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Diaghilev's Empire: How the Ballets Russes Enthralled the World
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About This Book
A Best Book of the Year at The New Yorker and The Telegraph "Amusing and assertive . . . [Christiansen's] delight is infectious." ―Alexandra Jacobs, The New York Times Book Review Rupert Christiansen, a renowned dance critic and arts correspondent, presents a sweeping history of the Ballets Russes and of Serge Diaghilev's dream of bringing Russian art and culture to the West. Serge Diaghilev, the Russian impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes, is often said to have invented modern ballet. An art critic and connoisseur, Diaghilev had no training in dance or choreography, but he had a dream of bringing Russian art, music, design, and expression to the West and a mission to drive a cultural and artistic revolution. Bringing together such legendary talents as Vaslav Nijinsky, Anna Pavlova, Igor Stravinsky, Pablo Picasso, and Henri Matisse, this complex and visionary genius created a new form of ballet defined by artistic integrity, creative freedom, and an all-encompassing experience of art, movement, and music. The explosive color combinations, sensual and androgynous choreography, and experimental sounds of the Ballets Russes were called "barbaric" by the Parisian press, but its radical style usurped the entrenched mores of traditional ballet and transformed the European cultural sphere at large. Diaghilev's Empire , the publication of which marks the one hundred fiftieth anniversary of Diaghilev's birth, is a daring, impeccably researched reassessment of the phenomenon of the Ballets Russes and the Russian Revolution in twentieth-century art and culture. Rupert Christiansen, a leading dance critic, explores the fiery conflicts, outsize personalities, and extraordinary artistic innovations that make up this enduring story of triumph and disaster.
Reviews
"Christiansen's postscripts to the dissolution of Diaghilev's grand enterprise—and his tracing of the company's legacy, especially in England—are more informative than riveting."
"immensely readable and exhaustively researched ..."
"Christiansen's accessible book is a fascinating cautionary tale for readers with an interest in ballet history and those who enjoy books about visionaries who weather great failures and great successes."
"The story of Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes has been told many times before, but no one is able to master it more engagingly than Rupert Christiansen, the veteran opera critic and self-confessed 'incurable balletomane'."
"Historical photographs and a generous bibliography make Christiansen's vivid chronicle an essential selection for any performing arts collection and a captivating read for balletomanes."
"There was not an obvious need for such a book ..."
"a stimulating recreation of a cultural watershed."
"It is also a delicious read into the bargain."
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