Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev (
Russian Серге́й Па́влович Дя́гилев /
Sergei Pavlovich Dyagilev pronounced&_160;[sʲɪˈrɡʲej ˈpavlovʲɪtɕ ˈdʲæɡʲɪlʲɪf]), also referred to as
Serge, (31 March 1872&_160;– 19 August 1929) was a
Russian art critic,
patron,
ballet impresario and founder of the
Ballets Russes from which many famous dancers and
choreographers would later arise.
Sergei Diaghilev was born to a wealthy family in Selischi (Novgorod gubernia), Russia toward the end of its age of empire. He finished Perm gymnasium in year 1890. Sent to the capital to study law at St. Petersburg University, he ended up also taking classes at the St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music where he studied singing and music (a love of which he had picked up from his stepmother). After graduating in 1892 he abandoned his dreams of composition (his professor, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, told him he had no talent for music). He had already entered an influential circle of artists who called themselves the Pickwickians Alexandre Benois, Walter Nouvel, Konstantin Somov, Dmitri Filosofov and Léon Bakst. Although not instantly received into the group, Diaghilev was aided by Benois in developing his knowledge of Russian and Western Art. In two years, he had voraciously absorbed this new obsession (even travelling abroad to further his studies) and came to be respected as one of the most learned of the group.
With financial backing from Savva Mamontov (the director of the Russian Private Opera Company[1]) and Princess Maria Tenisheva, the group founded the journal Mir iskusstva (World of Art)
In 1899, Diaghilev became special assistant to Prince Sergei Mikhailovitch Volkonsky, who had recently taken over directorship of all Imperial theaters. Diaghilev was soon responsible for the production of the Annual of the Imperial Theaters in 1900, and promptly offered assignments to his close friends Léon Bakst would design costumes for the French play Le Coeur de la Marquise, while Benois was given the opportunity to produce Sergei Taneyev's opera Cupid's Revenge.
