Where is Sergei Diaghilev buried? Sergei Diaghilev. A frank biography of a great entrepreneur. The fate of the Diaghilevs in the USSR

01.08.2019

Sergei Diaghilev

short biography

Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev(March 31, 1872, Selishchi, Novgorod province - August 19, 1929, Venice) - Russian theater and artistic figure, one of the founders of the World of Art group, organizer of the Russian Seasons in Paris and the Diaghilev Russian Ballet troupe, entrepreneur.

Sergei Diaghilev was born on March 19 (31), 1872 in Selishchi, Novgorod province, in the family of a cavalry officer, hereditary nobleman Pavel Pavlovich Diaghilev. His mother died a few months after Sergei was born, and he was raised by his stepmother Elena, daughter of V. A. Panaev. As a child, Sergei lived in St. Petersburg, then in Perm, where his father served. My father's brother, Ivan Pavlovich Diaghilev, was a philanthropist and founder of a music circle.

In Perm, on the corner of Sibirskaya and Pushkin streets (formerly Bolshaya Yamskaya), the ancestral home of Sergei Diaghilev has been preserved, where the gymnasium named after him is now located. The mansion in the style of late Russian classicism was built in the 1850s according to the design of the architect R. O. Karvovsky.

For three decades, the house belonged to the large and friendly Diaghilev family. In the house, called by contemporaries “Perm Athens,” the city’s intelligentsia gathered on Thursdays. Here they played music, sang, and performed home plays.

After graduating from the Perm gymnasium in 1890, he returned to St. Petersburg and entered the law faculty of the university, while simultaneously studying music with N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. In his youth, Diaghilev tried in vain to find his field. An important moment in his life was a meeting with the writer Leo Tolstoy, after which he decided to devote himself to collecting autographs of famous contemporaries. In 1896, he graduated from the university, but instead of going into law, he began working in the field of fine arts.

Conventionally, the activities of S. P. Diaghilev can be divided into two periods:

1898-1906 - Diaghilev’s life in Russia, when his interests were concentrated mainly in the field of fine arts;
1906-1929 - Diaghilev's activities as an impresario abroad: starting with the organization of an exhibition in 1906, he soon focused on the region musical theater, first of all, ballet.

Activities in St. Petersburg

In 1898, together with the artist A. N. Benois, he initiated the creation of the magazine “World of Art”, published by S. I. Mamontov and Princess M. K. Tenisheva; was its editor (since 1903 - together with Benoit), since 1902 he directed the publication. In 1898-1904 he also wrote art criticism articles; is the author of a monograph about the artist D. G. Levitsky (1902).

During this period, he organized exhibitions that caused wide resonance in St. Petersburg:

1897 - an exhibition of British and German watercolorists, introducing the Russian public to a number of major masters of these countries and modern trends V fine arts;
Exhibition of Scandinavian artists in the halls of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts;
1898 - an exhibition of Russian and Finnish artists at the Stieglitz Museum, which the World of Art students themselves considered their first performance (in addition to the main group of the initial friendly circle from which the World of Art association arose, Diaghilev managed to attract other major representatives of young art to participate in the exhibition - Vrubel , Serov, Levitan);
1905 - historical and artistic exhibition of Russian portraits of the 17th-18th centuries in the Tauride Palace;
1906 - exhibition of Russian art at the Autumn Salon in Paris with the participation of works by Benois, Grabar, Kuznetsov, Malyavin, Repin, Serov, Jawlensky, Roerich and others.

In 1899, Prince Sergei Volkonsky, who became director of the Imperial Theatres, appointed Diaghilev as an official on special assignments and gave him the editing of the Yearbook of the Imperial Theatres. Diaghilev transformed the yearbook from a dry publication into an artistic journal.

Together with Diaghilev, many came to the Imperial Theaters contemporary artists(Ap. M. Vasnetsov, A. N. Benois, L. S. Bakst, V. A. Serov, K. A. Korovin, E. E. Lansere).

In the 1900-1901 season, Volkonsky entrusted Diaghilev with the production of Delibes' ballet Sylvia. Diaghilev attracted artists from the World of Art group to the production, but the project fell through due to the protest of management officials. Diaghilev did not obey the orders of director Volkonsky, pointedly refused to edit the Yearbook, and the matter ended with his dismissal.

Russian seasons

Since 1907, Diaghilev has organized annual foreign performances by Russian artists, called “Russian Seasons”. In 1907, as part of the “seasons”, performances by musicians were held - “Historical Russian Concerts”. They were attended by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, S. V. Rachmaninov, A. K. Glazunov, F. I. Chaliapin, harpsichordist V. Landowska and others. Together with the musicians involved in the “Historical Concerts”, Diaghilev visited Paris and C. Saint-Saens.

In 1908, Diaghilev organized a season of Russian opera in Paris; The opera “Boris Godunov” was staged with the participation of F.I. Chaliapin. Despite the success with the public, the season brought losses to Diaghilev, so the next year, assessing the tastes of the public, he decided to bring ballet to Paris. At the same time, at that moment Diaghilev treated ballet with disdain:

both smart and stupid can watch it with equal success - all the same, there is no content or meaning in it; and to perform it you don’t need to strain even small mental abilities
- M. V. Borisoglebsky. Materials on the history of Russian ballet, vol. II. L., 1939, p. 135.

In 1909, the first ballet season of the Diaghilev enterprise took place in Paris; from that time until 1929, the Russian Ballets ballet troupe operated under his leadership.

For the first ballet seasons, Diaghilev invited such soloists of the Imperial Theaters as M. M. Fokin, A. P. Pavlova, V. F. Nijinsky and B. F. Nijinska, T. P. Karsavina, A. R. Bolm, L. F. Shollar, V. A. Karalli, L. P. Chernysheva. Subsequently, he invited many Polish artists and dancers of other nationalities, many of whom received “Russian” names in the troupe.

Already from the second ballet season (1910), Diaghilev annually presented exclusively world premieres to the Parisian public. The main choreographers of his troupe at different times were M. M. Fokin, V. F. Nijinsky, L. F. Myasin, B. F. Nizhinskaya, J. Balanchine. His “stars” V.F. Nijinsky, L.F. Myasin and S.M. Lifar were simultaneously his favorites.

Participated in the design of the ballets outstanding artists, members of the “World of Art”, in particular A. N. Benois, L. S. Bakst, A. Ya. Golovin, N. K. Roerich, B. I. Anisfeld. "Seasons" were a means of promoting Russian ballet and fine arts. Over the twenty years of their existence, they completely changed traditional ideas about theater and dance, and also contributed to the flourishing of ballet in countries where this genre was not developed.

Before the First World War, Diaghilev was obsessed with the idea of presenting his productions in Russia - however, despite his efforts, for various reasons he did not succeed. During the war, starting in the mid-1910s, he radically changed the style of performances, leaving exoticism, court pomp and Orientalism and turning to the avant-garde. The first performance of the new musical form and the choreography was the ballet “Parade” by Erik Satie, the scandalous premiere of which took place in Paris in 1917. Moving away from the style of the “World of Art”, Diaghilev began to collaborate mainly with European artists; Also, his permanent employees were the spouses N. S. Goncharova and M. F. Larionov.

Diaghilev's troupe rehearsed in Monte Carlo, where the first performances of many premieres took place, gave seasons in Paris and London, and also toured in Italy, Germany, and the USA. Diaghilev also made numerous unsuccessful attempts to perform in St. Petersburg, which was his dream.

The troupe existed until 1929, that is, until the death of its organizer. According to the recollection of the permanent director of the troupe S. L. Grigoriev, their last performance was in Vichy on August 4, 1929.

According to A. N. Benois, “not one of the ideas would have been realized if Diaghilev had not headed it and brought his energy to where there was already a lot of creativity, but where there was no main thing - a unifying role.” M. F. Larionov believed that “Diaghilev is an enthusiast who gave all of himself with some kind of pagan passion to art.” “Someone said that the enterprise was Diaghilev’s personal business... Only evil tongue and an evil mind could utter such slander against this crusader of beauty,” stated N.K. Roerich.

Many contemporaries, artists and poets, used bright symbols and metaphors to convey the perception of S. P. Diaghilev’s personality: “radiant sun” (V. A. Serov), “Hercules”, “Peter the Great” (A. N. Benois), “An eagle strangling little birds” (V.F. Nijinsky), “The Yellow Devil in the Arenas” European countries"(A. L. Volynsky), "Nero in a black tuxedo over burning Rome" (A. Bely)

Personal life

Diaghilev was homosexual, which was a serious obstacle in his career. He realized his homosexuality in early age and, according to Nikolai Nabokov, was “the first great homosexual to come out and be recognized by society.”

Illness and death

In 1921, Diaghilev was diagnosed with diabetes, but he hardly followed the prescribed diet. The development of the disease was facilitated by lifestyle, as well as constant sudden changes in body weight. Beginning in 1927, he developed furunculosis, which could lead to the development of sepsis, which was deadly in those days when antibiotics were not yet known. In the summer of 1929 in Paris, a doctor ordered Diaghilev to follow a diet and get plenty of rest, warning that failure to follow the recommendations would have dangerous consequences for his health. Diaghilev ignored the order, going with the troupe to Berlin, then to Cologne and through Paris to London, where he again visited the doctor, who advised him to hire a nurse, which was also not done: Kokhno looked after him every day, doing the necessary procedures and dressings. Having sent the troupe on vacation and returned to Paris, he again visited his attending physician, who insisted on a course of treatment with thermal waters in Vichy. Instead, Diaghilev, together with his protégé Igor Markevich, undertook a "musical" journey along the Rhine, visiting Baden-Baden (where he discussed new ballet with Hindemith and saw Nabokov, who later wrote: "Despite his appearance it seemed like he had good mood. He cheerfully talked about his plans for the rest of the summer and for the new fall season."), Munich (for the operas of Mozart and Wagner) and Salzburg. From there, Diaghilev sent Koribut-Kubitovich a letter with an insistent request to come to him in Venice. Having parted with Markevich in Vevey, on August 7 Diaghilev went to Venice. The next day he checked into the Grand Hotel de Ban de Mer, where Lifar arrived in the evening. By that time, he had already developed blood poisoning due to abscesses. Since August 12, he no longer got out of bed; Lifar looked after him. Even while ill, Diaghilev continued to make plans and hum from Wagner and Tchaikovsky. On August 16, Kokhno came to see him, and on the 18th, Misia Sert and Chanel visited him. Having received a telegram from Koribut-Kubitovich, who was in no hurry to come at his call, Diaghilev remarked: “Well, of course, Pavka will be late and will arrive after my death.”. In the evening a priest came to him. At night, Diaghilev’s temperature rose to 41°, he no longer regained consciousness and died at dawn on August 19, 1929.

Since Diaghilev had no funds with him, the funeral was paid for by M. Sert and G. Chanel. After a short funeral service in accordance with the ritual Orthodox Church, the body was transferred to the island of San Michele and buried in the Orthodox part of the cemetery.

The name of Diaghilev is engraved on the marble tombstone in Russian and French ( Serge de Diaghilew) and the epitaph: “Venice is the constant inspirer of our tranquility” - a phrase written by him shortly before his death in a dedicatory inscription to Serge Lifar. On the pedestal next to the photograph of the impresario there are almost always ballet shoes (to prevent them from being blown away by the wind, they are filled with sand) and other theatrical paraphernalia. In the same cemetery, next to Diaghilev's grave, there is the grave of his collaborator, the composer Igor Stravinsky, as well as the poet Joseph Brodsky, who called Diaghilev "Citizen of Perm".

Diaghilev's official heir turned out to be his father's sister, Yulia Parensova-Diaghileva, who lived in Sofia (she refused the inheritance in favor of Nouvel and Lifar). On August 27, Nouvel organized a memorial service for the deceased in Paris, in the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.

Essays

Complex questions, “World of Art”, 1899, No. 1-2, No. 3-4 (co-authored with D. V. Filosofov);
Russian painting in the 18th century, vol. 1 - D. G. Levitsky, St. Petersburg, 1902.

Addresses

In St. Petersburg

1899 - autumn 1900 - apartment building on Liteiny Prospekt, 45;
autumn 1900-1913 - apartment house of N. I. Khmelnitsky, embankment of the Fontanka River, 11.

In Venice

Lido, Grand Hotel des Bains

The fate of the Diaghilevs in the USSR

The fates of Sergei Diaghilev's two brothers - Yuri and Valentin - are tragic. Valentin was shot on Solovki in 1929 on a fabricated criminal case; Yuri was sent into exile (according to other sources, he was subjected to administrative deportation), died in Tashkent (according to other sources, in the city of Chirchik, Tashkent region) in 1957.
The eldest nephew Sergei Valentinovich Diaghilev was a symphony conductor. Like his father, Valentin Pavlovich, was repressed in 1937 on the basis of a fabricated political article. Spent 10 years in camps and 5 years in exile. After rehabilitation, he returned to Leningrad, where he continued his creative activities. Died on August 13, 1967.
The younger nephew Vasily Valentinovich Diaghilev, a neurologist, was forced to hide his relationship with his famous uncle.
Great-grandnephew Sergei Alexandrovich Diaghilev is a composer and conductor. Lives in St. Petersburg.

Memory

In Paris

In 1965, the square near the Grand Opera Theater, in the 9th district of the city, received the name Diaghilev Square.
In 2003, a monument-bust of Diaghilev by St. Petersburg sculptor Levon Lazarev was unveiled in Paris at the Chatelet theater.
In the year of the centenary of the Russian Seasons, interest in Diaghilev’s personality increased again. In 2008, Sotheby's auction house organized in Paris in honor of the 100th anniversary of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes the exhibition "Dancing towards Glory: The Golden Age of the Ballets Russes", which presented about 150 paintings, sketches, costumes, sets, drawings , sculptures, photographs, manuscripts and programs. Among the exhibits were costumes, sketches for which were made by Leon Bakst and French artists Andre Derain and Henri Matisse. An installation by Belgian sculptor Isabelle de Borschgrav, inspired by the legacy of Diaghilev, was also presented.
In 2009, preparations for a project for a monument to Diaghilev began in Paris. The winner of the competition was the project of sculptor Viktor Mitroshin. His Diaghilev stands at full height in a top hat, tails and with a cane in his hand, on a high pedestal on which Petrushka opens the curtain. At the time of the competition, the project was supported by President Jacques Chirac, his wife Bernadette expressed a desire to supervise the work on the project; then the project came under the patronage of Pierre Cardin. Since the mayor of Paris, Jean Tibery, was against it, work on the construction of the monument could begin only after he was replaced by Bertrand Delanoë. The monument is planned to be installed on the square in front of the Grand Opera building.

In Russia

In Perm

Since 1992, the Diaghilev family home in Perm has housed a gymnasium named after S.P. Diaghilev and a museum, which forms a single complex with the gymnasium. In 2007 in concert hall A monument to Sergei Pavlovich by sculptor Ernst Neizvestny was erected at Diaghilev’s house. Since 2009, the possibility of moving the monument to one of the streets has been discussed in Perm, but the monument is cast from colored patinated bronze - a fancy material that is afraid of rain and exhaust fumes.
On the initiative Perm Theater Opera and ballet in Perm hosts the annual Diaghilev Festival. The theater building, constructed thanks to significant financial support Diaghilev, according to many Perm residents, is the most beautiful in the city.
In September 2011, the Minister of Culture of the Perm Territory Nikolai Novichkov proposed calling the new Perm airport " international Airport"Sergei Diaghilev."

In other cities

The Lyceum of Arts in Yekaterinburg and the School of Arts in Zelenograd, as well as the motor ship Sergei Diaghilev, are named after Diaghilev.
In the spring of 2006, the Diaghilev nightclub (also known as the Diaghilev project) opened in the building of the Shchukin Stage on the territory of the Moscow Hermitage Garden. Its logo was a black and white drawing depicting a mustachioed man in a tailcoat, top hat and bow tie with a clear hint of the image of S.P. Diaghilev.

Image in art

art

Portrait by Valentin Serov (1904).
Portrait of Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev with his nanny by Lev Bakst (1905).
In bonistics: Diaghilev is depicted on the front side of the 500 Ural francs banknote issued in 1991.
In philately:

Postage stamps of Russia

original stamp on a postal envelope, 1997

Sergei Diaghilev and “Russian Seasons”, 2000

In cinema

S. P. Diaghilev became the prototype of the impresario Lermontov in the film “The Red Shoes” (1948, the role was played by Austrian actor Anton Walbrook).
In the film “Nijinsky” (1980, USA), the role of Diaghilev was played by Alan Bates.
In the film “Anna Pavlova” (Mosfilm, 1983, director Emil Loteanu), the role of Diaghilev was played by Vsevolod Larionov.
“Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky” (2009) - the film, in particular, shows Diaghilev’s relationship with the composer Stravinsky.
"Paris of Sergei Diaghilev" - documentary director Nikita Tikhonov, scriptwriters Violetta Mainietse and Yulia Tikhonova (39 min.; 2010, Russia).
“A merchant for all times. Virtual Museum Sergei Diaghilev" - a documentary film-interview with Edward Radzinsky, Nikolai Tsiskaridze, Alexander Vasiliev directed by Svetlana Astretsova (2017, Russia).
In the television series “Mata Hari” (2017), the role of Diaghilev was played by Andrei Tartakov.

In the theatre

The image of Diaghilev is shown in Maurice Bejart's ballet “Nijinsky - God's Clown” (1972, La Monnaie Theater) and in several performances by John Neumeier dedicated to the fate of the dancer Vaslav Nijinsky.

In the drama theater, the roles of Diaghilev were performed by:

Maxim Mishaev - in the play of the Puppet Theater named after. S. V. Obraztsova “Nijinsky, God’s Crazy Clown” (2008, director Andrei Dennikov).
Edwardas Bejnoras - in the play “Nijinsky. Music of one life", Experimental Theater of Author's Play on the stage of the V. S. Vysotsky Center.
Oleg Vavilov - in the performance of the Theater on Malaya Bronnaya "Nijinsky, God's Crazy Clown."

Bibliography

Sergei Diaghilev and Russian art. In 2 volumes. Comp. I. S. Zilberstein and V. A. Samkov. M., 1982.
book S. M. Volkonsky, My memories. Laurel. Wanderings. Homeland. - Berlin: Bronze Horseman, 1923, M.: “Iskusstvo”, 1992, 2 vols.
book S. M. Volkonsky. Reviews in the newspaper " Last news" - see the complete collection in: Revue des études slaves, Paris, LXIV/4, 1992, pp. 735-772.
Stasov V.V., Exhibitions. - Poor in spirit, El. soch., vol. 3, M., 1952, p. 215-228, 232-243.
Lunacharsky A.V. In the world of music. M., 1958.
Grabar I., My life, M.-L., 1937.
Fokin M. M. Against the flow, L.-M., 1962.
Valentin Serov in memoirs, diaries and correspondence of contemporaries, vol. 1-2, L., 1971.
Grigoriev S. The Diaghilew ballet 1909-1929, Harmondsworth, 1960 (Russian translation: Grigoriev S. L. Diaghilev’s Ballet, 1909-1929, Preface by N. A. Chistyakova - M: APT STD RF, 1993.-384 p. .).
Haskell A. L., Nouvel W. Diaghilheff. His artistic and private life, L., 1935, 1955.
A. Benoit, My memories. In five books. vol. 1 and vol. 2. Ed. second, additional M.: Nauka, 1990.
Serge Lifar (Sergey Lifarenko). Diaghilev, With Diaghilev. M.: Vagrius. 2005, 592 pp., 5000 copies,
Garafola L. "Russian Ballet of Diaghilev". Translation from English. Perm - “Book World”, 2009, 480 pp., encyclopedic format, 500 copies,
Semendyaeva Maria. Vladimir Semenikhin organized an exhibition about Diaghilev’s ballets // Snob. - 2009. - October 30.
Mokrousov A. B. Money and art between East and West. S. P. Diaghilev. Materials for the biography. 1902-1926 // Fashion Theory, 2010, No. 15. P. 167-204.
Chernyshova-Melnik N.D. Diaghilev: Ahead of its time. M., “Young Guard” (ZhZL), 2011.
Scheyen S. Diaghilev. “Russian Seasons” forever / Trans. from the Netherlands N. Voznenko, S. Knyazkova. M.: KoLibri, Azbuka-Atticus, 2012, 608 p.

Categories:

› Sergei Diaghilev

Sergei Diaghilev's "Russian Seasons" in Europe are one of the most famous theatrical events of the early twentieth century. To understand the reasons for the revival of Russian ballet at the beginning of the twentieth century and to understand the value of Sergei Diaghilev’s educational work in the world of art, it is necessary to familiarize yourself with the biography of the great entrepreneur, understand his personal motives, even if it is not customary to talk about them out loud.

A work of art is important not in itself, but only as an expression of the personality of the creator.

Sergei Diaghilev

Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev born into a noble family on March 19 (March 31), 1872 in Selishchi, Novgorod province. His mother died shortly after his birth, and Sergey was raised by his stepmother, an educated, intelligent woman. Due to duty military service father's family Diaghilevs lives either in St. Petersburg or in Perm. After graduating from the Perm gymnasium in 1890, the 18-year-old Sergei Diaghilev goes to St. Petersburg and enters the Faculty of Law, while studying music from N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov. In the house of his aunt Anna Filosofova, he finds himself a friend and peer - cousin Dima Filosofov, who becomes his lover for the next 10 years.

Dmitry Filosofov, work by L. Bakst

Lawyer from Diaghilev it didn’t work out, a few years after graduating from the university, he, together with Filosofov and his school friend A.N. Benoit creates the first art magazine in Russia, “World of Art,” which united around him such prominent artists as Vrubel, Serov, Levitan and others. In parallel with this Sergei Diaghilev and the company organize high-profile exhibitions: in 1897 - an exhibition of German watercolorists, later - an exhibition of Scandinavian artists, an exhibition of Russian and Finnish artists at the Stieglitz Museum (1898) and others.

Since 1899 potential Diaghilev manifests itself in the bureaucratic sphere. Prince Sergei Volkonsky appoints the Director of the Imperial Theaters Sergei Diaghilev official for special assignments and entrusts him with the editing of the “Yearbook of the Imperial Theaters”. Sergei Diaghilev not only turns it into an artistic publication, but also attracts A.M. to the Imperial Theaters. Vasnetsova, A.N. Benoit, L.S. Baksta, A.V. Serova, K.A. Korovin and others. But this cooperation also does not continue due to disagreements Sergei Diaghilev with the authorities during the preparation of the ballet “Sylvia”. In addition, relations with Filosofov also came to naught due to the intervention of the poetess Zinaida Gippius, who tried in every possible way to lure Filosofov to live as one family with her and her husband Dmitry Merezhkovsky. These dramatic events ended with the move Sergei Diaghilev from St. Petersburg and the cessation of the existence of the World of Art magazine in 1904.

B. Kustodiev. Group portrait of members of the World of Art society

And if the breakup of a long-term relationship was a blow to Diaghilev, then it definitely benefited the popularization of Russian art in Europe. Since 1907, exactly that page in the biography of the great impresario has opened, thanks to which Sergei Diaghilev and became famous. Namely, the annual foreign concerts of Russian artists begin - "Russian Seasons". The first season was purely musical, N.A. took part in it. Rimsky-Korsakov, F.I. Shalyapin, A.K. Glazunov, S.V. Rachmaninov and others.

In 1908, Europe within "Russian Seasons" I saw a Russian opera: “Boris Godunov” by M.P. Mussorgsky, “Ruslan and Lyudmila” by M.I. Glinka and others. But these events also became unprofitable, despite the apparent success, which finally convinced Sergei Diaghilev follow the tastes of the public and show Europe ballet, which he openly disdained, as a meaningless and low-intellectual art form.

But it was in organizing the ballet “Seasons” that his extraordinary gift manifested itself Sergei Diaghilev as a discoverer of talent. In 1908, he met the young dancer Vaslav Nijinsky and, inspired by love, became his patron and created greatest ballets especially for him. For foreign tours they were also invited famous artists: A.P. Pavlova, T.P. Karsavina, E.V. Geltser and M.M. Fokin. Through the choreographic efforts of the latter, under the direction Diaghilev The role of the male dancer on stage has changed dramatically. If earlier men played a secondary, auxiliary role as a “crutch” for ballerinas, performing support for them, now the protégé Sergei Diaghilev began to shine, they performed complex elements, creating bold performances based on the confrontation between masculine and feminine. Organized Sergei Diaghilev ballets were seen in Paris, London, Rome and even in the USA. The ballet "Seasons" ended in 1913, coinciding with the breakdown of relations Diaghilev and Nijinsky (again because of a woman).

Vaslav Nijinsky

With the outbreak of the First World War Sergei Diaghilev finally migrates to Europe. He has a new lover - a young dancer Leonid Myasin, and begins new stage work. Diaghilev is engaged in the development of the ballet troupe he created in 1911 “ Diaghilev's Russian Ballet", which existed until the death of the creator in 1929. For 20 years in enterprise Sergei Diaghilev famous artists worked, including Serge Lifar, and the performances were designed by L.S. Bakst, A.N. Benoit, N.K. Roerich, A.Ya. Golovin, M.F. Larionov, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and the music was written by Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Erik Satie, Igor Stravinsky and Sergei Prokofiev.

Leonid Myasin

Died Sergei Diaghilev August 19, 1929 in Venice as a result of complications due to diabetes and furunculosis. He was buried on the island of San Michele.

Funeral Sergei Diaghilev in Venice

Death mask Sergei Diaghilev

grave Sergei Diaghilev on the island of San Michele

Many have heard that Sergei Diaghilev is somehow connected with ballet, but few people know that the Russian ballet he revived was nothing more than an expression of love for men. He admired them, he patronized them. Many contemporaries recall that the backstage atmosphere of Diaghilev’s ballets was openly homosexual. But it is precisely the homosexual side of personality Sergei Diaghilev was the most creative, radically changing the essence and attitude towards ballet, educating and giving the world greatest choreographers, dancers and other artists, turning the position of entrepreneur into an art.

Portrait Sergei Diaghilev brushes by Valentin Serov

Sergei Diaghilev

Window to Russia

He wrote his name in the history of art in golden letters, without being an artist himself, and proved that organizers can also be geniuses. He considered himself a descendant of Peter the Great, who at one time cut a window to Europe from Russia - and made a counter move, no less significant: having arrived in Europe, he cut a window to Russia, creating a real cultural sensation all over the world with Russian painting, music, but more everything - ballet. He was also an open homosexual at a time when this was not yet accepted, and in his love affairs he considered himself Pygmalion, and his Galateas became the most famous dancers and choreographers.

Everyone who knew Diaghilev personally recalled how big his head was - so gigantic that he had to make hats to special order. At the birth of Seryozha, this circumstance turned out to be fatal for his mother, Evgenia Nikolaevna, née Evreinova. The birth was long and painful; On March 19, 1872, in the Selishchensky barracks of the Novgorod province, the baby was finally born, and Evgenia Nikolaevna died a few days later, leaving Seryozha’s twenty-five-year-old father, cavalry officer Pavel Pavlovich Diaghilev, an inconsolable widower.

However, despite these tragic circumstances, Seryozha was by no means deprived of feminine warmth in childhood. From birth, he found himself in the loving hands of nanny Dunya, who at one time nursed his mother. The nanny will play a big role in his life until his death: taking care of him not only in childhood, but also when he became quite an adult and published “The World of Art.” All the editorial staff knew her well. The artist Lev Bakst even placed it in the background of his famous portrait Diaghilev, painted in 1906.

And thanks to another woman, Serezha’s childhood was happy and serene: his father, two years after his wife’s death, was consoled and married again - to Elena Valerianovna Panayeva. Aunt Lelya, as Diaghilev called her, soft, kind and loving, completely replaced his mother. He himself later said about her: “I have never met a better woman on earth.”

Pavel Pavlovich, shortly after the birth of Seryozha, was transferred to St. Petersburg, where he married Elena Valerianovna. Soon they had two more sons, Yuri and Valentin. The family lived well and amicably, music was constantly playing in the house, and there were conversations about art and literature. Pavel Pavlovich, however, was a fan of playing cards - and as a result he incurred huge debts. His father promised to pay them off, but on the condition that the Diaghilev family would move to him in the Urals. Thus, it turned out that Sergei spent from ten to eighteen years in Perm, in a large beautiful mansion, which was called Perm Athens - the most educated people of the city constantly gathered there, organized musical and literary evenings, charity concerts and performances. One of Serezha’s classmates at the Perm gymnasium subsequently shared his memories of him: “He was a large, tall boy beyond his years, with an outstanding head and an expressive face. He was educated and developed beyond his years and inappropriate for his class. He knew about things that we, his peers and classmates, had no idea about: Russian and foreign literature, theater, music.<…>he had a refined, graceful appearance, something lordly in his whole figure.”

For all the education and elegance of the manners of the young Diaghilev, he did not at all belong to the type of quiet and modest dreamer boys: he was active, cheerful, noisy, and often resolved disputes not by talking, but by fighting.

His manners did not change much after he graduated from the Perm gymnasium, moved to St. Petersburg and entered the law faculty of the university. An interesting recollection of Alexandre Benois from that time - Diaghilev’s future colleague in the World of Art and the Russian Ballet - which characterizes not only the young Diaghilev, but also his general manner of communicating with people, which remained with him throughout his life. Benoit recalled how in the summer of their acquaintance, when Diaghilev had just arrived in St. Petersburg, he was having a serious conversation with him outdoors, stretched out on the grass, about art - and then Sergei, without warning, pounced on him and began to beat him up, laughing loudly at the same time. “In my relationship with Seryozha, I often returned to this incident.<…>Over these years, Seryozha, “squeezing” out of me (and from other others) everything that we could give him, with some strange ease he moved from a state of peace to a state of fighting with us, often “put us on both shoulder blades” and accepted “no way to “pustle” about anything - however, resorting to methods of not physical, but moral (and “business”) influence.”

During his student years, Diaghilev had little interest in studies, paying all his attention to music, painting, theater, and literature. He was an active participant in the circle that would later become the core of the World of Art magazine - it included, in addition to the aforementioned Benois, the artists Konstantin Somov and Lev Bakst, the aspiring musician Walter Nouvel, as well as Diaghilev’s cousin Dmitry Filosofov, who became long years not only Sergei's closest friend, but also his lover. Their relationship began with a romantic trip to Europe, when both were eighteen years old. Venice made a particularly strong impression on Diaghilev during this trip - and remained his favorite city for the rest of his life. “I love Venice so much that I would like, like Wagner, to die there,” he wrote to his stepmother in 1902. Twenty-seven years later, his wish came true.

During his first years in St. Petersburg, Diaghilev nurtured serious musical ambitions: he could sing, played the piano beautifully, and tried to compose. However, all these attempts failed, having not met with approval from either professionals or friends, and Diaghilev, already at a fairly young age, realized that his calling was to be a connoisseur of art, a critic, and an organizer. Fortunately, for this he had unique data: the finest artistic flair and breadth of views on art, a powerful practical streak and ebullient energy. Immediately after graduating from university, he began collecting paintings, hatched projects to create a museum, hold exhibitions, and open an art magazine. He managed to implement the last two points, and brilliantly. Having developed vigorous organizational activity, he holds exhibitions one after another (“Scandinavian”, “Exhibition of German and English watercolorists”, “Exhibition of Russian and Finnish artists”), finds patrons for the magazine and, finally, together with Filosofov and other friends from student times, begins publish "World of Art" in 1898.

The influence of the World of Art on the cultural life of Russia at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries was enormous. Many researchers believe that this magazine fundamentally changed the country’s attitude towards culture - it shook it out of hibernation, opened its eyes to modern Art. The magazine was published for five years, and Diaghilev was its editor-in-chief during all this time, determined the general policy of the editorial board, and wrote conceptual articles. The best modern artists, critics, musicians, poets united around the “World of Art”; annual art exhibitions were held under its auspices, causing great resonance in society.

In parallel with his editorial activities, Diaghilev was in public service for two years - an official of special assignments under the director of the Imperial Theaters. One of his main assignments in this service was the publication of the “Yearbook of the Imperial Theaters” - and as a result, the first issue of the updated “Yearbook” created a real sensation. However, Diaghilev had too much personality to be simply an official who suited everyone. Very soon he was removed from the production of Delibes’ ballet “Sylvia”; in response, he refused to manage the “Yearbook”. A scandalous dismissal followed on the third point - without the right to subsequently hold public office. He no longer occupied them, although the emperor personally later, bypassing the law, invited him to serve.

In 1904, for a number of reasons, the “World of Art” was closed - it was due to material difficulties (patrons finally refused to finance the project), and to the moral fatigue of the members of the editorial board, including Diaghilev himself. Not last role The distance from Filosofov’s magazine, which, thanks to the influence of Dmitry Merezhkovsky and Zinaida Gippius, became interested in religious and mystical issues also played a role - they subsequently began to publish “The New Path,” which was more suitable for them in the direction. Gippius generally did a lot to tear Filosofov away from Diaghilev - feeling like an androgynous being, she decided that she had found the ideal androgynous lover in Dmitry, and made every effort to win him. She only partially succeeded in achieving this - Filosofov really moved away from Diaghilev and entered into a triple alliance with her and Merezhkovsky, but Gippius could only offer a spiritual relationship. The final break in the relationship between Filosofov and Diaghilev was the assault scandal in a restaurant in 1905, which Diaghilev threw when he learned that Filosofov was trying to take his young lover away from him.

“The World of Art” was no longer published by that time, and Diaghilev, with his characteristic energy, took on other projects. After the triumphant exhibition of Russian artistic portrait in the Tauride Palace, he decided that it was time to take Russian art abroad. “I want to groom Russian painting, clean it and, most importantly, present it to the West, exalting it in the West...” This goal of Diaghilev was brilliantly realized in 1906, when in Paris, at the Autumn Salon, an exhibition of Russian painting and sculpture was held - starting with ancient icons and ending with the work of “World of Art” artists. In the same year, Diaghilev made a lot of useful connections in France and found sponsors, whose help allowed him to conduct further Russian seasons - he managed this primarily thanks to his boundless charm, which he always knew how to “turn on” at the right moment. Debussy once remarked that he could bring a stone to life with his charm - not to mention wealthy art patrons.

The undoubted success of the exhibition inspired Diaghilev to continue his missionary activities - and already next year he introduced Paris to Russian music, carefully selecting the repertoire of “historical concerts” so as, on the one hand, to present maximum artistic diversity, and on the other, the internal integrity of Russian musical traditions. Both the historical concerts and the opera “Boris Godunov” staged the following year with Chaliapin went off with a bang in Paris - and it was the ballet’s turn.

The beginning of the ballet – the most significant – period in Diaghilev’s life was preceded by his acquaintance with Vaslav Nijinsky, which took place in 1908. It is worth dwelling on this acquaintance in more detail, it was so important for both: Diaghilev was largely thanks to him in organizing the Russian Ballet, which became one of the most significant cultural phenomena XX century, Nijinsky became a world star, a living legend. At the time of their acquaintance, Nijinsky was an eighteen-year-old promising dancer, a graduate of a theater school who had just entered the Mariinsky Theater. Despite the fact that his career had barely begun, fame was already spreading about his unusually high jumps. He was called the bird man. Nijinsky himself, when once asked what the secret of his famous jumps while stopping in the air was, answered: “It’s not difficult at all: you rise and stop in the air for one moment.”

Diaghilev could not help but become interested in the rising star, who was also very attractive in appearance, and begged Prince Lvov, who was paying Nijinsky at that moment, to “give up” the young dancer to him. As a result, the weak-willed Nijinsky came under almost complete control of Diaghilev for five years and became his first “Galatea.” The very next year, 1909, he, like other stars of Russian ballet, became known outside the country: the first Russian ballet season took place in Paris, to prepare for which Diaghilev invited the innovative choreographer Mikhail Fokin and set designers Benois, Bakst, Roerich , Korovina. Paris, for which ballet was an outdated and long-declining genre, was shocked. “The red curtain rises over the holidays that turned France upside down and which captivated the crowd in ecstasy following the chariot of Dionysus,” Jean Cocteau later wrote about Diaghilev’s first ballets. Diaghilev himself was not just a technical organizer, but a kind of ideological center, a conceptual leader on whom the entire project rested. He fully delved into all stages of the production, selected employees, dictatorially established his will, often thus entering into conflicts with composers, choreographers, and performers. Many complained, unsuccessfully tried to argue, left him, but most often returned - his ballet was the best: the most innovative, advanced and brilliant.

Since 1909, the Russian Ballet has firmly established itself in Europe, performing annually with new productions in Monte Carlo (where its permanent residence was established), Paris, London; touring other countries, traveling outside of Europe - including to America. In 1911, a permanent troupe was formed - some of the artists agreed to leave Russian theaters, and some - such stars as Karsavina and Kshesinskaya - agreed to work together without leaving the Mariinsky Theater. This also happened because of Nijinsky - he was fired from the Mariinsky Theater, and for an insignificant reason: while dancing in “Giselle” in a costume made for him by Alexandre Benois, he, at the insistence of Diaghilev, did not put on over the tights that were required for artists in those days ballet panties. After the formation of a permanent troupe, Diaghilev began to involve Nijinsky in choreography. The dancing genius of Vaclav was not enough for him - he wanted to mold his favorite into a real creator. Rehearsals for Nijinsky's ballets were painful because he did not have the gift of clearly expressing his thoughts, but still he managed to stage The Rite of Spring to the music of Stravinsky and Debussy's Afternoon of a Faun. It was precisely because Nijinsky came to the fore as choreographer that Fokine, who managed to stage such masterpieces as “Petrushka” and “Daphnis and Chloe,” left Diaghilev.

In 1913, Diaghilev allowed Nijinsky to go on tour to South America - he himself, after a fortune teller predicted his death on the water, was terrified of water travel. Nijinsky reached South America already an engaged man - during the trip he was quickly taken in by the energetic Hungarian Romola Pulska. Having learned about Nijinsky's wedding, Diaghilev was furious - he broke tables and chairs, rushed around the room in a rage. Taking this act as a betrayal, Diaghilev fired Nijinsky from the Russian Ballet - it seemed that everything was over. Then, however, he cooled down, helped his protégé get out of Austria during the war, where he was interned, to America, and offered to resume cooperation. Most likely, they could work fruitfully together again if not for Romola, who constantly came between them and even began to sue Diaghilev, demanding that he pay Nijinsky 500,000 francs for performances in the Russian Ballet. Soon Nijinsky, always distinguished by mental instability, went crazy. Diaghilev could not come to terms with this and tried several times with the help of an emotional shake to return his Vatsu: he took him to one of the rehearsals in 1924, and in 1929, a few months before his death, to “Petrushka” at the Grand Opera. But the miracle, alas, did not happen.

Nijinsky's place in Diaghilev's heart, as well as on the pedestal where the next Galatea was to stand, did not remain vacant for long - very soon he found himself a new material for modeling: eighteen-year-old Leonide Massine, who at the time of his acquaintance with Diaghilev was dancing in the corps de ballet of the Bolshoi Theater and was about to transfer into drama. Judging by Massine's stormy personal life, which he subsequently led with women - he was married four times - it can be assumed that his preferences were purely heterosexual. However, Diaghilev knew how to make offers that were impossible to refuse, and Massine agreed, moving after Diaghilev to Monte Carlo, where he became the chief choreographer of the Russian Ballet, daring and avant-garde, for six years. One of his most high-profile projects was Parade, staged in 1917 based on a libretto by Cocteau to music by Satie and decorated with sets and costumes by Picasso - this was his first appearance as a theater designer. “Parade” was a series of choreographically designed circus acts; in addition to circus performers, skyscraper people in costumes made of cubic cardboard structures also appeared as characters in the ballet. “Parade” marked the gradual farewell of Diaghilev’s ballet to the modern era and its merging with modern art.

Seven years later, Massine left Diaghilev and the Russian Ballet, starting a relationship with an English dancer, but subsequently staged ballets for Diaghilev several more times in the twenties - he knew how to place professional relationships above personal grievances. The Russian Ballet itself by that time was no longer entirely Russian. The costumes and sets for it were designed mainly by French artists (Picasso, Matisse, Derain, Braque and others), foreigners were recruited into the troupe, although the primas were certainly given Russian pseudonyms. Diaghilev's new favorite Anton Dolin, for example, was actually named Patrick Chippendall Healy-Kay. Russia, where the revolution took place, was separated from Europe by an almost impenetrable wall, although from time to time young talents managed to escape from it. This is how Sergei Lifar and Georgy Balanchivadze, aka George Balanchine, appeared in the Russian Ballet.

Diaghilev's attitude towards Soviet Russia was ambivalent. On the one hand, he condemned the revolution, on the other, he showed interest in what was happening in his homeland, was eager to go there, and cherished dreams of showing his ballets there. Only the news that both of his brothers were arrested in Russia destroyed all his hopes of visiting his homeland. The most striking manifestation of his interest in Soviet Russia was the ballet “Steel Leap” to the music of Prokofiev, the idea of which he explained as follows: “I wanted to depict modern Russia, which lives, breathes, has its own physiognomy. I couldn’t imagine it in the pre-revolutionary spirit! This production is neither Bolshevik nor anti-Bolshevik, it is beyond propaganda.”

The last years of his life were spent with him by Sergei Lifar, a native of Ukraine, from whom Diaghilev also made a creator - not only an outstanding dancer, but also a choreographer. Lifar subsequently wrote a large book, “Diaghilev and with Diaghilev,” in which he recalls in some detail his relationship with the great impresario. From these memoirs one can draw a conclusion about what kind of relationship Diaghilev had with his “Galateas.”

Lifar told how Diaghilev taught him to perceive art, taking him through the streets and museums of Italian cities, how he sent him books on art to read, on which he then had to take an exam, describing in detail his impressions of what he saw and read. He also spoke about the frantic scenes of jealousy that Diaghilev often staged for him - Lifar called his formidable lover and mentor Otellushka.

Shortly before his death, Diaghilev began to gradually move away from ballet, becoming interested in collecting a library, which included such rare books as two copies of Radishchev’s “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow”, which was burned under Catherine II, original books by the pioneer printer Ivan Fedorov and many other rare volumes.

Appeared in his Last year life and another new hobby - the talented sixteen-year-old musician Igor Markevich. However, Diaghilev, despite a noticeable cooling, did not part with Lifar - and it was Lifar who spent the last weeks of his life with him in Venice, in August 1929.

From what Diaghilev died is still unknown exactly. He suffered from furunculosis, radiculitis and diabetes, but doctors could not determine what exactly was the cause of the sudden weakness and fever that brought him to his grave in a short time.

Diaghilev was buried in Venice, on the island of San Michele; on his monument are carved the words that he wrote to Lifar three years before his death: “Venice is the constant inspirer of our peace.” Choreographers and dancers still bring worn-out pointe shoes and various ballet paraphernalia to his grave as a sign of eternal respect and admiration.

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Diaghilev Sergei Pavlovich (1872-1929), theater figure, art critic, promoter of Russian art abroad.

Born in the Novgorod province on March 19 (31), 1872, into a noble family of a major general in the tsarist army. As a child, he took piano and composition lessons and studied singing with the famous Italian baritone A. Cotogni. He graduated from St. Petersburg University (Faculty of Law), and at the same time studied in the composition class of N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. At the university, together with friends Alexander Benois and Lev Bakst, he organized an informal circle where issues of art were discussed.

Great power art lies precisely in the fact that it is end in itself, self-useful and, most importantly, free<...>a work of art is important not in itself, but only as an expression of the personality of the creator.

Diaghilev Sergei Pavlovich

Diaghilev - publisher (1899-1904). In the late 1890s he became one of the creators artistic association“World of Art” and editor (together with A.N. Benois) of the magazine of the same name (1898/99-1904), where he published the latest works of foreign writers and artists, gave reports on exhibitions, new trends in theater and music, and fine arts. And he himself wrote articles and reviews about performances, exhibitions, and books. In parallel with the magazine, he published books on the history of Russian art: Album of lithographs of Russian artists (1900), I. Levitan (1901), the first volume of Russian painting in the 18th century, dedicated to the works of D. Levitsky (1903), awarded the Uvarov Prize by the Academy of Sciences. In 1899-1901 he was the editor of the Yearbook of Imperial Theatres, which transformed it from a government official bulletin into an interesting art magazine.

Diaghilev - organizer of exhibitions (1899-1906). Since 1899 he organized exhibitions of paintings by artists from the World of Art circle in Europe. He organized an exhibition of Russian historical portraits at the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg (1905), and in 1906 he organized an exhibition in Paris dedicated to Russian painting and sculpture over two centuries, including works of icon painting.

Diaghilev - theater figure and entrepreneur (1899-1929). In 1899 he directed a production of L. Delibes' ballet Sylvia on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater, which ended in failure. Trying to update the ballet's scenography, he was fired in 1901 for undermining academic traditions.

Since 1907, he organized annual performances of Russian musicians, the so-called. “Russian Seasons Abroad”: the first was the season of “Historical Russian Concerts”, in which N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, S.V. Rachmaninov, A.K. Glazunov, F.I. Shalyapin performed together with artists and the Bolshoi choir theater, conducted by Arthur Nikisch, an unsurpassed interpreter of Tchaikovsky. Chaliapin's world fame began with these concerts. The unprecedented success prompted Diaghilev to prepare another season - Russian opera. He created a committee chaired by A.S. Taneev, and in 1908 presented masterpieces of Russian music in Paris: the opera Boris Godunov with the participation of F.I. Chaliapin in the scenery of A.Ya. Golovin, scenes from the operas: Ruslan and Lyudmila by M.I. Glinka , The Night Before Christmas, The Snow Maiden, Sadko and Tsar Saltan by N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov.

In St. Petersburg, he began preparing for the third ballet season. The preparation committee included choreographer M.M. Fokin, artists A.N. Benois, L.S. Bakst, V.A. Serov, ballet critic V.Ya. Svetlov, official of the Imperial Court V.F. Nouvel, a great connoisseur ballet state councilor, general N.M. Bezobrazov. The committee worked under the patronage of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, President Russian Academy Arts A repertoire of ballets by M. M. Fokin was approved (Scheherazade by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, Cleopatra by A. S. Arensky, Armida Pavilion by N. N. Cherepnin, scenes of Polovtsian dances from A. P. Borodin’s opera Prince Igor). With the help of M.F. Kshesinskaya, he received a subsidy. A troupe is being created from young people who were interested in the choreography of M.M. Fokine (A.P. Pavlova, T.P. Karsavina), A.R. Bolm, A.M. Monakhov, V.F. Nizhinsky, V.A. Coralli, E.V. Geltser, M.M. Mordkin). But a quarrel with the powerful Kshesinskaya and the death of Vladimir Alexandrovich complicated preparations. It was necessary to have great organizational skills in order to revive the season; he found new patrons, French patrons of the arts Misia Sert, Countess de Gruffille and others. The Opera and Ballet Season of 1909 nevertheless took place and lasted two months.

The Russian ballet charmed everyone with the originality of its choreography, high level performing skills, corps de ballet dance, brilliant scenery painting, spectacular costumes. Each performance was a single artistic whole of amazing beauty and perfection.

World of Art. Sergei Diaghilev

Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev is a Russian theater and artistic figure, writer, philanthropist, and the first ballet impresario of the 20th century.

Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev was born (19) March 31, 1872 in the Novgorod province, into a noble family of a career military man. In 1896 he graduated from the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University, while simultaneously studying at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with Rimsky-Korsakov. He was interested in painting, theater, and the history of artistic styles.

In 1898, Diaghilev, together with the artist A. Benois, created the association “World of Art” and became co-editor of the magazine of the same name, where he published the latest works of writers and artists, and he himself wrote articles and reviews about performances, exhibitions, and books. And soon he became the organizer of exhibitions of paintings by Russian artists abroad.

But the main work of Diaghilev’s life was the “Russian Seasons” of 1909-1929, where he assembled a creative team of the greatest artists of the early 20th century and made a huge contribution to the propaganda of Russian opera and ballet art abroad.

In the first season - “Historical Russian Concerts” - N. Rimsky-Korsakov, S. Rachmaninov, A. Glazunov, F. Chaliapin performed. Then there was the Russian Ballet in Paris, which charmed everyone with its high level of performance and choreography, brilliant scenery and spectacular costumes.
In 1910, Sergei Diaghilev noted: “The revolution that we have made in ballet concerns, perhaps, least of all the specialized area of dancing, but most of all with scenery and costumes.” In fact, the Russian Seasons demonstrated a previously unprecedented synthesis of the three arts, where painting became the dominant one, and dance was considered as “a living manifestation of theatrical scenery.”

Diaghilev's performances radically changed the world of dance. It seems incredible that for two decades he managed to bring together such famous figures as I. Stravinsky, C. Debussy, M. Ravel, L. Bakst, P. Picasso, A. Benois, A. Matisse,
N. Goncharova, M. Fokin, L. Massine, A. Benois, V. Nijinsky, M. Kshesinskaya, Ida Rubinstein, K. Chanel, M. Larionov, J. Cocteau, A. Pavlova, F. Chaliapin, S. Lifar , J. Balanchine, V. Serov. T. Karsavina, N. Roerich...How incredibly difficult it was to organize a joint creative work artists belonging to such different fields of art.
The Russian Ballet toured Europe, the USA and South America, achieving increasing success.
Diaghilev knew how not only to recognize talent and assemble a magnificent troupe with an international cast, but also to train a choreographer. Thanks to the freshness of the choreographer's ideas, Diaghilev's ballet was in the center of attention of the ballet world.

Despite the enormous success of the Russian Ballet, Diaghilev experienced financial difficulties and resorted to the help of patrons. The ability to combine art with entrepreneurship was Diaghilev’s creative genius, his gift as an impresario. And flexibility in financial policy has become the key successful work troupes for many years.

The performances of the Diaghilev Russian Ballet, which existed until 1929, were a triumph of Russian ballet art and contributed to the development and revival ballet theaters in other countries. Over the years, the troupe has staged more than 20 ballets (domestic and foreign composers), which are still the decoration of the largest ballet stages in the world.

Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev died on August 19, 1929. The great impresario was buried next to Stravinsky’s grave in Venice on the island of Saint-Michel.

Valentin Gross. Tamara Karsavina and Vaclav Nezhinsky in the ballet "The Vision of a Rose"

Sergei Petrovich Diaghilev (1872-1929) is a very special Russian European, a European to all Europeans. He did for Russia’s entry into Europe, into the world cultural space, if not more, then as much as Peter the Great. With the understandable difference, of course, that the transformer put Russia among the top European powers as a political force, and Diaghilev made domestic cultural power a global property.

Recently, in 2005, the full text of a book about Diaghilev by Sergei Lifar, the last premier and choreographer (“choreographer,” as he says) of Diaghilev’s ballet, pet and cultural heir of the great master of culture, was finally published in Russia. Sergey (“Serge”) Lifar - for thirty years chief choreographer Paris Grand Opera and before Nureyev the most important figure of ballet in the West. His book is the first thing you need to read about Diaghilev. Everyone knows who Diaghilev is and for a long time, even in the Soviet Union they did not try to disavow this emigrant involuntarily - but that knowledge was, in general, dryly informative; From the pages of Lifar's book a living Diaghilev emerges. At the same time, the author, Sergei Mikhailovich Lifar, is a highly cultured person who knows what he writes about first hand.

Leo Bakst "Portrait of Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev with a nanny" 1906

The main truth about Diaghilev:

Sergei Petrovich loved to say that “Petrine” blood flowed in his veins, he loved to do everything “Petrine’s way” and loved it when they said that he looked like Peter the Great. What they had in common was both in scope and in ardent love for Russia. But Peter the Great carried out his state reforms in Russia, transplanting Western European culture onto Russian soil; Diaghilev wanted to make reforms in world art, transporting Russian art to Western Europe.

Diaghilev began as a propagandist of a new art - the art of modernism, he introduced modernism to Russia as a new word in the world artistic practice. The magazine “World of Art”, organized by him, published in 1898-1904, was dedicated to this matter. Of course, he was not the first: there was the magazine “Northern Herald”, in which Akim Volynsky conducted similar artistic propaganda and in which Chekhov began to publish his already mature works, there was Moscow symbolism led by Valery Bryusov and the magazine “Scales” created by him. . But Diaghilev, starting to do something, did it on an epic scale - and brought it to the end. He was an organizer by nature, and a brilliant organizer at that; what is now, from the practice of cinema, called a producer. Diaghilev is a producer on a global scale with a scope and scope of cultural themes that has never been seen before, or even since. If not in literature, then in painting and music, Diaghilev is the organizer and leader of Russian artistic modernism. He created an era.

And responding to those who claimed that Diaghilev and other “World of Art” artists are eradicating classical tradition for the sake of passing fashion, Diaghilev wrote:

Anyone who reproaches us for being blindly fascinated by novelty and not recognizing history has not the slightest idea about us. I say and repeat that we were brought up on Giotto, Shakespeare and Bach, that these are the very first and greatest gods of our mythology.

The task of Diaghilev’s life was to introduce Russia and Russian national art into the world classical pantheon:

The only possible nationalism is an unconscious nationalism of blood. And this treasure is rare and valuable. The nature itself must be folk, must involuntarily, perhaps against the will, forever reflect the brilliance of indigenous nationality. You have to bear the nationality within yourself, to be, so to speak, its ancestral descendant, with the ancient, pure blood of the nation. Then it has a price, and an immeasurable price.

The phrase “Russian nationalism”, and even next to “blood”, is so discredited today that it does not hurt to give these words of Diaghilev a further explication - from the same text. He writes about Levitan, who “managed to teach us what we did not know how to appreciate and did not see Russian nature with Russian eyes... We only have to get out of the suffocating fumes of dusty cities for a minute and come at least a little closer to nature in order to remember with gratitude the great lessons of the artist Russian land."

Diaghilev’s second grandiose deed in chronological order is his collection of Russian treasures. historical painting, especially the 18th century. In general, one might say, he opened this period in Russian painting; he himself wrote a book about Levitsky. And this task was no longer narrowly artistic, but broadly cultural and historical: to collect images of Russia as they are recorded in works of art - and not only Russian. It was something equal to the work of Karamzin with his History of the Russian State, about which Pushkin said: Karamzin is Columbus, who discovered Russia. So Diaghilev restored and collected her living plastic image in the most glorious period of her existence - from the eighteenth century onwards. These priceless treasures became covered with dust and disappeared into countless decaying noble estates. He managed to convince the owners to cede these treasures to the state, the nation - in order to at least preserve them during the turbulent time of agrarian unrest in 1905. And he succeeded - in February 1906 this grandiose exhibition opened, at which 6,000 paintings were presented in the huge halls of the Tauride - Potemkin - Palace. We can say that this was the last parade of great Russia before its disappearance in the storms of a new era. Fate decreed ironically: it was in the Tauride Palace that the First State Duma, the then brainchild of revolutionary days, was located. Diaghilev's paintings returned to their original places - and, for the most part, perished: both in the ongoing peasant riots of the first revolution, and finally - in the second revolution. What is now in museums is a small part compared to what Diaghilev collected then.

It was difficult not only to collect, but also to preserve Russian culture in Russia itself. And Diaghilev travels to Europe - first, again with art exhibitions, and then with the organization of the now legendary Russian Seasons in Paris. Here it is - what is it - Russia! — the greatest triumphs awaited. Diaghilev opened Russian music to Europe: Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin and, especially, Mussorgsky became the generative seed of new European music. Diaghilev showed Europe Chaliapin in Boris Godunov - and, finally, he showed her the Russian Ballet with the newly discovered geniuses: Nijinsky and the composer Stravinsky; Anna Pavlova rocketed to world fame also after these performances with Diaghilev.

The rest is history. Ballet troupe Diaghilev found herself cut off from Russia with the outbreak of the First World War. Subsequent Russian events were by no means favorable to the return. But Diaghilev followed with great interest the first steps of the new art already in Soviet Russia, when artistic freedom had not yet been suppressed by the ideological dogma of the regime. A monument to these sentiments is the ballet “Steel Jump” to the music of Prokofiev and the plot of Leskov’s “The Flea”. The Moscow artist Yakulov and Ilya Erenburg, who worked with others on the libretto, took part in this production. This project was not particularly successful, but Diaghilev, in a broader turn, nevertheless outlined new paths for ballet - towards its approach to the constructive style of the era. As Lifar writes, plastic began to prevail over dance.

What can I say, Diaghilev really returned ballet to the West, which had almost disappeared there. But he left Russia even more - the memory of himself as a person capable of not only learning from Europe, but also teaching it. In this sense, Diaghilev is as unique a Russian as Leo Tolstoy and Dostoevsky.

Boris Paramonov