Diaghilev's Ballets Russes

(Sets for Petrouchka by Alexandre Benois, photo sent by Desmond Coutinho)

References

(Thanks to Tom Parsons, who provided many of these references in his great FAQ!)

Chronology

Here's the list of the ballets danced by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in their seasons in Paris.

Who was Diaghilev?

 Text from Tom Parsons' Ballet FAQ

Serge Diaghilev (1872-1929) was an impresario, the manager of the Ballets Russes that created a sensation in Western Europe in the early years of the 20th century. Born in Perm and active as a young man in artistic circles, Diaghilev formed the Ballets Russes in 1909 and ran it until his death in 1929. The dancers and choreographers associated with the Ballets Russes included George Balanchine, Alexandra Danilova, Michel Fokine, Tamara Karsavina, Serge Lifar, Alicia Markova, Leonide Massine, Vaslav Nijinsky, and Tamara Toumanova, among many others. His designers included Bakst, Braque, Picasso, Tchelitchev, and Utrillo. His composers included Debussy, Milhaud, Poulenc, Prokofiev, Ravel, Satie, and, most notably, Igor Stravinsky , whom Diaghilev spotted when he was virtually unknown and whose career he launched.

The impact of Ballets Russes on the West stemmed from a number of causes. First, there was the greater vitality of Russian ballet, as com pared with what was current in France. Second, Fokine was an innovative choreographer, who would have been as influential in Russia if he could have prevailed against the entrenched administration of the Russian companies. Third, Diaghilev was a superb spotter of talent, a master showman, and a man who knew his audiences. Fourth, there was the simple fact that Russian ballet, and the performances mounted by Diaghilev, were different and hence exotic. For whatever reason, Diaghilev rejuvenated ballet in the West. If we could go back and view his productions now, they might well strike us as quaint, and we might even wonder what all the fuss was about. But, with the possible exception of the first modern dancers, his company was the most influential in this century, and that influence, in one form or another, has lasted to this day.

A list of the ballets premiered by Diaghilev reads like a roster of the most important works of the century. They include, among many others, Les Sylphides (1909), The Firebird (1910), Le Spectre de la Rose (1911), Petroushka (1911), Afternoon of a Faun (1912), The Rite of Spring (1913), The Song of the Nightingale (1920), Apollo (1928), and Prodigal Son (1929). The mortality of ballets is notorious, but a striking number of these are still performed.

After Diaghilev's death the company's properties were claimed by creditors (he himself died in poverty), and the dancers were, more or less, scattered. But the name was a property, too, and in the subsequent years the company had two reincarnations, one as the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, the other as the Original Ballet Russe.