133 replies to this topic

[CM]

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.citedelam...rt/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.cultureki...ccadoro571.html

[CM]

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






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"

[ViolinConcerto]

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).

[ViolinConcerto]

CM, on 17 December 2010 - 01:52 AM, said:

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.  

[CM]

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.theaustra...6-1225964103090

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

[CM]

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.c.../14/C4rA1NASK50

http://www.youtube.c...u/9/Gb10L1P280A

http://www.youtube.c.../13/gRR5wKPdNhM

[CM]

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/ti...man-collection/

[CM]

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/s...p?&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...-–-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/m....jsp?cid=340354

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

[ViolinConcerto]

A link in the aforementioned blog (have to look at that more thoroughly...) with links to  Australian National Gallery exhibit, about Le Bal.

[CM]

Comparing the NGA video of Thamar

http://nga.gov.au/Ex...nuID=3&GalID=13

against this photo from Lichine's Francesca Da Rimini:

http://www.slv.vic.g...5817/1/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.vandaimag...mstep=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...s/end-continues

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

[CM]

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.

[CM]

Per the V@A Diaghilev blog, a discovery has just been made of some footage (a minute long?) of the Diaghilev company in "Les Sylphides" from 1928 in Montreux, Switzerland.  The film is on the British Pathe website

http://www.vam.ac.uk.../i-eat-my-words

[ViolinConcerto]

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.

[CM]

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.a...es/s3121269.htm

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

http://www.rtve.es/p.../pagina-2.shtml

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

[bart]

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.