Twentieth-Century Ballet Music

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Twentieth-Century Ballet Music

Assignment 1

Assess Diaghilev’s achievement in the early years of the Ballets Russes, up to (and including) 1914.  You should consider the extent of his importance bearing in mind that he was neither a musician nor a choreographer.

Considering the fact that Serge Diaghilev was neither a musician nor a choreographer, it is ironic that the success of the Ballet Russes was a consequence of a man who simply created a collaboration of outstanding artists.  The idea that Diaghilev was not talented in these areas perhaps suggests why the company was so triumphant, as he was able to criticise every aspect of the performances.  The Ballet Company was founded by Diaghilev in 1909, which “burst upon Paris…with the force of a revelation”.  Throughout the duration of the Ballet Russes, numerous successful performances were exhibited, particularly in the “early years” up to and including 1914.  During this period, “Cléopatre” (1909) and “Daphnis et Chloé” (1912) are just two of the company’s accomplishments, portraying just how victorious the company were.  It has been suggested that the success was largely due to the personality of Diaghilev and his ability to bring together artists, namely Tamara Karsavina, who danced with “great beauty and intelligence”, Nijinsky, Stravinsky and Fokine, to name a few.  In more cases than one, it was more of a sexual nature as opposed to a friendly relationship.  Diaghilev’s homosexuality could play a part of his success, possibly contributing to his feeling for creativity, and in addition, his ability to work well with other artists.  It is fair to say that Diaghilev played an extremely imperative function in the achievement of the troupe, and in fact had an enormous influence on modern music in general.

        Serge Diaghilev has been described as having a “majestic personality” by Lydia Sokolova, a former dancer for Diaghilev, who was said to have been “scared stiff” at the meeting of him for the first time.  Yet throughout the time they spent together, Sokolova tells of how she “seldom heard him raise his voice”. This somewhat depicts how his authority was portrayed to others, and how others significantly felt inferior, as he was indeed a powerful man.  According to Sokolova, Serge would “look for creases in the scenery, make sure the lighting was correct, mumble a few words to Nijinsky or Karsavina, ignoring the rest of us, give Grigoriew the word to begin, and go through the pass door into the front of the house”. Again we are painted a picture of a simple man, yet knows exactly how he wanted things to appear, almost like a perfectionist.  He knew artistically what he wanted to create, and he used this vision, in addition to his personal relationships with artists in order to create this vision.  Diaghilev grew up in an aristocratic family, surrounded by music, art and enthusiastic, progressive people.  These characteristics are reflected through Diaghilev’s passion for the Ballet Russes, as he was obsessed with modernising ballet and bringing fresh ideas to the performances.  As a result of his passion to bring new ideas to the ballet, he was dismissed from the Imperial Ballet, which inspired him to create the company The Ballet Russes, of which he brought a small group of artists.  Throughout his childhood he was subjected to the arts through all different directions; he composed romances for piano, his step aunt taught him to sing, his father was an amateur singer and his uncle even a conductor and cellist.  He moved to St Petersburg to study for six years at the university, and on graduating in 1895, “it was not as the composer or singer he had hoped to be. In a letter to his stepmother, he wrote: "I am someone afflicted, it seems, with complete absence of talent. I think I've found my true vocation: to be a patron of the arts. For that I have everything I need, except the money."” Although (so and so) suggests that Diaghilev had hoped to be a composer, these musical skills contributed to his artistic directing skills.  It is important, also, to realise that it was not just the choreography, music and design that Diaghilev had to organise, however the categories of administration, finance, publicity and the planning were all his responsibilities as well.   Diaghilev did not have a knowledgeable audience, nor reliable funding and therefore it is an achievement alone to realise just how immense the Ballet Russes were, all things considering.  The Ballet Russes is said to have comprised of forty different composers within the short space of twenty years.  It is evident, therefore, that the Ballet Russes put on a diverse amount of performances and produced numerous ballets, keeping all the collaborators extremely busy, resulting in a triumphant company.   The idea that Diaghilev directed the whole company, despite not being a choreographer or a musician shows how his achievements are extremely impressive.  

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        For Diaghilev, his vision and dream was for the Western World to discover the Russian arts.  He did so by editing a magazine, World of Art, and putting on many exhibitions, however exceeded expectations by taking it further with the Ballet Russes.  Western Europe, North and South America were instantly impressed with Diaghilev’s work, and were influenced a great deal, however Russia, surprisingly as most of the collaborators and Diaghilev himself was Russian, did not warm to the new ballet company.  “He was recognised as one of the wonders of the theatrical world” and certainly brought new ideas to both theatre ...

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