#original ballet russe

[hauntedbystorytelling]

Alexandra Denisova as a 'Maiden' in 'Protée', Original Ballet Russe, Australian tour, 1939-1940. Anthony (photographer) | src Arts Centre Melbourne

[scherzokinn]

Oops my hand slipped

idk how to explain this but i still love this ballet costume sm and have star trek tos brainrot sooo please just enjoy the art ig (also i have like the worst time travel fanfic idea akdjdLSDK)

[pazzesco]

🎨 Valerie Jaudon

Valerie Jaudon (b. 1945) - Palmyra - 1982 - 84 x 114 in. (213.36 x 289.56 cm) - oil on canvas

Valerie Jaudon - Big Springs - 1980

Valerie Jaudon - Sebastapol - 1982

Valerie Jaudon - Quadrille - 2017

Valerie Jaudon - Passage - 2018

Valerie Jaudon - Egremont - 1985

Valerie Jaudon - Manetta - 1984

Arcola, 1982, 81 x 120", oil on canvas

Saraband, 2014, 48 x 48”, oil on linen

Avalon, 1976, 72 x 108", oil & aluminum pigment on canvas

Ballets Russes - 1993, 90 x 108", oil on canvas

Social Contract, 1992, 90 x 90", oil on canvas

Meridian, 1980, 87 x 121", oil & metallic pigment on canvas

Valerie Jaudon is an original member of the Pattern and Decoration movement. Her art has been written about consistently in books, journals, magazines, newspapers, and catalogs. She is the co-author, with Joyce Kozloff, of the widely anthologized Art Hysterical Notions of Progress and Culture (1978), in which she and Kozloff explained how they thought sexist and racist assumptions underlaid Western art history discourse. They reasserted the value of ornamentation and aesthetic beauty - qualities assigned to the feminine sphere.

Valerie Jaudon

[mote-historie]

Coty powder compact designed by Leon Bakst, Made by Coty Inc in Paris, France, 1935-1955.

The founder, Francois Coty believed the aesthetics of the packaging to be as important as the product. After his successful artistic partnership with designer Rene Lalique in the early 20th century, Coty approached Leon Bakst to design the Air Spun powder box. Leon Bakst is celebrated for his colourful exotic costumes and decors created for the Ballet Russes, which prompted new fashions in dress and interior decoration. This colourful, exotic aesthetic can be seen in the design of the powder box, where fluffy white powder puffs with black and gold handles float against an orange and gold background. Bakst’s original powder box design was made of Moroccan leather with gold leaf embossing. However, these boxes were expensive to manufacture and Coty paid his customers to return them when empty. They were then sent to Japan where the gold leaf would be scraped off and then reused. Bakst’s design was later modified into a cheaper cardboard version by Coty’s commercial artist Georges Draeger. The design of the packaging created an impression of luxury and prestige, while still being mass produced. These ‘luxury’ items were made even more accessible to middle and working class women by packaging them in small quantities and creating gift sets and co-ordinating product lines. Coty Air Spun powder was very successful, selling in Europe, North and South America, Australia and Asia. It was so popular in Asia that the ‘Rachel’ colour was created specifically for Asian skin tones. Coty is an internationally renowned beauty product and fragrance company that was founded in Paris in 1904 by François Coty. The company was acquired by the fragrance division of Unilever in 2005. In 2010 Coty had it’s headquarters in New York City and had become the world’s largest manufacturer of mass-market fragrances, aligning many of its new fragrances with celebrities like Sarah Jessica Parker, David and Victoria Beckham, Jennifer Lopez and Calvin Klein. Alysha Buss, Curatorial volunteer with Anne-Marie Van de Ven, Curator, February 2011 Reference: Toledano, Roulhac B. and Coty, Elizabeth Z., ‘Francois Coty: Fragrance, Power, Money’, Pelican Publishing Company Inc, Gretna, Louisiana, 2009

Powerhouse Museum Collection.

[diioonysus]

léon bakst (1866-1924) was a russian painter and scene and costume designer of belarusian origin. he was a member of the sergei diaghilev circle and the ballets russes, for which he designed exotic, richly coloured sets and costumes

[homomenhommes]

THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more … November 23

1876 – Manuel De Falla, Spanish composer, born (d.1946); Pablo Picasso is quoted as saying that he considered de Falla the shyest man he had ever met, "even smaller than myself, and as modest and withdrawn as an oyster shell ..." He was said to have been involved in a ménage á trois with composer Maurice Ravel and pianist Ricardo Viñes.

De Falla became close friends with Diaghalev and Massine, with whom he collaborated on The Three-Cornered Hat. It was, incidentally, immediately after the first performance of this ballet, that Massine announced his engagement to Lydia Sokolova, who had just performed the leading role, and was then dismissed from the Ballet Russes by the enraged Diaghelev.

1924 – The famed British-American anthropologist Colin Turnbull was born on this date (d.1994). Best known for this groundbreaking books The Forest People & The Mountain People, Turnbull was also one of the first anthropologists to work in the field of ethnomusicology.

Turnbull was an unconventional scholar who rejected neutrality. He idealized the BaMbuti and reviled the Ik, and described the latter as lacking any sense of altruism, in that they force their children out of their homes at the age of three, and gorge on whatever occasional excesses of food they might find until they became sick, rather than save or share. However, several anthropologists have since argued that a particularly serious famine suffered by the Ik during the period of Turnbull's visit may have distorted their normal behavior and customs, and some passages in his book make it clear that the behavior and customs of the Ik during the period he describes were drastically different from what was normal for them before they were uprooted from their original way of life.

Turnbull with MButi children.

In the US, he lived with his professional collaborator and partner of 30 years, the African American Dr. Joseph Towles, as an openly gay, interracial couple in one of the most conservative areas of the 1960s - rural Virginia.

During this time he also took up the political cause of death row inmates. After his partner's death in 1988, Turnbull, strongly affected, gave all his belongings to the United Negro College Fund. In 1989, he moved to Bloomington, Indiana to participate to the building of Tibetan Cultural Center with his friend Thupten Jigme Norbu, elder brother of the 14th Dalai Lama. In 1991 - 1992, he moved to Dharamsala, India where he took the monks' vow of Tibetan Buddhism, given to him by the Dalai Lama. He was then given a buddhist name.

He died in Virginia in 1994, aged 69. Both Towles and Turnbull died from complications of AIDS.

1933 – The New York tabloid Broadway Brevities, under the headline "Fags Tickle Nudes," published an article warning that "Pansy men of the nation" were invading steam baths and turning them into replicas of the orgy houses in Rome at the time of Nero.

Joe Zee (R) and husband Rob Younkers

1968 – Joe Zee is a Hong Kong-born Canadian fashion stylist, journalist, and producer, known for Entertainment Tonight (1981), FABLife (2015) and Celebrity Style Story (2012). Zee served as creative director of Elle for seven years. He became editor-in-chief and executive creative officer of Yahoo! Style in April 2014. He resigned from Yahoo in June 2017.

Zee was born in Hong Kong and at the age of one, moved to Toronto where he grew up. He began working in fashion in 1990, at age 22, and ultimately moved to New York City enrolling at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

In the mid-1990s, Zee met stylist Lori Goldstein at an Allure party, and soon became her assistant.

He was described in a New York Times profile as a leader in the mass market and digital transformation of fashion: "a chatty and approachable ambassador of fashion who has aggressively thrust himself in front of hoi polloi using Twitter, blogs, v-logs and—most visibly—television."

Zee was a recurring character as boss of the reality series The City. He has also appeared on episodes of Ugly Betty, Mistresses, and General Hospital as himself. He was one of the co-hosts of the ABC daytime talk show The Fab Life.

In 2010, he made an appearance on Gossip Girl as himself.In 2015, he released his book That's What Fashion Is: Lessons and Stories from My Nonstop, Mostly Glamorous Life in Style. Zee is married to Rob Younkers, host of Logo TV's Secret Guide to Fabulous

1989 – On this date the Natural Bears Classification System was unveiled on a Usenet group. The NBCS or "bear code" is a set of symbols using letters, numbers and other characters commonly found on modern, Western computer keyboards, and used for the self-identification of those who self-identify as "bears" in the sense of a mature gay or bisexual man with facial or substantial body hair. This classification scheme was created by Bob Donahue and Jeff Stoner, and was based on the way in which star and galaxy classification systems used characteristics of an object to derive a classifying identifier.

The format of the NBCS is a sequence of space-separated descriptions that each take the form, "XMme" where X is a letter indicating some trait; M is an optional magnitude indicated by either a number or a sequence of + or - characters (the former are used for rankings that have a broad, but discrete range while the latter is used for more comparative measurements); m is an optional modifier such as "v" which indicates variability of the trait; and e is any extra (such as a parenthesized magnitude that indicates a range from the magnitude outside the parentheses to the magnitude inside).

The format includes physical traits such as "B" for beard density/length, "f" for body hair (or "fur"), "t" for height (or "tallness"), and "w" for weight. It also includes personality traits such as "d" for "the daddy factor" and sexual preferences such as "k" for "the kinky factor."

A sample bear code is: B4 d+c e+ f+ g++ k+ m w t+ r (+?)

Translation: Reasonably thick beard, definite Daddy, cub tendencies, (endowment) gets attention, above average fur, loves groping/pawing/touching, (Kinkiness) loves most things, (Muscle) some definition, Blue collar, average weight, tall, (sex) plays under special circumstances.

1996 – Elton John was honored as the founder of the Elton John AIDS Foundation at a gala celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center.

2006 – Israel's Supreme Court recognizes foreign same-sex marriages.

2014 – In Brazil, the world's first largest same-sex wedding with 160 couples takes place in Rio de Janeiro. It was the fifth time mass same-sex weddings were held in Brazil. (The following year 185 couples married.) Claudio Nascimento of Rio Sem Homophobia (Rio without Homophobia) says, "It is an affirmative action to call attention to all of the achievements and challenges in the area of civil and human rights of the LGBT community." Brazil broke the Guinness World Record for the largest pride parade in 2009 with 4 million attendees. Same-sex marriage has been legal in Brazil since May 16, 2013, though it had already been legally recognized since 2004.

[thejazzera]

Cecil Beaton, Madame Danilova, 1935

Original caption: Ballerina, Madame Danilova of the Monte Carlo Ballet Russe, wearing a white tutu and dancing on point, in 'Swan Lake' ca. 1935

[shakespearenews]

I believe the first ballet to A Midsummer Night’s Dream was Marius Petipa’s version for the Maryinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg in 1876. It was this that Michel Fokine in 1906 adapted and amended for students of the Imperial School. The cast included Vaslav Nijinsky, and it proved one of the very early works of Fokine to capture the attention of the impresario Serge Diaghilev. Fokine later reworked the score into Les Elfes for his own company at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1924. In 1933 Col. W. de Basil’s Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo staged David Lichine’s first ballet, Nocturne, using not Mendelssohn but Rameau music, with Alexandra Danilova as Titania, Léonide Massine as Oberon, and Lichine himself as Puck.

But the four most interesting versions for me are George Balanchine’s for New York City Ballet in 1962, Frederick Ashton’s for Britain’s Royal Ballet in 1964, John Neumeier’s for the Hamburg Ballet in 1977, and Christopher Wheeldon’s for the Colorado Ballet in 2000. All, except for the Ashton, are full-evening ballets. Wheeldon’s version not unexpectedly owes something to both Ashton and Balanchine. Neumeier’s version—which is by far the most adventurous and original and incorporates modern music by György Ligeti—has also been staged by the Paris Opera Ballet and the Royal Danish Ballet.

[ballet-symphonie]

Ballet in the Media

Hey guys, I know this is a long-awaited list. This post contains books, news sources, and forums that focus on ballet. Obviously, this list contains official/public sites only. Suggestions about sites or titles to add are always welcome. In the future, I want to expand the list to include documentaries.

Books

(This section is limited to English for now)

History/Criticism

Bolshoi Confidential: Secrets of the Russian Ballet by Simon Morrison

Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet by Jennifer Homans

The Ballet Lover by Barbara L. Baer

Celestial Bodies: How to Look at Ballet by Laura Jacobs

The Great History of Russian Ballet by Evdokia Belova

Ballet in Western Culture: A History of Its Origins and Evolution by Carol Lee

Behind the Scenes at the Ballets Russes: Stories from a Silver Age by Michael Meylac

Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes by Lynn Garafola.

Technique/Pedagogy

Foundations of Classical Ballet by Agrippina Vaganova

100 Lessons in Classical Ballet: The Eight-Year Program of Leningrad's Vaganova Choreographic School by Vera S. Kostrovitskaya

The Cecchetti Method of Classical Ballet: Theory and Technique by Cyril W. Beaumont

Classical Ballet Technique by Gretchen Ward Warren

Ballet Pedagogy: The Art of Teaching by Rory Foster

Technical Manual and Dictionary of Classical Ballet by Gail Grant

Dance Anatomy by Jacqui Haas

(Auto) Biography

A Body of Work by David Hallberg

Marius Petipa: The Emperor’s Ballet Master by Nadine Meisner

Nureyev: The Life by Julie Kavanagh

Dancer by Colum McCann

Dancing on My Grave by Gelsey Kirkland

Winter Season by Toni Bentley

Swan: The Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova by Laurel Snyder

Holding On to the Air by Suzanne Farrell

Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cuxin

Publications:

Dance Media Publications (Dance Magazine, Pointe etc)

Ballet Focus

Dance Europe

Site of Alastair Macaulay

Danser (French)

Ballet 2000 (Italian/French)

Granmilano (English/Italian)

Danza e Danza (Italian)

Opera Click (Italian)

Vogue ITA: Valentina Bonelli (Italian)

La Notte (English/Italian)

Vaganova Today (English/Russian)

Ballet Magazine Russia (Russian)

La Personne (Russian)

Kultura "Culture" (Russian)

Forums:

Ballet Alert

Ballet Talk for Dancers

Ballet Co

Ballet and Opera Friends (Russian)

Passion Ballet (Russian)

Dansomanie (French)

Danza World (Italian)

Opera Click (Italian)

[klqrambles]

Q I need to hear you dump about all these musicals you like i am SO INTERESTED .

GRAHH the secret to my interest in musicals is: if it had a Korean production I probably like it /hj

Ok okokokokok I’mma try and summarize some of my current favs (i say current cause it’s always changing) feel free to ask me to elaborate on any of em

Also it’s beneath a readmore

Dorian Gray <- has been my interest for over a year now. Largely follows the plot of the book but what if Henry had the best character arc of the main three aka he goes from a silly little guy of an asshole to an asshole who regret his spaghet

Mozart l’Opera Rock <- follow the life and shenanigans of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart being the silliest queer man alive. Also Antonio Salieri has a lowkey mental breakdown about being gay for Mozart but that’s besides the point.

Swag Age: Shout Out, Joseon <- a story about a little guy named Hong Dan and his fight to be a silly little guy who does poetry in a country where poetry has been banned. A very very good rollercoaster of emotions

Frankenstein <- Not Frankenstein: A New Musical, but a Korean original. Does Not follow the book but has some highlights like Victor and Henry being Definitely gay for each other, Henry getting beheaded and turned into the Creature, the Creature being forced to fight in a fight ring under the most toxic queer couple to ever be in love(?), and Victor constantly referring to the Creature as Henry cause he can Not let his love die literally or figuratively

Pirates <- Follow Louis as he chronicles the Golden Age of Pirates alongside Captain Calico Jack, Anne Bonny, and Mary Reed. Also Anne and Mary are very in love (one of the songs is literally Love At First Sight) and Jack is smitten with Anne. Louis is Jack’s bestie and in some ways protege. Genderless cast aka both men and women are hired for the same roles, but the roles are always cast with the same gender pairs therefore it is always gay (so the guys play together and the girls play together but not across lines)

Mama, Don’t Cry <- uhm geeky little guy named V wants to be a vampire so he can get married to the love of his life so he travels back in time to get turned by Count Dracula. Count Dracula and V are a little gay for each other, V gets turned, V doesn’t get the girl, Dracula’s in drag, they end up possibly (definitely) in gay love forever and always 👍

Black Mary Poppins <- a tragic tale of four orphans, now adults, looking into the case of their Nanny Mary Smith and the lost memories of their childhood.

Diaghilev/Nijinsky <- two musicals detailing the lives of Sergei Diaghilev, Vaslav Nijinsky, and the rise and fall of the Ballet Russes. Gay and tragic and makes me wanna bite them /pos

Honorable mentions: Wild Grey (the Oscar Wilde musical), Western Story (cowboys but everyone’s lying), Brothers Karamazov (a condensed form of the series by Fyodor Dostoyevsky), Next to Normal (Mental health issues are hard), Salieri (what if Antonio Salieri had his own musical?), Mozart! Das Musical (Mozart’s life story again but make it focus on his times with Coloredo), Elisabeth (Queen Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary’s life as told by her assassin), Death Note (Death Note), Kinky Boots (Drag Queens lfgggggg)

[catboyrightsdefender]

as an art historian something i find really interesting about goncharov is the title (and name of the protagonist) itself. i cant help but think about natalia goncharova, an important member of the russian artistic avant-garde in the early 1910s (she moved to paris in 1918). ffirst inspired by traditional russian art, she’s famous for having developped, along with her partner (and later husband) mikhail larionov, a new artistic language (rayonism) at a time where non-figurative art was developping. what i find particularly interesting is the way she tried to stay close to her country’s history in her avantgardist artistic practice, referencing traditional art forms (which is why art historian use the term neo-primitivism to talk about her art from before 1910) and rejecting the european (mostly french) influences that were prevalent in the russian artistic works at that time. we can draw a parallel with goncharov : he wants to move forward but also stay true to his origins, which leds to him rejecting his new country’s society and habits. this transpires a lot in his relationship with katya and andrey: katya ties him to his old life, which he finds good at first. but goncharov needs to move forward, he needs to create (aka help russian organized crime developping in naples): andrey appears then as the man he needs to both advance (since andrey is a smart and creative man) and to stay close to russia. the problem comes from goncharov’s affection for katya, and the tension that arises when he starts feeling torn between her and andrey, between tradition and modernity; the boat scene then acts like a catalyst that definitively leads goncharov away from katya. this leads to another problem: detaching himself from katya leads goncharov to reject his own russian past. andrey has adapted to the neapolitan lifestyle: is he really that russian anymore? goncharov doesnt realize that, he stays attached to some simulacrum, to the russian part he still sees in andrey. ppl here have already discussed how goncharov is a story of unbecoming. by trying to stay himself, to hold on to his past, goncharov ends up losing himself. andrey thrives because he adapts, because he becomes neapolitan while staying russian, and goncharov cant see that. that is were the comparison with natalia goncharova ends: she ended up evolving as well, and when she moved to paris she brought her russian identity with her and contributed to the expansion of russian art in europe (for example through her collaboration with sergey diaghilev at the ballets russes). in a way, andrey’s arc corresponds to that part of her story. goncharov and andrey are two sides of the same coin, but goncharov loses because he cant realize that everything moves around him, and that identity evolves with time. by trying so hard to become, he unbecomes.

[scherzokinn]

Transporter Malfunction

[mstrickster]

I don’t know if you answered this one or not, but what would each of the ducks favorite Christmas/Holiday movie be?

I have not! I am excited to answer! There was one I knew right away, however, there were a few others that were more difficult. I hope you enjoy it anyway!

Averman: Averman is the only one I had a clear idea for. I fully believe his favorite holiday movie is Christmas Vacation. I headcanoned in another ask that he watches it every year with his dad. He thinks it is hilarious.

Russ: Russ' favorite movie is Scrooged. Not only is it hilarious in his opinion but he really loves Bill Murray as the lead. Side note this is the only version of the Christmas Carol he has ever watched.

Adam: I can see Adam's favorite being Rudolph. He kinda relates to the outcast reindeer even if he will never admit it. He also loves the music. Another favorite of his is It's a Wonderful Life. The first time he watched it he cried.

Charlie: Charlie is another one who likes the classic Christmas stories. His favorite is Miracle on 34th Street. He likes the story but he loves the visuals.

Peter: Peter is one of the few outliers for favorite Christmas movies. His favorite will always be Gremlins. The other Ducks argue it is not a Christmas movie. However, since it is set during Christmas he swears it counts.

Dwayne: Dwayne's favorite Christmas movie is Prancer. He likes the message of family that the movie has. However, he first saw it because of the deer on the cover.

Karp: Karp loves Home Alone. He is a trickster at heart, so that movie is inspirational for him. He did try some of the traps. They either failed or he was tripped up by his own traps.

Goldberg: Despite not being Christian, Goldberg does enjoy one Christmas special. His favorite is Home Alone 2: Lost in New York because it's funny. He also watches the Rugrats Chanukah episode and Lamb Chop's Special Chanukah every year.

Julie: Julie's favorite Christmas movie is actually Annie. She loves the main character Annie because she's spunky. She also finds it very heartwarming.

Guy: I could see Guy enjoying It's a Wonderful Life. However, I think his favorite would be White Christmas. He thinks it's a classic and romantic in its own way.

Kenny: Kenny's is a little stereotypical, but he won't apologize for it. His favorite is The Nutcracker. He always loved the ballet so he was super excited to see it on the big screen.

Jesse and Terry: I am putting these to together because I truly believe they have the same movie. I think their favorite Christmas movie is Trading Places. Terry likes it for the comedy and Jesse enjoys the story.

Fulton: Fulton and Portman actually also share a favorite movie. Fulton likes it for its characters and Portman for the humor. That movie is A Christmas Story. Fulton finds it heartwarming how real it is. However, it never gets too preachy for a Christmas movie.

Portman: As stated above Portman's favorite holiday movie is A Christmas Story. However, he likes it for one scene in particular. The scene where Ralphie is knocked down the slide is his favorite. He will watch that on a loop and laugh.

Tommy: Tommy is a simple kid so he likes any Disney special. However, his favorite is The Santa Clause. He will watch it multiple times every year.

Tammy: Tammy is a romantic sort. So, I can see her movie being The Christmas List. It is cheesy, being a TV movie. however, she finds it sweet and heartwarming.

Connie: Connie's favorite Christmas movie is also a TV original. It is called Three Days. She finds the romance believable and she cries when it ends happily.

Luis: Luis probably is a fan of romantic Christmas movies too. However, I feel like he is also not picky. He just enjoys spending time with the people he loves. If he had to pick a favorite I think he'd choose Santa Claus is Coming to Town because it's a classic and has some romance.

Side note I found a lot of these on this website.

Thank you for the ask!

[pwlanier]

Natalia Goncharova design for the ballet "Fire bird". Music composed by Stravinsky.

The Ballets Russes was an itinerant ballet company originally conceived by impresario Sergei Diaghilev. The Ballets Russes was based in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America. The company never performed in Russia. The Ballets Russes is widely regarded as the most influential ballet company of the XX century.

Artmaximum

[opera-ghosts]

OTD in Music History: One of Maurice Ravel’s (1875 – 1937) greatest masterpieces – “La Valse” – is heard for the first time at its world premiere (conducted as a concert work) 101 years ago in Paris. Although “La Valse” was originally conceived and written as a ballet, much like Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring” it is now almost always performed as a concert work. Ravel himself described “La Valse” with the following preface to the score (translated): “Through whirling clouds, waltzing couples may be faintly distinguished. The clouds gradually scatter: one sees at letter A an immense hall peopled with a whirling crowd. The scene is gradually illuminated. The light of the chandeliers bursts forth at the fortissimo letter B. Set in an imperial court, about 1855…” Ravel composed "La Valse" under a commission from the famous ballet impresario Serge Diaghilev (1872 – 1929). After hearing a two-piano reduction of the work, Diaghilev hailed it as a "masterpiece," but also rejected it for use by his own Ballets Russes company on the grounds that it was "not a ballet, but rather a portrait of ballet". Ravel, deeply hurt, immediately ended their working relationship – and when they finally met again in 1925, he refused to shake Diaghilev's hand. The hot-headed Diaghilev challenged Ravel to a duel, but his friends subsequently persuaded him to recant, and the two men never met again. PICTURED: A postcard photograph of Ravel, signed and dated by him to April 14, 1923. This signed photograph has been framed with an undated autograph musical quotation, also written out by Ravel in his own hand, from his “Chansons madecasses” (1926) – a late song cycle that is unusually scored for voice, piano, flute, and cello.

[werewolvesandaccordions]

Today on Russian composers week, I want to look at two names that worked on the same project. When Sergei Diaghilev was putting together the Ballet Russe, he wanted to bring to the Paris audience a “Russian” sound, and the composer he originally looked at was Nikolai Tcherepnin. He showed Tcherepnin the story for the Firebird, and the inspired composer went to work sketching out ideas. Unfortunately, Diaghilev soon discovered the music of Straivnsky, and wanted to work with him instead. But thankfully, instead of tossing out the music or locking it away in a cabinet, Tcherepnin threaded his sketches together into a symphonic poem The Enchanted Kingdom. It feels like a very hazy daydream, wisps of dragonfly wings through the fog haze, and the night is alive. With a language that shows the eerie bridge between late Russian Romanticism and Scriabin’s mystic works, Tcherepnin shows the kind of other-worldly sounds that Russian orchestral textures were going toward. Stay tuned for more Russian composers this week on musicainextenso! – Nick O., Guest Editor

musicainextenso: Today on Russian composers week, I want to look at two names that worked on the same project. When Sergei Diaghilev was putting together the Ballet Russe, he wanted to bring to the Paris audience a “Russian” sound, and the composer he originally looked at was Nikolai Tcherepnin. He showed Tcherepnin the story for…