History of the Ballets Russes

This articles draws the main lines of the Ballets Russes’ history, from the political context of their creation to their reception by the public.

The political context

At the end of the 19th century, cultural exchanges between France and Russia tightened as a result of a spectacular political rapprochement. In 1888, France took on debt through the famous Russian loan, to help the old empire modernize. But it was above all the military cooperation agreement signed between Russia and France in 1892 that sealed a lasting alliance between the two countries, at least until the fall of the tsarist regime in 1917. Official visits are increasing. In 1896, Tsar Nicholas II laid the foundation stone of the Alexander III Bridge in Paris, in homage to his father, and returned to France in 1901 and 1909. This diplomatic rapprochement gives rise to sumptuous celebrations that bring Russia into fashion. The Western public discovers with fascination an entire continent that still remains a distant, exotic country, between the Far North and the East.

Attraction for Russian art

Music concerts played at the major Parisian universal exhibitions had already introduced the public to the Russian music repertoire. Tchaikovsky was known from 1870-1880, and Rimsky-Korsakov conducted concerts in Paris where the works of the group of Five (Rimski-Korsakov, Borodine, Moussorgski, Cui, Balakirev) were heard. This music pleased by its language which brings exotism from elsewhere, and Western composers are inspired by it. Works such as the Polovtsian Dances by Prince Igor of Borodin and Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov were known to the public long before the arrival of the Russian Ballets.

The foundation of the Ballets Russes

Serge Diaghilev (1872-1929) was the true founder of the company Les Ballets russes, for which he organized annual tours of Europe from 1909 to his death in 1929. He carefully chose the musical works he wanted to show to the Western public: he knew the exoticism of the latter and wanted to guarantee the commercial success of his company. It began with a retrospective exhibition of Russian art at the Grand Palais in 1906, then continued in 1907 at the Palais Garnier with five major Russian historical concerts. In 1908, he presented Mussorgsky’s opera Boris Godunov, before turning the following year to the performance of ballets to Russian music. It was in 1909 at the Théâtre du Châtelet that the troupe of artists he formed under the name of Ballets russes performed for the first time, with great success, before travelling throughout Europe or the American continent, every year until 1929.

The public’s reception

The works generally most appreciated by the public were those with a distinctly “oriental” or “Russian” character. Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances, Stravinsky’s L’Oiseau de feu and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade are among the works most applauded by the French public, and as such most represented by the Ballets Russes company.

It was to the less conservative Parisian public that Diaghilev reserved the audacities: thus, it was only later that he gave some of Stravinsky’s works in London or Berlin. The Rite of Spring, composed by Stravinsky for Diaghilev and premiered in 1913 in the brand new Champs-Élysées theatre, remains the emblematic work of the Ballets russes and modernity at the beginning of the 20th century.