but, more important, the perception of the roles that SLAs should play differs greatly for the service provider as compared with the customer. In this chapter we discuss primarily the service provider’s point of view; the cus- tomer’s needs are discussed at length in Chapter 2. The roles most commonly given to SLAs can generally be grouped into six areas, as shown in Figure 1.2: 1. Define roles and accountability 2. Manage expectations 3. Control implementation and execution What Are Service Level Agreements? 5
- 30. 4. Provide verification 5.Enable communications 6. Assess return on investment Defining Roles and Accountability It is important that both parties to an SLA understand the respective roles and responsibilities defined in the agreement. A number of industry factors have made establishing roles, responsibilities, and performance (and financial) accountability increasingly difficult on both the network and services side of the SLA equation. Deregulation and the unprecedented growth in technology, customer demand, and new service offerings experienced over the last decade have cre- ated a unique environment in which hundreds of service providers depend on their competition to help them to deliver end-to-end services. Since 1984 the “network” and “the cloud” (the worldwide telecom WAN relative to the user’s LAN perspective) have become a virtual maze of equipment and capac- ity owned by a multitude of service providers, including leased lines, indefea- sible rights to use (IRUs), bandwidth swaps, unbundled network elements (UNE), carrier hotels, collocations, and “meet-me” rooms. To make it all work, the myriad providers have executed an almost endless number of collocation, interconnection, and capacity leasing agreements with each other, creating a complex web of overlapping business relationships. In the process, networks have become so intertwined and interdependent that many service providers cannot function without the other providers in their competitive space. Figure 1.2 The roles played by service level agreements. Prove Return on Investment Enable Communications Provider Verification Control Delivery & Execution Manage Expectations Define Roles and Accountability 6 Chapter 1
- 31. Within the industry,the term coopetition has been coined to describe this strangely symbiotic situation. The TeleManagement Forum (TMF) has also rec- ognized the phenomenon and the implication for SLAs. The SLA Management Handbook uses the term value chain of service provision to describe a scenario wherein a number of different service providers are related through a series of SLA relationships that eventually terminate at the end user. A service provider in one SLA can be the customer in another SLA, and vice versa. Today, thou- sands of different value chains exist—each with any number of service providers (and potential SLAs) imbedded in it. The companies represented in these value chains span the entire cross section of telecommunications, as shown in Figure 1.3. Other factors, including the increased outsourcing of customer care to large call-center providers, service fulfillment to third-party installers, network monitoring to managed network service providers, and so on, have increas- ingly blurred the landscape, fragmented the lines of communication, confused end-to-end workflow processes, and made organizational continuity and accountability all but invisible to the customer. Service level agreements will be used to reestablish the chain of account- ability. As outlined by the TMF, each instance of SLA execution will consist of a service provider and a customer. In a well-developed SLA, the roles and responsibilities of each party will be defined as concretely as possible, along with the associated responsibility, liabilities, and recourse available to both parties. Figure 1.3 TeleManagement Forum’s value chain of service provision. Internal Provider End Customer Provider Service Provider Customer End Users Service Provider Service Provider Customer Provider Service Provider Customer Provider Customer Provider Customer What Are Service Level Agreements? 7
- 32. Service level agreementssimplify the customer’s contractual recourse because the service provider functions as the final guarantor of the end-to-end network. That way, no matter the complexity of the underlying service (multi- ple service providers, different technologies, and so forth), the customer can hold the service provider solely responsible for delivery to his or her service access point. To mitigate the associated risks, the service provider (in its role as customer of another service provider) may in turn demand SLAs to cover that relation- ship. The result is a flow-down effect in which the risks of guaranteeing service to the end customer are spread through multiple SLAs over the end-to-end value chain. An example is shown in Figure 1.4. Managing Expectations In general, executing an SLA contractually sets the customer’s expectations regarding a product’s delivery. Once defined, agreed to, and executed, the terms and conditions that make up the bulk of the SLA contract become the customer’s entitlements with respect to the product. This guarantee enables the customer to plan and operate his or her business with a reasonable level of confidence in the availability, performance, or timeframe of a contracted prod- uct or service. Figure 1.4 TeleManagement Forum’s value chain of service provision. Internet Service Provider Network Service Provider Network Service Provider Access Provider Service 1 Service 2 Service 4 Service 3 Service 6 Service 5 End-to-end Service 8 Chapter 1
- 33. Multiple SLA options(platinum, gold, silver, bronze, and so forth) for the same product or service give the customer the opportunity to weigh competing priorities within his or her own company and understand the relationship of his or her needs to those of other businesses. These options help the customer to allocate financial resources appropriately: He or she may opt for higher lev- els of availability or quicker response times at additional cost only for the most mission-critical links and decide to settle for a lower level of service for the rest. Different SLA options and the relationships between the guaranteed level, delivered level, and engineered level are demonstrated in the SLA Management Handbook, as shown in Figure 1.5. Service level agreements also assist the service provider in many ways. By understanding the customer’s expectations and the consequences of not meet- ing them, the service provider’s operations managers and other responsible parties can better plan and implement the required infrastructure. For example, SLA compliance may require that more emphasis be placed on network planning and configuration, collaboration with clients, proactive net- work management, and renewed emphasis on preventive maintenance, which are all driven by cost containment related to penalty clauses within SLAs. Service level agreement commitments may also demand that personnel or parts be prepositioned at or near the customer’s Service Access Point (SAP) to ensure adequate response capability or that additional resources such as spare facilities, parts, or backup circuits are put in place to reduce the potential for outages. Perhaps the greatest advantage of SLAs to both parties is that they set expec- tations and requirements for the process that will enable successful execution. Every relationship creates dependencies for which the expected results can be attained only if both parties provide the required contribution in a timely manner. Figure 1.5 The TeleManagement Forum’s service level agreement performance levels. Performance Level Grade of Service Guaranteed Level Delivered Level Engineered Level Bronze Silver Gold Performance Sets What Are Service Level Agreements? 9
- 34. Service level agreementsformalize this relationship and, more important, place timeframes, thresholds, and escalation procedures around the execution phase of service fulfillment, assurance, and other areas, such as billing. Both the service provider and the customer are better able to plan because many of the “unknowns” are covered in the SLA, such as volumes, locations, QoS, and costs. Controlling Implementation and Execution The SLA is a reference document for managing the execution of the contract and ensuring the timely delivery and continued performance of the product or service within the defined entitlements. Customers tend to use SLAs to ensure preferential treatment for their par- ticular service needs relative to all the others in the service provider’s network. The expectations are clearly set, and during the implementation and execution phases of the contract, the service provider must deliver on these expectations. For the service provider, delivering the contracted service translates into ensuring that sufficient resources are available to consistently meet or exceed the SLA commitments. The service provider must have an understanding of all the commitments that have been made over the entire customer base and how the requirement for delivering on these commitments affect the support- ing organizations. Service level agreement entitlements have a tendency to affect the service provider’s support organization in two ways: (1) They tend to reprioritize the work based on a potential financial impact, and (2) they tend to shorten the time available to perform the work. Historically, field service organizations have prioritized work based on the impact to the network hardware. Automated network management systems generated much of the fault identification and were usually configured so that fault alarms or outages on the most critical hardware (such as switches) and larger pipes took precedence over those on the smaller, less critical ones. Service orders usually got done after all the trouble tickets were closed. Preventive maintenance was usually relegated to the bottom of the list, as shown below in Figure 1.6. Although service providers have gone to great lengths to improve fault detection, increase network reliability, and reduce outages that affect service by increasing redundancy and minimizing single points of failure, there will always be critical and even catastrophic failures on the network that require immediate, high-priority response. Along with traditional network priorities, SLAs introduce a new variable into the prioritization formula: financial impact. 10 Chapter 1 T E A M F L Y
- 35. Figure 1.6 Conventionaloperational priorities. The growing use of SLAs will force service providers to reprioritize the workload in order to meet the entitlements or risk financial damages. With ser- vice providers offering a number of SLA options in order to differentiate their product from the competition’s, tasks, circuits, and services are no longer cre- ated equal from a prioritization standpoint. Services covered by an SLA will have to go to the front of the line—which, going back to the beginning of this section, is what the customer intended all along. The reprioritized order of work is depicted in Figure 1.7. Providing Quality of Service Verification Following (or during) the execution phase, the service provider(s) will be held accountable for performance being in compliance with the agreement. Proof or verification of QoS compliance is a critical component of most SLAs. Many times this has necessitated advanced planning on gathering the data required to provide SLA reporting. This is done as part of implementing an SLA, which is covered later in this chapter. Critical trouble tickets Conventional Operational Priorities First Last Major trouble tickets Minor trouble tickets Routine trouble tickets Service Orders Due today O & M Due today Other Service Orders Other O & M Tasks What Are Service Level Agreements? 11
- 36. Figure 1.7 Servicelevel agreements change operational priorities. Making QoS and SLA compliance visible serves the needs of both the cus- tomer and the service provider. On the customer side, the customer is able to ascertain that he or she is indeed getting what he or she is paying for. This is especially important to companies that opt for higher levels of QoS (that is, platinum or gold SLAs) who, most often, also happen to be the most important customers. Good SLA reporting also provides a level of confidence that the QoS is being proactively monitored and that the service provider stands ready to respond to contingencies. Both of these factors contribute to a feeling of security that is an important part of overall customer satisfaction. For the service provider, good reporting and visibility can provide invalu- able information as to the operational effectiveness of the service provider’s network and organization in supporting SLA entitlements. The service provider must continually optimize all the solution factors in the SLAequation. Without feedback in the form of QoS reporting, the service provider will be unable to do that. Quality of service performance reports on both the network Critical trouble tickets SLAs change operational Priorities First Gold SLAs Major trouble tickets Minor trouble tickets Silver SLAs Routine trouble tickets Bronze SLAs Other Service Orders Last Other O & M Tasks 12 Chapter 1
- 37. and activity sidesof SLAs can also provide input into the SLA assessment process. The assessment process is covered later in this chapter. Enabling Communications Service level agreements provide a framework for both service providers and customers to address their needs, expectations, performance relative to those expectations, and progress on action items that may be undertaken to improve upon either the SLA itself or the service provider’s performance. There are three inherent points in an SLA’s life cycle that require good com- munications between the customer and service provider: (1) during the devel- opment of a negotiated SLA, (2) during the implementation and execution of the SLA-covered services, and (3) during customer-focused assessments. These points of the SLA life cycle can generally be mapped to the legal, opera- tional, and financial aspects of the SLA, as shown in Figure 1.8. Because a single SLA definition or template may cover many individual service instances, communication between service provider and customer is typically on an ongoing, and sometimes event-driven (such as service order or trouble ticket) basis. As we have seen in the previous sections, the SLA deter- mines the roles and expectations of the service provider and the customer and spells out the level of performance that the customer is entitled to. The clearer the definition of all these areas in the SLA, the easier and more concrete the communications will be. This is especially important during the implementation and execution of SLAs. Event-driven communications are at the heart of SLA operational sup- port. Service level agreements will typically include procedures and time- frames for customer notification, updating, and problem escalation up the service provider’s support hierarchy. Similarly, the service provider’s support organization must communicate during execution to ensure that compliance is achieved. Of course, in the event of QoS noncompliance, breach of contract, or a disagreement, the SLA will outline the appropriate next steps for correction or other recourse. Figure 1.8 Aspects of communication in the service level agreement life cycle. Legal Negotiation Operational Execution Service Level Agreements Financial Assessment What Are Service Level Agreements? 13
- 38. Assessing Return onInvestment The ability to calculate return on investment (ROI) is a key reason that SLAs are becoming more prevalent. As we will be discussing in Chapter 2, the customer uses SLAs to protect his or her business’s ability to operate. He or she is even willing to pay extra in order to get a higher level of comfort and security. The ROI assessment can be considered the financial aspect of verifying that the correct QoS levels were selected for the business. It should be noted that routine verification of QoS differs from a business assessment of ROI in a num- ber of significant ways. Verification is usually ongoing and event driven, con- centrating on day-to-day compliance, while ROI assessments are usually more periodic and are intended to measure the impact of the QoS performance (and SLA noncompliance) on the customer’s business. It can be said that the verifi- cation process is tactical, while the ROI assessment is more strategic to the business. In most cases, the SLA executor (usually the person responsible for repre- senting the customer in negotiating SLAs) is accountable to his or her man- agement chain for both the costs associated with the services delivered under SLA and the decisions made as to what QoS level is right for a specific appli- cation or site. Like the service provider, the SLA executor must provide finan- cial justification and police the QoS for compliance; he or she must then make further decisions on continuance of service under the current SLA or what changes should be made. The customer could decide that the QoS level he or she is receiving is appro- priate, overkill for his or her application, not good enough (which may neces- sitate upgrading his or her QoS level), or that the service provider’s level of compliance is unacceptable. More and more SLAs are providing opt-out clauses for noncompliance, usually with some built-in correction period. If a service provider is unable to come into compliance even after the correction period, the customer can opt out and terminate the contract. The Service Level Agreement Life Cycle In order to satisfy the roles and objectives that have already been discussed, the service provider needs to adopt an organized approach to managing SLAs whereby the service provider examines each SLA individually in order to make decisions on deployment, value to the business, terms and conditions to include, and a number of other considerations that should be addressed. Such an approach facilitates comparing the service provider’s offerings with the customer’s needs and other SLAs available in the marketplace, which help the service provider fit a particular SLA into the overall SLM program or corpo- rate strategy. 14 Chapter 1
- 39. In GB917, theTMF has outlined the SLA in order to provide the organized approach needed. We will be using the same phases to describe requirements that should be considered by service providers in integrating SLAs into their product mix. The SLA life cycle consists of the following phases, demonstrated in Figure 1.9: 1. SLA development 2. Negotiation and sales 3. Implementation 4. Execution 5. Assessment SLA Development Good business practice drives most service providers to develop a product definition or go through a more extended product development cycle. When they are integrating SLAs into the product mix, service providers must under- stand and account for the importance of good product definition up front. A strong product development process should specify, define, test, and cover (or uncover) every aspect of a prospective product or service offering. Strong contract and entitlement development processes are more important for products covered by SLAs. Although SLAs are often treated very much like a product, an SLA is actually a value-added feature of the underlying product or service and should not be thought of in the same context as a product. Prod- uct development processes and special considerations for using SLAs as a value-added feature to an underlying product are discussed in further detail in Chapter 2. Figure 1.9 The TeleManagement Forum’s service level agreement life cycle. Product/Service Development Develop templates and entitlements Negotiation & Sales Negotiate and execute contracts Implementation Generate and provision service orders and SLA monitoring Execution Operate and Maintain (O&M), monitor SLA performance Assessment Assess performance and reassess templates What Are Service Level Agreements? 15
- 40. Contrary to commonpractice, not all products are truly suitable for use with SLAs. Attributes that are specific to service level agreements, such as customer needs, contractual entitlements, terms and conditions, reporting requirements, and SLA pricing may initially be derived from the information accumulated as part of the product development cycle. From that point forward, SLAs differ substantially from products in several ways: ■ ■ There may be a one-many relationship among several SLAs and a sin- gle product or product bundle. (Note: A single SLA definition may be used across a number of different products, but this does not constitute a one-many relationship between a single SLA and multiple products.) During both contracting and execution, invoking SLA entitlements is presumed to be an event-driven occurrence (service order, trouble ticket, and so forth) usually representative of a single product instance delivered to a single SAP. ■ ■ Service level agreements may be bundled with a product, unbundled from the product, or even be selectable, with several optional levels of QoS. ■ ■ Service level agreement life cycles do not necessarily run concurrent with the underlying product. Service providers must take these differences into account when they are developing SLAs. The use of SLAs potentially exposes the service provider to a financial downside (in the form of penalties) beyond the normal risks associ- ated with introducing a new product. Because the potential for sustaining losses greatly exceeds that for making revenues, service providers should give careful consideration to numerous factors when making SLA deployment decisions; for instance, they should understand the impact that introducing a new SLA may have on the profitability and life cycle of the underlying product. From an accounting perspective, for example, SLA penalties paid out to cus- tomers have to come from somewhere. The logical place is the product’s monthly recurring charge (MRC), which is normally used for penalty calcula- tion anyway. If excessive QoS penalties make a product unprofitable, does the service provider drop the SLA, the product, or both? When multiyear SLA contracts are in place, is the service provider even able to pursue such an option? These questions must be addresses as part of the service provider’s strategy. On the other hand, a well-thought-out SLA can provide a revenue boost, and a service provider may elect to provide customers with several SLA options for bundling with a product. Service level agreements should include detailed information on the parties involved, the relationship that exists among them, and the products or services that are covered under the SLA. Specific terms and conditions should be defined that detail when and how the 16 Chapter 1
- 41. services are tobe performed or delivered and the responsibilities of the parties; the agreement should also stipulate the exact frequency, locations, and meth- ods through which the performance is to be measured and reported. Finally, the SLA should provide a framework for taking corrective actions, the time frames for corrective actions, measurement guidelines, formulas for computing penalties, and whether further recourse is available when the SLA’s terms are not met. From a purely contractual standpoint, the contract information that should be considered when developing an SLA is illustrated in the framework that follows: 1. Agreement definition a) Parties b) Contract terms and conditions c) Delivery location(s) i. Service access point(s) 2. Product definition a) Product description b) Technical description c) Price/cost i. Nonrecurring (NRC) ii. Monthly recurring (MRC) iii. Time and materials (T&M) iv. Other charges (MISC) 3. Performance/metric definition a) Activity i. Service orders ii. Trouble tickets iii. Routine/preventive maintenance iv. Mean Time To Repair(MTTR) v. Other metrics b) Network i. Availability ii. Reliability iii. Downtime iv. Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) v. Other metrics What Are Service Level Agreements? 17
- 42. 4. Measurement definition a)Start/stop procedures b) Points of measurement c) Methods of measurement d) Frequency of measurement 5. Correction definition a) Start/stop procedures b) Points of correction c) Methods of correction d) Time frames for correction 6. Reconciliation definition a) Methods of recourse b) Penalty/incentive formula(s) c) Time frame of recourse d) Other actions available Negotiation and Sales Once an SLA has been fully developed, it is put on the market with or layered on top of the underlying product. In some instances the SLA may be in a tem- plate that has been defined in such a way that it is a take it or leave it proposi- tion. This is usually done in the most generic and technically routine service offerings, or when the service provider is developing the standard or lowest- level SLA in a multitiered SLA offering. In most other cases, the customer or service provider may want to modify terms, conditions, or pricing related to the SLA. In some cases, the customer requirements may be so stringent or unique that the SLA is actually developed during negotiations. Many SLA offerings have also been created after the ini- tial SLA development cycle was performed in response to a request for proposal (RFP) from a potential customer. The expected outcome of the negotiation and sales phase is an executed agreement. The products and services, terms and conditions, metrics, mea- surement, and reporting, as well as financial (such as price and penalties) and legal considerations (such as recourse and means to settle disputes, that is, arbitration) should be stated and agreed upon by both parties. These expecta- tions are then carried forward into the implementation and execution phases of the SLA life cycle. 18 Chapter 1
- 43. Implementation Another word forSLA implementation in the telecommunications arena is provisioning. During this phase, the services are ordered, activated, and config- ured for SLA compliance. This may mean that certain baseline measurements are taken, new monitoring capabilities installed, thresholds set, additional reports configured, or almost any number of other possibilities. While SLAs may be negotiated and agreed to for a large number of products or services, the actual provisioning process usually calls for service to be ordered and turned up individually. This means that implementation is actu- ally on a per instance basis, as opposed to the prior phases of the SLAlife cycle. Each instance of the service will normally be tracked by a unique identifier, such as a telephone number, circuit ID, Common-Language Location Identifi- cation (CLLI) code, Internet protocol (IP) address, and so forth, and have other discriminating parameters, such as the SAP. Likewise, each instance may have unique SLA requirements that must be configured, measured, and reported on individually through the execution phase of the service. Like the service itself, the SLAcompliance measures taken should be “signed off” on or accepted by the customer before billing for that instance is allowed to begin. Implementation is discussed in detail in Chapters 6 and 11. Execution The execution phase is the normal day-to-day operation and associated activ- ities related to the service being delivered. This includes measurement of SLA entitlements on an ongoing basis. Extraordinary events such as circuit degra- dation, outages, maintenance downtime, and even failure of the capability to measure performance (Operations Support System (OSS) downtime) should be recorded and measured and the impact to the business assessed and reported. Reconciliation should be performed on those SLAs that have immediate or real-time penalty requirements, while those that have historical or aggregate statistical reporting requirements should be archived for later (periodic) rec- onciliation. Different functions related to execution are discussed in several of the later chapters. Assessment The SLA should be assessed periodically. Assessment is not the same thing as financial reconciliation, which was addressed earlier in the chapter. (Reconcil- iation on a per instance or per incident basis is part of the execution phase of the SLA.) There are two types of assessments: (1) customer-focused assess- ments and (2) provider-focused assessments. What Are Service Level Agreements? 19
- 44. Customer-focused Assessments Customer-focused assessmentsconcentrate on the service provider’s perfor- mance from the customer’s viewpoint. The key metric in this type of review is SLA compliance (primarily availability) and customer satisfaction. The com- ponents of customer satisfaction are discussed in Chapter 2 and are contained in the framework that follows: 1. Overall QoS delivered 2. Overall SLA compliance 3. Customer satisfaction a) Service level agreements i. Contractual performance ii. Financial performance b) Network performance i. Availability ii. Other metrics c) Operations performance i. Call center ii. Ordering iii. Help desk/Network Operations Center (NOC) iv. Field services v. Billing d) Service level agreement reporting i. Notifications ii. Metrics e) Service level agreement reconciliation i. Accuracy ii. Timeliness 4. Recommended improvements 5. Other requirements Provider-focused Assessments Provider-focused assessments concentrate on the execution of the SLA as a business case within the overall SLA strategy. The intent behind this type of 20 Chapter 1 T E A M F L Y
- 45. review is tooptimize the use of the SLA by the service provider in order to improve profitability through achieving better compliance or reducing penalty exposure by changing the commitment contained within the SLAs. The key metrics in this type of review are delivered QoS, SLA profitability, and recom- mended improvements. A possible framework for a provider-focused review is outlined below: 1. Overall QoS delivered to all customers 2. Overall SLA compliance to all customers a) Service level agreement compliance by network/subnet i. Availability ii. Other metrics b) Service level agreement compliance by organization i. Call center ii. Ordering iii. Help desk/NOC iv. Field services v. Billing c) Service level agreement reporting compliance i. Notifications ii. Metrics d) Service level agreement reconciliation compliance i. Accuracy ii. Timeliness 3. Overall SLA profitability 4. Service level agreement profitability breakdown a. Platinum i. Revenues ii. Penalties b) Gold i. Revenues ii. Penalties c) Silver i. Revenues ii. Penalties What Are Service Level Agreements? 21
- 46. e) Bronze i. Revenues ii.Penalties 5. Recommended improvements a) Scope b) Timeline 6. Other requirements The Outlook for Service Level Agreements The use of SLA contracts will continue to grow, and eventually SLAs will become the prevailing business model for delivery of a large number of prod- ucts and services. We’ve already discussed the dependencies created by coopetition in the telecommunications space. The end result of all this interde- pendency will be an SLA flow-down effect that will drive many thousands of SLAs as service providers (acting as customers, in turn) to use SLAs to protect their own ability to deliver SLA-based services to their customers. Flow-down SLAs will be addressed in later chapters. There are a number of other reasons for this, but two in particular stand out: the growth in outsourcing and the emergence of pure content providers. The Growth in Outsourcing The long-standing trend has been toward corporate outsourcing of many basic IT functions. Reliable connectivity to the outside world via the Internet (pri- marily in the form of email) and private networks has been the lifeblood of much of the world’s financial, commerce, and business markets for years. The emergence of email as a primary business tool, e-commerce, and a dramatic increase in network and data outsourcing have brought more attention to the value of SLAs as a means of ensuring the optimal performance of the network, and, by extension, the associated mission-critical applications. Nothing shuts down office productivity more quickly than email going down (unless it’s the power going out!). Not only are basic IT functions being outsourced, so are many mission- critical functions that were formerly the exclusive domain of internal organi- zations, including the operation and maintenance of enterprise applications, entire data centers, and even data storage. Figure 1.10 a and b from Tele.com magazine as early as May 1997, show the areas that Chief Investment Officers (CIOs) would consider for outsourcing and their priorities. 22 Chapter 1
- 47. Figure 1.10 aand b Outsourcing predictions from Tele.com. Courtesy of Tele.com, copyright 1997. Especially enlightening is the scope of services that would be considered for outsourcing. In the last 4 years, almost all of the functions identified in Tele.com magazine in 1997 have become areas of outsourcing opportunities. As a result, many new business opportunities and new classes of service providers have 70% Tech Support & Maintenance 69% 59% 50% 44% 38% 36% 33% 28% 25% 4.24 4.01 3.59 3.56 3.27 2.86 16% 0% 20% 40% Corporate Outsourcing Market Opportunities Corporate Outsource Market Opportunities Priorities for Corporate Networkers Based on a survey of 1,400 Chief Information Officers Priorities for Corporate Networkers SOURCE: Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group SOURCE: Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group 60% 80% 0.00 1.00 3.00 2.00 4.00 5.00 Improved Customer Service Improved Network Security & Continuity Improved Internal Communications Improved Flexibility Reduce Network Management Complexity Reduce Network Costs Network Control & Diagnostics Help Desk Network Management Provisioning Engineering Billing & Chargebacks International (WAN) Ops Internal (LAN) Ops Procurement Strategic Planning Ranking of Importance on a Scale of 1 (Lowest Priority) to 6 (Highest); Based on a survey of 1,400 Chief Information Officers What Are Service Level Agreements? 23
- 48. been created, suchas application service providers (ASPs) and data storage services (DSSs). These new service providers are, in many cases, emerging content providers. Some of these outsourced service areas (such as bandwidth availability) are so critical to the continued operation of certain business enterprises that cus- tomers are unwilling to accept any service interruptions. The availability of these mission-critical products and services is the primary driver behind using SLAs. The expectation is one of continued growth. Among the most recent predic- tions, Red Herring quotes Wall Street analysts as saying that revenues seen by data center outsourcers will grow from $3.5 billion in 2000 to $28.5 billion in 2005, a sevenfold increase. In another example, Red Herring quotes the research firm IDC as projecting a data storage outsourcing resurgence after the business arena’s initial rough start. The market is expected to grow from $21 billion in 1999 to $40 billion in 2003. The Emergence of Pure Content Providers A new industry is evolving in the form of pure content providers. These high- tech businesses (such as those discussed previously, ISPs,ASPs (Salesforce.com), e-commerce companies (Amazon.com), and even specialized entertainment channels available on the Internet or cable TV) will consist of established com- panies, startups, and many variations on the two. New business models will spring up and continue to astound us. For exam- ple, according to Cap Gemini, Ernst, & Young, Napster grew to 35 million users in under 2 years. This translated to a compound annual growth rate of over 3,000 percent! There are many indicators that pure content providers will experience con- tinued strong growth. As an example, Jupiter Media Metrix was quoted in CEO magazine as estimating that spending by enterprises just on streaming video technology will explode from $140 million in 2000 to $2.8 billion in 2005. Whatever business model, industry, or method of inception, the emerging content providers will all have one thing in common—they will be dependent on someone else to get their products to market. These businesses will live or die based on their customers’ ability to access their content electronically. Telecom service providers control this access in the form of bandwidth. Without bandwidth, the content providers have no means to market. There- fore they will want to guarantee that this access is available, reliable, scalable, and robust. They will use SLAs to get those guarantees. 24 Chapter 1
- 49. Discovering Diverse ContentThrough Random Scribd Documents
- 50. Alias, from designsby Comelli, gave us in 1905 fascinating glimpses of Paris at various periods—1790, 1830, 1906. Among noteworthy members of the cast were Mlle. Jane May, heroine of the earlier production of “L’Enfant Prodigue,” and one of the finest modern mimes; and also Miss Edith Slack, Miss Cormani, Signor Santini, and, for a time, Signorina Maria la Bella. Between October, 1906, and May 14th, 1907, the Alhambra underwent partial reconstruction, with complete and elaborate redecoration, under the supervision of Mr. W. M. Brutton, the Alhambra Company’s architect; and big as the task was it was carried through with entire success and with additional triumph in that it was done without closing the theatre for a single night! Mr. Alfred Moul had now assumed the dual task of Chairman and Managing Director, with the result that under the influence of a gentleman of extensive theatrical experience, and wide musical culture, the Alhambra entered upon a new and even yet more brilliant phase of artistic success in 1907, when “The Queen of Spades,” a striking ballet of which the action and dances were composed and arranged by Signor Alfredo Curti, was staged and proved so successful as to run into a second “edition” and continue in the programme for some months. Signor Alfredo Curti hailed from the Scala, Milan, where he had studied the difficult art of Ballet composition on the historic lines laid down by the virtual founder of the Milan school, Carlo Blasis, of whom, as of Noverre, he was a great admirer, and about whom I had many an interesting conversation. Signor Curti, whose scholarship in the history of the dance was remarkable, was an enthusiastic follower of the traditional school, and as an accomplished dancer and mime, an artist, trained geometrician, and devotee of literature and music, he brought to bear on his work as composer of Ballet, a theatrical experience and artistic sympathy, somewhat akin to that of Blasis himself; and while the action of his ballet was always coherent and dramatic his appreciation of stage effect and handling of massed groups of dancers in motion, were uncommonly fine.
- 51. In the productionof “Queen of Spades,” a dramatic ballet, the story of which dealt with the allure of gambling, he was supported on the musical side by that distinguished Italian composer, Signor Mario Costa, some additional numbers being contributed by Mr. George W. Byng, the costumes, of course, being by Alias, from designs by Comelli, and scenery by Mr. T. E. Ryan. With Signorina Maria Bordin, a finished dancer of the typical Italian school, as prima ballerina assoluta, seconded by that admirable mime, Miss Julia Seale, Signorina Morino, Signor Santini, and an excellent corps de ballet, the production achieved instant success, and enthusiastically appreciative audiences found special reason for approval in the novelty of the stage effects, such as the “Dream Visions” in the third scene, with its “Valse des Liqueurs,” the “Grand March of Playing Cards and Roulettes,” the novel “Bridge” minuet; the “Conflict between Evil and Good,” not to mention the dramatic effect of the “Temptation” scene which followed, and the gorgeous finale in the “Nymphs’ Grotto of La Source.” Ambitious and successful as was this production, it was followed, in October, 1907, by one even more striking, namely, “Les Cloches de Corneville,” adapted from Planquette’s world-famous opéra comique. The ballet d’action was invented and presented by Signor Alfredo Curti to the original music, as ingeniously selected, arranged and supplemented by Mr. George W. Byng. Some wonderful costumes were supplied by Alias from designs by Comelli, and the entire spectacle was produced under the personal direction of Mr. Alfred Moul. Signor G. Rosi gave an uncommonly fine study of the miserly Gaspard, Signor Santini making a “dashing” Marquis de Corneville, Miss Daisy Taylor an attractive Germaine, Miss Julia Seale playing cleverly as Grenicheux, Signorina Morino as Serpolette, while Signorina Maria Bordin won fresh laurels as the Spirit of the Bells, a part naturally calling less for dramatic ability than for the music of motion. The production was beautifully staged. No prettier scene has ever been set on the Alhambra stage than that of the Hiring Fair and Apple Harvest, with its dance of apple-gatherers and sabot dance; nor one
- 52. more gorgeous thanthe last, in the Baronial Hall of the Corneville Château, with its striking Grand March of Knights. The ballet ran continuously for over seven months, and was revived with no less success two years later. Once more a “topical” ballet held the place of honour in the programme on May 25th, 1908. “The Two Flags,” a Franco-British divertissement, arranged and produced by Signor Curti, with some capital music by Mr. George W. Byng, was presented under the personal direction of Mr. Alfred Moul, the chief rôle of “La Gaieté de Paris” being taken by Mlle. Pomponette—the very personification of French enfantine gaiety—well supported by Miss Julia Seale, Signor Rosi, Signorina Morino, and other Alhambra favourites. In the same programme was given, under the title of “Sal! Oh My!” an amusing satire on what we may term the Salome School of Dancing, then recently instituted by Miss Maud Allan. The Alhambra skit, described as “a musical etcetera” (the delightful music of which, by the way, was by Mr. George W. Byng), served to introduce to a London audience for the first time La Belle Leonora, a very handsome danseuse of, I believe, Spanish origin, who was, for several seasons, to become the “bright, particular star” of the Alhambra. These two productions held sway for some months, but gave place in October, 1908, to “Paquita,” a charming romantic ballet arranged and produced by Signor Alfredo Curti, with music by Mr. George W. Byng, who once more proved his talent for composition of the kind essential for ballet, music rich in expressive melody, dramatic in orchestration, and always appropriate to the action and mood of the situation. The production introduced to London audiences for the first time, Mlle. Britta, a young Danish dancer, with an interesting personality and a marked gift for acting. In the same programme was included “On the Square,” a divertissement arranged and produced by Miss Elise Clerc, the scene of which was laid in Herald Square, New York, and formed a background for dances by newsboys, flower-girls, equestriennes, cake-walks, “apache” dances, a dance of “Fluffy Ruffles and Rough
- 53. Riders,” a clevereccentric pas de deux, by Miss Elise Clerc herself and the late Mr. Frank Lawton (the whistler, who first came into prominence in London in the original production of “The Belle of New York”), the most attractive item in the whole production perhaps being a marionette pas de deux by Mlle. Britta and Miss Carlotta Mossetti, a clever dancer and mime. Hana Mme. Guerrero
- 54. Dover St. Studios Mlle.Leonora The divertissement held its place in the programme for a considerable time, but was in general character hardly up to the artistic tone of the Alhambra’s past; and the production of “Psyche,” a classic idyll in three scenes, of which the dramatic action and dances were by Signor Alfredo Curti, and the melodious, and always expressive music was by Mr. Alfred Moul, came as a welcome relief to the banalities of ragtime, the more so in that it provided a fine opportunity for another striking success by Mlle. Leonora, whose statuesque grace was particularly well displayed by the classic beauty of the setting provided for her. “Femina,” another fine production by Signor Curti, gave Mlle. Leonora opportunities, of which she fully availed herself, more especially in her own national dance, and Mlle. Britta achieved a marked success both as dancer and actress. Since then the more
- 55. recent influx ofRussian dancers to the Alhambra, in “The Dance Dream,” invented and produced by Alexander A. Gorsky, and notable for superb mounting and the fine dancing of Mme. Catrina Geltzer and M. Tichomiroff; then the exquisite “1830,” and since then again, another superb production of a new version of “Carmen,” produced by Mr. Dion Clayton Calthrop, and with some especially fine dancing by La Malaguenita and other Spanish artists, all offered us fresh and delightful examples of the enterprise of the management responsible for them. We must, however, leave any further consideration of the many notable examples of Ballet at the Alhambra, which during the past two or three years has been mainly given up to the Revue; and must now turn to the Empire where an extensive series of always artistic productions have provided those who witnessed them with many interesting and happy memories.
- 56. B CHAPTER XXXIII THE EMPIRE1884-1906 efore it opened its doors as a regular theatre, with the late H. J. Hitchins as Manager, on April 17th, 1884, the Empire had “played many parts.” The site had been occupied by a royal residence which became in time a picture, or exhibition gallery and a café chantant, before being burnt down in 1865. Then the late John Hollingshead and some friends proposed erecting a theatre on the site, but the scheme fell through and the ruin remained ruinous for some years, until it became for a time a panorama of Balaclava. Then a theatre was started, to be called the Pandora, but did not get finished under that title. Finally it opened as the Empire in 1884, with “Chilperic,” a musical spectacle in three acts and seven tableaux, founded on the opera adapted by H. Hersee and H. B. Farnie, with music by Hervé. The production included three grand ballets invented and arranged by Monsieur Bertrand. The sensation of the third act was a “midnight review and electric ballet of fifty Amazons, as invented by Trouvé, of Paris (being the first time where three electric lamps are carried and manipulated by one person, with the most startling and gorgeous effect).” The dancers included Mlle. Sismondi, Mlle. Aguzzi and Fräulein Hofschuller; and the costumes by Mons. and Mme. Alias were after designs by Bianchini, Faustin and Wilhelm, the last name being famous in association, from the opening in 1884, with the many brilliant productions at the Empire. It does not seem to be commonly known that while still counted as a “theatre,” the Empire was already foreshadowing its destiny as a home of English Ballet. The production of “Polly” was followed by a real ballet, a version of Coppélia—not that of Delibes—but one founded on Hoffman’s famous story, with music by Léo; Delibes’ “Sylvia” also being produced at about the same period. Probably few people of to-day are aware that the famous ballet “Giselle” was also
- 57. given in theseearly days at the Empire, in December, 1884. And again, on December 21st, 1885, was produced “Hurly Burly,” a military pantomime ballet. Yet again, on June 12th, 1886, came “The Palace of Pearl,” in which there were a Moorish ballet, with a Mlle. Luna as première, and a lace ballet, in which Mlle. Pertoldi was the bright particular star. The Empire was afterwards occupied for a time by the Gaiety Company in burlesque, while a French company was occupying the Gaiety, and, later, by the musical extravaganza, “The Lady of the Locket,” in which Miss Florence St. John played the lead, and Mr. Hayden Coffin, I believe, made his first appearance as “Cosmo.” Mr. Edward Solomon’s opera, “Billee Taylor,” was also mounted for a short run, as well as—on March 3rd, 1886—a version of “Round the World in Eighty Days,” in which Miss Kate Vaughan and Mons. Marius appeared. Its career as a regular theatre not being as successful as had been hoped, a fresh licence was obtained, and on December 22nd, 1887, under the joint direction of Mr. George Edwardes and the late Sir Augustus Harris—with Mr. H. J. Hitchins as Manager—it started afresh as a theatre of varieties, with Ballet as its chief attraction, and it at once assumed an important place as one of the leading variety houses of the world. At the beginning of the Empire’s prosperous career a wise choice was made in the selection of the late Madame Katti Lanner as maîtresse de ballet. Daughter of the famous Viennese waltz composer, Joseph Lanner— who, when he died, was followed to the grave by some ten thousand people—and herself a keen lover of music, Mme. Katti Lanner had been in her earlier years a famous danseuse, who had appeared as a child at the Vienna Opera-House, and later made her world-tour, as great dancers did then and do to-day. She told me, in the first of many pleasant interviews I had with her in her retirement, how, as a young girl, she had danced with Cerito, and with Fanny Elssler, and how the latter had prophesied for her a successful career; and she spoke with deep enthusiasm of the
- 58. personal fascination, thebrilliant art, and the noble bearing of the great dancer who was known to London of the ’forties as the “divine” Fanny. In the course of time Mme. Lanner came to settle in London, and had produced ballets at Her Majesty’s—at which she had also appeared—and at Drury Lane, before her invaluable services were secured by the far-seeing management of the Empire in 1887. She had already, some ten years before, established her National School of Dancing; and with this to draw upon, it was only natural that, from the first, her productions at the Empire should be marked by a uniformly high standard of technique. At no theatre or opera- house can a high standard be maintained unless it can draw upon some such school, either on the premises or off, where young talent is fostered and developed, where consistent practice is kept up under critical eyes, and where a uniform degree of technical efficiency and a high sense of style are cultivated. So it has been with Milan and Paris, Vienna and Petrograd; and so it became when Mme. Lanner began her association with that series of productions at the Empire of which it may be truthfully said that each achieved both artistic and financial success. The programme on the opening night, Thursday, December 22nd, 1887, included two ballets, “Sports of England” and “Dilara.” The former—the costumes for which were designed by Mr. Percy Anderson —was, as its title betokens, a representation of the various British sports and pastimes, and was naturally very popular with the habitués of the Empire. The second—the costumes of which were designed by Mr. C. Wilhelm—was a brilliant spectacle, of Eastern character; and both ballets, arranged by Mme. Lanner, with music by Hervé, had a run of some months. They were succeeded by “Rose d’Amour” in May, 1888, which those who remember it speak of to-day as one of Mme. Katti Lanner’s greatest triumphs. It was notable, too, for the appearance of such dancers as Mlle. Adèle Rossi—who, I believe, had come from the Paris Opera—Mlle. Santori, Mlle. de Sortis; Ænea, the flying dancer, and the
- 59. wondrous Mons. Cecchetti,who, gifted with amazing youth, was appearing recently with the Russians at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. “Rose d’Amour,” like Darwin’s poem of a century earlier, dealt with “the loves of the plants,” or at any rate of the flowers, and the quarrels in flowerland. It was a long and rather elaborate production, with a prodigal array of lovely costumes designed by Mr. Wilhelm; and it rather opened the eyes of Londoners as to the possibilities of the art of Ballet. “Diana,” a graceful idyll on classic lines—the scenario of which was suggested by Mr. Wilhelm, and arranged by Mme. Lanner— followed on October 31st of the same year, with that graceful dancer, Mme. Palladino, and Signor Albertieri in the cast, and, later, Mme. Malvina Cavallazzi, who appeared for the first time in ballet skirts at the Empire, and for the last time in the same typical costume; her subsequent appearances being usually in male character, of which she was a truly fine exponent. “Diana” was followed by “Robert Macaire.” Early next year came the first London production of Paul Martinetti and Hervé’s “A Duel in the Snow,” which was less in the nature of a regular ballet than of pure pantomime, was a finely dramatic effort well staged and acted. In the spring of ’eighty-nine was produced another superb ballet, “Cleopatra” (inspired by Sir Rider Haggard’s novel, then appearing in serial form in the pages of the Illustrated London News), which ran for some four months and was immensely admired. In the autumn it gave place to a popular production, dealing with the diversions, and bearing the title of “The Paris Exhibition”; and in December of the same year, on the eve of Christmas Eve, came a wonderful production, “The Dream of Wealth,” by Mme. Katti Lanner, with music by that fine composer—so long afterwards associated with the Empire—Mons. L. Wenzel, and with costumes and accessories designed “as before” by Mr. Wilhelm. The cast included that superb mime, Signora Malvina Cavallazzi, as a Miser; Signor Luigi Albertieri as the Demon of Avarice; and dainty little Mlle. Bettina de Sortis as première, representing “The Key of the Jewel Casket.” The same admirable trio were included in the new ballet, “Cécile” (by Lanner, Wenzel, and Wilhelm, again), which followed on May 20th,
- 60. 1890, the premièredanseuse being Mlle. Giuri, a dancer of exquisite finish and singularly élégante style, as well as a most admirable mime. The period of the divertissement was Louis-Seize, and the production was very charmingly staged, one of the chief points being a wonderful colour scheme of almost one tone, composed of white and silver and mother-of-pearl. This was in the second tableau, depicting a court in the palace of a Rajah who had very wrongly abducted a pupil from a French school! In this ballet that delightful English dancer Miss Topsy Sinden first made her London début as a tiny child, with her brother, Bert Sinden. The spring of next year was marked by the production of “Orfeo,” the scenario of which was by Mr. Wilhelm, the scenery by Telbin. It was an impressive example of classic ballet. Mme. Cavallazzi was a superb exponent of the title-rôle, Miss Ada Vincent was excellent as Eurydice, and good support was given by Mlle. Adèle Rossi and Signor Cecchetti. The autumn of the same year saw the advent of “By the Sea,” perhaps the earliest of the “up-to-date” ballets; and on December 22nd that of “Nisita,” the latter a romantic ballet with an Albanian setting, a very pretty second tableau showing a “Revel of the Fairies,” and with Mlle. Emma Palladino as the handsome heroine Nita, and Mme. Cavallazzi as the hero, Delvinos. The first night this was produced, December 22nd, 1891, by the way, there was one of the very worst fogs London has ever seen, so thick that you could not see the drop curtain from the third row of the stalls! But the innate brightness of the production overcame its gloomy environment at birth and it ran for months. In May, 1892, came “Versailles,” another superb production for the scenario of which, as well as of course the costumes, Mr. Wilhelm was mainly responsible, though it was as usual “choregraphically” arranged by Mme. Katti Lanner, with delightful music by Mons. Leopold Wenzel. This ran until September, when “Round the Town” (a ballet the scenario of which was by Mr. George Edwardes and Mme. Lanner) was staged, and proved so popular as a topical divertissement (not unlike our present day Revues) that it held the bill for some months. An interesting point in connection with this ballet
- 61. was that thelate Miss Katie Seymour, one of the very neatest English dancers that ever trod the London boards, joined the cast after the production had run a little time, and as a Salvation Lassie performed an eccentric dance with Mr. Willie Warde, also an extremely able English dancer, that was one of the successes of the theatrical season. In 1893, the theatre was closed from October 27th to November 2nd, owing to intervention by the County Council. One of the finest productions yet seen at a theatre which by now had become famous for its ballets, was “Faust,” first produced on May 6th, 1895. The scenario of this, as well as the costume designs, were by Mr. Wilhelm, and it was an ingenious variation of the Gounod version, the music not by Gounod, but by Mr. Meyer Lutz and Mr. Ernest Ford, the ballet being arranged as usual by Mme. Lanner. Mme. Cavallazzi was superb as Faust; Miss Ada Vincent was the Gretchen, Mlle. Zanfretta was a striking exponent of Mephistopheles, and among the cast was Mr. Will Bishop, a clever eccentric dancer, who was associated with the Empire for several seasons. This was followed, in the January of 1896, by a charming ballet entitled “La Danse,” in which the history of dancing was illustrated and various dancers of the older schools, such as Sallé, Taglioni and others, as well as the modern, were typified. In October came “Monte Cristo”—another superb production staged and designed by Mr. Wilhelm, to whom I am indebted for many interesting details of the Empire’s history. This brings to a close the record of success from the opening of the Empire in 1887 to the close of 1896. This first phase was one of increasing triumph; a second, more splendid still, was to come. We had seen Ballet perfect of its kind. But yet, perfection was to be crowned by the supremacy of terpsichorean and mimetic art—the art of Adeline Génée. “Under One Flag,” a topical ballet in celebration of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, in 1897, ran for some months. Before the close of the year the Treasure Island tableau in “Monte Cristo” was staged, and in this, on November 22nd, 1897, a certain historic event took place—Mlle. Adeline Génée made her London début at the Empire Theatre.
- 62. One of hercritics at the time wrote that: “Her pas seuls commanded encores which were thoroughly deserved. The dancer is lissom to a degree and thoroughly mistress of her art. With her terpsichorean ability she has the advantage of a prepossessing personality, which will assist in endearing her to the public.” So much did her personality endear her to the public that Mlle. Génée’s first engagement at the Empire for six weeks extended to over ten years, with return visits after that! Looking back at the great dancers of the past, we see that all illustrate the incalculable value of personality in art. The technique of a Camargo or Sallé, Taglioni or Grahn, Karsavina or Génée, has the same foundation—the traditional “five positions,” which are to the Dance what the octave is to the sister art of Music. Before a dancer can hope to appear with success on any stage she must have acquired a knowledge of those “five positions,” and their possibilities of choregraphic combination. The ease and rapidity with which she illustrates them, the fluidity of the phrases and melodies of movement which she evolves from them, and the qualities of “finish” and “style” are finally achieved only by incessant practice. She must attain as complete a mastery of the mechanism of her body as can be attained. No technique in any art is acquired without labour; and no success is won without technique. That much therefore can be taken for granted in any great artist. But persistent practice and the acquisition of a fine technique may still leave a dancer merely an exquisite automaton if she has not “personality”; a quality not readily defined, but which undeniably marks her as different from others. Perhaps that is, after all, the truest definition—a differentiation from others. Endowed with the royal gift of personality, Mlle. Génée had worked incessantly before she made her first appearance in London at about the age of seventeen. Born in Copenhagen of Danish parents, the famous dancer began her training when only eight years old, under the tuition of her uncle and aunt, Mons. and Mme. Alexander Génée, both of whom (the latter as Mlle. Zimmermann) had won considerable reputation as dancers, and producers of ballet, at various continental opera-houses and theatres in the ’sixties and ’seventies. They had
- 63. appeared at Copenhagen,Vienna, Dresden, Munich, Budapest, and at Stettin, where Mons. Alexander Génée had a theatre for some years, and where Mlle. Adeline made some of her earliest appearances as a child. Subsequently she went to Berlin and to Munich, and it was while dancing in the latter city that she was called to London by Mr. George Edwardes on behalf of the Empire management. Her first appearance here was emphatically a success. But it was her performance as the Spirit of the “Liberty of the Press” in the famous Empire ballet, “The Press” (invented and designed by Mr. Wilhelm with the choregraphic support of Mme. Lanner and music by Mons. Wenzel), on February 14th, 1898, that first marked her—and for many years to come—as a London “star.” The ballet gave her scope for some wonderful pas, and proved immensely popular. It was a novel idea, artistically carried out, and illustrated the history and power of the Fourth Estate. A number of charming coryphées were ingeniously attired as representatives of the various newspapers, boys’ costumes indicating the morning and girls’ the evening journals. The venerable Times was typified by a man in the guise of Father Time, with hour-glass and other symbols of his ancient office, and accompanied by a retinue. Mme. Cavallazzi represented Caxton, Father of the Printing Press; Mlle. Zanfretta, the Spirit of Fashion; and there were typical costumes for The Standard, The Daily Telegraph, The Globe, The Daily Mail (then two years old!), The Illustrated London News (who announced that she was “Established 1842”), The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, The Lady’s Pictorial, The Sketch, The Referee, and others too numerous to name. So popular did the ballet prove that this also ran for months, and it was not until October of the same year that a new production, “Alaska,” was staged, the scenario of which was by Mr. Wilhelm, the choregraphy by Mme. Lanner, and music by Mons. Wenzel. The production which a contemporary critic described as “one of the most gorgeous ballets ever produced at the Empire,” is another example of the influence of topical events on the history of the Ballet, for it was due to the discovery of the Klondyke goldfields, the first news of which had come to us the year before, that is, in Jubilee year,
- 64. but the realwonders of which only began fully to reveal themselves in the summer of 1898, when everyone talked and dreamed of little else than “Klondyke”! The ballet opened with a blinding snowstorm, and the scene, laid in the snow-bound regions of the North-West, glowed, as the storm ceased, with the grandeur of the Aurora Borealis. The story dealt with the adventures of one Alec Wylie (Mme. Cavallazzi), leader of an expedition to Klondyke, who, tempted by the Demon Avarice, quarrels with and leaves for dead his partner, Frank Courage, whose life is saved by the ice fairies and who is vouchsafed a vision of golden realms by the Fairy Good Fortune. The production was rich in striking scenes and stage effects, and once again Mlle. Génée further confirmed her growing capacity to “endear” herself to London audiences by her performance as the Fairy Good Fortune. On May 8th of the following year, 1899, “Round the Town Again,” by Mme. Lanner, Mr. Wilhelm and Mons. Wenzel, was produced. This was entirely different from the original “Round the Town,” and with a second edition, also further altered, in January, 1900, ran until the end of August, 1900, that is, for fifteen months! Mlle. Génée, Mlle. Zanfretta and Mr. Will Bishop were the leading dancers, with a change of cast for a time when Mlle. Edvige Gantenberg took up Mlle. Génée’s part of Lisette, a French maid, during the latter’s absence on a brief holiday. A revised edition of “By the Sea,” under the title of “Seaside,” came on in September, 1900, the cast including Mlle. Génée, Signor Santini, Mr. Will Bishop and also Mr. Frank Lawton, whose whistling had so long been one of the attractions, elsewhere, of the “Belle of New York.” Next came a fascinating ballet “Les Papillons,” the scenario and staging of which were by Mr. Wilhelm. Of this an enthusiastic critic declared: “It is, indeed, a beautiful butterfly ballet that the Empire Theatre is just now able to boast. With it the management draws crowded houses, and sends them away delighted—delighted with the colour, exhilarated by the movement, charmed by the fancy, and ready to sing the praises of all concerned in a truly marvellous production, and particularly of Mr. Wilhelm, whose designs have given further proof of the taste which governs his fertile imagination and
- 65. invention, and ofMme. Katti Lanner, for whom the dances and evolutions mean another veritable triumph.” Mlle. Adeline Génée, as lead, played “Vanessa Imperialis,” the Butterfly Queen, who was “discovered” at the opening of the ballet fast asleep in the lovely realm over which she reigned. A glow-worm patrol guarded her slumbers, which ended with the coming of dawn, when she joined her subjects and the flower-fays in dances, and the revels of a fairy midsummer’s day dream. On November 6th of the same year followed “Old China,” a delightful ballet, invented and designed by Mr. C. Wilhelm, associated, as usual, with Mme. Lanner and Mons. Wenzel, and with Mlle. Génée as première danseuse. The opening scene showed a mantelpiece, backed by a great mirror, in which the actions of a little Dresden China Shepherdess (Mlle. Génée) and her two troublesome lovers, were exactly repeated in the looking-glass, through which finally the indignant damsel stepped—to the chagrin of her disconsolate lovers— right into Willow Pattern Land, which formed the second scene, and into which some particularly rich and beautiful effects were introduced. “Old China” ran for some months, and on May 28th of the following year was succeeded by another “topical” ballet, “Our Crown,” again the work of the accomplished trio, who had so long contributed to the success of the Empire productions, and were now receiving the brilliant assistance of the Danish première, who had thoroughly established herself in popular favour. It was, of course in celebration of that crowning of the late King Edward which had been so unhappily postponed, through his late Majesty’s illness on the very eve of what should have been his Coronation. This, again, was a most brilliant production, and the final tableau, practically a “Staircase” scene, in which the great stage was built up with groups representative of the jewelled products of the various British colonies, rubies, emeralds, diamonds, pearls, was magnificent. As in the case of the Victorian Jubilee ballet of five years before, this was a conspicuous triumph in the particularly difficult sphere of ballets d’occasion.
- 66. The first productionof 1903 was also the first of what may be called essentially the Génée ballets—ballets, that is, which seemed more particularly than before, infused with the personality of this accomplished dancer. Since her London début in 1897 she had played the leading part, certainly, but now it seemed almost as if her personality coloured the whole ballet itself, even as unquestionably her supreme technique set an example and had its influence in raising the already high standard of technique throughout the corps de ballet. The scenario and staging of “The Milliner Duchess” were by Mr. Wilhelm, and the story was specially designed to give Mlle. Génée an opportunity of further exhibiting her gifts as an actress. Into a fashionable throng frequenting the establishment of an up-to-date duchess who was running a milliner’s business was introduced her demure little niece, impersonated, of course, by Mlle. Génée; and her first entrance, in a gown of primitively early-Victorian simplicity, was charming in its hesitancy, and one realised that she was something more even than a finished dancer, namely, a born mime with a fine artistic appreciation of the nuances of comedy. In her dance descriptive of the charms of country life, so clever and so perfect was the combination of mime and dance that a positive illusion was created; and only at the close did one realise, suddenly, that it was veritably a song without words. A step, a gesture, a little glance, and one could have sworn one heard a poet’s lines! Popular as the dancer had already made herself, her work in this particularly charming ballet confirmed the growing opinion that here was a dancer who was supreme in her art as a dancer-mime; one to be reckoned among any gallery of the great artists of the past. In the autumn of the same year was staged a ballet by the same experienced trio, Wilhelm, Lanner and Wenzel, entitled “Vineland,” which introduced to us some novel and sumptuous colour schemes and gave us the sensation of Mlle. Génée’s “champagne” dance, a piece of terpsichorean music as sparkling as the most glittering of Offenbach’s operatic melodies. Early next year there followed the lively, up-to-date divertissement, “High Jinks,” in which the leading
- 67. parts were playedby Mlle. Génée, Mlle. Zanfretta, Miss Dorothy Craske, and Mr. Fred Farren. An adaptation by Mr. Wilhelm from the popular Viennese ballet, “Die Puppenfee,” under the English title of “The Dancing Doll,” was produced on January 3rd, 1905, and was notable, among other things, for Mlle. Génée’s impersonation of an automaton in situations not very dissimilar from those of “La Poupée,” and a notable point in the production was a delightful eccentric dance by Miss Elise Clerc and Mr. W. Vokes, as a pair of Dutch dolls. This very successful ballet went into a second edition on April 3rd, and on June 30th the theatre was closed for redecoration. When it reopened on October 9th of that year the habitués found considerable alterations had taken place under the direction of Mr. Frank Verity, f.r.i.b.a., all designed for their increased comfort, while the decorative style, representative of the true Empire period, had a note of distinction hitherto lacking in some of the London vaudeville houses, a note more in keeping with the demands of modern times. The opening ballet, by Mr. C. Wilhelm and Mr. Sidney Jones, was “The Bugle Call,” which had a well defined plot, and in which Mlle. Génée played the part of a French bugler boy of the late eighteenth century. On the afternoon of January 6th (1906) a version of “Cinderella,” one of the most charming of Mr. Wilhelm’s creations, was staged, originally with a view only to matinée performances, but it proved so successful that it went into the evening bill on February 5th. The creator of the ballet had treated the age-long legend of Cinderella with that respect for its mingled poetry and pathos which an artist of sympathy must always feel for one of childhood’s most appealing legends; and he provided Mlle. Génée once more with an opportunity for proving her remarkable gifts as an actress, fully in sympathy with the character and sufferings of the little heroine she impersonated. On May 14th, Delibes’ classic example of Ballet in its ideal form, namely, “Coppélia,” was produced specially for Mlle. Génée, and gave her, as the heroine, Swanilda, fresh opportunity for further revelations of her amazing accomplishments as a dancer and for her expressive
- 68. acting; in which,by the way, she was admirably supported by Mr. Fred Farren in the character of the old doll-maker, Coppélia; and by Miss Dorothy Craske as Coppélia’s somewhat wavering lover. The production was a great success. How should it have been otherwise? Perfectly staged and perfectly performed, it is, with its haunting Slav rhythms and flowing valse melodies, one of the most charming, and musically, one of the most expressive ballets in the world’s répertoire. This was followed on August 6th by one of the most exquisite productions the Empire had yet seen, a ballet by Mr. C. Wilhelm, entitled “Fête Galante,” which had been expanded from the opening scene of “Cinderella.” To see the “Fête Galante” was itself a liberal education in the art of stage effect. It was an ideal realisation of the art of Watteau, Lancret, and Fragonard. The very spirit of the period was caught, and it was as if all that one had learnt at secondhand of the people, the dress, the manners, dances, arts and music of the “Grand Century” in France had suddenly awakened into life, and become a living reality of which one was a living part. Yet, paradoxically, it was strangely dream-like still, even as are Watteau’s pictures. The scene represented a garden such as you see in so many of his paintings, and those of his school, primarily reminiscent of Pater’s “Conversation Galante” and Watteau’s “Fête Galante,” “L’amour au Théâtre Français,” and the “Terrace Party.” One of the young Court ladies reminded one of the central figure in the “Bal sous une Colonnade.” A minuet was in progress. All was stately and dream-like, made the more so by the music. For all the gaiety of the huntsmen’s entrance it was gaiety demure, as if restrained by an inherent sense of fitness with stately surroundings; and so with the troupe of dancers, introduced for the diversion of the Marquise Belle Etoile, and the Court ladies and courtiers grouped about her. The mood of all, demurely gay, or gaily demure, was suffused with a stately languor, a dream-like grace that found an echo in the subtle colour-harmonies of the old-world garden in which the people moved.
- 69. And when theopera-dancer, L’Hirondelle, and Passepied the master of the revels, began their pas de deux, the climax of exquisite illusion was reached, and Camargo was before us—the Camargo of Lancret’s famous picture, with the soft, full white skirts, trimmed with garlands of small pink roses and falling almost to the ankle; Camargo with the red-heeled, red-rosetted shoes; with blue shoulder-knot and powdered hair adorned with pale blue ribbons. As the fête drew to a close the picture mellowed in the amber light of a waning day; and, amid fallen leaf and chestnut bloom, slowly marquise and prince, Court lady and courtier, dancer and page, began in stately fashion to dance, their shadows lengthening in the failing light, the music growing slower and dreamier as, little by little, the picture was re-formed into the likeness of the opening scene, and the falling curtain brought one back into the world of living things to-day. Another brilliant reconstruction of the Past was achieved by Mr. Wilhelm in his creation of “The Débutante” (November 15th, 1906), which revivified the men and maids and modes, the dance of life, and the life of the dance, of that strangely interesting period of the ’thirties and ’forties, the days of Pauline Duverney, Leroux, Fanny Elssler, and Taglioni’s earlier years. The scene represented the Salon de Danse attached to an opera-house, the story dealing with the refusal of a star to take up her part in a ballet which is on the eve of production, her place being taken at the eleventh hour by a débutante (Mlle. Génée) with almost miraculous abilities. For this production, and in order that the style of the earlier dances should be represented on the stage with regard for accuracy and tradition, Mme. Katti Lanner, who had left the Empire in 1905, was induced to withdraw from her retirement temporarily at the request of the Directors, and out of personal friendship towards Mr. Wilhelm, with whose artistic aims she had so constantly shown her sympathy. Her reappearance to take another “call” proved another personal triumph. The ballet was indeed a charming work, fascinating to students of the dance and mime; and it proved so successful that a new one was not required until “Sir Roger de Coverley,” by Adrian Ross and Dr. Osmond Carr, staged by Mr. Wilhelm, came into the bill on May 7th in the following
- 70. year. As itstitle betokens, it dealt with the period of Queen Anne and showed a charming representation of the life of old Vauxhall. This, too, ran for some months and was succeeded on September 30th by “The Belle of the Ball,” which delighted many old frequenters of the Empire with its recollection of scenes from many of the earlier operatic favourites of the ’sixties and ’seventies, such as “Madame Angot,” “The Grand Duchess,” and other light operas, coming up to more recent productions, such as “The Belle of New York,” “The Geisha,” and others. Mlle. Adeline Génée The production marked the début of that brilliant young English dancer, Miss Phyllis Bedells, and also the end of Mlle. Génée’s unbroken ten years’ reign at the Empire Theatre, the tenth anniversary of her first appearance being celebrated on November 22nd, when the house was packed from floor to ceiling with a crowd whose growing enthusiasm culminated in a perfect tornado of
- 71. applause on thefalling of the curtain and something like a score of “calls”; the dancer having achieved by her personality and technique such a triumph as had not been known in London since the great days of Taglioni and the famous Pas de Quatre of the ’forties. She left to carry her influence to America, but there were of course return visits which concern us not at present in dealing only with what may be styled her ten years’ reign. But in watching that decade closely with all its procession of successes, one thing there is that strikes one very forcibly. It was only the natural corollary of the previous decade before the advent of Mlle. Génée. For some twenty years the artistic influence of one mind had been, never obtrusive, but invariably evident; never obtrusive, that is, to the detriment of that balance of the arts which makes a perfect ballet; I mean the artistic influence of Mr. C. Wilhelm. Before the coming of Mlle. Génée they had had some good dancers and some great artistic successes; but there had hardly been, perhaps, quite that unity and perfection of ensemble which the coming of a dancer of superb technique made possible, and which, it may be, enabled a designer of ballet, already of great experience and inspired always by high artistic motives—not only to aim at, but to count on, achieving just the effect at which he aimed. Theatrical art must always be a somewhat composite art, but its best achievements come from a perfect blending of artistic sympathies, forming a source of mutual inspiration. So, while the personality and technical accomplishment of Mlle. Génée must have proved a stimulus to the poetic imagination of an artist like Mr. Wilhelm, so, too, the famous Danish danseuse could well afford to admit a debt of inspiration to the refined, sensitive and poetic art of Mr. Wilhelm, who has provided so invariably a worthy and gracious medium for her supreme art as dancer-mime.
- 72. W CHAPTER XXXIV THE EMPIRE1907-1914 hen the news was first announced that an end was to come to Mlle. Adeline Génée’s ten years’ reign at the Empire and that the famous dancer was seeking, if not new worlds to conquer, at least to conquer what was once always spoken of as “The ‘New’ World,” many who had followed the progress of Ballet in London must have wondered where anyone could hope to find a successor to her throne, and who would have the courage to accept an offer thereof. But London theatrical managers are not lacking in resource, or English girls in courage; and it was with real pleasure that we heard that so worthy a successor had been found as that graceful and essentially English dancer, Miss Topsy Sinden, who had already been associated with the Empire as a child some years before. Of Mlle. Génée’s triumph in “The Belle of the Ball,” I have already spoken. Shortly after, the production underwent a change, and the fact that the new version was still in the bill on the following June 1st, proves the popularity of the production and of the Empire’s choice of Miss Sinden as première danseuse. Her success was the more interesting in that in temperament and in methods she was entirely different from the famous Danish dancer. A typical English girl, with all the charm of looks and manner implied thereby, she had studied not so much the purely traditional French or Italian school of ballet- dancing—though she had, of course, acquired that too—but the English school; of which the late Miss Kate Vaughan was, in her time, the finest exponent, and of which Miss Sylvia Grey, Miss Phyllis Broughton, the late Miss Katie Seymour, Miss Letty Lind, Miss Alice Lethbridge, and Miss Mabel Love, may be taken as leading representatives during the past twenty years. Miss Sinden had had long and invaluable stage experience before becoming première danseuse at the Empire; had appeared in pantomime at Covent Garden, Drury Lane, at the old “Brit,” and at
- 73. Liverpool and elsewhere;had “done” the Halls; had appeared at the Haymarket under Sir H. Beerbohm Tree’s management; had appeared at the Gaiety in “Cinderella Up-to-Date,” “In Town,” “Don Juan,” “The Gaiety Girl,” and “The Shop Girl”; at Daly’s in “The Greek Slave,” in “The Country Girl,” and other productions; and always she won fresh distinction as one of the most vivacious, piquante, graceful and finished English dancers the London stage has ever known. Her appearance in “The Belle of the Ball” was marked by the most cordial welcome from the Press and the public, and one of the first greetings she received on her return to the Empire was a telegram from Brighton which ran as follows: “My good wishes, and I hope you will do yourself justice. You are one of the best dancers I know.— Adeline Génée.” That Miss Sinden did do herself justice was seen in the enthusiastic cheers and demands for encores which greeted her at the close of her scenes on that “big night” of her return to the Empire stage. “The Belle of the Ball” gave place to a revival of “Coppélia” and— the return of Mlle. Adeline Génée. Many as her triumphs had been during her ten years’ unbroken reign, that Wednesday night, June 10th, 1908, must be recorded in Mlle. Génée’s memory in letters of gold, for even she can never have seen such a house, so crammed from floor to ceiling with a distinguished audience, including King George (then Prince of Wales), and been welcomed with such thunderous cheering and applause as greeted her on her first appearance through the little brown door of Swanilda’s balconied house, when she floated down the stairs to the centre of the stage, so lightly indeed that she seemed almost to flutter before the storm of enthusiasm which welcomed her return. And how she danced! Only her peer among poets could describe it, and then he would probably feel as Thackeray felt when endeavouring to do justice to Taglioni in “Sylphide!” For some seasons past we have had the Russian ballet as a standing dish, over which various epicures have gloated as if no other fare had ever been. But it is interesting to note that the first of “all the Russias” was Mlle. Lydia Kyasht, who made her London début at
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