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This medal has been minted to commemorate the Russian-French art critic, the founder of the BALLETS RUSSES, choreographer, Siergei DIAGHILEV, 1872 - 1929.
This one medaille has been designed by the French medalist, Charles KIFFER.
Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev (Russian: Серге́й Па́влович Дя́гилев / Sergei Pavlovich Dyagilev/ ) (31 March [O.S. 19 March] 1872 – 19 August 1929), usually referred to outside of Russia as Serge, was a Russian art critic, patron, ballet impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes, from which many famous dancers and choreographers would arise.
Serge Lifar (real name
Ukrainian: Сергій Михайлович Лифар, Sergіi Mуhailovуch Lуfar) (2 April 1905,
In
the summer of 1994 on the stage of the National Ukraine Opera the First
International Ballet Contest was held named after Serge Lifar. The new contest
happened to be unique. For the first time in
Vaslav (or Vatslav) Nijinsky ( Russian: Ва́цлав Фоми́ч
Нижи́нский / Vaclav Fomič Nižinskij; Russian pronunciation: [ˌvatslɐf foˌmʲitʃ
nʲɪˈʐinskʲɪj]; Polish: Wacław Niżyński; Ukrainian: Ва́цлав Томович Ніжи́нський;
March 12, 1890 - April 8, 1950) was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer of
Polish descent, cited as the greatest male dancer of the 20th century. He grew
to be celebrated for his virtuosity and for the depth and intensity of his
characterizations. He could perform en pointe, a rare skill among male dancers
at the time (Albright, 2004) and his ability to perform seemingly
gravity-defying leaps was also legendary. The choreographer Bronislava Nijinska
was his sister. He also had a brother Stassik Nijinsky.
av. The portrait
of Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev
rv. The
dance of Nijinsky and Lifar
diameter
– 80 mm (3⅛“)
weight
– 216.30 gr, (7.83 oz)
metal – bronze, mint patina
Sergei Diaghilev was born to a wealthy and cultured family in Selischi (Novgorod gubernia), Russia; his father, Pavel Pavlovich, was a cavalry colonel, but the family's money came mainly from vodka distilleries.
Diaghilev's
friends stayed true, following him and helping to put on exhibitions, mounted
in the name of Mir iskusstva. In 1905 he mounted a huge
exhibition of Russian portrait painting in
This
led to an invitation to return the following year with ballet as well as opera,
and thus to the launching of his famous Ballets
Russes. The company included the best young Russian dancers, among them Anna
Pavlova, Adolph Bolm, Vaslav
Nijinsky, Tamara Karsavina and Vera
Karalli, and their first night on 19 May 1909 was a sensation.
During
these years Diaghilev's stagings included several compositions by the late
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, such as the operas The
Maid of Pskov, May Night, and The Golden Cockerel. His balletic
adaptation of the orchestral suite Sheherazade, staged in 1910,
drew the ire of the composer's widow, Nadezhda Rimskaya-Korsakova, who
protested in open letters to Diaghilev published in the periodical Rech.
Diaghilev commissioned ballet music from composers such as Nikolai Tcherepnin (Narcisse
et Echo, 1911), Claude
Debussy (Jeux,
1913), Maurice Ravel (Daphnis et Chloé, 1912), Erik Satie
(Parade, 1917), Manuel
de Falla (El Sombrero de Tres Picos, 1917), Richard
Strauss (Josephslegende,
1914), Sergei Prokofiev (Ala and Lolly, rejected
by Diaghilev and turned into the Scythian Suite; Chout, 1915
revised 1920; Le pas d'acier, 1926; and The Prodigal Son, 1929), Ottorino
Respighi (La Boutique fantasque, 1918), Francis
Poulenc (Les biches, 1923) and others. His choreographer
Michel
Fokine often adapted the music for ballet. Diaghilev also worked with
dancer and ballet master Léonide
Massine.
The
artistic director for the Ballets Russes was Léon
Bakst. Together they developed a more complicated form of ballet with
show-elements intended to appeal to the general public, rather than solely the
aristocracy. The exotic appeal of the Ballets Russes had an effect on Fauvist painters
and the nascent Art
Deco style.
Perhaps
Diaghilev's most notable composer-collaborator, however, was Igor
Stravinsky. Diaghilev heard Stravinsky's early orchestral works Fireworks
and Scherzo
fantastique, and was impressed enough to ask Stravinsky to
arrange some pieces by Chopin for the Ballets Russes. In 1910, he
commissioned his first score from Stravinsky, The
Firebird. Petrushka (1911) and The Rite of Spring (1913) followed shortly
afterwards, and the two also worked together on Pulcinella (1920) and Les noces
(1923).
After
the Russian Revolution of 1917, Diaghilev
stayed abroad. The new Soviet regime, once it became obvious that he could not
be lured back, condemned him in perpetuity as an especially insidious example
of bourgeois decadence. Soviet art historians wrote him out of the picture for
more than 60 years.
Diaghilev
staged Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty in London in 1921; it
was a production of remarkable magnificence both in settings and costumes but,
despite being well received by the public, it was a financial disaster for
Diaghilev and Oswald Stoll, the theatre-owner who had backed it. The
first cast included the legendary ballerina Olga
Spessivtseva. Diaghilev insisted on calling the ballet The Sleeping
Princess. When asked why, he quipped, "Because I have no
beauties!" The later years of the Ballets Russes were often considered too
"intellectual", too "stylish" and seldom had the
unconditional success of the first few seasons, although younger choreographers
like George Balanchine hit their stride with the
Ballet Russes.
The
end of the 19th century brought a development in the handling of tonality,
harmony, rhythm and meter towards more freedom. Until that time, rigid harmonic
schemes had forced rhythmic patterns to stay fairly uncomplicated. Around the
turn of the century, however, harmonic and metric devices became either more
rigid, or much more unpredictable, and each approach had a liberating effect on
rhythm, which also affected ballet. Diaghilev was a pioneer in adapting these
new musical styles to modern ballet. When Ravel used a 5/4 time in the final
part of his ballet Daphnis and Chloe (1912), dancers of the
Ballets Russes sang Ser-ge-dia-ghi-lev during rehearsals to keep the
correct rhythm.
Members
of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes later went on to found ballet traditions in the
Throughout
his life, Diaghilev was severely afraid of dying in water, and avoided
traveling by boat. Ironically, he died of diabetes in Venice on 19 August
1929, and is buried on the nearby