Home › Books › Diaghilev's Empire: How the Ballets Russes Enthra…
Diaghilev's Empire: How the Ballets Russes Enthralled the World
by
77/99
Critics' Rating Index
28/99
Readers' Rating Index
n/a
Scholars' Citation Index
84/99
Volume of Reviews
14/99
Volume of Reader Ratings
Sign in to add to your shelf, rate, or review this book.
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 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."
"Most delightful of all are the vivid portraits Christiansen paints of the dramatis personae, starting with Diaghilev and his succession of temperamental Ballets Russes lovers, all of whose careers he promoted — as choreographer or dancer — until, inevitably, fractiously, he fell out with them ..."
"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."
"Christiansen takes enormous pleasure in describing Diaghilev's first season in Paris ..."
"Written with sympathy and wit, the book is judiciously researched; but, more crucially, it draws on a lifetime of balletomania, giving readers the benefit of exceptional range."
"You may not be bonkers for ballet, as the author is, but Diaghilev's Empire will help you comprehend its allure and — unprimly, with whimsy — the enterprising mogul who made people begin to take it seriously."
"a stimulating recreation of a cultural watershed."
"In deft, elegant prose Christiansen takes us through the postwar period, showing us how Diaghilev's revolutionary vision was carried forward by a corps of British-based star choreographers and dancers including Frederick Ashton, Kenneth MacMillan, Robert Helpmann, Ninette de Valois, Anton Dolin and Margot Fonteyn."
Preview
Reader Reviews
0 reviewsSign in to write a review.
No reader reviews yet. Be the first!