Last night I attended what must be one of the earlier events in this Diaghilev Ballet Russe centenary celebration year. It was an illustrated talk by Princess Nina Lobanov Rostovsky covering the life and work and Serge Diaghilev and held in Pushkin House, Bloomsbury Square, London organised by the Great Britain Russia Society.
The Princess is a writer and lecturer on Russian decorative arts and Russian stage design, and consults for Christie’s International and Sotheby’s. The Princess and her husband Prince Nikita have an important private collection of Diaghilev material items from which they have generously loaned material to various important exhibitions over the years. She has co-curated numerous exhibitions of Russian theatrical art – designs for ballet, theatre and opera – in North America, Germany, Japan and Russia, and was a consultant for the Diaghilev Exhibition and Festival in the Netherlands in 2005.
Pushkin House is a building of more than 200 years old was a suitable venue for such an event with its lofty ceilings and chandeliers, mildly evocative of a minor St. Petersburg Mansion of the same period.
The audience included ballet enthusiasts, archivists, Russian speakers and a good number of Russians currently settled in London.
The Princess covered Diaghilev’s early life with an insight into the family status and home activities, in a manner that was evocative of pre-revolutionary Russian domestic life of a certain class in Perm where Diaghilev spent his early life.
She created a very real picture of his father, outlining his character and status. But it was the very detailed information about his step-mother who introduced a rich musical atmosphere into their home life that was especially interesting. Her undoubted influence was such that when he left Perm to go to St. Petersburg University to study law he also studied composition with Rimsky-Korsakov and singing with the famous baritone Cotogni. Fortunately for us today, he showed no great talent for either of these enthusiasms.
Princess Nina introduced all the characters from the World of Art (Mir Iskusstva) period and the early forays into staging important exhibitions. She related how in 1907 Diaghilev introduced to Paris the figures of Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alexander Glazunov, Alexander Scriabin, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov who conducted their compositions, as well as conducting the works of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Alexander Borodin and Mikhail Glinka.
She went on to remind us of Diaghilev’s introducing to Paris in 1908 the Russian opera with the already legendary Fyodor Chaliapin.
From there on the talk was all about the ballet describing the decors and costumes, bringing them to life with vivid slides and numerous photographs of those involved in the productions.
We were told about the tours, the terrible state of the Ballet Russe Company’s finances and the fact that Diaghilev was never to own a home of his own.
Diaghilev has been likened to the Roman patron of the arts Maecenas which, considering the number of artistic careers he supported and encouraged, is a fair comparison. Sadly, he lacked the personal wealth of that earlier patron of the arts and Diaghilev’s great artistic success was matched by a continuous fight against debt and the search for patrons.
This was a fitting start for me to a centenary of a man I never knew but whose work and its history have been abiding passions since my teenage.
I was introduced to the Princess and had a short conversation, which confirmed both her knowledge and her attractive and lively personality.
Full Version: Diaghilev Ballet Russe Centenary Celebration 2009
Leonid, you are so fortunate to have been able to attend. Thank you for sharing it with us. I love the specificity of detail in comments such as the following --
Will there be an exhibition in London similar to the Edinburgh exhibition that the focus of Richard Buckle's book?
QUOTE
The Princess covered Diaghilev’s early life with an insight into the family status and home activities, in a manner that was evocative of pre-revolutionary Russian domestic life of a certain class in Perm where Diaghilev spent his early life.
She created a very real picture of his father, outlining his character and status. But it was the very detailed information about his step-mother who introduced a rich musical atmosphere into their home life that was especially interesting. Her undoubted influence was such, that when he left Perm to go to the St. Petersburg University to study law, he also studied composition with Rimsky-Korsakov and singing with the famous baritone Cotogni.
She created a very real picture of his father, outlining his character and status. But it was the very detailed information about his step-mother who introduced a rich musical atmosphere into their home life that was especially interesting. Her undoubted influence was such, that when he left Perm to go to the St. Petersburg University to study law, he also studied composition with Rimsky-Korsakov and singing with the famous baritone Cotogni.
Will there be an exhibition in London similar to the Edinburgh exhibition that the focus of Richard Buckle's book?
Thank you so much Leonid! As Bart said, the specificity is so vivid, as I'm sure the talk must have been. What strikes me as unique is that the Princess has such a long and personal relationship with the artifacts of the era, and is so knowledgeable about them, that it must have been very rewarding to hear.
I have read about Diaghilev's stepmother -- we can all be grateful she came into his life.
As you, Leonid, know, I posted a notice about a conference that will be in Cambridge, MA in April (it's in "Heads Up"). I am wondering how to find out about other Diaghilev anniversary events this year. Does anyone else know?
I'm glad you've set an example, and that we'll all submit posts about these events.
I have read about Diaghilev's stepmother -- we can all be grateful she came into his life.
As you, Leonid, know, I posted a notice about a conference that will be in Cambridge, MA in April (it's in "Heads Up"). I am wondering how to find out about other Diaghilev anniversary events this year. Does anyone else know?
I'm glad you've set an example, and that we'll all submit posts about these events.
QUOTE (ViolinConcerto @ Feb 11 2009, 11:11 PM) 
Thank you so much Leonid! As Bart said, the specificity is so vivid, as I'm sure the talk must have been. What strikes me as unique is that the Princess has such a long and personal relationship with the artifacts of the era, and is so knowledgeable about them, that it must have been very rewarding to hear.
I have read about Diaghilev's stepmother -- we can all be grateful she came into his life.
As you, Leonid, know, I posted a notice about a conference that will be in Cambridge, MA in April (it's in "Heads Up"). I am wondering how to find out bout other Diaghilev anniversary events this year. Does anyone else know?
I'm glad you've set an example, and that we'll all submit posts about these events.
I have read about Diaghilev's stepmother -- we can all be grateful she came into his life.
As you, Leonid, know, I posted a notice about a conference that will be in Cambridge, MA in April (it's in "Heads Up"). I am wondering how to find out bout other Diaghilev anniversary events this year. Does anyone else know?
I'm glad you've set an example, and that we'll all submit posts about these events.
I was grateful for your information on the Cambridge MA conference and please find herewith a list of events I have found. More to follow.
xxxIF YOU HAVE DETAILS OF EXHIBITIONS/EVENTS OR PERFORMANCES RELATED TO THE CENTENARY NOT LISTED PLEASE POST
BOSTON
BALLETS RUSSES 2009 ANNOUNCES SYMPOSIUM
The Spirit of Diaghilev May 19-21, 2009
http://www.ballets-russes.com/symposium.html
BARNARD COLLEGE
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
Celebrating Diaghilev in Music and Dance: Afternoon of a Faun and Les Noces
Saturday,April25,2009
http://www.barnard.columbia.edu/dance/calendar.html
AUSTRALIA
Australian Ballet
Excellent Ballet Russe resource page
http://www.nla.gov.au/balletsrusses/
NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
Diaghilev's Theater of Marvels: The Ballets Russes and Its Aftermath
June 26, 2009 through September 12, 2009
Donald and Mary Oenslager Gallery
http://www.nypl.org/research/calendar/excal.cfm#509
LONDON
VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM
Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes 1900-1939
18 September 2010 - 16 January 2011
Note: On the occasion of the centenary, the V&A Theatre and Performance Department are offering group visits to view selected costumes and objects from its Diaghilev Ballets Russes collections. These will take place from Monday 27 April - Friday 1 May 2009 at 14.00 - 15.00. These sessions will be led by Jane Pritchard, Co-curator of the 2010 exhibition:
http://www.vam.ac.uk/tco/exhibitions/futur...tions/index.htm
HARVARD THEATRE COLLECTION
HARVARD UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LIBRARY
Diaghilev's Ballet Russe 1909-1929
TWENTY YEARS THAT CHANGEDTHE WORLD OF ART
An Exhibition and a Symposium
15-17 April 2009
http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/houghton/...ml#registration
STOCKHOLM
Dansmuseet
Diaghilev Exhibition
May 15 2009-January 10 2010
http://www.dansmuseet.nu/english/exhibitio...itions-eng.html
The City of Perm is holding an International Diaghilev Festival including the unveiling of a monument to celebrate Diaghilev's achievements see http://www.t7.ru/ds/diary.phtml?lang=eng
The Philadelphia orchestra under their new conductor will pay tribute to Diaghilev in their programming this season see: <a href="http://www.philorch.org/pdfs/Dutoit_begins_as_Chief_Conductor_and_Artistic_Adviser.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.philorch.org/pdfs/Dutoit_begins...tic_Adviser.pdf[/url]
A sidelight on a minor Diaghilev collaborator the composer Lord Berners http://www.gavinbryars.com/Pages/writing_Lord_Berners.html
If your are interested in research, here is a link to the International Directory of Performing Arts Collections and Institutions [url="http://www.sibmas.org/idpac/index.html"]http://www.sibmas.org/idpac/index.html://http://www.t7.ru/ds/diary.phtml?lan...dpac/index.html</a>
it lists by country and then by city and town.
New additions 02.13pm
PS
Ballets Russes
2009
Russian Revel
May 16 - 23rd
Boston, MA
Ballets Russes 2009, a non-profit organization created to celebrate the Ballets Russes centenary will stage a Russian Revel on May 22nd, 2008 at the Cutler Majestic Theater. A gala dinner will follow at the Four Seasons. The evening will feature prima ballerina, Nina Ananiashvili of the Bolshoi Ballet and American Ballet Theater. She will dance The Dying Swan. Mikhail Martyniuk and Kristina Kretova will dance a pas de deux from Le Pavillion d'Armide by Nicholas Tcherepnine. Three Russian bass singers, Alexey Tikhomirov, Vladimir Kudashev, and Mikhail Guzhov, will perform arias from Boris Godunov and Prince Igor. Yevgeny Yevtushenko will read his poetry.
Alistair Macauley has written about the anniversary in the Trib http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/02/09/art...2643.php?page=1 giving a good deal of background to the phenomena of the Diaghilev Ballet Russe and its era.
What a wonderful compilation of events. Thanks, leonid.
I have a question about the photo used to illustrate the Macaulay piece. Surely that isn't Nijinksy?
I have a question about the photo used to illustrate the Macaulay piece. Surely that isn't Nijinksy?
QUOTE (bart @ Feb 12 2009, 03:48 PM)
What a wonderful compilation of events. Thanks, leonid.
I have a question about the photo used to illustrate the Macaulay piece. Surely that isn't Nijinksy?
I have a question about the photo used to illustrate the Macaulay piece. Surely that isn't Nijinksy?
Absolutely not! I would think this is fairly recent given the costume and photograph style and quality.
QUOTE (leonid @ Feb 11 2009, 06:11 PM)
I attended what must be one of the earlier events in this Diaghilev Ballet Russe centenary celebration year. It was an illustrated talk by Princess Nina Lobanov Rostovsky covering the life and work and Serge Diaghilev and held in Pushkin House, Bloomsbury Square, London organised by the Great Britain Russia Society.
The Princess is a writer and lecturer on Russian decorative arts and Russian stage design, and consults for Christie’s International and Sotheby’s. The Princess and her husband Prince Nikita, have an important private collection of Diaghilev material items from which they have generously loaned material to various important exhibitions over the years. She has co-curated numerous exhibitions of Russian theatrical art – designs for ballet, theatre and opera – in North America, Germany, Japan and Russia, and was a consultant for the Diaghilev Exhibition and Festival in the Netherlands in 2005.
Pushkin House is a building of more than 200 years old was a suitable venue for such an event with its lofty ceilings and chandeliers, mildly evocative of a minor St. Petersburg Mansion of the same period.
The audience included ballet enthusiasts, archivists, Russian speakers and a good number of Russians currently settled in London.
The Princess covered Diaghilev’s early life with an insight into the family status and home activities, in a manner that was evocative of pre-revolutionary Russian domestic life of a certain class in Perm where Diaghilev spent his early life.
She created a very real picture of his father, outlining his character and status. But it was the very detailed information about his step-mother who introduced a rich musical atmosphere into their home life that was especially interesting. Her undoubted influence was such, that when he left Perm to go to the St. Petersburg University to study law, he also studied composition with Rimsky-Korsakov and singing with the famous baritone Cotogni. Fortunately for us today, he showed no great talent for either of these enthusiasms.
The Princess Nina introduced all the characters from the World of Art (Mir Iskusstva) period and the early forays into staging important exhibitions. She related how in 1907 how Diaghilev introduced to Paris the figures of Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alexander Glazunov, Alexander Scriabin, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov who conducted their compositions, as well as conducting the works of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Alexander Borodin and Mikhail Glinka.
She went on to remind us of Diaghilev’s introducing to Paris in 1908 the Russian opera with the already legendary Feodor Chaliapin.
From there on, the talk was all about the ballet describing the decors and costumes bringing them to life with vivid slides and numerous photographs of those involved in the productions.
We were told about the tours, the terrible state of the Ballet Russe Company’s finances and the fact that Diaghilev was never to own a home of his own.
Diaghilev has been likened to the Roman patron of the arts Maecenas which considering the number of artistic careers he supportedand encouraged, is a fair comparison. Sadly, he lacked the personal wealth of that earlier patron of the arts and Diaghilev’s great artistic success was matched by a continuous fight against debt and the search for patrons.
This was a fitting start for me to a centenary of a man I never knew but whose work and the history of his work, has been an abiding passion since my teenage.
I was introduced to the Princess and had a short conversation, which confirmed both her knowledge and her attractive and lively personality.
The Princess is a writer and lecturer on Russian decorative arts and Russian stage design, and consults for Christie’s International and Sotheby’s. The Princess and her husband Prince Nikita, have an important private collection of Diaghilev material items from which they have generously loaned material to various important exhibitions over the years. She has co-curated numerous exhibitions of Russian theatrical art – designs for ballet, theatre and opera – in North America, Germany, Japan and Russia, and was a consultant for the Diaghilev Exhibition and Festival in the Netherlands in 2005.
Pushkin House is a building of more than 200 years old was a suitable venue for such an event with its lofty ceilings and chandeliers, mildly evocative of a minor St. Petersburg Mansion of the same period.
The audience included ballet enthusiasts, archivists, Russian speakers and a good number of Russians currently settled in London.
The Princess covered Diaghilev’s early life with an insight into the family status and home activities, in a manner that was evocative of pre-revolutionary Russian domestic life of a certain class in Perm where Diaghilev spent his early life.
She created a very real picture of his father, outlining his character and status. But it was the very detailed information about his step-mother who introduced a rich musical atmosphere into their home life that was especially interesting. Her undoubted influence was such, that when he left Perm to go to the St. Petersburg University to study law, he also studied composition with Rimsky-Korsakov and singing with the famous baritone Cotogni. Fortunately for us today, he showed no great talent for either of these enthusiasms.
The Princess Nina introduced all the characters from the World of Art (Mir Iskusstva) period and the early forays into staging important exhibitions. She related how in 1907 how Diaghilev introduced to Paris the figures of Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alexander Glazunov, Alexander Scriabin, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov who conducted their compositions, as well as conducting the works of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Alexander Borodin and Mikhail Glinka.
She went on to remind us of Diaghilev’s introducing to Paris in 1908 the Russian opera with the already legendary Feodor Chaliapin.
From there on, the talk was all about the ballet describing the decors and costumes bringing them to life with vivid slides and numerous photographs of those involved in the productions.
We were told about the tours, the terrible state of the Ballet Russe Company’s finances and the fact that Diaghilev was never to own a home of his own.
Diaghilev has been likened to the Roman patron of the arts Maecenas which considering the number of artistic careers he supportedand encouraged, is a fair comparison. Sadly, he lacked the personal wealth of that earlier patron of the arts and Diaghilev’s great artistic success was matched by a continuous fight against debt and the search for patrons.
This was a fitting start for me to a centenary of a man I never knew but whose work and the history of his work, has been an abiding passion since my teenage.
I was introduced to the Princess and had a short conversation, which confirmed both her knowledge and her attractive and lively personality.
I am new to Ballet Talk and forums in general. Your synopsis of the Princess' talk is very interesting, thank you, and makes me wish for more. I wonder if you know whether her talk was recorded.
Marisa
Welcome to Ballet Talk, Marisa. We hope you'll be with us for a long time! If you get the chance, it would be wonderful if you could introduce yourself to the rest of the members on our Welcome forum.
QUOTE (Marisa @ Feb 12 2009, 11:43 PM)
I am new to Ballet Talk and forums in general. Your synopsis of the Princess' talk is very interesting, thank you, and makes me wish for more. I wonder if you know whether her talk was recorded.
Marisa
Marisa
As far as I could see the talk was not recorded. I did not write in detail every thing she talked about as I am aware that some of my posts are rather long which embarasses me.
Put it down to my age.
Marisa, you might be interested to know that Richard Buckle's biography of Diaghilev contains an interesting account of the family background and his early years.
More events
PLEASE CHECK WEBSITES IN ALL INSTANCES IN CASE ERRORS HAVE CREPT IN
SALT LAKE CITY
BALLET WEST
Treasures of the Ballets Russes
27 March to 27-April 4, 2009
Les Biches
The Prodigal Son
The Polovtsian Dances
http://www.balletwest.org/PerformancesAndT...s/BalletsRusses
OAKLAND
OAKLAND BALLET
October 23-25, 2009
Programme to include
Les Biches, Boutique Fantasque,Train Bleu,
L’Apres midi d’un Faune
http://www.rgfpa.org/
CHICAGO
JOFFREY BALLET
February 18 to March 1, 2009
Hand of Fate
Cotillon Pas de deux-after Balanchine by Millicent Hodson and Kenneth Archer.
Rite of Spring-Nijinsky reconstruction by Millicent Hodson and Kenneth Archer
Plus other works
http://www.joffrey.org/index.asp
MONTE CARLO
LES BALLET DE MONTE CARLO
December 2009
Le Sacre du Printemps
http://www.balletsdemontecarlo.com/present...ml?atelier.html
ROME
Ballet OF ROME OPERA
Les Sylphides -Michel Fokine
Les Biches - Bronislava Nijinska / Howard Sayette
Cléopâtre - Michel Fokine reconstruction Viatcheslav Khomyakov
Le Tricorne- Léonide Massine staged by Susanne Della Pietra
The Firebird - Michel Fokine staged Nicolay Androsov
Performances in April 2009 check website http://www.operaroma.it/
Translation available
MUNICH
BAVARIAN STATE BALLET
Sunday, 10 May 2009
An evening is dedicated to the “Ballets RussesThe three-part ballet program “100 Years Ballets Russes” will present two Munich premieres of works from Diaghilev’s repertoire, “Shéhérazade” by Mikhail Fokine and “Les Biches” by Bronislava Nijinskaja, together with a creation “Once Upon An Ever After”, a work the young choreographer Terence Kohler
Shéhérazade - Mikhail Fokine reconstructed Isabelle Fokine
Les Biches - Bronislava Nijinska
Once Upon An Ever After-Terence Kohler
HAMBURG
HAMBURG BALLET
Premieres
The Prodigal Son – George Balanchine
Le Pavillon d'Armide -John Neumeier
Le Sacre du Printemps - Millicent Hodson reconstruction
June 28 | 30; July 11, 2009
Revivals
Daphnis and Chloe/Afternoon of a Faun/
Le Sacre
July 9 2009
100 Years Ballets Russes – Jubilee Performance
Nijinsky
May 19, 2009
Nijinsky Gala XXXV
July 12, 2009
http://www.hamburgballett.de/e/index.htm
HAMBURG KUNSTERHALLE
BALLET RUSSE EXHIBITION
19 May 2009 – 16 August 2009
On 19 May 2009 it will be exactly one hundred years since the renowned ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky made his first spectacular performance with the Ballets Russes in Paris. To mark this occasion, the Hamburger Kunsthalle is presenting “Nijinsky’s Eye”, an exhibition of around 100 paintings and drawings by Nijinsky that are mainly held in the collection of the John Neumeier Foundation. They are being shown in the context of predominantly Russian painters working in Paris between 1910 and 1930 who portrayed the themes of dance, rhythm and motion in abstract depictions. The featured artists include Sonia Delaunay Terk, Alexandra Ekster, Vladimir Baranoff-Rossiné, Léopold Survage and Frantisek Kupka. The abstract colour compositions are dominated by luminously intense hues and circular, arched or curved forms with strong rhythmic qualities that abstractly evoke the movement, lightness and virtuosity of dance as one of the fundamental forms of human expression.
Exhibited artists: Sonia Delaunay Terk, Alexandra Ekster, Vladimir Baranoff-Rossiné, Léopold Survage and Frantisek Kupka.
http://www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de/start/en_start.html
Do check out the Wadsworth Atheneum website for information on their exhibition starting 19 February 2009
http://www.wadsworthatheneum.org/view/exhi...amp;type=Future
***ADDED 17 FEBRUARY 2009***
LONDON
Society for Co-operation in Russian and Soviet Studies
06 March 2009
Diaghilev and the Ballet Russe
An illustrated talk by Charlotte Kasner
01 April 2009
An exhibition about ‘Mir Isskustva(The World of Art)
to include material from the State Museum of Theatre and Music
in St.Petersburg.
http://www.scrss.org.uk/cinemaevents.htm
PLEASE CHECK WEBSITES IN ALL INSTANCES IN CASE ERRORS HAVE CREPT IN
SALT LAKE CITY
BALLET WEST
Treasures of the Ballets Russes
27 March to 27-April 4, 2009
Les Biches
The Prodigal Son
The Polovtsian Dances
http://www.balletwest.org/PerformancesAndT...s/BalletsRusses
OAKLAND
OAKLAND BALLET
October 23-25, 2009
Programme to include
Les Biches, Boutique Fantasque,Train Bleu,
L’Apres midi d’un Faune
http://www.rgfpa.org/
CHICAGO
JOFFREY BALLET
February 18 to March 1, 2009
Hand of Fate
Cotillon Pas de deux-after Balanchine by Millicent Hodson and Kenneth Archer.
Rite of Spring-Nijinsky reconstruction by Millicent Hodson and Kenneth Archer
Plus other works
http://www.joffrey.org/index.asp
MONTE CARLO
LES BALLET DE MONTE CARLO
December 2009
Le Sacre du Printemps
http://www.balletsdemontecarlo.com/present...ml?atelier.html
ROME
Ballet OF ROME OPERA
Les Sylphides -Michel Fokine
Les Biches - Bronislava Nijinska / Howard Sayette
Cléopâtre - Michel Fokine reconstruction Viatcheslav Khomyakov
Le Tricorne- Léonide Massine staged by Susanne Della Pietra
The Firebird - Michel Fokine staged Nicolay Androsov
Performances in April 2009 check website http://www.operaroma.it/
Translation available
MUNICH
BAVARIAN STATE BALLET
Sunday, 10 May 2009
An evening is dedicated to the “Ballets RussesThe three-part ballet program “100 Years Ballets Russes” will present two Munich premieres of works from Diaghilev’s repertoire, “Shéhérazade” by Mikhail Fokine and “Les Biches” by Bronislava Nijinskaja, together with a creation “Once Upon An Ever After”, a work the young choreographer Terence Kohler
Shéhérazade - Mikhail Fokine reconstructed Isabelle Fokine
Les Biches - Bronislava Nijinska
Once Upon An Ever After-Terence Kohler
HAMBURG
HAMBURG BALLET
Premieres
The Prodigal Son – George Balanchine
Le Pavillon d'Armide -John Neumeier
Le Sacre du Printemps - Millicent Hodson reconstruction
June 28 | 30; July 11, 2009
Revivals
Daphnis and Chloe/Afternoon of a Faun/
Le Sacre
July 9 2009
100 Years Ballets Russes – Jubilee Performance
Nijinsky
May 19, 2009
Nijinsky Gala XXXV
July 12, 2009
http://www.hamburgballett.de/e/index.htm
HAMBURG KUNSTERHALLE
BALLET RUSSE EXHIBITION
19 May 2009 – 16 August 2009
On 19 May 2009 it will be exactly one hundred years since the renowned ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky made his first spectacular performance with the Ballets Russes in Paris. To mark this occasion, the Hamburger Kunsthalle is presenting “Nijinsky’s Eye”, an exhibition of around 100 paintings and drawings by Nijinsky that are mainly held in the collection of the John Neumeier Foundation. They are being shown in the context of predominantly Russian painters working in Paris between 1910 and 1930 who portrayed the themes of dance, rhythm and motion in abstract depictions. The featured artists include Sonia Delaunay Terk, Alexandra Ekster, Vladimir Baranoff-Rossiné, Léopold Survage and Frantisek Kupka. The abstract colour compositions are dominated by luminously intense hues and circular, arched or curved forms with strong rhythmic qualities that abstractly evoke the movement, lightness and virtuosity of dance as one of the fundamental forms of human expression.
Exhibited artists: Sonia Delaunay Terk, Alexandra Ekster, Vladimir Baranoff-Rossiné, Léopold Survage and Frantisek Kupka.
http://www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de/start/en_start.html
Do check out the Wadsworth Atheneum website for information on their exhibition starting 19 February 2009
http://www.wadsworthatheneum.org/view/exhi...amp;type=Future
***ADDED 17 FEBRUARY 2009***
LONDON
Society for Co-operation in Russian and Soviet Studies
06 March 2009
Diaghilev and the Ballet Russe
An illustrated talk by Charlotte Kasner
01 April 2009
An exhibition about ‘Mir Isskustva(The World of Art)
to include material from the State Museum of Theatre and Music
in St.Petersburg.
http://www.scrss.org.uk/cinemaevents.htm
QUOTE (leonid @ Feb 16 2009, 05:35 AM)
HAMBURG KUNSTERHALLE[/b]
19 May 2009 – 16 August 2009
[ ... ] They are being shown in the context of predominantly Russian painters working in Paris between 1910 and 1930 who portrayed the themes of dance, rhythm and motion in abstract depictions. The featured artists include Sonia Delaunay Terk, Alexandra Ekster, Vladimir Baranoff-Rossiné, Léopold Survage and Frantisek Kupka. The abstract colour compositions are dominated by luminously intense hues and circular, arched or curved forms with strong rhythmic qualities that abstractly evoke the movement, lightness and virtuosity of dance as one of the fundamental forms of human expression.
19 May 2009 – 16 August 2009
[ ... ] They are being shown in the context of predominantly Russian painters working in Paris between 1910 and 1930 who portrayed the themes of dance, rhythm and motion in abstract depictions. The featured artists include Sonia Delaunay Terk, Alexandra Ekster, Vladimir Baranoff-Rossiné, Léopold Survage and Frantisek Kupka. The abstract colour compositions are dominated by luminously intense hues and circular, arched or curved forms with strong rhythmic qualities that abstractly evoke the movement, lightness and virtuosity of dance as one of the fundamental forms of human expression.
I am impressed by this approach. It broadens the idea of the "influence" of Diaghileve/Russian dance on the arts. It would also be a chance to see the work of artists not as well known as those who are always being reproduced.
QUOTE (leonid @ Feb 16 2009, 05:35 AM)
Do check out the Wadsworth Atheneum website for information on their exhibition starting 19 May 2009
http://www.wadsworthatheneum.org/view/exhi...amp;type=Future
http://www.wadsworthatheneum.org/view/exhi...amp;type=Future
According to their website the Wadsworth exhibit starts FEBRUARY 19 and continues to MAY 24. A good exhibit and only 30 minutes away from me, hooray!
QUOTE (4mrdncr @ Feb 17 2009, 09:53 PM)
QUOTE (leonid @ Feb 16 2009, 05:35 AM)
Do check out the Wadsworth Atheneum website for information on their exhibition starting 19 May 2009
http://www.wadsworthatheneum.org/view/exhi...amp;type=Future
http://www.wadsworthatheneum.org/view/exhi...amp;type=Future
According to their website the Wadsworth exhibit starts FEBRUARY 19 and continues to MAY 24. A good exhibit and only 30 minutes away from me, hooray!
Thanks. I have corrected the date. Please give a report or an impression of the event if you are able to attend. It is all history after all.
QUOTE (leonid @ Feb 13 2009, 03:13 PM)
QUOTE (Marisa @ Feb 12 2009, 11:43 PM)
I am new to Ballet Talk and forums in general. Your synopsis of the Princess' talk is very interesting, thank you, and makes me wish for more. I wonder if you know whether her talk was recorded.
Marisa
Marisa
As far as I could see the talk was not recorded. I did not write in detail every thing she talked about as I am aware that some of my posts are rather long which embarasses me.
Put it down to my age.
I only saw this just now. NO, the longer the better! I want all the details of something like hearing the Princess's talk that someone has time to notate. My posts are often long, and I'm never embarassed about it even if I should be. This was a great report.
Thanks so much for posting this info... a little digging on the Wadsworth site produced this:
Also, it seems that this week , February 18-20, there are free “discovery” events from 1:30-3:00 for kids aged 7-12 (with adult):
And there's something being done by Full Force dance theater, but as I try to find it again, I can't... perhaps someone else will.
QUOTE
In addition the museum will present programs of related films and music plus special lectures by a leading Ballets Russes scholar, Lynn Garafola, and the dance critic of the New York Times, Alastair Macauley. For the 2009 Centennial, the Boston Festival will produce a lavish volume of reproductions and essays, including one by Atheneum curator, Eric Zafran, on the Russian Ballet in Hartford, which will be available in the museum shop.
Diaghilev and Style - Alistair Macaulay, Chief Dance Critic for the New York Times
Wednesday Apr 15, 09
Serge Diaghilev and the Adventure of Ballet Modernism - Public Talk
Sunday May 17, 09 - noon
Diaghilev and Style - Alistair Macaulay, Chief Dance Critic for the New York Times
Wednesday Apr 15, 09
Serge Diaghilev and the Adventure of Ballet Modernism - Public Talk
Sunday May 17, 09 - noon
Also, it seems that this week , February 18-20, there are free “discovery” events from 1:30-3:00 for kids aged 7-12 (with adult):
QUOTE
Join the museum teachers for a morning or afternoon of galley explorations, interactive games, and art projects. This month, explore the special exhibition The Ballets Russes: Celebrating the Centennial
.And there's something being done by Full Force dance theater, but as I try to find it again, I can't... perhaps someone else will.
In today's Links, dirac has posted an article on the Wadsworth Atheneum show in Hartford, Connecticut:
http://www.courant.com/entertainment/museu...,0,742024.story
http://www.courant.com/entertainment/museu...,0,742024.story
Boston Ballet's programme contribution to the Ballet Russe Centenary, runs from 14 - 17 May 2009 with the following ballets being performed
The Prodigal Son
MUSIC: Sergei Prokofiev
CHOREOGRAPHY: George Balanchine
Afternoon of a Faun
MUSIC: Claude Debussy
CHOREOGRAPHY: Vaslav Nijinsky
Le Spectre de la Rose
MUSIC: Carl Maria von Weber
CHOREOGRAPHY: Michel Fokine
Le Sacre du Printemps
MUSIC: Igor Stravinsky
CHOREOGRAPHY: Jorma Elo (World Premiere)
The Prodigal Son
MUSIC: Sergei Prokofiev
CHOREOGRAPHY: George Balanchine
Afternoon of a Faun
MUSIC: Claude Debussy
CHOREOGRAPHY: Vaslav Nijinsky
Le Spectre de la Rose
MUSIC: Carl Maria von Weber
CHOREOGRAPHY: Michel Fokine
Le Sacre du Printemps
MUSIC: Igor Stravinsky
CHOREOGRAPHY: Jorma Elo (World Premiere)
HARRIMAN INSTITUTE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
Although some events have already taken place there, the Harriman Institute at Columbia University is presenting a continuing series of events celebrating and linked to the Diaghilev Centenary as follows:
Diaghilev – era Russian Dancers on Film
Thursday 12 March 2009-03-06
EXHIBIT: Homage to Diaghilev: Enduring Legacy
Tuesday 31 March 2009 – 22 May 2009
The Fate of the Bolshoi and Maryinsky Theatres after 1917
Monday 13 April 2009-03-06
Between Neoclassicism and Surrealism: Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in the Context of the Russian-French Connection, 1900s-1920s
Thursday, 23 April 2009–Saturday, 25 April 2009
Celebrating Diaghilev in Music and Dance: Afternoon of a Faun and Les Noces
Saturday, 25 April 2009, 8:00pm
Check their website as the programme looks more than just interesting: http://www.harrimaninstitute.org/events/le...s.html?id=balle
Although some events have already taken place there, the Harriman Institute at Columbia University is presenting a continuing series of events celebrating and linked to the Diaghilev Centenary as follows:
Diaghilev – era Russian Dancers on Film
Thursday 12 March 2009-03-06
EXHIBIT: Homage to Diaghilev: Enduring Legacy
Tuesday 31 March 2009 – 22 May 2009
The Fate of the Bolshoi and Maryinsky Theatres after 1917
Monday 13 April 2009-03-06
Between Neoclassicism and Surrealism: Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in the Context of the Russian-French Connection, 1900s-1920s
Thursday, 23 April 2009–Saturday, 25 April 2009
Celebrating Diaghilev in Music and Dance: Afternoon of a Faun and Les Noces
Saturday, 25 April 2009, 8:00pm
Check their website as the programme looks more than just interesting: http://www.harrimaninstitute.org/events/le...s.html?id=balle
I was at the Wadsworth today to meet some friends and watch the movie Ballets Russes again. I enjoyed it just as much as the first time, but for different parts (must have been lost in thought first time around, I guess). They did a wonderful job on the exhibit this time. I went the last two times they've had some of their archive out, and it's really nicely done this year. They've gone to the trouble of projecting reconstructions of the ballets on the walls of the galleries showing costumes & designs... it makes the experience more accessible to the general public, I think (if you have no clue of the Ballets Russes oevre, you're not as in awe perhaps of seeing the original designs). I was surprised not to see their original Bakst of Nijinski as the Faun... perhaps this is on loan to Boston?? Still very worth coming to see. The designs are just so sumptuous. I wonder if the lessor role costumes were more likely to survive as perhaps the dancers wearing them sweated less? Some of the costumes look so hot, it's hard to imagine wearing them under stage lights... perhaps lighting was less intense in the old days?
QUOTE (Amy Reusch @ Mar 8 2009, 12:55 AM)
I was at the Wadsworth today to meet some friends and watch the movie Ballets Russes again. I enjoyed it just as much as the first time, but for different parts (must have been lost in thought first time around, I guess). They did a wonderful job on the exhibit this time. I went the last two times they've had some of their archive out, and it's really nicely done this year. They've gone to the trouble of projecting reconstructions of the ballets on the walls of the galleries showing costumes & designs... it makes the experience more accessible to the general public, I think (if you have no clue of the Ballets Russes oevre, you're not as in awe perhaps of seeing the original designs). I was surprised not to see their original Bakst of Nijinski as the Faun... perhaps this is on loan to Boston?? Still very worth coming to see. The designs are just so sumptuous. I wonder if the lessor role costumes were more likely to survive as perhaps the dancers wearing them sweated less? Some of the costumes look so hot, it's hard to imagine wearing them under stage lights... perhaps lighting was less intense in the old days?
Many thanks for posting Amy. Great to hear your views on the event and it sounds successful from what you have told us. Hope it encourages everyone who saw it to learn more about the history of the Ballet Russe without which I doubt we would have the classical and neo classical ballet we know today.
Three more Ballet Russes scheduals of performances not yet listed:
Ballets Russes
Les Sylphides
Apollo
The Dying Swan
Schéhérazade
The Rite of Spring (chor Kenneth MacMillan)
L'Après-midi d'un faune (chor David Dawson)
Le Spectre de la Rose
June 16 - 20, 2009
English National Ballet, Sadler's Wells, London
100 Years of Les Ballets Russes
Les Sylphides
Scheherazade (chor Krzysztof Pastor)
Le fils prodigue
June 19 - 27, 2009
Het Nationale Ballet, Amsterdam
Soirée Ballets Russes
program not announced
Dec 12 - 31, 2009
Ballet de l'Opéra de Paris
The total number of exhibitions announced numbers 10. And plans for the promised Paris show are yet to be unveiled!
To recap and update those already mentioned:
The Ballets Russes: Celebrating the Centennial
Feb 19, 2009 - June 21, 2009
Wadsworth Atheneum, New Haven
Homage to Diaghilev: Enduring Legacy
Mar 31, 2009 - May 22, 2009
Harriman Institute, Columbia University, New York
Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, 1909 - 1929: Twenty Years that Changed the World of Art
Apr 15, 2009 - Aug 28, 2009
Pusey Library, Harvard University, Cambridge
Ballets Russes in Paris, 1909 - 2009
May 15, 2009 - Jan. 10, 2010
Dansmuseet, Stockholm
Étonne-Moi!: the Ballets Russes and the Art of the New
May 20, 2009 - ?
808 Gallery, Boston University
Tanz der Farben. Nijinskys Auge und die Abstraktion
(Dance of Colours. Nijinsky's Eye and Abstraction)
May 20, 2009 - Aug 16, 2009
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
Diaghilev's Theater of Marvels: The Ballets Russes and Its Aftermath
Jun 26, 2009 - Sept 12, 2009
Donald and Mary Oenslager Gallery, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Étonne-Moi!
July 9, 2009 - Sept 20, 2009
Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, Villa Sauber
Oct 27, 2009 - Jan 24, 2010
Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Ballets Russes: The Art of Costume
Dec 4, 2009 - Apr 26, 2010
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, 1900-1939
Sept 18, 2010 - Jan 16, 2011
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Ballets Russes
Les Sylphides
Apollo
The Dying Swan
Schéhérazade
The Rite of Spring (chor Kenneth MacMillan)
L'Après-midi d'un faune (chor David Dawson)
Le Spectre de la Rose
June 16 - 20, 2009
English National Ballet, Sadler's Wells, London
100 Years of Les Ballets Russes
Les Sylphides
Scheherazade (chor Krzysztof Pastor)
Le fils prodigue
June 19 - 27, 2009
Het Nationale Ballet, Amsterdam
Soirée Ballets Russes
program not announced
Dec 12 - 31, 2009
Ballet de l'Opéra de Paris
The total number of exhibitions announced numbers 10. And plans for the promised Paris show are yet to be unveiled!
To recap and update those already mentioned:
The Ballets Russes: Celebrating the Centennial
Feb 19, 2009 - June 21, 2009
Wadsworth Atheneum, New Haven
Homage to Diaghilev: Enduring Legacy
Mar 31, 2009 - May 22, 2009
Harriman Institute, Columbia University, New York
Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, 1909 - 1929: Twenty Years that Changed the World of Art
Apr 15, 2009 - Aug 28, 2009
Pusey Library, Harvard University, Cambridge
Ballets Russes in Paris, 1909 - 2009
May 15, 2009 - Jan. 10, 2010
Dansmuseet, Stockholm
Étonne-Moi!: the Ballets Russes and the Art of the New
May 20, 2009 - ?
808 Gallery, Boston University
Tanz der Farben. Nijinskys Auge und die Abstraktion
(Dance of Colours. Nijinsky's Eye and Abstraction)
May 20, 2009 - Aug 16, 2009
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
Diaghilev's Theater of Marvels: The Ballets Russes and Its Aftermath
Jun 26, 2009 - Sept 12, 2009
Donald and Mary Oenslager Gallery, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Étonne-Moi!
July 9, 2009 - Sept 20, 2009
Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, Villa Sauber
Oct 27, 2009 - Jan 24, 2010
Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Ballets Russes: The Art of Costume
Dec 4, 2009 - Apr 26, 2010
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, 1900-1939
Sept 18, 2010 - Jan 16, 2011
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
QUOTE (phenby @ Mar 11 2009, 01:39 AM)
Three more Ballet Russes scheduals of performances not yet listed:
Thank you phenby for your most useful contribution.
I would ask that if any balletalkers visit the exhibitions or performances now listed, do give a report and please describe catalogues or programmes.
I said it before and I will say it again, without Diaghilev, ballet would not exist in the manner it does today. It is not just the works he produced, its the countless
people he inspired in all fields related to ballet and his legacy, makes a fine partner to the legacy of the Imperial St. Petersburg Ballet repertoire.
Slight Correction: The Wadsworth is in Hartford
With Lectures by Alistair MacCaulay (Wed. April 15 & Lynn Garafola Sun, May 17) and videos of the ballets projected on the walls next to the costumes & set designs
QUOTE
The Ballets Russes: Celebrating the Centennial
Feb 19, 2009 - June 21, 2009
Wadsworth Atheneum, New Haven
Feb 19, 2009 - June 21, 2009
Wadsworth Atheneum, New Haven
With Lectures by Alistair MacCaulay (Wed. April 15 & Lynn Garafola Sun, May 17) and videos of the ballets projected on the walls next to the costumes & set designs
Celebrations in St. Petersburg, Russia
Programme of the international festival "Diaghilev P.S."
Saint Petersburg 12-19 October 2009
12 October, Mnd
Alexandrinsky Theatre
Opening of the Festival. John Neumeier´s Gala Tribute to Diaghilev
Hamburg Ballet Company
Vaslaw – Nijinsky – Le Sacre.
13 October, Tue
Great Philharmonic Hall
Opera Gala Tribute to Diaghilev
Conductor Alexander Titov.
State Academic Symphony Orchestra of St Petersburg.
14 October, Wed
State Russian Museum
Opening of the Exhibition Diaghilev. The Beginning.
15 October, Thu
State Hermitage
Opening of the Exhibition Dance. Homage to Diaghilev.
16 October, Fri
State Hermitage
Russian Ballet Academy Performance at the Hermitage theatre.
17 October, Sat
State Museum of Ethnography
Opening of the Exhibition Silver Age in Gold
Gala Dinner and Ball Jewels in Ballet.
18 October, Sun
The Sheremetev Palace "Imperial Collection"
Concert of young soloists playing unique musical instruments
19 October, Mon
Alexandrinsky Theatre
Closing of the Festival
Ballet Gala featuring International Stars including performance by the Bolshoi theatre of Russia
Further information at
http://www.theatremuseum.ru/eng/diagilev/programm.html
Programme of the international festival "Diaghilev P.S."
Saint Petersburg 12-19 October 2009
12 October, Mnd
Alexandrinsky Theatre
Opening of the Festival. John Neumeier´s Gala Tribute to Diaghilev
Hamburg Ballet Company
Vaslaw – Nijinsky – Le Sacre.
13 October, Tue
Great Philharmonic Hall
Opera Gala Tribute to Diaghilev
Conductor Alexander Titov.
State Academic Symphony Orchestra of St Petersburg.
14 October, Wed
State Russian Museum
Opening of the Exhibition Diaghilev. The Beginning.
15 October, Thu
State Hermitage
Opening of the Exhibition Dance. Homage to Diaghilev.
16 October, Fri
State Hermitage
Russian Ballet Academy Performance at the Hermitage theatre.
17 October, Sat
State Museum of Ethnography
Opening of the Exhibition Silver Age in Gold
Gala Dinner and Ball Jewels in Ballet.
18 October, Sun
The Sheremetev Palace "Imperial Collection"
Concert of young soloists playing unique musical instruments
19 October, Mon
Alexandrinsky Theatre
Closing of the Festival
Ballet Gala featuring International Stars including performance by the Bolshoi theatre of Russia
Further information at
http://www.theatremuseum.ru/eng/diagilev/programm.html
Paris has finally released the schedual for their Ballets Russes festivities. For the ballet perfmances:
The Three-Cornered Hat'
Le spectre de la rose
L'Apres-midi d'un faune
Petrouchka
Dec 28 - 28, 2009
Ballet de l'Opera de Paris
The Paris exhibition at the Bibliotheque-Musee de l'Opera de Paris, Salle Garnier
Nov 2, 2009 - April 30, 2010
Les Ballets russes
The Three-Cornered Hat'
Le spectre de la rose
L'Apres-midi d'un faune
Petrouchka
Dec 28 - 28, 2009
Ballet de l'Opera de Paris
The Paris exhibition at the Bibliotheque-Musee de l'Opera de Paris, Salle Garnier
Nov 2, 2009 - April 30, 2010
Les Ballets russes
This is a review I wrote for the Friends of Connecticut Ballet Newsletter:
Several Friends of Connecticut Ballet went to the Wadsworth Antheneum to see
the Ballet Russe Collection owned by the Wadsworth. The exhibition included
real costumes worn by Nijinsky and the Ballet Russe, along with costume and
set drawings. This exhibition is part of the Centennial anniversary of
Diaghilev's Ballet Russe company. In the 1940 Wadsworth Director Chick Austin
purchased drawings, costumes, and posters for 10,000 dollars. The Wadsworth is
now the de facto center of research for Ballet Russe.
The exhibition,
http://www.wadsworthatheneum.org/view/exhi...amp;type=Future
included drawings by Joan Miro, Picasso, Matisse (no, not our wonderful
Company dancer from Hartford!), Baskt, and others. Drawings were hung next to
original costumes, one could see repairs and stains that all ballet costumes
go through. I spoke to a retired curator at the Wadsworth, and mentioned how
different current ballet costumes are: the hand work was amazing, everything
was hand painted and embroidered, no sequins and sparkly bits.
Several Ballets Russe performances were shown on projection screens, including
L¹Après-midi d¹un faune, Firebird, Petrushka, and Le Sacre de Printemps.
In another Gallery, I had a brief moment to see Couture inspired by The
Ballets Russe including drawings by Erte', and fashion inspired by
"Orientalism." Certainly worth a few moments to view. So much to see, so
little time.
After a delightful, but brief, dinner in the museum cafe, (One of our servers
danced with the Hartford Ballet!) We proceeded down to the Historic Aetna
Theater, A basement theater with and Art Deco wall paintings that reminded me
of Cavemen drawings in France. The theater is doubly significant as it is the
first American stage George Balanchine performed on, with the Wadsworth
sponsoring "Mr. B's" immigration to America.
We attended a short discussion by NY Times Ballet Critic Alistair Macaulay,
who discussed the history of the Ballets Russe and the relationships between
Diaghilev and his Dancers. Alistair discussed the scandal that accompanied
Nijinsky and the Company and the influence the company had on ballet since.
More details about the Centennial celebrations are in the current issue of
Forbes Life Magazine:
http://www.forbes.com/forbes-life-magazine...rt-culture.html
A copy is in the Periodical room of the Darien Library, which has some exceptional photographs.
The Wadsworth exhibition continues through 12 July 2009, and the Costume
exhibition until 2 August 2009. The New York Public Library for the Performing
Arts in Lincoln Center will have an Exhibition from June 26 through September
12 (www.nypl.org/research/lpa). The Friends of the Connecticut Ballet and
Director Brett Raphael will attend a performance of ABT's Swan Lake in June,
I'm planning on including extra time to visit the Exhibition at the NYPL
across the plaza.
My friends and I enjoyed the evening and all agreed we would do it again.
-Mike Young
Several Friends of Connecticut Ballet went to the Wadsworth Antheneum to see
the Ballet Russe Collection owned by the Wadsworth. The exhibition included
real costumes worn by Nijinsky and the Ballet Russe, along with costume and
set drawings. This exhibition is part of the Centennial anniversary of
Diaghilev's Ballet Russe company. In the 1940 Wadsworth Director Chick Austin
purchased drawings, costumes, and posters for 10,000 dollars. The Wadsworth is
now the de facto center of research for Ballet Russe.
The exhibition,
http://www.wadsworthatheneum.org/view/exhi...amp;type=Future
included drawings by Joan Miro, Picasso, Matisse (no, not our wonderful
Company dancer from Hartford!), Baskt, and others. Drawings were hung next to
original costumes, one could see repairs and stains that all ballet costumes
go through. I spoke to a retired curator at the Wadsworth, and mentioned how
different current ballet costumes are: the hand work was amazing, everything
was hand painted and embroidered, no sequins and sparkly bits.
Several Ballets Russe performances were shown on projection screens, including
L¹Après-midi d¹un faune, Firebird, Petrushka, and Le Sacre de Printemps.
In another Gallery, I had a brief moment to see Couture inspired by The
Ballets Russe including drawings by Erte', and fashion inspired by
"Orientalism." Certainly worth a few moments to view. So much to see, so
little time.
After a delightful, but brief, dinner in the museum cafe, (One of our servers
danced with the Hartford Ballet!) We proceeded down to the Historic Aetna
Theater, A basement theater with and Art Deco wall paintings that reminded me
of Cavemen drawings in France. The theater is doubly significant as it is the
first American stage George Balanchine performed on, with the Wadsworth
sponsoring "Mr. B's" immigration to America.
We attended a short discussion by NY Times Ballet Critic Alistair Macaulay,
who discussed the history of the Ballets Russe and the relationships between
Diaghilev and his Dancers. Alistair discussed the scandal that accompanied
Nijinsky and the Company and the influence the company had on ballet since.
More details about the Centennial celebrations are in the current issue of
Forbes Life Magazine:
http://www.forbes.com/forbes-life-magazine...rt-culture.html
A copy is in the Periodical room of the Darien Library, which has some exceptional photographs.
The Wadsworth exhibition continues through 12 July 2009, and the Costume
exhibition until 2 August 2009. The New York Public Library for the Performing
Arts in Lincoln Center will have an Exhibition from June 26 through September
12 (www.nypl.org/research/lpa). The Friends of the Connecticut Ballet and
Director Brett Raphael will attend a performance of ABT's Swan Lake in June,
I'm planning on including extra time to visit the Exhibition at the NYPL
across the plaza.
My friends and I enjoyed the evening and all agreed we would do it again.
-Mike Young
QUOTE (MJ @ Apr 20 2009, 10:30 AM)
This is a review I wrote for the Friends of Connecticut Ballet Newsletter:
-Mike Young
-Mike Young
Thank you for your full and interesting report. For someone across the pond who could not attend, it is most useful to get some idea of what the event is like.
Thank you for the Forbes link which also publishes events elsewhere.
I have yet to visit the Wadsworth exhibition and won't make it to the Harriman Center (Columbia University) but in the meanwhile I'll add my two thumbs up for the current Ballets Russes exhibition in the Pusey Library at Harvard University. The scope of the decor and costume designs displayed is breathtaking (most from the Howard Rothschild collection). Various portraits of the dancers (many of these are frequently reproduced in books). A smattering of programs, letters and signed contracts (the Harvard Theatre Collection has a large archive of these). Several manuscript/autograph scores of the music for the ballets (Rieti's Le Bal, Dukelsky's Zephyr et Flore. etc). The exhibition space in the library is a bit cramped but it's hard to complain with so much available to view.
The exhibition opened during the 3-day symposim organized by the Harvard Theatre Collection: Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, 1909-1929: Twenty Years that Changed the World of Art. (April 15 - 17). Some 30 speakers coming from various disciplines, everyone had something interesting to say. Topics that I rashly presumed would bore me proved interesting after all. Among the many, that of Prof. Thomas Forrest Kelley on The First Night of The Rite of Spring was outstanding in content and delivery.
If you have any interest in the Ballets Russes you HAVE TO make it to this exhibition. It's on view through August 28. You might wait 'til June though, as nearby Boston University opens their Ballets Russes exhibition in late May following their symposium (I'll be there).
PHENBY
The exhibition opened during the 3-day symposim organized by the Harvard Theatre Collection: Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, 1909-1929: Twenty Years that Changed the World of Art. (April 15 - 17). Some 30 speakers coming from various disciplines, everyone had something interesting to say. Topics that I rashly presumed would bore me proved interesting after all. Among the many, that of Prof. Thomas Forrest Kelley on The First Night of The Rite of Spring was outstanding in content and delivery.
If you have any interest in the Ballets Russes you HAVE TO make it to this exhibition. It's on view through August 28. You might wait 'til June though, as nearby Boston University opens their Ballets Russes exhibition in late May following their symposium (I'll be there).
PHENBY
An exhibition of Diaghilev ballet history material is to go on show at the Daniel Katz Gallery in London from the collection of Julian Barran. The exhibition runs from 19 May to 12 June 2009.
http://www.katz.co.uk/
PS
Regrettably they manage to garble Parmenia Ekstrom's name.
http://www.katz.co.uk/
PS
Regrettably they manage to garble Parmenia Ekstrom's name.
It’s a shame that Spain has not joined Europe in the celebration of this centennial. The INAEM has rejected since 2006, several projects 
The company spent seasons in Madrid, Barcelona and San Sebastián. Also king Alfonso XIII was one of their sponsor.
But at least the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona has scheduled the ENB with their program Homage to the Ballets Russes on the centenary of their foundation.
If you visit the link you can see the posters announcing their participation in years, 1917, 1918, 1927 and 1928
I’m happy that I will be able to participate in a way
The company spent seasons in Madrid, Barcelona and San Sebastián. Also king Alfonso XIII was one of their sponsor.
But at least the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona has scheduled the ENB with their program Homage to the Ballets Russes on the centenary of their foundation.
If you visit the link you can see the posters announcing their participation in years, 1917, 1918, 1927 and 1928
I’m happy that I will be able to participate in a way
I am happy to say that I attended the conference at Harvard, and found it to be interesting, fun and informative. The staff at the Harvard Theatre collection were very cordial and helpful. I took lots of notes, and I will post whatever I am able over the next few days. The schedule and much information is online.
First off, there was lots of "swag," and many informative brochures. When we registered we got not only the schedule and information for those of us who were new to the Harvard Sq. area, we received profiles of the participants, a biographical dictionary of selected dancers from the BR, a "pocket guide" to the BR with illustrations from the current exhibition at the Theatre Collection, containing chronological and alphabetical lists of the ballets produced (the chronological listings had details of each ballet), the operas produced, the unproduced and "derivative" works, and Indeces of composers, choreographers, librettists, designers. They served coffee and juice in the a.m.'s and supplies for the necessary sugar rush in the p.m.'s. There was a film (I didn't go), a presentation of "Petroushka" by Basil Twist (SUPERB) that was a hybrid of performance and demonstration of his techniques, and a dance presentation by Harvard students.
The coordinator of the conference, Frederick W. Wilson, also prepared a sort of spreadsheet with tabulations of the number of performances of EACH ballet, by year, with the date, city and theatre of each premiere.
We got a Diaghilev TEE SHIRT, a Diaghilev moleskin notebook, a lapel pin, a book bag. We got a list of items for sale. We got two boxes of note cards, beautifully printed: one of photos and objects in the exhibition and one of graphic work. I had been to the Balanchine exhibition in 2004 and they had produced a set of (15) notecards for that one as well, and I purchased FIVE boxes back then. For an additional $10 we can receive a DVD with just gobs of information and illustrations.
We had a private pre-opening tour of the exhibit at which they fed us superb hors d'oevres.
An unscheduled treat was the discovery that the great-granddaughter of Michel Tcherepnin and the daughter (or grand-daughter) of Massine were there and met each other. (I hope I got those names right.)
While a few of the topics were, for me, peripheral, most were right on the money, and fascinating. As Phenby mentioned, Thomas Forrest Kelly of harvard was a standout. He teaches a course called "Five First Nights," which is said to be one of the most popular in the University, and if his talk on April 16 was any indication, his popularity is deserved. Until the Time Machine that I ordered gets delivered (so I can GO to that first night) this will serve as a substitute.
What he did was to discuss the opening night of "The Rite of Spring," and talked to us as if we had been there! He kept saying, "you remember when..." which really drew people in. But his most important (for me) contribution was an illumination (with music and graphics) of how the rhythm worked in one particular very percussive section. If, for example, the section's chordal groupings were 9-2-6-3-4-5-3, and in the section of 9 chords the 4th and 7th chords were emphasized, he projected the score with each chord illuminated in when played, and the chords emphasized were red and the others yellow. That's not precise, but shows how he made the score and rhythms come to life. His energy and enthusiasm were amazing.
He also mentioned that Cechetti said that it was "done by 4 idiots," and thereafter referred to each of the creators (Nijinsky, Stravinsky, Roerich and Diaghilev) as "this idiot" etc.
Kelly feels that after the few performances of Nijinsky's "Rite" Stravinsky separated himself from the other "idiots" and tried to make it seem as if "Rite" was ALL his triumph. HE wrote the libretto, it was HIS idea, etc. He played a tape of I.S. speaking about it, that Kelly feels was read from written material, perhaps by Robert Kraft.
That's all I can write just now. I wish YOU had all been there.
First off, there was lots of "swag," and many informative brochures. When we registered we got not only the schedule and information for those of us who were new to the Harvard Sq. area, we received profiles of the participants, a biographical dictionary of selected dancers from the BR, a "pocket guide" to the BR with illustrations from the current exhibition at the Theatre Collection, containing chronological and alphabetical lists of the ballets produced (the chronological listings had details of each ballet), the operas produced, the unproduced and "derivative" works, and Indeces of composers, choreographers, librettists, designers. They served coffee and juice in the a.m.'s and supplies for the necessary sugar rush in the p.m.'s. There was a film (I didn't go), a presentation of "Petroushka" by Basil Twist (SUPERB) that was a hybrid of performance and demonstration of his techniques, and a dance presentation by Harvard students.
The coordinator of the conference, Frederick W. Wilson, also prepared a sort of spreadsheet with tabulations of the number of performances of EACH ballet, by year, with the date, city and theatre of each premiere.
We got a Diaghilev TEE SHIRT, a Diaghilev moleskin notebook, a lapel pin, a book bag. We got a list of items for sale. We got two boxes of note cards, beautifully printed: one of photos and objects in the exhibition and one of graphic work. I had been to the Balanchine exhibition in 2004 and they had produced a set of (15) notecards for that one as well, and I purchased FIVE boxes back then. For an additional $10 we can receive a DVD with just gobs of information and illustrations.
We had a private pre-opening tour of the exhibit at which they fed us superb hors d'oevres.
An unscheduled treat was the discovery that the great-granddaughter of Michel Tcherepnin and the daughter (or grand-daughter) of Massine were there and met each other. (I hope I got those names right.)
While a few of the topics were, for me, peripheral, most were right on the money, and fascinating. As Phenby mentioned, Thomas Forrest Kelly of harvard was a standout. He teaches a course called "Five First Nights," which is said to be one of the most popular in the University, and if his talk on April 16 was any indication, his popularity is deserved. Until the Time Machine that I ordered gets delivered (so I can GO to that first night) this will serve as a substitute.
What he did was to discuss the opening night of "The Rite of Spring," and talked to us as if we had been there! He kept saying, "you remember when..." which really drew people in. But his most important (for me) contribution was an illumination (with music and graphics) of how the rhythm worked in one particular very percussive section. If, for example, the section's chordal groupings were 9-2-6-3-4-5-3, and in the section of 9 chords the 4th and 7th chords were emphasized, he projected the score with each chord illuminated in when played, and the chords emphasized were red and the others yellow. That's not precise, but shows how he made the score and rhythms come to life. His energy and enthusiasm were amazing.
He also mentioned that Cechetti said that it was "done by 4 idiots," and thereafter referred to each of the creators (Nijinsky, Stravinsky, Roerich and Diaghilev) as "this idiot" etc.
Kelly feels that after the few performances of Nijinsky's "Rite" Stravinsky separated himself from the other "idiots" and tried to make it seem as if "Rite" was ALL his triumph. HE wrote the libretto, it was HIS idea, etc. He played a tape of I.S. speaking about it, that Kelly feels was read from written material, perhaps by Robert Kraft.
That's all I can write just now. I wish YOU had all been there.
QUOTE (leonid @ May 2 2009, 07:04 AM)
Regrettably they manage to garble Parmenia Ekstrom's name.
not to mention "Leonie Massive and Anton Dolan".
My memory is poor and so are my note taking skills, so please keep in mind I may not be wholly accurate in my account. Please correct any gross errors if you find them. I will not be offended.
Thank Heavens Lynn Garafola has had such a long and productive career with so many significant achievements, and that the Wadsworth had that trick step on the way up to the stage, or I would have missed the opening of her wonderful lecture.
I would have missed her opening story of James Joyce & Marcel Proust meeting and their discussion of various topics avoiding discussing each other’s work which it turned neither had read…not at some salon’s soiree, but rather during intermission at the Ballets Russes.
I’ve come to dread power point lectures, but Garafola’s reminded me that Powerpoint is only a tool and that in the right hands it enriches a lecture. I also enjoyed those moments when a nude was accidentally flashed on screen and quickly removed with the comment “oh, we’re not there yet” or something like… it was like when a ballet composer cunningly deploys the crash of cymbals in time to wake up the dozing audience for an important bit. But there was nothing dull about this lecture. She included some lovely images, Sargent’s portrait of Nijinsky; Picasso’s quick sketch of Diaghilev; and a photo of a luggage caravan of donkeys in Peru with Diaghilev incongruously perched atop the last one wearing his top hat. .
She also spoke at length defending Nijinksa and showed a very nice clip of Oakland Ballet peformng Les Biches back in the 1980s, staged with the assistance of Irina Nijinsky (sp?). She said something about Nijinska claiming her Les Noces was the first pure choreography without an accompanying story… but I thought Fokine’s Les Sylphides held that distinction… Garafola also gave background on Les Noces explaining why for the bride and groom, the wedding was a journey into the unknown rather than a joyous celebration…something I’d always sort of wondered about…
She pointed out that there was too little interest in the company’s productions of Giselle and Swan Lake for them to stay in the repertoire… surprising when one considers what mainstays of ballet companies they are now. To me, “Swan Lake” is almost synonymous with “Russian Ballet”, even if it wasn’t set in Russia.
Alas there was no time for questions, they allowed only one, as the museum had a movie scheduled for immediately after the lecture. I had so many questions, it’s probably just as well Dr. Garafola was spared them.
One was about the credit dispute over which Diaghilev left working for the Maryinski. I was wondering if there was something of a problem with giving credit where credit was due, considering the situation with Ivanov and Petipa.
Another question was how many “spare” ballets, like Les Noces, existed in the Ballets Russes repertoire. Balanchine made many of such works but I don’t believe any were costumed sparingly when they were produced by Diaghilev.
Another was about Massine’s theatrical style… his ballets seem so much more like “ballet theatre” than say Balanchine’s . Was this part of Diaghilev’s influence, or coincidence. I thought it interesting when she noted that one of Massine’s first two ballets, Liturgy, was never staged and wondered what the back story on that was.
Lincoln Kirstein was so very influenced by Diaghilev, almost as if he considered Diaghilev a role model… but he did not long seem to pursue the collaborative style of Diaghilev. Perhaps he appreciated Balanchine’s genius enough not to burden him with collaborators from outside the ballet world?
I wanted to ask about Nijinksy rejoining the company for the American tours after having been cast out. I have no doubt the American producers demanded his presence, but still wanted to hear more about how that went. And also, how it was that Nijinska was allowed in to work with the company when her brother was not. It seems there are stories not told there.
Happily, I overheard one audience member catch Garafola on her way out... asking what made one piece "modern dance" and another "ballet"... I held my breath! (It's a bit like asking someone, in passing, for their definition of "art")... she gave him a considered answer despite her host's rush, and rather than saying "pointe shoes", mentioned that "Les Biches" was the first piece they had done on pointe after a long while... that if the dancers prepared for the performance by taking a classical ballet warm-up class that it was a ballet.... (I'm not sure I heard that a'right... knowing many excellent modern dancers who preferred to warm up for distinctly modern pieces by taking a ballet class)... and something about the difference in point of view... that ballet expresses an institutional point of view, but Modern Dance expresses an individual point of view... I'm not sure I heard that right either, as she wasn't speaking directly to me... I think she said "personal point of view"... but I might have mis-heard.
Now I want to read her book, Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, to learn more of how he managed the troupe. It was interesting that the direction of the troupe changed when it went from being a summer touring expedition to a year round company. I hadn’t realized that London had become such a home to the company, that it had a 3 month long run of Sleeping Beauty there… and it hadn’t occurred to me, though it should have, that after the revolution the desire to mount that ballet would have had something to do with nostalgia for imperial Russia. Having heard stories of his fundraising efforts, it hadn’t occurred to me before that of course his funding resources at home disappeared with the revolution. It also now is more meaningful when I think of how strongly Sleeping Beauty has been associated with the Royal Ballet. She mentioned that the production had been a financial disaster and that the company had lost it’s costumes. She said that, however, the Wadsworth had acquired them. I would have liked to have heard the story of how came about.
The exhibit is only up a few more weeks. Until Midsummer’s Night, I believe. I encourage everyone to come. And I apologize, the last time I dashed through so quickly that I didn’t spot the famous Nijinsky faune original and wondered if it were on loan to Boston. It’s not, it’s at the Wadsworth. It’s so much larger in my memory than in real life, but it is there. It is not brightly lit, no doubt to preserve it, but one might not even notice the gold worked into the image, and I feel something magical is lessened with out it.
I didn't quite catch the docent's tour, but was a little disturbed to hear her going on about Josephine Baker being the very first black ballerina... I have lots of respect for Josephine Baker's talent and believe she was certainly a star, but "ballerina" is misused there, even loosely; I thought that was a bit of a disservice to Raven Wilkenson, and after some rather odd pronunciations, I continued on to the next gallery to watch the ballet projections. They were showing Andris Liepa's film of Firebird, which was done with the consent of the Fokine Estate.... but I thought I heard at it's NY premiere some dissent that it is not very authentic? Is that true? Or was it minor complaints about the staging?
If you go, don’t miss a trip over to the Wadsworth’s regular costume gallery, where in addition to some more costume sketches there are several examples of Ballets Russes inspired evening wear.
Thank Heavens Lynn Garafola has had such a long and productive career with so many significant achievements, and that the Wadsworth had that trick step on the way up to the stage, or I would have missed the opening of her wonderful lecture.
I would have missed her opening story of James Joyce & Marcel Proust meeting and their discussion of various topics avoiding discussing each other’s work which it turned neither had read…not at some salon’s soiree, but rather during intermission at the Ballets Russes.
I’ve come to dread power point lectures, but Garafola’s reminded me that Powerpoint is only a tool and that in the right hands it enriches a lecture. I also enjoyed those moments when a nude was accidentally flashed on screen and quickly removed with the comment “oh, we’re not there yet” or something like… it was like when a ballet composer cunningly deploys the crash of cymbals in time to wake up the dozing audience for an important bit. But there was nothing dull about this lecture. She included some lovely images, Sargent’s portrait of Nijinsky; Picasso’s quick sketch of Diaghilev; and a photo of a luggage caravan of donkeys in Peru with Diaghilev incongruously perched atop the last one wearing his top hat. .
She also spoke at length defending Nijinksa and showed a very nice clip of Oakland Ballet peformng Les Biches back in the 1980s, staged with the assistance of Irina Nijinsky (sp?). She said something about Nijinska claiming her Les Noces was the first pure choreography without an accompanying story… but I thought Fokine’s Les Sylphides held that distinction… Garafola also gave background on Les Noces explaining why for the bride and groom, the wedding was a journey into the unknown rather than a joyous celebration…something I’d always sort of wondered about…
She pointed out that there was too little interest in the company’s productions of Giselle and Swan Lake for them to stay in the repertoire… surprising when one considers what mainstays of ballet companies they are now. To me, “Swan Lake” is almost synonymous with “Russian Ballet”, even if it wasn’t set in Russia.
Alas there was no time for questions, they allowed only one, as the museum had a movie scheduled for immediately after the lecture. I had so many questions, it’s probably just as well Dr. Garafola was spared them.
One was about the credit dispute over which Diaghilev left working for the Maryinski. I was wondering if there was something of a problem with giving credit where credit was due, considering the situation with Ivanov and Petipa.
Another question was how many “spare” ballets, like Les Noces, existed in the Ballets Russes repertoire. Balanchine made many of such works but I don’t believe any were costumed sparingly when they were produced by Diaghilev.
Another was about Massine’s theatrical style… his ballets seem so much more like “ballet theatre” than say Balanchine’s . Was this part of Diaghilev’s influence, or coincidence. I thought it interesting when she noted that one of Massine’s first two ballets, Liturgy, was never staged and wondered what the back story on that was.
Lincoln Kirstein was so very influenced by Diaghilev, almost as if he considered Diaghilev a role model… but he did not long seem to pursue the collaborative style of Diaghilev. Perhaps he appreciated Balanchine’s genius enough not to burden him with collaborators from outside the ballet world?
I wanted to ask about Nijinksy rejoining the company for the American tours after having been cast out. I have no doubt the American producers demanded his presence, but still wanted to hear more about how that went. And also, how it was that Nijinska was allowed in to work with the company when her brother was not. It seems there are stories not told there.
Happily, I overheard one audience member catch Garafola on her way out... asking what made one piece "modern dance" and another "ballet"... I held my breath! (It's a bit like asking someone, in passing, for their definition of "art")... she gave him a considered answer despite her host's rush, and rather than saying "pointe shoes", mentioned that "Les Biches" was the first piece they had done on pointe after a long while... that if the dancers prepared for the performance by taking a classical ballet warm-up class that it was a ballet.... (I'm not sure I heard that a'right... knowing many excellent modern dancers who preferred to warm up for distinctly modern pieces by taking a ballet class)... and something about the difference in point of view... that ballet expresses an institutional point of view, but Modern Dance expresses an individual point of view... I'm not sure I heard that right either, as she wasn't speaking directly to me... I think she said "personal point of view"... but I might have mis-heard.
Now I want to read her book, Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, to learn more of how he managed the troupe. It was interesting that the direction of the troupe changed when it went from being a summer touring expedition to a year round company. I hadn’t realized that London had become such a home to the company, that it had a 3 month long run of Sleeping Beauty there… and it hadn’t occurred to me, though it should have, that after the revolution the desire to mount that ballet would have had something to do with nostalgia for imperial Russia. Having heard stories of his fundraising efforts, it hadn’t occurred to me before that of course his funding resources at home disappeared with the revolution. It also now is more meaningful when I think of how strongly Sleeping Beauty has been associated with the Royal Ballet. She mentioned that the production had been a financial disaster and that the company had lost it’s costumes. She said that, however, the Wadsworth had acquired them. I would have liked to have heard the story of how came about.
The exhibit is only up a few more weeks. Until Midsummer’s Night, I believe. I encourage everyone to come. And I apologize, the last time I dashed through so quickly that I didn’t spot the famous Nijinsky faune original and wondered if it were on loan to Boston. It’s not, it’s at the Wadsworth. It’s so much larger in my memory than in real life, but it is there. It is not brightly lit, no doubt to preserve it, but one might not even notice the gold worked into the image, and I feel something magical is lessened with out it.
I didn't quite catch the docent's tour, but was a little disturbed to hear her going on about Josephine Baker being the very first black ballerina... I have lots of respect for Josephine Baker's talent and believe she was certainly a star, but "ballerina" is misused there, even loosely; I thought that was a bit of a disservice to Raven Wilkenson, and after some rather odd pronunciations, I continued on to the next gallery to watch the ballet projections. They were showing Andris Liepa's film of Firebird, which was done with the consent of the Fokine Estate.... but I thought I heard at it's NY premiere some dissent that it is not very authentic? Is that true? Or was it minor complaints about the staging?
If you go, don’t miss a trip over to the Wadsworth’s regular costume gallery, where in addition to some more costume sketches there are several examples of Ballets Russes inspired evening wear.
Wonderful recount, Amy. Many thanks!!! 
QUOTE (Amy Reusch @ May 17 2009, 06:34 PM)
"My memory is poor and so are my note taking skills, so please keep in mind I may not be wholly accurate in my account."
Vivid enough for me. Well done. I am most grateful for your contribution.
Ps
Along with the rest of the world I have been guilty in promoting a
Centerary of the Diaghilev Ballet Russe which actually takes
place in 1911 when the company assumed that name. What is really being celebrated
this year is the centenary of the, "Saison Russe." at the Chatelet Theatre.
Access to past Diaghilev Exhibitions showing costumes and designs
From Russia with love http://www.nga.gov.au/russia/
Images by Bakst, Serov, Golovin, Picasso and Gontcharova From 2005 Groningen Festival. http://www.groningermuseum.nl/index.php?id=1260
Vaslav Nijinsky: creating a new artistic era http://www.nypl.org/research/lpa/nijinsky/
From Russia with love http://www.nga.gov.au/russia/
Images by Bakst, Serov, Golovin, Picasso and Gontcharova From 2005 Groningen Festival. http://www.groningermuseum.nl/index.php?id=1260
Vaslav Nijinsky: creating a new artistic era http://www.nypl.org/research/lpa/nijinsky/
I don't know if this is noted elsewhere, but there's a nice slideshow of the Australian Ballet's tribute (Les Sylphides, Petrushka & a new Firebird) http://www.australianballet.com.au/main.taf?p=4,1,1,1,12
Ballet Russes Exhibition - Schwäne und Feuervögel LES BALLETS RUSSES 1909 - 1929 opens tomorrow in Vienna.
http://www.khm.at/en/kunsthistorisches-mus...e0fc#highlights
(Images at bottom of page come up very well when double-clicked)
Hamburg's Nijinsky exhibition - Dance of Colours. Nijinsky's Eye and Abstraction - is on-going. Exhibition flyer can be downloaded at the link below
http://www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de/start/en_start.html
QUOTE (Amy Reusch @ Jun 20 2009, 11:45 PM)
I don't know if this is noted elsewhere, but there's a nice slideshow of the Australian Ballet's tribute (Les Sylphides, Petrushka & a new Firebird) http://www.australianballet.com.au/main.taf?p=4,1,1,1,12
Thank you Amy Reusch,
It was interesting to see the costumes.
Thanks, Amy and CM, for the Links
RE the exhibit at the Kunsthistorische Museum: I'm puzzled about the 7th illustration (out of 7). Can anyone identify a ballet called "The Mask of the Red Death"? Was this in the Ballet Russe season in 1916-17? Who or what is the "small idol" so beautifully illustrated here?
RE the exhibit at the Kunsthistorische Museum: I'm puzzled about the 7th illustration (out of 7). Can anyone identify a ballet called "The Mask of the Red Death"? Was this in the Ballet Russe season in 1916-17? Who or what is the "small idol" so beautifully illustrated here?
QUOTE (bart @ Jun 22 2009, 08:47 PM)
Thanks, Amy and CM, for the Links
RE the exhibit at the Kunsthistorische Museum: I'm puzzled about the 7th illustration (out of 7). Can anyone identify a ballet called "The Mask of the Red Death"? Was this in the Ballet Russe season in 1916-17? Who or what is the "small idol" so beautifully illustrated here?
RE the exhibit at the Kunsthistorische Museum: I'm puzzled about the 7th illustration (out of 7). Can anyone identify a ballet called "The Mask of the Red Death"? Was this in the Ballet Russe season in 1916-17? Who or what is the "small idol" so beautifully illustrated here?
Apr 11 2006,
In the Tcherepnin Le Pavillion D'Armide thread on Apr 11 2006, Phenby wrote the following.
"In his twenty years of ballet and opera productions Diaghilev only rejected a commissioned score a handful of times. Tcherepnin heads the list as having produced two such scores.
In the early seasons Diaghilev had a secretary/advisor by the name of M. D. Calvocoressi, a young French music critic. Calvocoressi met a young, unknown composer (I forget the name) who had written a ballet score on his own entitled La masque de la mort rouge (The Mask of Red Death after Edgar Allen Poe). Calvocoressi passed the score along to Diaghilev who wasn't interested in the music but found the story an interesting idea for a ballet. Diaghilev approached Stravinsky on the subject but was rejected. So he turned to ... Nikolai Tcherepnin.
In 1913, when Tcherepnin composed his ballet, Fokine had been dismissed and Nijinsky was now choreographer of the Ballets Russes. But Nijinsky was very slow and couldn't be counted upon to produce four new ballets every season. So for the 1913 season Adolph Bolm and Boris Romanov, two dancers in the company, were given their first opportunities to choreograph (both went on to long careers as choreographers). Tcherepnin's La masque de la mort rouge was schedualed for the 1914 season, but since Nijinsky was already overextended with preparations for two other ballets, Diaghilev assigned Tcherepnin's ballet to a guest choreographer: Alexander Gorsky. Then the rupture between Nijinsky and Diaghilev occured. As a result, Fokine came back to the Ballets Russes for the 1914 season and took charge of all new choreography. La masque de la mort rouge and Gorsky were scrapped."
Sarah Banes in her book Writing Dancing in the Age of Postmodernism however states, “Goleizovsky began work in 1919 on “The Masque of the Red Death” and Eric W. Carlson In his “A Companion to Poe Studies” says that the ballet was given in 1919 at the Moscow Kamerny Theatre.
Thanks, leonid, for bringing back the history. I had never heard of this before. Given the vogue of Poe and the special qualities of Mask of the Red Death -- an isolated castle, an autocratic prince, a decadent court, an adventurous but naive leading man, etc., etc. -- I'd always thought this should have been a fin de siecle ballet. Balanchine's Night Shadow (Sonnambula) comes close. I wonder what part the "Little Idol" in the illustration played in the Bohm-Romanov story?
Has anyone been to see the "Diaghilev's Theater of Marvels" Exhibition at NYPL?
I think many people would be interested to hear
http://broadwayworld.com/article/Diaghilev...PL_626_20090626
I think many people would be interested to hear
http://broadwayworld.com/article/Diaghilev...PL_626_20090626
I have seen the three Ballets Russes exhibitions currently on view in the U.S. several times. The collections of the NYPL are not blessed with abundance of visual materials to be found at the Harvard Theatre Collection or the Wadsworth Athenaeum. Since many of the items in the New York exhibition are on loan from private collections curato Lynn Garafola is to be congratulated for putting on an excellent show of Diaghilev material.
There are costumes, only one of which is an actual Diaghilev original from the 1908 production of Boris Godunov. The rest are mostly from the Joffrey Company’s recreations: Tricorne (1969), Pétrouchka (1970), Parade (1973), Spectre de la Rose (1979), Sacre du printemps (1987) and Chout (never staged: curious that Joffrey was interested in recreating this). Also one costume from Les Biches : Dance Theater of Harlem (1983).
Several monitors display clips from some of the Diaghilev ballets: Joffrey’s Pétrouchka and Parade, New York’s Fils prodigue, and several from the Royal Ballet in black and white (some with scripted commentary by Karsavina): Pétrouchka, Oiseau de feu, Sylphides, Spectre de la Rose, Les Noces. I was especially fascinated by an excerpt from Massine’s Femmes de bonne humeur, although the original footage was silent and the added piano accompaniment suffered from synchronization problems. For the many casual visitors (this exhibition, after all, is presented in a public library) the costumes and film clips really make the Ballets Russes come alive. Last, a clip from Pavlova’s film The Dumb Girl from Portici. Of this latter no comment.
The center of interest of every Ballets Russes exhibition seems to lie in the direction of costume/scenic designs. There are about twenty on view at the NYPL, several from a private collection (and previously unknown to me).
Bakst: costume designs from Cléopâtre (1909) and Narcisse (1911), a set design for Femmes de bonne humeur, and a costume for the Sleeping Princess (1921).
Benois: a set design for Pavillon d’Armide (1909).
Gontcharova: two costumes for the projected Liturgie (1915), a set design and three costumes from Les Noces (fascinating the comparison between her preliminary version and the finished item), and a set and a costume design for the restaging of Oiseau de feu (1926).
Larionov: set design for Renard (1929).
Robert Edmond Jones: costume design from Nijinsky’s ill-fated Till Eulenspiegel (1916).
Juan Gris: costume design from Les Tentations de la Bergère.
Pavel Tchelechev: a set and a costume design from Ode (1928).
Giorgio de Chirico: a costume design from Le Bal (1929).
There are Ballets Russes programs on display as well as from other ballet companies of the era: Pavlova, Gertrude Hoffmann, Truhanova, Chauvre-souris, Ballets suedois, and La Argentina.
Correspondance of Diaghilev, Astruc, Anton Dolin, Lifar, Balanchine and … Cole Porter.
Production photos, portraits, rare book editions, Diaghilev’s autograph notebooks (1909-11) and (ca 1916-20), Nijinsky’s autography Diary (YES, that famous diary!!), and two of Grigoriev’s autograph notebooks.
Last, four autograph documents from Diaghilev’s greatest musical star, Igor Stravinsky, on loan from the Julliard collection: sketches for Oiseau de feu and Pétrouchka and corrected scores for Les Noces and Apollon Musagète.
Before I leave New York City I must mention the large exhibition of theatrical designs currently on display at the Museum of Modern Art. Most of these relate to US ballet productions (many are gifts of Lincoln Kirstein), among which a few from the Ballets Russes. There is a scene design by Gontcharova for Coq d’or and another by Bakst.
Also costumes (reproductions) for the French Manager (small differences from the NYPL example) and the Horse from Parade are included.
While you have until Sept 13 to view the NPYL exhibition, this is the last week of the Wadsworth Athenaeum (closing the 21st). If there is interest I’ll post a resumé of that exhibition. Harvard’s show closes August 28.
Did I mention NYPL and Harvard are free admission?
PHENBY
There are costumes, only one of which is an actual Diaghilev original from the 1908 production of Boris Godunov. The rest are mostly from the Joffrey Company’s recreations: Tricorne (1969), Pétrouchka (1970), Parade (1973), Spectre de la Rose (1979), Sacre du printemps (1987) and Chout (never staged: curious that Joffrey was interested in recreating this). Also one costume from Les Biches : Dance Theater of Harlem (1983).
Several monitors display clips from some of the Diaghilev ballets: Joffrey’s Pétrouchka and Parade, New York’s Fils prodigue, and several from the Royal Ballet in black and white (some with scripted commentary by Karsavina): Pétrouchka, Oiseau de feu, Sylphides, Spectre de la Rose, Les Noces. I was especially fascinated by an excerpt from Massine’s Femmes de bonne humeur, although the original footage was silent and the added piano accompaniment suffered from synchronization problems. For the many casual visitors (this exhibition, after all, is presented in a public library) the costumes and film clips really make the Ballets Russes come alive. Last, a clip from Pavlova’s film The Dumb Girl from Portici. Of this latter no comment.
The center of interest of every Ballets Russes exhibition seems to lie in the direction of costume/scenic designs. There are about twenty on view at the NYPL, several from a private collection (and previously unknown to me).
Bakst: costume designs from Cléopâtre (1909) and Narcisse (1911), a set design for Femmes de bonne humeur, and a costume for the Sleeping Princess (1921).
Benois: a set design for Pavillon d’Armide (1909).
Gontcharova: two costumes for the projected Liturgie (1915), a set design and three costumes from Les Noces (fascinating the comparison between her preliminary version and the finished item), and a set and a costume design for the restaging of Oiseau de feu (1926).
Larionov: set design for Renard (1929).
Robert Edmond Jones: costume design from Nijinsky’s ill-fated Till Eulenspiegel (1916).
Juan Gris: costume design from Les Tentations de la Bergère.
Pavel Tchelechev: a set and a costume design from Ode (1928).
Giorgio de Chirico: a costume design from Le Bal (1929).
There are Ballets Russes programs on display as well as from other ballet companies of the era: Pavlova, Gertrude Hoffmann, Truhanova, Chauvre-souris, Ballets suedois, and La Argentina.
Correspondance of Diaghilev, Astruc, Anton Dolin, Lifar, Balanchine and … Cole Porter.
Production photos, portraits, rare book editions, Diaghilev’s autograph notebooks (1909-11) and (ca 1916-20), Nijinsky’s autography Diary (YES, that famous diary!!), and two of Grigoriev’s autograph notebooks.
Last, four autograph documents from Diaghilev’s greatest musical star, Igor Stravinsky, on loan from the Julliard collection: sketches for Oiseau de feu and Pétrouchka and corrected scores for Les Noces and Apollon Musagète.
Before I leave New York City I must mention the large exhibition of theatrical designs currently on display at the Museum of Modern Art. Most of these relate to US ballet productions (many are gifts of Lincoln Kirstein), among which a few from the Ballets Russes. There is a scene design by Gontcharova for Coq d’or and another by Bakst.
Also costumes (reproductions) for the French Manager (small differences from the NYPL example) and the Horse from Parade are included.
While you have until Sept 13 to view the NPYL exhibition, this is the last week of the Wadsworth Athenaeum (closing the 21st). If there is interest I’ll post a resumé of that exhibition. Harvard’s show closes August 28.
Did I mention NYPL and Harvard are free admission?
PHENBY
QUOTE (phenby @ Jul 18 2009, 08:03 PM)
I have seen the three Ballets Russes exhibitions currently on view in the U.S. several times. The collections of the NYPL are not blessed with abundance of visual materials to be found at the Harvard Theatre Collection or the Wadsworth Athenaeum. Since many of the items in the New York exhibition are on loan from private collections curato Lynn Garafola is to be congratulated for putting on an excellent show of Diaghilev material. PHENBY
Brilliant. I had hoped for some more reports as I understand they do not have exhibition catalogues that one could purchase. A sign of the times. Bravo for staging the exhibitions and thank you PHENBY for your post.
QUOTE (leonid @ Jun 23 2009, 07:28 AM)
QUOTE (bart @ Jun 22 2009, 08:47 PM)
Thanks, Amy and CM, for the Links
RE the exhibit at the Kunsthistorische Museum: I'm puzzled about the 7th illustration (out of 7). Can anyone identify a ballet called "The Mask of the Red Death"? Was this in the Ballet Russe season in 1916-17? Who or what is the "small idol" so beautifully illustrated here?
RE the exhibit at the Kunsthistorische Museum: I'm puzzled about the 7th illustration (out of 7). Can anyone identify a ballet called "The Mask of the Red Death"? Was this in the Ballet Russe season in 1916-17? Who or what is the "small idol" so beautifully illustrated here?
Apr 11 2006,
In the Tcherepnin Le Pavillion D'Armide thread on Apr 11 2006, Phenby wrote the following.
"In his twenty years of ballet and opera productions Diaghilev only rejected a commissioned score a handful of times. Tcherepnin heads the list as having produced two such scores.
In the early seasons Diaghilev had a secretary/advisor by the name of M. D. Calvocoressi, a young French music critic. Calvocoressi met a young, unknown composer (I forget the name) who had written a ballet score on his own entitled La masque de la mort rouge (The Mask of Red Death after Edgar Allen Poe). Calvocoressi passed the score along to Diaghilev who wasn't interested in the music but found the story an interesting idea for a ballet. Diaghilev approached Stravinsky on the subject but was rejected. So he turned to ... Nikolai Tcherepnin.
In 1913, when Tcherepnin composed his ballet, Fokine had been dismissed and Nijinsky was now choreographer of the Ballets Russes. But Nijinsky was very slow and couldn't be counted upon to produce four new ballets every season. So for the 1913 season Adolph Bolm and Boris Romanov, two dancers in the company, were given their first opportunities to choreograph (both went on to long careers as choreographers). Tcherepnin's La masque de la mort rouge was schedualed for the 1914 season, but since Nijinsky was already overextended with preparations for two other ballets, Diaghilev assigned Tcherepnin's ballet to a guest choreographer: Alexander Gorsky. Then the rupture between Nijinsky and Diaghilev occured. As a result, Fokine came back to the Ballets Russes for the 1914 season and took charge of all new choreography. La masque de la mort rouge and Gorsky were scrapped."
Sarah Banes in her book Writing Dancing in the Age of Postmodernism however states, “Goleizovsky began work in 1919 on “The Masque of the Red Death” and Eric W. Carlson In his “A Companion to Poe Studies” says that the ballet was given in 1919 at the Moscow Kamerny Theatre.
I don't know how reliable Grigoriev is compared to other sources, however he wrote in ' the Diaghilev Ballet' that Gorsky was engaged in 1913 as guest choreographer for the Red Mask. However, Tcherepnine had not finished the score by the time Diaghilev's committee made the decisions on the 1914 spring ballet program - so the piece couldn't be included. I think I remember reading that Gorsky never got round to choreographing the 'Red Mask because other events, such as the first world war, took over.
Also Diaghilev exhibition is still on in Monaco
http://www.nmnm.mc/index.php/nmnm_en/content/view/full/59
Article below includes slide show with podcast (in french)
http://www.podcastjournal.net/Centenaire-d...anov_a2375.html
QUOTE (CM @ Aug 3 2009, 04:17 PM)
I don't know how reliable Grigoriev is compared to other sources, however he wrote in ' the Diaghilev Ballet' that Gorsky was engaged in 1913 as guest choreographer for the Red Mask. However, Tcherepnine had not finished the score by the time Diaghilev's committee made the decisions on the 1914 spring ballet program - so the piece couldn't be included. I think I remember reading that Gorsky never got round to choreographing the 'Red Mask because other events, such as the first world war, took over.
Also Diaghilev exhibition is still on in Monaco
Also Diaghilev exhibition is still on in Monaco
Ballet, concerts, theatre and the circus continued in Moscow and St.Petersburg with some interruptions throughout the war period and Goleizovsky was producing ballets at the Kamerny Theatre Moscow during 1919. It was the content of the story that prevented his staging of, "The Masque of the Red Death."
Complementing the link to the current Monaco exhibition, the link below includes footage of the Edinburgh Diaghilev exhibition (1953/1954?) that marked the 25th anniversary of Diaghilev's death. Exhibition footage begins at 4 minutes, 20 seconds. Firebird is at 10 minutes, 15 seconds. Thanks to Leonid for links to British Pathe.
http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=74893
Roy Strong describes and discusses the impact of the exhibition (London transfer) in his 2001 obituary of Richard Buckle, the exhibition's organiser.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/...4276346,00.html
http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=74893
Roy Strong describes and discusses the impact of the exhibition (London transfer) in his 2001 obituary of Richard Buckle, the exhibition's organiser.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/...4276346,00.html
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