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    "title": "BALLET",
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    "verified_text": "at the beginning of the 20th century the ballet, as seen in paris or milan, the centres of the two clas- sical schools, still lived on in the crystallised form that had been perfected 60 years earlier in the days of taglioni; while its music, scenery and costume still followed traditional ways and were regarded as accessories of minor importance. the supremacy of the old order remained unchallenged till 1906, when a new convention for stage dancing, initiated in america and perfected by an american, isadora duncan, appeared in europe. in this new form the maillot, the padded shoes and the ballet skirts gave way to bare feet, classic tunic and flowing drapery. there was no dancing sur les pointes, but stately movement from one deliberate ‘‘ greek ”’ pose to another, to the accompaniment of music always carefully chosen from the works of chopin, gluck or some equally famous master. it had the air of being easy and natural, but was really the outcome of much thought and long training. miss duncan’s figure was lithe and supple, her sense of rhythm was good, and she had acquired the certainty of balance that marks the first-rate dancer. neither her dancing nor her theories were taken seriously till she arrived in st. peters- burg in 1907, where the two conventions met, the “ classical ”’ and the “ classic,” each at the highest point of its development. reacting one upon the other, a new form emerged, the fokine ballet, which combined the virtues of the two schools and quickly superseded both. the balict in russta.—the russian imperial ballet was an institution that dated from the days of the empress elizabeth (1741-61). it had always enjoyed a full measure of imperial favour, and had been kept in a state of high efficiency. from 1863 to the early years of this century its destinies had been ruled by marius petipa (born in marseilles, 1819, died 1910), who had moulded it on the strictest lines of the franco-italian tradition. it was an age when long ballets were in favour, planned in five or six acts with prologue and epilogue, and lasting between three and four hours. within the limits of its code the technical standard of the corps de ballet, which included almost as many men as women, was exceptionally high, and the virtu- osity of its leading dancers was carried to the limits of human endurance. apart from certain ballets by tschaikovsky, the musical repertory was uninspired, and the mounting was as gaily irrelevant as anything the west could show. after the resignation of petipa and with the appointment of michel fokine as his successor several important changes began to appear. fokine was strongly influenced by the theories of ballet isadora duncan, and it was in accordance with her teaching that the best composers and painters were brought in to write and decorate the new ballets, and that the ballets themselves were cut down to one act of such a length that three or four could be played in one evening. though the old technique was by no means abandoned, it was modified by the addition of many of the duncanesque movements; and the bare feet and greek tunic began to alternate with the traditional uniform. within a year of his appointment fokine managed to sweep away the accumulated traditions of two centuries, and the ballet was at last free to express itself in any form that the dramatic subject demanded. the russian ballet remained practically unknown outside its own country till 1909, when a company from the marinsky theatre of st. petersburg appeared at the chatelet theatre in paris. this visit had been arranged to follow up the exhibition of russian painting at the autumn salon of 1906 and the opera season of 1008, all three being de- signed to extend the knowledge of russian art in the capital of their allies. development of the diaghilev ballet —serge diaghilev (b. 1872), to whom the management of these three seasons had been en- trusted, was known in russia as one of the younger leaders of the renaissance of russian art. in 1894 he had planned and edited the first russian review of the world’s art, mir iskusstvo. between 1899 and 1001 he had been attached to the service of the imperial theatres under prince wolkonsky, but had been transferred to another post when it was found that his reforming zeal was displeasing to the official world. he was one of the warmest supporters of isadora duncan during her visit to st. petersburg, and an equally staunch supporter of michel fokine when he began to put her theories into practice. for the paris season he chose three of the new ballets of 1908, the pavillon d’ armide, nuits d’ egypte and chopiniana, with the ballet from the opera prince igor and the best of the old type, tschaikovsky’s le lac des cygnes. the success of the season was so marked that another was arranged for 1910 at the opera, during which three of the most famous of ballets of his repertory were produced, scheherazade, carnaval and l’oiseau de feu. in these diaghilev, now definitely in authority, was able for the first time to express his ideas fully, with choreography unfettered by too close adher- ence to any one theory, with music finely chosen and finely ren- dered, and with decorations that showed a judicious splendour in scheherazade, and an equally judicious simplicity in carnaval or les syiphides. the company had by now accomplished the mission on which it had been sent, and with the cessation of state support, it be- came necessary for diaghilev to take not only the artistic but the financial burden on his own shoulders. so in rg11 the ‘‘ dia- ghilev ballets russes’”’ began the career of extended tours through all the capitals of europe and america that has con- tinued. for his dancers he still drew on russia, but for all else he came to rely less and less on his own countrymen until it was almost exclusively to western europe that he turned for his musicians and his painters. that this company, without a fixed home, with varying fortunes and an ever-changing personnel, has lived for so many years and never relaxed its experimental activities is a remarkable tribute to the genius of its creator. it has revived a moribund art and has revolutionised the world of dancing. choreography.—up to the end of 1912 the choreography of all the ballets was the work of michel fokine. he was the great eclectic, the master of the composite ballet, who used the methods of petipa, of duncan and of the russian folk dancers each in their proper environment with equal success; and his only com- parative failures were in the two greek ballets narcisse and daphnis et chloe, when he worked exclusively in one idiom. he was the inventor of the modern ballet, and from his creations practically all the later developments can be traced. as a dancer fokine was graceful and accomplished, but lacked the genius of his successor. vaslav nijinsky took command for the season of 1913. he was much influenced by jacques dalcroze, a swiss exponent of 317 musical calisthenics, in accordance with whose theories the dancing in debussy’s jeux was made to synchronise exactly with the beat of the music; while in stravinsky’s le sacre du printemps the movement became a sort of rhythmic counter- point in opposition to it. while both efforts had a scholarly interest neither proved satisfactory. in the latter ballet the loyalty of the company was severely tested, for the expression of primitive fear and rejoicing, demanded by the subject and its musical treatment, involved the rejection of all accepted canons of grace and the substitution of deliberate uncouthness. as a dancer, nijinsky ranks among the greatest in history, and his premature retirement was an irreparable loss to the ballet. leonide massine, who first appeared in 1914 in strauss’s legende de joseph, produced his first ballets in 1917. his work was a development of the fokine ballet, sharpened by contact with andalusian forms, which he studied closely before the pro- duction of da falla’s tricorne. his preference for angular rather than curved movement became more marked as time went on, especially in the ballets he designed for diaghilev and charles cochran in 1924 and 1925. the best example of his inventive power was perhaps seen in le rossignol (1920), in his use of mass movements as foreshadowed by nijinsky in le sacre du printemps. as a dancer he is alert and certain in his balance, with a marked sense of rhythm. bronislava nijinsky, nijinsky’s sister, designed the dancing in the’ ballets of 1922-4. her choreography was vivacious but her sense of group movement a little deficient. among the dancers, the more notable names are those of tamara karsavina, a dancer of perfect technique and compelling grace, who between 1910 and 1914 created most of the principal reles; lydia lopo- kova who made her debut in 1910 but who did not rejoin the company till 1918, when she reappeared in les femmes de bonne tumeur; vera nemchinova, lubov tchernicheva, olga spes- sivtseva and lydia sokolova (hilda munnings), the only eng- lish dancer who could rank with them. anna pavlova danced with the company in 1909 and 1911. among the men, in addi- tion to the three maitres de ballet, have been adolf bohm, leon woizikovsky and stanislas idzikovsky. the stage management remained throughout in the hands of serge grigoriev, and the principal teacher was enrico cecchetti, who retired in 1921. music—the diaghilev ballet proved the truth of isadora duncan’s dictum that, for purposes of dancing, the quality of music is more important than the form in which it is written. schumann’s carnaval and rimsky korsakov’s symphonic suite scheherazade have shown themselves as suitable for ballets as tschaikovsky’s casse-noisette or delibes’ sylvta. of stravinsky’s great ballets only the first, l’oiseau de feu, was written in detached numbers. his others, like those of debussy, ravel, da falla and the younger french writers, are written in contin- uous form. the orchestration of music written for the piano gave rise to adverse criticism in earlier days, but the orchestral versions of chopin and schumann were found to be so skilful and sympa- thetic that opposition was silenced. tommasini and respighi later on translated scarlatti and rossini as ably as rimsky korsakov and his friends had dealt with chopin and schumann. stravinsky’s version of pergolesi in pulctnella was perhaps more open to criticism owing to the very personal idioms he used. manuel da falla’s le tricorne was the most successful of the later ballets, while the work of the modern french composers has not been so distinguished. decoration.—the outstanding name in this section is that of leon bakst (g.v.), who between 1910 and 1921 designed 14 ballets. in whatever style he might be working, egyptian, greek, persian or venetian, everything, while it was archaeo- logically justified, was impressed with his own rather flamboyant personality. his versatility was great, and his first two ballets, scheherazade and carnaval, came to represent the two main types of all the series of ‘‘ ballets russes.’”” the western artists who decorated the later ballets, such as pablo picasso, andre derain and georges bracque, take higher rank as painters, but their work, always excepting picasso’s scenes for parade and le 318 tricorne, seems to lack the instinctive and specialised sense of the theatre possessed by the russian group, alexandre benois, nicholas roerich and alexander golovin. the essential quali- ties of russian art were finely expressed by michel larionov in conies russes and natalia gontcharova in her setting of the opera ballet cog d'or. boris anisfeld and vladimir polunin were the painters of most of the scenery; their difficult task was to trans- late on to 4o-ft. canvases the intention of the two-ft. sketches furnished by painters of different nationality and outlook. as regards the ballet outside the diaghilev sphere there is little enough to record. in russia itself the old decorations of imperial days are used to adorn the old ballets, and as an insti- tution it seems to have fallen under the ban which condemns all survivals of the ancien regime. in paris and in milan the stars rule the stage; the pavlova ballet tours the world reaping a golden harvest from the virtuosity of its marvellous leader. the one independent company of higher endeavour, the swedish ballet, ended a short career (1919-24) that might have earned enduring fame had the dancing of its members been on the ievel of its leader’s ideals and his powers of stage production. list of ballets —the following is a complete list of the ballets produced by the diaghilev company between 1909 and 1925. m indicates the composer of the music, d the designer of the stage setting and costumes, c the choreographer :— 1909 le pavillon d'armide, m—tcherepnin, d—a. benois, c— m. fokine; prince igor, m—a. borodine, d—n. roerich, c—m. fokine; le festin, m—rimsky korsakov, tschaikovsky, moussorgsky, glinka and glazounov, d—c. korovin, c—m. petipa; le lac des cygnes, m—tschaikovsky, d—a. benois, c—m. petipa; nuzts d'egypte (cleopdtre), m—arensky, d—leon bakst, c—m. fokine; chapaatan (les sylphides), m—chopin, d—a. benois, c—m. okine. 1910 scheherazade, m—rimsky korsakov, d—l. bakst, c—m. fokine; l’oiseau de feu, m—ligor stravinsky, d—a. golovin, c— m. fokine; carnaval, m—-schumann, d—l. bakst, c—m. fokine; giselle, m—-a. adam, d—a., benois, c—m. petipa. 1911 sadko, m—r. korsakov, d—b. anisfeld, c—m. fokine; le spectre de la rose, m—weber, d—l. bakst, c—m. fokine; nar- cisse, m—tcherepnin, d—l. bakst, c—m. fokine; petroushka, m—stravinsky, d—a. benois, c—m. fokine. 1912 le dieu bleu, m—reynaldo hahn, d—l. bakst, c—m. fokine; thamar, m-—balakirev, d—l. bakst, c—m. fokine; l'apres midi d'un faune, m—c. debussy, d—l. bakst, c—v. nijin- a daphnis et chloe, m—maurice ravel, d—l, bakst, c—m. okine. 1913 le sacre du printemps, m-——stravinsky, d—n. roerich, c— v. nijinsky; jeux, m—debussy, d—-l. bakst, c—v. nijinsky; la tragedie de salome, m—florent schmitt, d—soudeikine, c—ro- manov. 1914 papillons, m—schumann, d—m. doboujinski and l. bakst, c—m. fokine; la legende de joseph, m—richard strauss. scenery, j. m. sert. dresses, l. bakst, c—m. fokine; afidas, m— steinberg, d—d. doboujinski, c—m. fokine; le cog d'or, opera ballet, m-—-r. korsakov, d-—n. gontcharova, c—m. fokine. 1917 soleil de nuit, m—r. korsakov, d—m. lartonov, c— leonide massine; parade, m—erik satie, d—p. picasso, c—l. massine; contes russes, m—liadov, d—m. larionov, c—l. massine: les femmes de bonne humeur, m—scarlatti, d—l. bakst, c—l. massine. 1918 les jardins d'aranjuez, m—faure, chabrier and ravel, d—j. m. sert, c—l. massine. 1919 la boutique fantasque; m—rossini, d—a. derain, c—l, massine; le tricorne, m—m. da falla, d—p. picasso, c—l. massine. _ 1920 pulcinella, m—pergolesi, stravinsky, d—picasso, c—l. massine; le chant du rossignol, m—stravinsky, d—h. matisse, c—l. massine; le astusie femminilt, opera ballet, m—cuimarosa, d—j. m. sert, c—l. massine. 1921 chout, m—s. prokovievy, d—m. larionov, c—m. larionov, t. slavinsky; le belle au bois dormant, m—tschaikovsky, d-—l. bakst, c—m petipa. 7 1922 renard, m—stravinsky, d— and c—m. larionov. 1923 les noces, m—stravinsky, d—n. gontcharova, c—b. nijinska. | 1924 les biches, m—f. poulenc, d—marie laurencin, c—rb. nijinska; les facheux, m—g., auric, d—g. braque, c—b. nijinska; les tentations de la bergere, m—monteclair, d—juan gris, c—b. nijinska; le train bleu, m—-d. milhaud, d—chanel and h. lau- rens, c—b. nijinska. . 1925 les matelots, m—g. auric, d—p. pruna, c—l. massine; zephyr et flore, m—dukclsky, d—g. braque, c—l. massine; bara- bau, m—rieti, d-—maurice utrillo, c—balanchin. see w. a. propert, the russian ballet in wesiern bae ( ma ballin—ballistics ballin, albert (1857-1918), german shipowner, was born in hamburg aug. 15 1857. educated for a mercantile career, his first notable achievement was the organisation of the emi- grant traffic on the carr line. he then took over the manage- ment of the passenger traffic on the hamburg-amerika line, becoming, in 1886, director and shortly afterwards director- gencral of that enterprise. under ballin’s leadership the ham- burg-amcrika line expanded steadily, acquiring numerous other shipping companies and increasing its capital tenfold. by nego- tiating agreements with other shipping companies, ballin prac- tically reorganised germany’s shipping trade; and he was the author of the german-american shipping agreement of 1902. he died suddenly in hamburg nov. g 1918.",
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