Ballets Russes Sergei Diaghilev

in 1905 organized huge exhibition of russian portrait painting @ tauride palace in st. petersburg, having travelled through russia year discovering many unknown masterpieces of russian portrait art. in following year took major exhibition of russian art petit palais in paris. beginning of long involvement france. in 1907 presented 5 concerts of russian music in paris, , in 1908 mounted production of mussorgsky s boris godunov, starring feodor chaliapin, @ paris opéra.

this led invitation return following year ballet opera, , launching of famous ballets russes. company included best young russian dancers, among them anna pavlova, adolph bolm, vaslav nijinsky, tamara karsavina , vera karalli, , first night on 19 may 1909 sensation.

during these years diaghilev s stagings included several compositions late nikolai rimsky-korsakov, such operas maid of pskov, may night, , golden cockerel. balletic adaptation of orchestral suite sheherazade, staged in 1910, drew ire of composer s widow, nadezhda rimskaya-korsakova, protested in open letters diaghilev published in periodical rech. diaghilev commissioned ballet music composers such nikolai tcherepnin (narcisse et echo, 1911), claude debussy (jeux, 1913), maurice ravel (daphnis et chloé, 1912), erik satie (parade, 1917), manuel de falla (el sombrero de tres picos, 1917), richard strauss (josephslegende, 1914), sergei prokofiev (ala , lolli, 1915, rejected diaghilev , turned scythian suite; chout, 1915 revised 1920; le pas d acier, 1926; , prodigal son, 1929); ottorino respighi (la boutique fantasque, 1919); francis poulenc (les biches, 1923) , others. choreographer michel fokine adapted music ballet. diaghilev worked dancer , ballet master léonide massine.

the artistic director ballets russes léon bakst. developed more complicated form of ballet show-elements intended appeal general public, rather solely aristocracy. exotic appeal of ballets russes had effect on fauvist painters , nascent art deco style. coco chanel said have stated diaghilev invented russia foreigners. [rhonda k. garelick].

perhaps diaghilev s notable composer-collaborator, however, igor stravinsky. diaghilev heard stravinsky s orchestral works fireworks , scherzo fantastique, , impressed enough ask stravinsky arrange pieces chopin ballets russes. in 1910, commissioned first score stravinsky, firebird. petrushka (1911) , rite of spring (1913) followed shortly afterwards, , 2 worked on les noces (1923) , pulcinella (1920) picasso, designed costumes , set.

after russian revolution of 1917, diaghilev stayed abroad. new soviet regime, once became obvious not lured back, condemned him in perpetuity insidious example of bourgeois decadence. soviet art historians wrote him out of picture more 60 years.

diaghilev made boris kochno secretary in 1920 , staged tchaikovsky s sleeping beauty in london in 1921; production of remarkable magnificence in both settings , costumes but, despite being received public, financial disaster diaghilev , oswald stoll, theatre-owner had backed it. first cast included legendary ballerina olga spessivtseva , lubov egorova in role of aurora. diaghilev insisted on calling ballet sleeping princess. when asked why, quipped, because have no beauties! later years of ballets russes considered intellectual , stylish , seldom had unconditional success of first few seasons, although younger choreographers george balanchine hit stride ballet russes.

the start of 20th century brought development in handling of tonality, harmony, rhythm , meter towards more freedom. until time, rigid harmonic schemes had forced rhythmic patterns stay uncomplicated. around turn of century, however, harmonic , metric devices became either more rigid, or more unpredictable, , each approach had liberating effect on rhythm, affected ballet. diaghilev pioneer in adapting these new musical styles modern ballet. when ravel used 5/4 time in final part of ballet daphnis , chloe (1912), dancers of ballets russes sang ser-ge-dia-ghi-lev during rehearsals keep correct rhythm.

members of diaghilev s ballets russes later went on found ballet traditions in united states (george balanchine) , england (ninette de valois , marie rambert). ballet master serge lifar went on technical revival @ paris opera ballet, enhanced claude bessy , rudolf nureyev in 1980s. lifar credited saving many jewish , other minority dancers nazi concentration camps during world war ii.