DIAGILEV AND THE BALLET RUSSE AT THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM

TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY: DIAGHILEV AND THE BALLET RUSSE AT THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM

Diaghilev's creation of the Ballet Russe, an amalgamation of talents from diverse backgrounds, was a response to the drying up of creative opportunities in Russia in the aftermath of the Russo-Japanese War (1905) and the subsequent revolution of that year. Diaghilev began to move westward in order to exploit those opportunites to be found in Paris and other Western European capitals. The Ballet Russe was eventually to tour Western Europe and North America, but seems to have been especially popular in countries like Spain (where the show visited every large city) that lagged behind the rest of Western Europe and North America economically, but not artistically. Likewise the composer Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) also moved to Paris, where he came under the influence and the spell of the music of Claude Debussy (1862-1918). Stravinsky synthesised the music of his mentor, Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908), with the new musical impressionism of Debussy, the leading European composer of the time. 

This was all done in opposition to German Romanticism, particularly the music of Richard Wagner, his musical technique of lietmotifs or leading motives which signal a particular character or situation. Debussy was influenced by eastern, non-European music making, particularly the Javanese gamalan which began to be heard in Europe in the late 19th century. Unlike the brash, bumptious music of Wagner, Debussy's music was subtle, gentle, ambient, hallucinatic. Debussy’s championing of harmony can be contrasted with Stravinsky’s emphasis of rhythm over harmony, as evidenced in his ballet score La Sacre du Printemps (The Rites of Spring).

 Diaghilev (1979-1929) came from a wealthy Russian family who lived in a region between St Petersburg and Moscow. They owned a vodka monopoly, granted to them by the Tsar, but experienced financial difficulties, as many others did, at the end of the 19th century, a situation outlined in Chekhov's play The Cherry Orchard. Diaghilev was both a saint and a monster, according to contemporaries like Eric Satie, Jean Cocteau and Sergei Prokofiev. Diaghilev was often 'terrific but awful' (Satie). Lover of Vaslav Nijinsky (1890-1950), chief dancer and choreographer of the Ballets Russe, Diaghilev had few possessions, since he lived mainly in expensive hotels while on his many tours with the company. He sought to amalgamate a unique group of composers, set and costume designers, dancers, choreographers for his productions. The company included artists such as Stravinsky, Picasso, Debussy, Nijinsky’s sister, Bronislava Nijinsky (who also, as this exhibition depicts, made major contributions to the work of the company), Georges Ballanchine. 

The history of the Ballets Russe was tinged throughout with triumph and tragedy, as innovative works such as Stravinsky's La Sacre du Printemps and Debussy's Prelude a l'apre midi d'un Faun caused confusion and revolution. However Nijinsky was later diagnosed with schizophrenia which ended his career prematurely. Diaghilev himself was often poverty stricken in later years. Diaghilev produced Stravinsky's great opera L’Oiseau d’feu (The Fire Bird) but the premiere of La Sacre du Printemps was the real succes de scandale. The premiere in Paris was on the 29th of May 1913. The audience rioted when confronted with a piece of music that combined primeval myth, Modernism, polyphony and dissonance. Yet Diaghilev anticipated this response, indeed he had made exact preparations for such a happening. The ballet only played nine times, but today it is at the very heart of the repertoire of modern music. 

The political backdrop to these developments was the immense upheaval of WW1, the Russian Revolution, yet in most ways Diaghilev remained completely untouched by all the turmoil. After WW1 Diaghilev abandoned Russia, even though the early phase of the Revolution was a period of great artistic ferment. He incorporated yet more of the prevailing Modernist and avante-garde aesthetic into his works, but remained in many ways conservative and intransigent in his views. Matisse replaced Picasso as the company’s in house set designer: avante-garde French composers such as Francois Poulenc, Darius Milhaud and Arthur Honegger were adopted. 

Debussy's death at the end of the Great War was an immense blow to the company, yet Diaghilev set out to create yet more intriguing, innovative ballets. Modernist authors such as TS Eliot, James Joyce, Marcel Proust and Maurice Maeterlinck were on the fringes of the company, influencing it and being influenced in turn. Typically Matisse eventually refused to work with Diaghilev again, finding him to be both unbearable and selfish. The company had changed, yet it also bore the hallmark of Diaghilev’s efforts, immense continuity amongst absolute destruction that affected all artists of the era convincing them that modernity and progress were not necessarily linked. 

The Victoria & Albert Museum is offering us an overview of all the turmoil and greatness that Diaghilev unleashed upon the world, which includes an assessment of his legacy. Diaghilev brought together the vestiges of the modern world we inhabit, through the trauma of the Great War whose legacy was in turn to lead to the violence and catastrophe of WW2. Diaghilev's legacy is enduring, since the music of the composers he commissioned to write for the Ballets Russe now comprises much of the modern orchestra’s musical repertoire. He influences our culture through the artistic vision the company encapsulated, a contrast to Wagnerian opera its nearest and possibly only rival. This exhibition synthesises a great deal of audio and visual information, including many wonderful costumes, paintings by major artists such as Edgar Degas among many others of the company in action, accompanying videos by musical and choreographic experts, set and costume designs. It’s a fantastic introduction to the work of Diaghilev but also a portrait of a lost era, the belle epoque. We can only wonder at the scale of ambition of producers like Diaghilev and the company's other geniuses and ask ourselves: will there ever be anything like this again? 

Paul Murphy, London