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Diaghilev Ballet Russe Centenary Celebration 2009


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Short clip on Ballets Russes costumes at the National Gallery of Australia.

"The National Gallery of Australia has one of the most important collections of modern theatre art in the world. In 1973 at auction, the NGA purchased 47 lots, comprising about 400 assorted items. It has taken years of conservation and research to piece together these various items – hats, belts, coats, trousers, dresses – into about 100 complete or nearly complete costumes."

"...former director of the gallery Betty Churcher presents an insider’s guide to some of these 'hidden treasures’

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François-Xavier Roth and Les Siecles Orchestra recreate some of the music from the June 4,1910 Ballets Russes performance at Palais Garnier, including:

A recreation by Francois Dru of the1910 presentation of le Festin

The first Parisian performance of Carnival (orchestration Alexander Glazounov, Nikolaï Rimski-korsakov, Nikolaï Tcherepnine).

Scheherazade in its original version with all four scenes (not just the two that were choreographed for the June 4 1910 premiere) plus a narrator (in french) .

Concert took place at la cite de la musique in Paris and it will remain online until June 2011.

http://www.citedelamusiquelive.tv/Concert/0949201.html

“Paris, the Luminous Years, to be shown on PBS television across the United States as of 15 December (check local listings), is a first-rate documentary film on the ‘City of Light':

http://www.culturekiosque.com/art/news/pmadato_pboccadoro571.html

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An introductory video and a video showing the lighting of the NGA exhibition

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_SpYmkWNtw

The two hour PBS documentary "Paris,the luminous years" is available internationally for a short period at:

http://video.pbs.org/video/1690715934

It's interesting background to the period - the paintings and colours look great on my PC. The section dedicated to Diaghilev starts at around 43 minutes and finishes at around 69 minutes however there are references to the ballet throughout the film. It includes excerpts from the Joffrey Ballet's productions of "Parade" and l'apres-midi d'un faune"

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CM, THANK YOU, AGAIN!

The two films are quite amazing. (I also got connected to the publicity film from the Het Ballet showing preparations for their Ballets Russes tribute, and audience anticipation. Some of the women in thee audience are wearing clothes that could have been used for the Ballets Russes!)

First is Australian news coverage of the major exhibit in Canberra has much information about the exhibit on company, and film of their costume collection, showing details of the workmanship and colors. They certainly have MORE costumes than the V&A has. (I wonder if they were purchased at the same auction that Buckle purchased the ones now at the V&A for the National Arts Counsel.)

The other, longer film, ("The Art of the Ballets Russes") has information/closeups about the costumes and includes footage from 1936 - 1940, the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo (de Basil) by Joseph Ringland Anderson when they toured Australia. Some are in color, so I am not sure if all the clips were from that time. Since Diaghilev would not allow filming of his productions, this is probably the closest we can see (along with the on-the-sly made films of Danilova and Franklin, again, after Diaghilev died) of what Diaghilev presented.

From these clips we can get access to even moe You Tube riches.

Australia has a right to be proud of their preservation of the legacy of the Ballets Russes, which toured three times in the thirties.

I now look forward to your gift of the PBS special, which I fretted about not being able to see (no TV).

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The two hour PBS documentary "Paris,the luminous years" is available internationally for a short period at:

http://video.pbs.org/video/1690715934

It's interesting background to the period - the paintings and colours look great on my PC. The section dedicated to Diaghilev starts at around 43 minutes and finishes at around 69 minutes however there are references to the ballet throughout the film. It includes excerpts from the Joffrey Ballet's productions of "Parade" and l'apres-midi d'un faune"

Thanks yet again, CM. For those, like me, who don't have a TV, this is a wonder. An intelligent, well rounded documentary on art.

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I believe that the NGA costumes were mostly bought at the third Ballets Russes auction in 1973 - I think it was the one where some people bought costumes for their fancy dress parties:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/a-superb-body-of-work-minus-the-bodies/story-e6frg8n6-1225964103090

What I'm particularly enjoying about the new videos coming out of Australia is the music - it makes the costumes so much more evocative. It's also wonderful to see film from ballets like Thamar - NGA has loaded quite a few excerpts from the ballets russes de monte carlo on their youtube channel in the last day or so.

All I did was to find the ballet russes-related links - the credit should go to the people who've worked on the various Ballet Russes celebrations

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I've seen some of the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo footage before but I think it was silent film. The NGA must have added soundtracks to the ballet films on their youtube channel. It makes so much difference, e.g.,

http://www.youtube.com/user/NationalGalleryAus#p/u/14/C4rA1NASK50

http://www.youtube.com/user/NationalGalleryAus#p/u/9/Gb10L1P280A

http://www.youtube.com/user/NationalGalleryAus#p/u/13/gRR5wKPdNhM

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Most of the ballet russe film on the NGA youtube channel is in colour and I'm wondering whether it has been online before - the Australian Screen website only shows the Thamar excerpt in colour

"With exotic, lush designs and costuming this colour sequence brings to life the Ballets Russes performances in a way that black-and-white film does not. Shot from a higher, sharper angle to the stage by Murray-Will, this clip is still vivid in its detail"

http://aso.gov.au/titles/collections/chesterman-collection/

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Looking more closely at the credits of the Thamar footage on the NAG youtube channel, it seems that there were two different people filming Thamar in colour in the 1930s. The film-maker on the credits on the NAG film is a Joseph Ringland Anderson, whereas the Australian Screen version was shot by a Ewan Murray-Will.

The London Coliseum will present a restaging of the original version of Thamar in its Ballets Russes season in April 2011. The season will also feature Nicolai Tsiskaridze as the Blue God

http://www.eno.org/see-whats-on/productions/production-page.php?&itemid=1163.

This week the V@A blog has some more photos from the 1954 Diaghilev exhibition, and features the haunted theatre – an inspiration for an encounter in Colin Wilson's “ Ritual in the Dark”

http://www.vam.ac.uk/things-to-do/blogs/diaghilev-and-ballets-russes/diaghilev-1954-again-–-times-change

This part of the exhibition looks very cinematic with references (I think) to “The “Red Shoes”. The staircase reminds me of Cocteau's “la belle et la bete”

http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/index.jsp?cid=340354

The current V@A Diaghilev exhibition will close in less than two weeks time.

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Comparing the NGA video of Thamar

http://nga.gov.au/Exhibition/BalletsRusses/Default.cfm?MnuID=3&GalID=13

against this photo from Lichine's Francesca Da Rimini:

http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/balletrusse/gid/slv-pic-aaa45817/1/br000241

it looks to me that the role of Thamar is played by Lubov Tchernicheva, the ballet mistress of Diaghilev's Ballet Russe and of De Basil's Original Ballet Russe, wife of Serge Grigoriev, regisseur to both companies.

According to Serge Grigoriev, Lubov Tchernicheva “electrified our audiences” when she played the same role in Madrid in 1917. She received positive reviews at the London premiere of Thamar during the Diaghilev ballet's 1919 Coliseum season. V@A images have a 1920 woodcut of her in the role at

http://www.vandaimages.com/results.asp?image=2010EA6207-01&itemw=2&itemf=0002&itemstep=1&itemx=2

In 1939 she performed in the London premiere of Francesca Da Rimini during the Original Ballet Russe Season at Covent Garden. During the same season Fokine worked on the premiere of Paganini. The rehearsals and performances in this season were used for research for the screenplay for “the Red Shoes” and apparently were the basis for much of the backstage detail of the final film. Tchernicheva and Grigoriev restaged "Firebird' for the Royal Ballet at the 1954 Edinburgh Festival.

According to the V@A blog,

http://www.vam.ac.uk/things-to-do/blogs/diaghilev-and-ballets-russes/end-continues

some of the exhibits from the latest exhibition will be touring to Madrid, Barcelona and Quebec during the next eighteen months.

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Two corrections:

The London premiere of Thamar was in 1912 with Karsavina. Tchernicheva played the role in the 1919 revival at the London Coliseum.

The premiere of " Francesca De Rimini took place in London with Tchernicheva in 1937. The ballet was revived with Tchernicheva in the 1939 Covent Garden season.

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Thanks for that link, CM. It's like a swallow of champagne! I wish I had the time to check through all the memoirs and see if anyone mentions it.

For some reason, I have only now come upon Ballet magazine's October Issue, focussing on the exhibition. For all other late-comers, it's full of information and links, including an article about the latest by the Hodson/Archer team. Here's the link.

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More links:

"ABC Classic FM celebrates the NGA's exhibition of the costumes of the Ballets Russes". The documentary series "The astonishing Ballets Russes" is very interesting. The Dance on Screen episode discusses the filming of Fred Astaire, Ashton and some contemporary choreographers (mostly UK-based) in addition to "Les Noces"

http://www.abc.net.au/classic/events/stories/s3121269.htm

Spanish Classical radio has a number of podcasts available on Diaghilev and the ballets russes:

http://www.rtve.es/podcast/radio-clasica/grand-jette/pagina-2.shtml

John Galliano's ballets russes and Rudolf Nureyev-influenced menswear show

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kx2jhTgH5MU

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I also want to thank you, CM, for that film clip. We have so many visual records of the company and its artists: still photographs, costumes, artwork. But ballet is about dancers in motion. Your clip opens a small window -- charming and very tantalizing -- to that.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if there were other such clips, stored in archives and private collections, that to be found and made public?

P.S. Sometimes I wonder how many people realize that Diaghilev projects were actually about dancing. As Debussy said of him: "Diaghilev, that terrible and charming man, ... could MAKE STONES DANCE."

One of the real shocks of reading Sjeng Scheijen's new Diaghilev biography is they way he systematically leaves out the element of dance, focusing in ballet after ballet on the music, decor, and libretto, and frequently not even mentioning the choreographer. Although dancers are mentioned anecdotally, from time to time, you rarely get a sense that Scheijen considers them to essential collaborators in these productions.

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It's wonderful that the film has been discovered and has been authenticated. Some more links:

An article about the history of “la fete des narcisses “in Montreux

http://www.narcisses.ch/narcisse_fete.php

According to Grigoriev's “ The Diaghilev Ballet”

“At Lausanne (assume this refers to the company's performances at “la fete des narcisses” at Montreux – 30 km from Lausanne - on June 2nd and 3rd as there were no other performances in Switzerland in 1928), our old friend Ansermet conducted us again - still as handsome as ever though now slightly grey at the temples”

“Les premieres gravures” /”the early days” by Ernest Ansermet contains many of his vintage recordings of ballet music including four tracks of Les Sylphides – two waltzes, a mazurka and a prelude – with Diaghilev's Ballet Russes Orchestra. It is available at Amazon on MP3 and possibly on CD, and I guess that this would be an authentic soundtrack for the footage.

British Pathe's description of the footage of the Diaghilev company has been updated:

http://britishpathe.wordpress.com/2011/02/01/the-va-find-secretly-recorded-footage-in-the-british-pathe-archive-of-the-beautiful-and-famously-unfilmed-ballet-russes/

Roger Salas of “El Pais” discusses the discovery and looks forward to the Barcelona and Madrid Diaghilev exhibitions”

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/Identificado/fragmento/cine/Ballets/Russes/Diaghilev/elpepucul/20110203elpepucul_9/Tes

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The touring Diaghilev exhibition has left Quebec and will be at Caixaforum in Barcelona from October 5 through to 15 January 2012:

http://obrasocial.lacaixa.es/nuestroscentros/caixaforumbarcelona/losballetsrusos_ca.html

It will then move to Madrid (17 February to 3 June 2012). The exhibition is available for hire from late 2012:

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/touring-exhibition-diaghilev-and-the-ballets-russes/

There will be a Benois auction at Sotheby's London on November 29th (will the collection be on display in advance?)

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/2011/an-important-collection-of-works-by-alexander-benois/overview.html

“The collection includes set and costume designs from productions such as Petrushka, The Nightingale and Sleeping Beauty, charming family portraits, rare views of St. Petersburg, Versailles and Venice, which will be offered alongside Benois’ letters and sketchbooks.”

A “new-old” live recording of Petrushka and “les Orientales” with les Siecles/Francois-Xavier Roth will be issued. I think this would have been included in the same program/weekend as the Le Festin/Carnaval/Scheherezade concert that was available online for a few months (and previously linked to) at la Cite de La Musique.

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The touring Diaghilev exhibition has left Quebec and will be at Caixaforum in Barcelona from October 5 through to 15 January 2012:

http://obrasocial.lacaixa.es/nuestroscentros/caixaforumbarcelona/losballetsrusos_ca.html

It will then move to Madrid (17 February to 3 June 2012). The exhibition is available for hire from late 2012:

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/touring-exhibition-diaghilev-and-the-ballets-russes/

There will be a Benois auction at Sotheby's London on November 29th (will the collection be on display in advance?)

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/2011/an-important-collection-of-works-by-alexander-benois/overview.html

“The collection includes set and costume designs from productions such as Petrushka, The Nightingale and Sleeping Beauty, charming family portraits, rare views of St. Petersburg, Versailles and Venice, which will be offered alongside Benois’ letters and sketchbooks.”

A “new-old” live recording of Petrushka and “les Orientales” with les Siecles/Francois-Xavier Roth will be issued. I think this would have been included in the same program/weekend as the Le Festin/Carnaval/Scheherezade concert that was available online for a few months (and previously linked to) at la Cite de La Musique.

correction: CD is Firebird/Les Orientales (not Petrushka)

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