Sergey Diaghilev: biography personal life, video

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Biography of Sergei Diaghilev

Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev was born on 31.03. 1872 (zodiac sign – Aries) in the Novgorod province in the family of a hereditary nobleman. As a child, he lived in St. Petersburg, and then in Perm.

My father served in the tsarist army with the rank of major general. His mother died in Sergei’s early childhood and his stepmother was engaged in raising him. The intelligent family gathered the entire high society of the city.

This unique house in Perm has survived to this day. Currently, it houses a gymnasium.

Diaghilev was educated at the gymnasium. When he turned 18, he decided to move again to St. Petersburg. There he chooses the law faculty of the university for further studies.

During his studies, he developed friendly relations with artists Lev Bakst and Alexander Benois. Together they set about organizing an art history circle. In addition, the young man began to take composition lessons from Rimsky-Korsakov himself. He began to attend singing lessons at the conservatory in St. Petersburg.

Finding a place in life

In his youth, Diaghilev sought his place in life. His meeting with the writer Leo Tolstoy can be called fateful. It was this meeting that influenced the decision to start collecting a collection with autographs of famous people.

In 1896 he graduated from the university. The young man, instead of practicing law, decided to devote himself to the fine arts.

The next 8 years were devoted to this activity. In the period 1906-1929. he held the position of impresario abroad. In 1906 he was the organizer of one of the exhibitions. Further, he was interested in the activities of the musical theater, especially the ballet.

Diaghilev’s activities can be divided into two periods:

1. 1898-1906 – life in Russia, when his interests were concentrated in the field of fine arts.
2. 1906-1929 – activities as an impresario abroad. He focuses on the field of musical theater, primarily ballet.

Diaghilev initiated the creation of the magazine “World of Art” (1898), later he became its editor. In the period from 1898-1904. he wrote articles on art history. During the same period, he was organizing exhibitions of artists:

• 1987 – in St. Petersburg, an exhibition of works by watercolors from Britain and Germany. Exhibition of paintings by Scandinavian artists;
• 1898 – an exhibition of works by artists from Russia and Finland at the Stieglitz Museum. Diaghilev invites young artists Levitan, Serov, Vrubel to participate;
• 1899 – the publication “Yearbook of the Imperial Theaters” began to be published, directed by Sergei Pavlovich;
• 1905 – Exhibition of Russian portraits in the Tauride Palace. A year later, in Paris, an exhibition of paintings by great Russian artists.

The young entrepreneur managed to work a little under the director of the Imperial Theaters, carrying out special assignments. At this time, a friendship begins with the ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya, who introduced him to representatives of the imperial family.

Diaghilev’s Russian seasons

Since 1907, Diaghilev decided to start organizing the performances of artists from Russia abroad. The performances were held under the title “Russian Seasons”. After that, the performances of Russian musicians were also added:

• Rachmaninova S.V .;
• Chaliapin F.I .;
• Rimsky-Korsakova N.A .;
• Glazunova A.K.

From 1908, seasons of Russian opera began to take place in Paris. The audience received the performances with enthusiasm, however, despite this, the enterprise turned out to be unprofitable commercially. From the next year, Diaghilev decided to include ballet in the performance. In his opinion, the public should have appreciated this.

In 1909, the first season of the ballet took place, in which the famous Anna Pavlova took part. Since that time, the Russian Ballets troupe has performed outside Russia for almost 10 years.

Thanks to the participation of artists in the design of ballets, it was possible to change the perception of theater and dance. To contribute to the flourishing of ballet in those countries in which this genre of art has not received proper development. In 1924, Coco Chanel created costumes for Darius Millau’s ballet Blue Express.

Despite the fact that under the direction of Sergei Diaghilev the troupe toured the countries of Europe and America, performing in his native St. Petersburg remained a dream. The troupe existed until 1929, right up to the last days of its organizer.

Personal life

The impresario had a weakness for men:

• from his youth there was a ten-year relationship with his peer cousin Dmitry Filosofov;
• since 1908 – communication with the dancer Vaclav Nijinsky. Becoming his patron, he created the greatest ballets especially for his beloved.
• with the outbreak of the First World War, Diaghilev migrated to Europe. He has a new lover – a young dancer Leonid Myasin.

Illness and death

In 1921 Sergei Pavlovich learned that he had diabetes mellitus. He was in no hurry to follow the diet prescribed by the doctors. The specific touring lifestyle also contributed to the aggravation of the disease.

In 1927, he was diagnosed with furunculosis, which contributed to the development of sepsis. At that time, antibiotics had not yet been invented. Doctors advised Diaghilev to have more rest and diet. He ignored their recommendations.

The result was blood poisoning. Sergei Diaghilev died on August 19.08.1929, 57 in Venice. Buried on the island of San Michele. He was XNUMX years old. Igor Stravinsky and Joseph Brodsky are buried on the same island.

Sergei Diaghilev: biography, personal life

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