| Ballets Russes | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Name | Ballets Russes |
| Year founded | 1909 |
| Closed | 1929 |
| Principal venue | Various |
| Artistic staff | |
| Artistic Director | Sergei Diaghilev |
| Other | |
| Formation |
|
TheBallets Russes (French:[balɛʁys]) was an itinerantballet company begun in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America. The company never performed in Russia, where theRevolution disrupted society. After its initial Paris season, the company had no formal ties there.[1]
Originally conceived byimpresarioSergei Diaghilev, the Ballets Russes is widely regarded as the most influential ballet company of the 20th century,[2] in part because it promoted ground-breaking artistic collaborations among young choreographers, composers, designers, and dancers, all at the forefront of their several fields. Diaghilev commissioned works from composers such asIgor Stravinsky,Claude Debussy,Sergei Prokofiev,Erik Satie, andMaurice Ravel, artists such asVasily Kandinsky,Alexandre Benois,Konstantin Korovin,Nicholas Roerich,Pablo Picasso, andHenri Matisse, and costume designersLéon Bakst,Ivan Bilibin andCoco Chanel.
The company's productions created a huge sensation, completely reinvigorating the art of performing dance, bringing many visual artists to public attention, and significantly affecting the course of musical composition. It also introduced European and American audiences to tales, music, and design motifs drawn fromRussian folklore. The company's employment of Europeanavant-garde art went on to influence broader artistic and popular culture of the early twentieth century, not least the development ofArt Deco.
The French plural form of the name,Ballets Russes, specifically refers to the company founded by Sergei Diaghilev and active during his lifetime. (In some publicity the company was advertised asLes Ballets Russes de Serge Diaghileff.) In English, the company is now commonly referred to as "the Ballets Russes", although in the early part of the 20th century, it was sometimes referred to as "The Russian Ballet" or "Diaghilev's Russian Ballet". To add to the confusion, some publicity material spelled the name in the singular.
The namesBallet Russe de Monte-Carlo and theOriginal Ballet Russe (using the singular) refer to companies that formed after Diaghilev's death in 1929.
Sergei Diaghilev, the company'simpresario (or "artistic director" in modern terms), was chiefly responsible for its success. He was uniquely prepared for the role; born into a wealthy Russian family of vodka distillers (though they went bankrupt when he was 18), he was accustomed to moving in the upper-class circles that provided the company's patrons and benefactors. It's indispensable to mention the name of the sponsorWinnaretta Singer which generous financial subsides ensured the success of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in Europe.[3]
In 1890, he enrolled at the Faculty of Law, St. Petersburg, to prepare for a career in the civil service like many Russian young men of his class.[4] There he was introduced (through his cousinDmitry Filosofov) to a student clique of artists and intellectuals calling themselvesThe Nevsky Pickwickians whose most influential member wasAlexandre Benois; others includedLéon Bakst,Walter Nouvel, andKonstantin Somov.[4] From childhood, Diaghilev had been passionately interested in music. However, his ambition to become a composer was dashed in 1894 whenNikolai Rimsky-Korsakov told him he had no talent.[5]
In 1898, several members ofThe Pickwickians founded the journalMir iskusstva (World of Art) under the editorship of Diaghilev.[6] As early as 1902,Mir iskusstva included reviews of concerts, operas, and ballets in Russia. The latter were chiefly written by Benois, who exerted considerable influence on Diaghilev's thinking.[7]Mir iskusstva also sponsored exhibitions of Russian art in St. Petersburg, culminating in Diaghilev's important 1905 show of Russian portraiture at theTauride Palace.[8]
Frustrated by the extreme conservatism of the Russian art world, Diaghilev organized the groundbreakingExhibition of Russian Art at thePetit Palais in Paris in 1906, the first major showing of Russian art in the West. Its enormous success created a Parisian fascination with all things Russian. Diaghilev organized a 1907 season of Russian music at theParis Opéra. In 1908, Diaghilev returned to the Paris Opéra with six performances ofModest Mussorgsky's operaBoris Godunov, starring bassoFyodor Chaliapin. This wasNikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's 1908 version (with additional cuts and re-arrangement of the scenes). The performances were a sensation, though the costs of producing grand opera were crippling.
In 1909, Diaghilev presented his first Paris "Saison Russe" devoted exclusively to ballet (although the company did not use the name "Ballets Russes" until the following year). Most of this original company were resident performers at theImperial Ballet ofSaint Petersburg, hired by Diaghilev to perform in Paris during the Imperial Ballet's summer holidays. The first season's repertory featured a variety of works chiefly choreographed byMichel Fokine, includingLe Pavillon d'Armide, thePolovtsian Dances (fromPrince Igor),Les Sylphides, andCléopâtre. The season also includedLe Festin, a pastiche set by several choreographers (including Fokine) to music by several Russian composers.
The principal productions are shown in the table below.
| Year | Title | Image | Composer(s) | Choreographer(s) | Sets and costumes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1909 | Le Pavillon d'Armide |  | Nikolai Tcherepnin | Michel Fokine | Alexandre Benois |
| Prince Igor |  | Alexander Borodin | Michel Fokine | Nicholas Roerich | |
| Le Festin |  | Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (march fromLe Coq d'Or used for processional entry) | Konstantin Korovin (sets and costumes) Léon Bakst (costumes) Alexandre Benois (costumes) Ivan Bilibin (costumes) | ||
| Mikhail Glinka ("Lezginka" fromRuslan and Ludmilla) | Michel Fokine,Marius Petipa | ||||
| Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ("L'Oiseau d'Or" fromThe Sleeping Beauty) | Marius Petipa | ||||
| Alexander Glazunov ("Czardas" fromRaymonda) | Alexander Gorsky | ||||
| Modest Mussorgsky ("Hopak" fromThe Fair at Sorochyntsi) | Michel Fokine | ||||
| Mikhail Glinka ("Mazurka" fromA Life for the Tsar) | Nicolai Goltz, Felix Kchessinsky | ||||
| Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ("Trepak" fromThe Nutcracker) | Michel Fokine | ||||
| Alexander Glazunov ("Grand Pas Classique Hongrois" fromRaymonda) | Marius Petipa | ||||
| Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ("Finale" of theSecond Symphony) | Michel Fokine | ||||
| Les Sylphides |  | Frédéric Chopin(orch. Glazunov,Igor Stravinsky,Alexander Taneyev) | Michel Fokine | Alexandre Benois | |
| Cléopâtre |  | Anton Arensky(additional music by Glazunov, Glinka, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov,Sergei Taneyev,Nikolai Tcherepnin) | Michel Fokine | Léon Bakst | |
| 1910 | Carnaval | _by_L.Bakst_02.jpg) | Robert Schumann(orch. Arensky, Glazunov,Anatol Liadov, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tcherepnin) | Michel Fokine | Léon Bakst |
| Schéhérazade | _01_by_L._Bakst.jpg) | Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov | Michel Fokine | Léon Bakst | |
| Giselle | _01.jpg) | Adolphe Adam | Jean Coralli,Jules Perrot, Marius Petipa (revival), Michel Fokine (revisions) | Alexandre Benois | |
| Les Orientales |  | Christian Sinding (Rondoletto giocoso, op.32/5)(orch. Igor Stravinsky for"Danse Siamoise") Edvard Grieg (Småtroll, op.71/3, fromLyric Pieces, Book X)(orch. Igor Stravinsky for"Variation") | Vaslav Nijinsky("Danse Orientale" and"Variation") Michel Fokine | Konstantin Korovin (sets and costumes) Léon Bakst (costumes) | |
| L'Oiseau de feu |  | Igor Stravinsky | Michel Fokine | Alexander Golovine (sets and costumes) Léon Bakst (costumes) | |
| 1911 | Le Spectre de la rose |  | Carl Maria von Weber | Michel Fokine | Léon Bakst |
| Narcisse |  | Nikolai Tcherepnin | Michel Fokine | Léon Bakst | |
| Sadko |  | Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov | Mikhail Fokine | Boris Anisfeld | |
| Petrushka |  | Igor Stravinsky | Michel Fokine | Alexandre Benois | |
| Swan Lake |  | Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky | Marius Petipa,Lev Ivanov, Michel Fokine (revisions) | Konstantin Korovin (sets) Alexander Golovin (sets and costumes) | |
| 1912 | L'après-midi d'un faune |  | Claude Debussy | Vaslav Nijinsky | Léon Bakst |
| Daphnis et Chloé |  | Maurice Ravel | Michel Fokine | Léon Bakst | |
| Le Dieu bleu |  | Reynaldo Hahn | Michel Fokine | Léon Bakst | |
| Thamar |  | Mily Balakirev based on his symphonic poemTamara | Michel Fokine | Léon Bakst | |
| 1913 | Jeux |  | Claude Debussy | Vaslav Nijinsky | Léon Bakst |
| Le sacre du printemps |  | Igor Stravinsky | Vaslav Nijinsky | Nicholas Roerich | |
| Tragédie de Salomé | Florent Schmitt | Boris Romanov | Sergey Sudeykin | ||
| 1914 | Les Papillons |  | Robert Schumann(orch.Nikolai Tcherepnin) | Mikhail Fokine | Mstislav Doboujinsky |
| La légende de Joseph |  | Richard Strauss | Michel Fokine | Léon Bakst | |
| Le coq d'or |  | Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov | Michel Fokine | Natalia Goncharova | |
| Le rossignol |  | Igor Stravinsky | Boris Romanov | Alexandre Benois | |
| Midas | Maximilian Steinberg | Michel Fokine | Mstislav Doboujinsky | ||
| 1915 | Soleil de Nuit |  | Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov | Léonide Massine | Mikhail Larionov |
| 1916 | Las Meniñas | Louis Aubert, Gabriel Fauré (Pavane), Maurice Ravel (Alborada del gracioso), Emmanuel Chabrier (Menuet pompeux) | Léonide Massine | Josep Maria Sert (costumes) | |
| Kikimora | Anatoly Liadov | Léonide Massine | Mikhail Larionov | ||
| Till Eulenspiegel | _1.jpg) | Richard Strauss | Vaslav Nijinsky | Robert Edmond Jones | |
| 1917 | Feu d'Artifice | Igor Stravinsky | Giacomo Balla | ||
| Les Femmes de Bonne Humeur |  | Domenico Scarlatti(orch.Vincenzo Tommasini) | Léonide Massine | Léon Bakst | |
| Parade |  | Erik Satie | Léonide Massine | Pablo Picasso | |
| 1919 | La Boutique fantasque |  | Gioachino Rossini(arr.Ottorino Respighi) | Léonide Massine | André Derain |
| El sombrero de tres picos | .jpg) | Manuel de Falla | Léonide Massine | Pablo Picasso | |
| Les jardins d'Aranjuez (new version ofLas Meninas) | Louis Aubert, Gabriel Fauré, Maurice Ravel, Emmanuel Chabrier | Léonide Massine | Josep Maria Sert (costumes) | ||
| 1920 | Le chant du rossignol | Igor Stravinsky | Léonide Massine | Henri Matisse | |
| Pulcinella | .jpg) | Igor Stravinsky | Léonide Massine | Pablo Picasso | |
| Ballet de l'astuce féminine orCimarosiana | Domenico Cimarosa | Léonide Massine | Josep Maria Sert | ||
| Le sacre du printemps (revival) | Igor Stravinsky | Léonide Massine | Nicholas Roerich | ||
| 1921 | Chout |  | Sergei Prokofiev | Léonide Massine | Mikhail Larionov |
| Cuadro Flamenco | Traditional Andalusian music(arr. Manuel de Falla) | Pablo Picasso | |||
| The Sleeping Beauty |  | Pyotr Tchaikovsky | Marius Petipa | Léon Bakst | |
| 1922 | Le Mariage de la Belle au Bois Dormant | Pyotr Tchaikovsky | Marius Petipa | Alexandre Benois (sets and costumes) Natalia Goncharova (costumes) | |
| Mavra |  | Igor Stravinsky | Bronislava Nijinska | Léopold Survage | |
| Renard | Igor Stravinsky | Bronislava Nijinska | Mikhail Larionov | ||
| 1923 | Les noces |  | Igor Stravinsky | Bronislava Nijinska | Natalia Goncharova |
| 1924 | Les Tentations de la Bergère, ou l'Amour Vainqueur |  | Michel de Montéclair(arr. and orch.Henri Casadesus) | Bronislava Nijinska | Juan Gris |
| Le Médecin malgré lui |  | Charles Gounod | Bronislava Nijinska | Alexandre Benois | |
| Les biches | Francis Poulenc | Bronislava Nijinska | Marie Laurencin | ||
| Cimarosiana | Domenico Cimarosa(orch. Ottorino Respighi) | Léonide Massine, Bronislava Nijinska | José-María Sert | ||
| Les Fâcheux | Georges Auric | Bronislava Nijinska | Georges Braque | ||
| Le train bleu | Darius Milhaud | Bronislava Nijinska | Henri Laurens (sets) Gabrielle Chanel (costumes) Pablo Picasso (sets) | ||
| 1925 | Zephyr et Flore | Vladimir Dukelsky | Léonide Massine | Georges Braque | |
| Le chant du rossignol (revival) | Igor Stravinsky | George Balanchine | Henri Matisse | ||
| Les matelots | Georges Auric | Léonide Massine | Pere Pruna | ||
| Barabau | Vittorio Rieti | George Balanchine | Maurice Utrillo | ||
| 1926 | Roméo et Juliette | Constant Lambert | Bronislava Nijinska | Max Ernst (curtain) Joan Miró (sets and costumes) | |
| Pastorale | Georges Auric | George Balanchine | Pere Pruna | ||
| Jack in the Box | Erik Satie(orch. Milhaud) | George Balanchine | André Derain | ||
| The Triumph of Neptune | Lord Berners | George Balanchine | Pedro Pruna (costumes) | ||
| 1927 | La chatte | Henri Sauguet | George Balanchine | Naum Gabo | |
| Mercure |  | Erik Satie | Léonide Massine | Pablo Picasso | |
| Le pas d'acier |  | Sergei Prokofiev | Léonide Massine | Georgy Yakulov | |
| 1928 | Ode | Nikolai Nabokov | Léonide Massine | Pavel Tchelitchev | |
| Apollon musagète (Apollo) |  | Igor Stravinsky | George Balanchine | André Bauschant (scene) Coco Chanel (costumes) | |
| The Gods Go A-Begging | %2c_between_Nov_1938-Aug_1940_-_photograph_by_Max_Dupain_(4051611764).jpg) | George Frederic Handel | George Balanchine | Léon Bakst (sets) Juan Gris (costumes) | |
| 1929 | Le Bal | Vittorio Rieti | George Balanchine | Giorgio de Chirico | |
| Renard (revival) | Igor Stravinsky | Serge Lifar | Mikhail Larionov | ||
| Le fils prodigue | Sergei Prokofiev | George Balanchine | Georges Rouault |
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When Sergei Diaghilev died of diabetes in Venice on 19 August 1929, the Ballets Russes was left with substantial debts. As theGreat Depression began, its property was claimed by its creditors and the company of dancers dispersed.
In 1931, ColonelWassily de Basil (a Russian émigré entrepreneur from Paris) andRené Blum (ballet director at theMonte Carlo Opera) founded theBallets Russes de Monte-Carlo, giving its first performances there in 1932.[9] Diaghilev alumniLéonide Massine andGeorge Balanchine worked as choreographers with the company andTamara Toumanova was a principal dancer.
Artistic differences led to a split between Blum and de Basil,[10] after which de Basil renamed his company initially "Ballets Russes de Colonel W. de Basil".[11] Blum retained the name "Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo", while de Basil created a new company. In 1938, he called it "The Covent Garden Russian Ballet"[11] and then renamed it the "Original Ballet Russe" in 1939.[11][12]
Col de Basil's company was run by famed promoterFortune Gallo for a year after losing their manager.[13]
AfterWorld War II began, theBallet Russe de Monte Carlo left Europe and toured extensively in the United States and South America. As dancers retired and left the company, they often founded dance studios in the United States or South America or taught at other former company dancers' studios. With Balanchine's founding of theSchool of American Ballet, and later theNew York City Ballet, many outstanding former Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo dancers went to New York to teach in his school. When they toured the United States,Cyd Charisse, the film actress and dancer, was taken into the cast.
TheOriginal Ballet Russe toured mostly in Europe. Its alumni were influential in teaching classical Russian ballet technique in European schools.
The successor companies were the subject of the 2005 documentary filmBallets Russes.
The Ballets Russes was noted for the high standard of its dancers, most of whom had been classically trained at the great Imperial schools in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Their high technical standards contributed a great deal to the company's success in Paris, where dance technique had declined markedly since the 1830s.
Principal female dancers included:Anna Pavlova,Tamara Karsavina,Olga Spessivtseva,Mathilde Kschessinska,Ida Rubinstein,Bronislava Nijinska,Lydia Lopokova,Sophie Pflanz, andAlicia Markova, among others; many earned international renown with the company, includingEkaterina Galanta andValentina Kachouba.[14][15] Prima ballerinaXenia Makletzova was dismissed from the company in 1916 and sued by Diaghilev; she countersued for breach of contract, and won $4500 in a Massachusetts court.[16][17]
The Ballets Russes was even more remarkable for raising the status of the male dancer, largely ignored by choreographers and ballet audiences since the early 19th century. Among the male dancers wereMichel Fokine,Serge Lifar,Léonide Massine,Anton Dolin,George Balanchine,Valentin Zeglovsky,Theodore Kosloff,Adolph Bolm, and the legendaryVaslav Nijinsky, considered the most popular and talented dancer in the company's history.
After theRussian Revolution of 1917, in later years, younger dancers were taken from those trained in Paris by former Imperial dancers, within the large community of Russian exiles. Recruits were even accepted from America and included a youngRuth Page who joined the troupe in Monte Carlo during 1925.[18][19][20]
The company featured and premiered now-famous (and sometimes notorious) works by the greatchoreographersMarius Petipa andMichel Fokine, as well as new works byVaslav Nijinsky,Bronislava Nijinska,Léonide Massine, and the youngGeorge Balanchine at the start of his career.
The choreography ofMichel Fokine was of paramount importance in the initial success of the Ballets Russes. Fokine had graduated from the Imperial Ballet School in Saint Petersburg in 1898, and eventually become First Soloist at theMariinsky Theater. In 1907, Fokine choreographed his first work for the Imperial Russian Ballet,Le Pavillon d'Armide. In the same year, he createdChopiniana to piano music by the composerFrédéric Chopin as orchestrated byAlexander Glazunov. This was an early example of creating choreography to an existing score rather than to music specifically written for the ballet, a departure from the normal practice at the time.
Fokine established an international reputation with his works choreographed during the first four seasons (1909–1912) of the Ballets Russes. These included thePolovtsian Dances (fromPrince Igor),Le Pavillon d'Armide (a revival of his 1907 production for the Imperial Russian Ballet),Les Sylphides (a reworking of his earlierChopiniana),The Firebird,Le Spectre de la Rose,Petrushka, andDaphnis and Chloé . After a longstanding tumultuous relationship with Diaghilev, Fokine left the Ballets Russes at the end of the 1912 season.[21]
Vaslav Nijinsky had attended theImperial Ballet School, St. Petersburg since the age of eight. He graduated in 1907 and joined the Imperial Ballet where he immediately began to take starring roles. Diaghilev invited him to join the Ballets Russes for its first Paris season.
In 1912, Diaghilev gave Nijinsky his first opportunity as a choreographer, for his production ofL'Après-midi d'un faune toClaude Debussy's symphonic poemPrélude à l'après-midi d'un faune. Featuring Nijinsky himself as the Faun, the ballet's frankly erotic nature caused a sensation.[citation needed] The following year, Nijinsky choreographed a new work by Debussy composed expressly for the Ballets Russes,Jeux. Indifferently received by the public,Jeux was eclipsed two weeks later by the premiere ofIgor Stravinsky'sThe Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du printemps), also choreographed by Nijinsky.
Nijinsky eventually retired from dance and choreography, after he was diagnosed withschizophrenia in 1919.
Léonide Massine was born in Moscow,[22] where he studied both acting and dancing at the Imperial School. On the verge of becoming an actor, Massine was invited by Sergei Diaghilev to join the Ballets Russes, as he was seeking a replacement for Vaslav Nijinsky. Diaghilev encouraged Massine's creativity and his entry into choreography.
Massine's most famous creations for the Ballets Russes wereParade,El sombrero de tres picos, andPulcinella. In all three of these works, he collaborated withPablo Picasso, who designed the sets and costumes.
Massine extended Fokine's choreographic innovations, especially those relating to narrative and character. His ballets incorporated both folk dance anddemi-charactère dance, a style using classical technique to performcharacter dance. Massine created contrasts in his choreography, such as synchronized yet individual movement, or small-group dance patterns within thecorps de ballet.
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Bronislava Nijinska was the younger sister ofVaslav Nijinsky. She trained at the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg, joining the Imperial Ballet company in 1908. From 1909, she (like her brother) was a member of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes.
In 1915, Nijinska and her husband fled to Kiev to escape World War I. There, she founded the École de movement, where she trained Ukrainian artists in modern dance. Her most prominent pupil wasSerge Lifar (who later joined the Ballets Russes in 1923).
Following the Russian Revolution, Nijinska fled again to Poland, and then, in 1921, re-joined the Ballets Russes in Paris. In 1923, Diaghilev assigned her the choreography of Stravinsky'sLes Noces. The result combines elements of her brother's choreography forThe Rite of Spring with more traditional aspects of ballet, such as dancingen pointe. The following year, she choreographed three new works for the company:Les biches,Les Fâcheux, andLe train bleu.
Born Giorgi Melitonovitch Balanchivadze in Saint Petersburg,George Balanchine was trained at the Imperial School of Ballet. His education there was interrupted by theRussian Revolution of 1917. Balanchine graduated in 1921, after the school reopened. He subsequently studied music theory, composition, and advanced piano at thePetrograd Conservatory, graduating in 1923. During this time, he worked with thecorps de ballet of theMariinsky Theater. In 1924, Balanchine (and his first wife, ballerinaTamara Geva) fled to Paris while on tour of Germany with the Soviet State Dancers. He was invited by Sergei Diaghilev to join the Ballets Russes as a choreographer.[23]
Diaghilev invited the collaboration of contemporary fine artists in the design of sets and costumes. These includedAlexandre Benois,Léon Bakst,Nicholas Roerich,Georges Braque,Natalia Goncharova,Mikhail Larionov,Pablo Picasso,Coco Chanel,Henri Matisse,André Derain,Joan Miró,Giorgio de Chirico,Salvador Dalí,Ivan Bilibin,Juan Gris,Pavel Tchelitchev,Maurice Utrillo, andGeorges Rouault.
Their designs contributed to the groundbreaking excitement of the company's productions. The scandal caused by the premiere performance in Paris of Stravinsky'sThe Rite of Spring has been partly attributed to the provocative aesthetic of the costumes of the Ballets Russes.[24]
While they created amazing works most of the designers were not trained in theater but started out as studio painters.
Alexandre Benois had been the most influential member of TheNevsky Pickwickians and was one of the original founders (with Bakst and Diaghilev) ofMir iskusstva. His particular interest in ballet as an art form strongly influenced Diaghilev and was seminal in the formation of the Ballets Russes. Benois was also focused on historical accuracy and had an extensive knowledge of fashion history. In addition, Benois contributed scenic and costume designs to several of the company's earlier productions:Le Pavillon d'Armide, portions ofLe Festin, andGiselle. Benois also participated withIgor Stravinsky andMichel Fokine in the creation ofPetrushka, to which he contributed much of the scenario as well as the stage sets and costumes.
Léon Bakst was also an original member of both TheNevsky Pickwickians andMir iskusstva. "He regarded the nude body as an aesthetic totality whose artistry had been forgotten under the weight of nineteenth century social and theatrical dress."[25] He participated as designer in productions of the Ballets Russes from its beginning in 1909 until 1921, creating sets and costumes forScheherazade,The Firebird,Les Orientales,Le Spectre de la rose,L'Après-midi d'une faune, andDaphnis et Chloé, among other productions.
In 1917,Pablo Picasso designed sets and costumes in theCubist style for three Diaghilev ballets, all with choreography byLéonide Massine:Parade,El sombrero de tres picos, andPulcinella.
Natalia Goncharova was born in 1881 nearTula, Russia. Her art was inspired by Russian folk art,Fauvism, and cubism. She began designing for the Ballets Russes in 1921.
Although the Ballets Russes firmly established the 20th-century tradition of fine art theatre design, the company was not unique in its employment of fine artists. For instance,Savva Mamontov's Private Opera Company had made a policy of employing fine artists, such asKonstantin Korovin andGolovin, who went on to work for the Ballets Russes.
For his new productions, Diaghilev commissioned the foremost composers of the 20th century, including:Debussy,Milhaud,Poulenc,Prokofiev,Ravel,Satie,Respighi,Stravinsky,de Falla, andStrauss. He was also responsible for commissioning the first two significant British-composed ballets:Romeo and Juliet (composed in 1925 by nineteen-year-oldConstant Lambert) andThe Triumph of Neptune (composed in 1926 byLord Berners).
The impresario also engaged conductors who were or became eminent in their field during the 20th century, includingPierre Monteux (1911–16 and 1924),Ernest Ansermet (1915–23),Edward Clark (1919–20) andRoger Désormière (1925–29).[26]
Diaghilev hired the young Stravinsky at a time when he was virtually unknown to compose the music forThe Firebird, after the composerAnatoly Lyadov proved unreliable, and this was instrumental in launching Stravinsky's career in Europe and the United States of America.
Stravinsky's early ballet scores were the subject of much discussion.The Firebird (1910) was seen as an astonishingly accomplished work for such a young artist (Debussy is said to have remarked drily: "Well, you've got to start somewhere!"). Many contemporary audiences foundPetrushka (1911) to be almost unbearably dissonant and confused.The Rite of Spring (1913) nearly caused an audience riot. It stunned people because of its willful rhythms and aggressive dynamics. The audience's negative reaction to it is now regarded as a theatrical scandal as notorious as the failed runs ofRichard Wagner'sTannhäuser at Paris in 1861 andJean-Georges Noverre'sLes Fêtes Chinoises in London on the eve of theSeven Years' War. However, Stravinsky's early ballet scores are now widely considered masterpieces of the genre.[27]
Diaghilev always maintained that no camera could ever do justice to the artistry of his dancers, and it was long believed there was no film legacy of the Ballets Russes. However, in 2011 a 30-second newsreel film of a performance inMontreux, Switzerland, in June 1928 came to light. The ballet wasLes Sylphides and the lead dancer was identified asSerge Lifar.[28]
Paris, 2008: In September 2008, on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Ballets Russes,Sotheby's announced the staging of an exceptional exhibition of works lent mainly by French, British and Russian private collectors, museums and foundations. Some 150 paintings, designs, costumes, theatre decors, drawings, sculptures, photographs, manuscripts, and programs were exhibited in Paris, retracing the key moments in the history of the Ballets Russes. On display were costumes designed byAndré Derain (La Boutique fantasque, 1919) andHenri Matisse (Le chant du rossignol, 1920), andLéon Bakst.
Posters recalling the surge of creativity that surrounded the Ballets Russes includedPablo Picasso's iconic image of the Chinese Conjuror for the audacious production ofParade andJean Cocteau's poster forLe Spectre de la rose. Costumes and stage designs presented included works byAlexander Benois, forLe Pavillon d'Armide andPetrushka; Léon Bakst, forLa Péri andLe Dieu bleu;Mikhail Larionov, forLe Soleil à Minuit; andNatalia Goncharova, forThe Firebird (1925 version). The exhibition also included important contemporary artists, whose works reflected the visual heritage of the Ballets Russes – notably an installation made of colorfully painted paper by the Belgian artistIsabelle de Borchgrave, and items from theImperial Porcelain Factory in St. Petersburg.[29]
Monte-Carlo, 2009: In May, in Monaco, two postage stamps"Centenary of Ballets Russians of Diaghilev" went out, created byGeorgy Shishkin.
London, 2010–11: London'sVictoria and Albert Museum presented a special exhibition entitledDiaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes, 1909–1929 at the V&A South Kensington between 5 September 2010 and 9 January 2011.
Canberra, 2010–11: An exhibition of the company's costumes held by theNational Gallery of Australia was held from 10 December 2010 – 1 May 2011 at the Gallery inCanberra. EntitledBallets Russes: The Art of Costume, it included 150 costumes and accessories from 34 productions from 1909 to 1939; one third of the costumes had not been seen since they were last worn on stage. Along with costumes by Natalia Goncharova, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, André Derain,Georges Braque,André Masson andGiorgio de Chirico, the exhibition also featured photographs, film, music and artists' drawings.[30]
Washington, DC, 2013:Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, 1909–1929: When Art Danced with Music.National Gallery of Art, East Building Mezzanine. 12 May— 2 September 2013. Organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, in collaboration with the National Gallery of Art, Washington.Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, 1909-1929: When Art Danced with Music
Stockholm, 2014–2015:Sleeping Beauties – Dreams and Costumes. The Dance Museum in Stockholm owns about 250 original costumes from the Ballets Russes, in this exhibition about fifty of them are shown. (www.dansmuseet.se)
| Operas and musical dramas | |||||||||
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| Ballets | |||||||||
| Symphonies | |||||||||
| Orchestral music | |||||||||
| Concertos | |||||||||
| Solo vocal | |||||||||
| Choral | |||||||||
| Piano and pianola | |||||||||
| Chamber music | |||||||||
| Other | |||||||||
| Arrangements | |||||||||
| Family |
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| Named for Stravinsky | |||||||||
| Related |
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