Sergey Diaghilev: biography, personal life, photo

As you know, the beginning of the 20th century was the time of triumph of Russian ballet all over the world, and Sergey Diaghilev's merit is invaluable in this. His private life has often been the subject of heated discussions in society. However, this man, who elevated the profession of an entrepreneur to the rank of art, was forgiving something for which many others would have been rogue.

Short biography of Sergei Diaghilev: childhood and youth

The future organizer of the "Russian Seasons" was born March 19, 1872 in the village of Selishchi Novgorod province in a noble family. His mother did not remember her mother, since she died soon after his birth. The stepmother, who was an educated and intelligent woman, took up the education of little Sergei.

The father of the boy was a military man, and on the affairs of his service the family of Diaghilev had to move often from place to place. After graduating from the gymnasium in Perm in 1890, Sergei Diaghilev went to St. Petersburg and entered the law faculty. In parallel, he studied music with NA Rimsky-Korsakov.

From 1896 to 1899

In 1896, Sergei Diaghilev graduated from university, but the lawyer did not work out of it. Nevertheless, he soon became known in St. Petersburg as one of the creators of the first art magazine in Russia "The World of Art", which united around Vrubel, Serov, Levitan, and others. Over time, Sergei Diaghilev and his closest friends, D. Philosophy and AN Benois organizes several exhibitions. In particular, the works of German watercolorists (in 1897), paintings of Scandinavian artists, paintings of Russian and Finnish painters in the Museum of Stieglitz (in 1898) and others are held with great success.

In the civil service

In 1899 the director of the Imperial Theaters S. Volkonsky appointed Sergei Diaghilev to the post of official for special assignments. In addition, he was entrusted with editing an annual publication that sanctified the activities of this agency. Diaghilev turns the magazine into a high-quality art publication, and attracts to work in the Imperial Theaters A. Vasnetsov, A. Benois, L. Bakst, A. Serov, K. Korovin and others. However, the cooperation with Volkonsky quickly ends, as Sergei Diaghilev has disagreements with his superiors in the preparation of the ballet "Silvia". In addition, he has a painful break with Dmitry Filosofov, whose cause is Zinaida Gippius. As a result, Diaghilev decides to end the existence of the "World of Art" and in 1904 leaves St. Petersburg.

"Russian seasons"

The active nature of Sergei Diaghilev and connections in the world of art allow him in 1908 to organize in Paris a show of Russian operas Boris Godunov by M. Mussorgsky, Ruslan and Lyudmila by M. Glinka and others, which had a huge success.

A year later, 1909, the first "Russian Seasons" took place in Paris, which became a bright event in the cultural life of all Europe. Sergei Diaghilev's ballets were also seen in London, Rome and even in the United States. The "Seasons" ballet ended shortly before the outbreak of the First World War, after which the great entrepreneur decided to leave his homeland for good.

"Russian ballet"

After settling in New York, where memories of performances with Anna Pavlova, Vaclav Nijinsky and other famous dancers and ballerinas were still fresh, Sergei Diaghilev organized a permanent troupe. It became known as the "Russian Ballet" and lasted until 1929. During this period, Diaghilev is seriously going through a break with Vaclav Nijinsky, who has been the subject of his homosexual passion for many years. Unable to forgive his lover secret wedding with the Romanian ballerina Romola Pulskaya, he again became friends with Mikhail Fokin. The latter created his best ballets for him, which became a classic of dance art.

last years of life

Sergei Diaghilev (photo above) has always been extremely serious about his health. In 1921 he was diagnosed with diabetes mellitus. At the same time, Diaghilev practically did not follow the doctors' orders and did not spare himself, going to exhausting trips. Since 1927, he developed the strongest furunculosis. Some researchers believe that this was one of the manifestations of AIDS, which Diaghilev may have suffered. In those years there were no antibiotics, so the presence of numerous foci of purulent infection meant a direct threat to life. Later, Diaghilev ignored the doctors' order and went with his troupe to the tour, including visits to Berlin, Cologne, Paris and London. In the British capital, doctors advised him to undergo treatment with thermal waters, but instead the great entrepreneur visited Baden-Baden to discuss a new ballet with Hindemith, and from there went to Munich and Salzburg to listen to the operas of Mozart and Wagner. Feeling worse, he decided to spend some time in Venice.

Death

Sergei Diaghilev, whose biography is inextricably linked with the history of Russian ballet during the first quarter of the 20th century, arrived in Venice on August 8, 1929. Doctors stated that because of abscesses, he began to have blood poisoning. After 4 days, he fell, but continued to make plans for the future. On August 18, Diaghilev communicated and died the next morning, without regaining consciousness.

After the requiem, his body was transferred to the island of San Michele, and he was buried in the Orthodox part of the cemetery.

Personal life of Sergei Diaghilev

As already mentioned, a well-known entrepreneur from early youth showed homosexual tendencies. His first love was cousin Dmitry Filosofov, with whom he founded the "World of Art" and, as they would say today, started promoting Russian art. Later, there were rumors that the reason for the dismissal from the Imperial Theaters was his connection with Vaclav Nijinsky, which he did not even dream of concealing. Next, who won the heart of Diaghilev, was a young dancer, Leonid Miasin, who allowed himself to love in the name of a career, which he did well. However, his marriage to Vera Savina put an end to the relationship between the ballet star and his patron. After Diaghilev repeatedly approached young people, who helped to make a successful career with all his strength. In particular, so did Sergei Lifar and Anton Dolin, while the first of them was rumored to be devoid of homosexual tendencies, and the love of the master remained platonic. Be that as it may, as a result of these hobbies, several well-known ballets were born for the music of Stravinsky, Balanchine and Rouault.

Now you know who Sergei Diaghilev was. Biography, personal life and the novels of this well-known Russian entrepreneur were often the subject of discussion and condemnation. However, no one can deny his enormous role in the development of national and world ballet art.