133 replies to this topic

[phenby]

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

[leonid]

phenby, on Jul 18 2009, 08:03 PM, said:

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.

[CM]

leonid, on Jun 23 2009, 07:28 AM, said:

bart, on Jun 22 2009, 08:47 PM, said:

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?

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/i...nt/view/full/59
Article below includes slide show with podcast (in french)
http://www.podcastjo...anov_a2375.html

[leonid]

CM, on Aug 3 2009, 04:17 PM, said:

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

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."

[CM]

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.britishpa...rd.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....4276346,00.html

[leonid]

CM, on Aug 23 2009, 03:05 PM, said:

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.britishpa...rd.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....4276346,00.html

Thank you CM for finding the Margot clip. I saw the film of her dancing the role in 1960's but I do not remember her characterisation being so intense. I have discovered a lot on Pathe but not that.
Again thank you for magicking it up for us.

[rg]

this from a recent email:

Subject: "Art of Gesture", a photo exhibit by Yuri Barykin


August 25, 2009
  
"Art of Gesture", from20Sergei Diaghilev to Angel Orensanz, a photo exhibit by Yuri Barykin (Moscow, Russia)

Angel Orensanz Center for the Arts, New York and Dr. Mikhail Michael Shvydkoy, Head of the Special Committee for International Cultural Cooperation of the President of the Russian Federation  are proud to present an exhibition of acclaimed Russian contemporary  photo-artist Yuri Barykin.

“Art of Gesture: Sergei Diaghilev’s Avant-garde Ballet Russe and Reflections of Angel Orensanz" is a collection of 41 large format (19,5X29,5) photographs by Yuri Barykin that capture the vibrancy and depth of energy of the ballets of Sergei Diaghilev  at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the Kirov Theater of St. Petersburg and at the Nancy Theater Festival in France in the movement of Maya Plisetskaya,  Vladimir Vasiliev, Diana Vishneva  and Nina Ananiashvili  as well as the  performances of sculptor Angel Orensanz himself with the depth and strength of his  sculpture. These images of the Spanish American sculptor reflect the energy Angel Orensanz infuses his exhibitions and show him in action during his art installations in recent shows at the Museum of Modern Art  and the Space Museum of in Moscow.

This exhibition will travel, after its presentation at the Angel Orensanz Art Gallery this week in New York to the art galleries of the Russian Embassies of Washington and Paris.

The show is free and open to the public from 11 AM to 8 PM every day from August 28 through September 2.  A video documentary will be shown later in September in New York by Time Warner Television, in the program “Arts from the Orensanzâ€� that airs on Tuesdays at 7 PM on channel 67.

The exhibition was sponsored by Ballet Art Fund, in the name of Galina Shein and “Sodrugestvo , Moscow.

[leonid]

rg, on Aug 26 2009, 08:30 AM, said:

this from a recent email:

Subject: "Art of Gesture", a photo exhibit by Yuri Barykin.

You can see three examples of his work at: http://www.rccusa.or...m...&Itemid=198

[leonid]

The New York Times carries a correction to the article “Admiring the Man Who Made Ballet Modern”
By JULIE BLOOM
Published: August 21, 2009

It is as follows.

"This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: August 23, 2009
An article on Page 14 this weekend about the arts impresario Serge Diaghilev misspells, in some copies, part of the name of the company he founded in 1909. It is the Ballets Russes, not the Ballet Russes. The error also appears in an accompanying picture caption and in a capsule summary referring to additional images on nytimes.com of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts’s exhibition “Diaghilev’s Theater of Marvels: The Ballets Russes and Its Aftermath.”
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: August 25, 2009
An article on Sunday about the arts impresario Serge Diaghilev misspelled, in some copies, part of the name of the company he founded in 1909. It is the Ballets Russes, not the Ballet Russes. The error also appeared in an accompanying picture caption and in a capsule summary referring to additional images on nytimes.com of “Diaghilev’s Theater of Marvels: the Ballets Russes and Its Aftermath.”
And a correction in this space on Saturday and on Page A3 on Sunday misstated the name of the institution that is displaying the exhibition. As the article correctly noted, it is the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts; there is no “New York City Library.”

What a pity they still got it wrong.

The 1909 season of Russian Ballet at the Chatelet Theatre was was not called Ballets Russes it was called Saisons Russe. It was not until 1911 that the company was called Ballets Russes.

[rg]

the attached scan shows two stamps that arrived in the post today from a friend who was recently in Monaco, where this was issued as part of the principality's celebration of the Ballets Russes centenary.

Attached Files

•  BRusseStmps.JPG   46.23K   30 downloads

[leonid]

The State Tretyakov Museum in Moscow is currently showing, VISION OF DANCE. Celebrating the 100 anniversary of "Russian ballets" of Serge Dyagilev in Paris

See:  http://www.tretyakovgallery.ru/en/

PS  
I have deferred to this sites spelling of Diaghilev

[volcanohunter]

Here is a link to a French television report on the POB's Ballets Russes bill.

http://videos.tf1.fr...is-5598773.html

http://info.francete...200912171059_F2

[bart]

Thank you, volcanohunter.  This looks wonderful.  The full-stage view of the set for Faun was stunning, and much more finely executed than I've see elswhere.  I'd love to have the chance to see Le Riche's faun in its entirety.

Has anyone seen these performances?  I don't think there are any posts yet.

P.S.  The  little, red Alfa MiTo in the brief commercial before the clip wasn't bad either.  

[ViolinConcerto]

volcanohunter, on Dec 17 2009, 09:06 PM, said:

Here is a link to a French television report on the POB's Ballets Russes bill.

http://videos.tf1.fr...is-5598773.html

Thanks so much for that vivid snippet.  Makes me want to up and fly to Paris.... but then, I am still waiting for my time machine (maybe this Christmas!) to take me to the actual Ballets Russes performances.

[volcanohunter]

Here's another clip from Petrushka.

http://culturebox.fr...oir_sur_France3

bart, on Dec 17 2009, 08:54 PM, said:

I'd love to have the chance to see Le Riche's faun in its entirety.

So would I!

ViolinConcerto, on Dec 18 2009, 12:41 AM, said:

Makes me want to up and fly to Paris....

The program will be broadcast on French television on New Year's Day, so perhaps a video release will follow. Not quite the same as being there, but some consolation.