Diaghilev, Sergei

Born Mar. 19 (31), 1872, in Novgorod Province; died Aug. 19, 1929, in Venice. Russian man of the theater.

Diaghilev graduated from the department of law of the University of St. Petersburg in 1896. (At the same time, he attended the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he studied under N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov.) In the late 1890’s he helped found the association The World of Art (Mir iskusstva) and, together with A. N. Benois, was editor of the journal of the same name (1898/99-1904). He was the organizer of art exhibitions (for example, “Art Exhibition of Historic Russian Portraits,” St. Petersburg, 1905, and the exhibition of Russian art in the Autumnal Salon, Paris, 1906), which helped propagandize Russian fine arts. In art criticism written in the late 1890’s, he opposed academic routine and affirmed the aesthetic principle of art-for-art’s-sake, strongly denying art the right to tendentiousness and advocating the idea of art’s independence from reality.

An energetic entrepreneur, Diaghilev began organizing in 1907 annual performances of Russian artists known as the Russian Seasons Abroad. These included, in 1907, symphonic concerts bearing the title “Historic Russian Concerts,” in which N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, S. V. Rachmaninoff, A. K. Glazunov, and F. I. Chaliapin, among others, performed; in 1908, seasons of Russian opera; and in 1909, the first combined opera and ballet performances (the ballet seasons continued until 1913). For his ballet tours he invited M. Fokine, A. Pavlova, V. Nijinsky, T. P. Karsavina, E. V. Gel’tser, and other famous dancers. With this troupe he toured London, Rome, and American cities. Its performances represented a triumph for Russian ballet art and promoted the development (in some cases, revival) of ballet theaters in countries that previously had no ballet of their own or had lost the tradition (USA, Latin America). The innovative decor of the ballet and opera productions (the work of such artists as A. N. Benois, L. Bakst, A. Ia. Golovin, N. K. Roerich, and N. S. Goncharova) ranks among the most outstanding examples of international stage design. This type of decor greatly influenced stage design in the first quarter of the 20th century. In 1911, Diaghilev organized the ballet company known as the Diaghilev Ballets Russes, which began performing in 1913 (it existed until 1929). Gradually the company became less important artistically. It fell increasingly under the sway of modernism and lost the continuity with the tradition of Russian ballet.