SERGEI DIAGHILEV: BIOGRAPHY, PERSONAL LIFE, CHARACTER - BIOGRAPHIES - 2024

Sergei Diagilev (1872-1929) was a Russian businessman and artistic director, whose main contribution to the art world was the creation of the Russian Ballets, a company with which he revolutionized the world of classical dance. For this he was based on an idea by Michel Fokine: to combine dance, music, art and drama in a single show.

Diagilev grew up in an environment in which art was very present. During his university studies, in Saint Petersburg, he was part of a group of intellectuals and artists. One of his activities, organizing exhibitions of Russian painting, took him to Paris in 1906.

Sergey Diaghilev - Source: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress)

In the French capital, in addition to other cultural activities, Diáguilev presented the opera Borís Godunov. His original staging earned him an invitation to return with new shows. To do this, he founded the Russian Ballets, which soon became the most successful dance company in the world.

Despite his daring proposals and his undisguised homosexual status, Diagilev's artistic proposals were widely accepted. However, that success was not accompanied by economic success. Sick and having to be helped financially by his friends, the businessman spent his last days in Venice. There he died in August 1929.

Biography

Childhood

Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev came to the world in Sélischi, in the Novgorod governorship, on March 19, 1872. His family was well placed politically and economically, since the father was a military man and the mother belonged to the nobility.

The delivery was very complicated. Little Sergei was about to die and only survived thanks to the help of his aunt and the regiment's doctor. However, his mother died only a few days later from the aftermath of the birth.

For this reason, Diaghilev spent his childhood in the care of his stepmother, Helena Valerianovna Panayeva. This turned his house into a meeting point for the artists of the moment and encouraged Sergei to take an interest in the art world. Thus, the boy studied piano and soon showed qualities for musical composition. Likewise, he also made some foray into painting.

When he was 18 years old, an event changed his life: his family was ruined and he lost his possessions. The situation was so dire that they even had to get rid of musical instruments.

Admission to university

Despite financial problems, Diagilev managed to get into the university. For this he moved in 1890 to Saint Petersburg, then the capital of Russia. During those years, he combined a law degree with musical learning at a conservatory.

While studying, Diaghilev came into contact with a group of friends with whom he shared an interest in music, painting and the social sciences. Among them were Léon Bakst and Alexandre Benois, two painters who would later accompany him in the creation of the Ballets Russes.

His first trip abroad was made in 1893. During it he visited Germany, France and Italy and had the opportunity to meet creators such as Émile Zola, Giuseppe Verdi and Charles Gounod.

Moscow

Diaghilev graduated in law in 1896, although by then he had already decided that his future would be linked to the world of music. However, the first reviews were not good: after his first performance in public, the composer Rimsky-Korsakov recommended that he abandon his idea of ​​becoming a composer.

Despite this, Diagilev did not abandon his calling. In Moscow, he met the representative of Chaliapin, a famous opera singer, and presented him with his stage ideas to transform traditional performances.

His strong vocation had to face another problem. All his artistic initiatives, whether in the field of opera or in the literary, encountered financing difficulties. To his meager income had to be added his undisguised homosexual condition, something that in Russia at the time made it difficult for him to find sponsors.

Mir Iskusstva

His first international project took place in 1899. That year he founded the magazine Mir Iskusstva (The World of Art), in which he reserved the post of editor-in-chief. This publication was associated with another with similar characteristics that was published in London and remained active until 1904.

The World of Art brought together a relevant group of writers, musicians, painters and critics. In addition to the publication itself, the participants in the project promoted numerous events related to the art world, especially pictorial exhibitions.

Some authors point out that part of the characteristics of the Ballets Russes were born from this group of intellectuals. Among its members were former friends of Diaguilev, such as Leon Bakst or Benois. In general, these artists were very critical of Russian realism, represented by Tolstoy.

For them, the effort to reflect real life had been the cause of the decline of the country's art. In his opinion, art should be independent of "utility" and born from within the artist.

Annals of Theater

Surrounded and influenced by these intellectuals and helped by one of his cousins, Diagilev was acquiring more and more knowledge. In addition, he had the opportunity to travel a lot and gather influences from the rest of Europe.

In 1899 a great opportunity came. That year Prince Wolkonsky assumed the direction of the imperial theaters. Unlike the previous director, the prince was favorable to the ideas of Diaghilev's group and, in 1900, offered him the direction of the Annals of Theater.

His job should be to collect all the artistic works that were produced each year in Russia, something that Diagilev did perfectly, although economically it caused him more expenses than profits. Despite the recognition of his work, his homosexuality cost him to be fired.

On the other hand, the magazine Mir Iskusstva, headed by Diagilev, carried out an important task of cultural dissemination in Russia. One of its most important activities was the organization of pictorial exhibitions of Russian authors, including one of historical portraits that was held in Saint Petersburg.

Trip to paris

In 1905, Diaguilev started a new project supported by "The World of Art." This consisted of traveling around the country to recover works of art, especially paintings, that were little known. The subsequent exhibition was an absolute success and earned him an invitation to bring the collection to Paris.

That trip, which took place in 1906, became the turning point of Diaghilev's entire life, although, at first, it was limited to promoting an artistic alliance between France and his country.

The original project, the painting exhibition, was very well received. The venue was the Autumn Salon in the French capital, where works by Valentin Serov, Alexander Benois or Iliá Repin, among others, were shown.

Encouraged by this reception, the following year he created the Russian Seasons, a festival in which Russian artists exhibited or performed in Paris.

The Russian Seasons were also very well received. Parisians were able to get to know Russian art, practically unknown until then. Thus, they held exhibitions of icons, portraits and represented classical music by authors such as Rachmaninov, Rimsky-Kórsakov or Fyodor Shapialin. In addition, Diaghilev also brought the work of contemporary artists to Paris.

The most immediate antecedent of the Russian Ballets took place during these festivals. In 1908, the opera Boris Godunov was performed, with Chaliapin as the protagonist. The public in Paris fell in love at this time with the art produced in Russia.

It was the success of Boris Godunov that ended up consecrating Diaghilev. The businessman was invited to return the following season to present his new work.

Russian Ballets

Diagilev's bet for the following season in Paris was revolutionary. Following the ideas of Michel Fokine and Isadora Duncan, the businessman tried to combine various types of scenic art in performances.

The presentation of his new company, which he baptized as Russian Ballets, was in 1909, at the Chatelet Theater in Paris. The cast included Anna Pavlova, Vaslav Nijinsky, and Michel Fokine himself.

As soon as the performance began, the audience realized that it was a new way of understanding ballet, a break from the traditional style. Diagilev had created a type of performing art that could be used to represent any genre, from philosophical drama to satire.

In addition, he had renowned painters for the staging, such as his friends Bakst and Benois. He also had the collaboration of important choreographers, such as Fokine or Balanchine, and composers of the stature of Stravinsky. Some critics called the new style syncretic ballet.

The Ballets Russes had León Bakst as their artistic director. In collaboration with Diaghilev himself, they reformed the ballet and provided it with striking visuals. One of its purposes is that this art will no longer be intended only for the aristocracy and that it will also be attractive to the general public.

Public reaction

Accustomed to the academicism of ballet, Diagilev's creations caused a scandal in the Parisian public. Regardless of the representation, the dancers appeared in very low-cut costumes and, in addition, some were homosexual and did not hide it. The decoration itself was, by the canons of the time, disconcerting.

Nevertheless, the Russian Ballets achieved great success, especially with the performance of three works composed by Stravinsky: The Firebird, in 1910; Petrushka, in 1911; and The Rite of Spring, in 1913.

Not all reactions were positive. For example, when the company adapted Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, it received angry criticism from the composer's widow. Her complaints concerned the dancers' costumes, as Diagilev had decided that they should put aside the typical tutus to wear pants that had been designed by Baks.

Constant innovation

Despite these criticisms, Diaghilev stopped him from innovating in every role. For the staging he counted on painters such as Picasso, author of the set design and costume design for the Rite of Spring and Pulcinella, the latter premiered in 1920. He was not the only famous painter to participate: so did Matisse and Derain.

The Sleeping Beauty of the Forest (Tchaikovsky), released in London in 1921, posed serious financial problems for Diaghilev. Critics and the public had a positive response, but economically it was deficient. From that moment on, the Ballets Russes lost some of the acceptance they had achieved in their early years.

The Russian Ballets and Russia

Interestingly, the Russian Ballets were never able to perform in Russia itself. Diaghilev, who kept his residence outside his country until his death, tried on some occasions to organize performances in Saint Petersburg, but for various reasons they were never held.

Although many Russian intellectuals and artists came to see his ballets in the rest of Europe, the influence of the Russian Ballets was never too great in the artistic environment of their country of origin.

Death

Although he was always active, Diaghilev had suffered from diabetes for a long time. His health deteriorated notably in 1929, just at the end of the theatrical season at London's Covent Garden.

To try to recover, the businessman left for Venice to rest. There he fell into a coma and died on August 19, 1929. His body was buried on the island of San Michele, the historic cemetery of the city of canals.

Personal life and character

Diagilev's personality

His biographers claim that Sergei Diaghilev never managed to have a happy life. Despite his success and the influence he gained in the world of ballet, the businessman always felt lonely and dissatisfied.

In addition, his financial and emotional problems caused his unhappiness. To this was added his perfectionist personality, which made him never satisfied with what he had achieved.

Personal life

At a time when homosexuality was frowned upon and could even lead to prison in some countries, Diaghilev never hid his condition. The public, aware of this, gave the Ballets Russes an almost erotic character, something that contributed to its success.

This does not mean that everyone accepted the entrepreneur's sexual orientation. It was in his country, in Russia, where he encountered the most problems, especially among conservative circles in Moscow. They came to pressure the Tsar to stop financing the Ballets Russes.

His best known relationship was with Nijinsky, one of the most famous dancers in history and part of the Ballets Russes. When he ended up marrying a woman, Diagilev reacted by kicking him out of the company.

References

1. Ministry of Culture and Sports. Sergei Diaghilev. Obtained from dance.es
2. López, Alberto. Sergei Diaghilev, the visionary who revolutionized ballet. Obtained from elpais.com
3. From Pedro Pascual, Carolina. The era of Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev. Obtained from danzaballet.com
4. Lockspeiser, Edward. Serge Diaghilev. Retrieved from britannica.com
5. Minn, Michael. Sergei Diaghilev (1872-1929). Retrieved from michaelminn.net
6. Encyclopedia of Visual Artists. Sergei Diaghilev. Retrieved from visual-arts-cork.com
7. New World Encyclopedia. Sergei Diaghilev. Retrieved from newworldencyclopedia.org
8. Scheijen, Sjeng. Sergei Diaghilev: ballet, beauty and the beast. Retrieved from telegraph.co.uk