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69-728: Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev ( / d i ˈ æ ɡ ɪ l ɛ f / dee- AG -il-ef ; Russian: Серге́й Па́влович Дя́гилев , IPA: [sʲɪrˈɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪdʑ ˈdʲæɡʲɪlʲɪf] ; 31 March [ O.S. 19 March] 1872 – 19 August 1929), also known as Serge Diaghilev , was a Russian art critic , patron , ballet impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes , from which many famous dancers and choreographers would arise. Diaghilev's career can be divided into two periods: in Saint ;Petersburg (1898–1906) and while as an emigrant (1906–1929). Sergei Diaghilev

138-494: A circle of art-loving friends who called themselves The Nevsky Pickwickians . They included Alexandre Benois , Walter Nouvel , Konstantin Somov , 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

207-420: A film, including costumes. On films with smaller art departments, such as small independent films and short films, the terms "production designer" and "art director" are often synonymous, and the person taking on the role may be credited as either. Art directors in publishing typically work with the publication's editors . Together, they work on a concept for sections and pages of a publication. Individually,

276-506: A letter dated "12/22 Dec. 1635". In his biography of John Dee , The Queen's Conjurer , Benjamin Woolley surmises that because Dee fought unsuccessfully for England to embrace the 1583/84 date set for the change, "England remained outside the Gregorian system for a further 170 years, communications during that period customarily carrying two dates". In contrast, Thomas Jefferson , who lived while

345-478: A mention in W. H. Auden 's poem "September 1, 1939": What mad Nijinsky wrote About Diaghilev Is true of the normal heart; For the error bred in the bone Of each woman and each man Craves what it cannot have, Not universal love But to be loved alone. Diaghilev dismissed Nijinsky summarily from the Ballets Russes after the dancer's marriage to Romola de Pulszky in 1913. Nijinsky appeared again with

414-459: A smaller organization, the art director may fill all these roles, including overseeing printing and other production. An art director, in the hierarchical structure of a film art department, works directly below the production designer , in collaboration with the set decorator and the set designers. A large part of their duties include the administrative aspects of the art department . They are responsible for assigning tasks to personnel such as

483-473: A splendid collection of rare books at the end of his life, many people noticed that his impeccably cut suits had frayed cuffs and trouser-ends. Several sources have cited Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes as inspiration for the 1948 film The Red Shoes . Throughout his life, Diaghilev was severely afraid of dying in water, and avoided traveling by boat. He died of diabetes in Venice on 19 August 1929, and his tomb

552-878: A start-of-year adjustment works well with little confusion for events before the introduction of the Gregorian calendar. For example, the Battle of Agincourt is well known to have been fought on 25 October 1415, which is Saint Crispin's Day . However, for the period between the first introduction of the Gregorian calendar on 15 October 1582 and its introduction in Britain on 14 September 1752, there can be considerable confusion between events in Continental Western Europe and in British domains. Events in Continental Western Europe are usually reported in English-language histories by using

621-404: A target audience. The art director makes decisions about visual elements, what artistic style(s) to use, and when to use motion . One of the biggest challenges art directors face is translating desired moods, messages, concepts, and underdeveloped ideas into imagery. In the brainstorming process, art directors, colleagues and clients explore ways the finished piece or scene could look. At times,

690-526: Is 9 February 1649, the date by which his contemporaries in some parts of continental Europe would have recorded his execution. The O.S./N.S. designation is particularly relevant for dates which fall between the start of the "historical year" (1 January) and the legal start date, where different. This was 25 March in England, Wales, Ireland and the colonies until 1752, and until 1600 in Scotland. In Britain, 1 January

759-666: Is named after him. On 31 March 2017, Google celebrated Sergei Diaghilev's 145th birthday with a Google Doodle . Old Style and New Style dates Old Style ( O.S. ) and New Style ( N.S. ) indicate dating systems before and after a calendar change, respectively. Usually, they refer to the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar as enacted in various European countries between 1582 and 1923. In England , Wales , Ireland and Britain's American colonies , there were two calendar changes, both in 1752. The first adjusted

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828-749: Is on the nearby island of San Michele , near to the grave of Stravinsky , in the Orthodox section. The Ekstrom Collection of the Diaghilev and Stravinsky Foundation is held by the Department of Theatre and Performance of the Victoria and Albert Museum . Diaghilev was played by Alan Bates in the 1980 movie Nijinsky , and the Contemporary Art Museum in Saint Petersburg State University

897-507: The Scythian Suite ; Chout , 1915 revised 1920; Le pas d'acier , 1926; and The Prodigal Son , 1929); Ottorino Respighi ( La Boutique fantasque , 1919); Francis Poulenc ( Les biches , 1923) and others. His choreographer Michel Fokine often adapted the music for ballet. Diaghilev also worked with dancer and ballet master Léonide Massine . He played a decisive role in the career of Sergey Prokofiev. The artistic director for

966-828: The Nazi concentration camps during World War II . After dancing with the Ballets Russes in 1925, Ruth Page emerged as a founder of her own ballet troupes based in Chicago, including the Chicago Opera Ballet . Diaghilev's life and the Ballets Russes were inextricably entwined. His most famous lover was Vaslav Nijinsky . However, according to Serge Lifar, of all Diaghilev's lovers, only Léonide Massine , who replaced Nijinsky, provided him with "so many moments of happiness or anguish". Diaghilev's other lovers included Anton Dolin , Serge Lifar and his secretary and librettist Boris Kochno . Nijinsky's later bitter comments about Diaghilev inspired

1035-592: The Russian Empire and the very beginning of Soviet Russia . For example, in the article "The October (November) Revolution", the Encyclopædia Britannica uses the format of "25 October (7 November, New Style)" to describe the date of the start of the revolution. The Latin equivalents, which are used in many languages, are, on the one hand, stili veteris (genitive) or stilo vetere (ablative), abbreviated st.v. , and meaning "(of/in) old style" ; and, on

1104-457: The 1906 exhibition inspired Diaghilev to present Russian music to the world’s culture capitals such as Paris. In 1907, he organised ‘Concerts historiques russes’ with famous composers like Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov , Sergei Rachmaninoff , Alexander Glazunov , Feodor Chaliapin, and Félia Litvinne. The tour was supported and sponsored by Diaghilev’s royal patrons Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich of Russia and Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin . In

1173-427: The 19th century, a practice that the author Karen Bellenir considered to reveal a deep emotional resistance to calendar reform. Art director It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the vision of an artistic production. In particular, they are in charge of its overall visual appearance and how it communicates visually , stimulates moods, contrasts features, and psychologically appeals to

1242-532: The 4th century , had drifted from reality . The Gregorian calendar reform also dealt with the accumulated difference between these figures, between the years 325 and 1582, by skipping 10 days to set the ecclesiastical date of the equinox to be 21 March, the median date of its occurrence at the time of the First Council of Nicea in 325. Countries that adopted the Gregorian calendar after 1699 needed to skip an additional day for each subsequent new century that

1311-476: The Ballets Russes was Léon Bakst . Together they developed a more complicated form of ballet with show-elements intended to appeal to the general public, rather than solely the aristocracy. The exotic appeal of the Ballets Russes had an effect on Fauvist painters and the nascent Art Deco style. Coco Chanel is said to have stated that "Diaghilev invented Russia for foreigners." [Rhonda K. Garelick]. Perhaps Diaghilev's most notable composer-collaborator, however,

1380-477: The Ballets Russes were often considered too "intellectual", too "stylish" and seldom had the unconditional success of the first few seasons, although younger choreographers like George Balanchine hit their stride with the Ballets Russes. The start of the 20th century brought a development in the handling of tonality, harmony, rhythm and meter towards more freedom. Until that time, rigid harmonic schemes had forced rhythmic patterns to stay fairly uncomplicated. Around

1449-579: The Boyne was commemorated with smaller parades on 1 July. However, both events were combined in the late 18th century, and continue to be celebrated as " The Twelfth ". Because of the differences, British writers and their correspondents often employed two dates, a practice called dual dating , more or less automatically. Letters concerning diplomacy and international trade thus sometimes bore both Julian and Gregorian dates to prevent confusion. For example, Sir William Boswell wrote to Sir John Coke from The Hague

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1518-504: The British Isles and colonies converted to the Gregorian calendar, instructed that his tombstone bear his date of birth by using the Julian calendar (notated O.S. for Old Style) and his date of death by using the Gregorian calendar. At Jefferson's birth, the difference was eleven days between the Julian and Gregorian calendars and so his birthday of 2 April in the Julian calendar is 13 April in

1587-410: The British colonies, changed the start of the year from 25 March to 1 January, with effect from "the day after 31 December 1751". (Scotland had already made this aspect of the changes, on 1 January 1600.) The second (in effect ) adopted the Gregorian calendar in place of the Julian calendar. Thus "New Style" can refer to the start-of-year adjustment , to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar , or to

1656-612: The Gregorian calendar. For example, the Battle of Blenheim is always given as 13 August 1704. However, confusion occurs when an event involves both. For example, William III of England arrived at Brixham in England on 5 November (Julian calendar), after he had set sail from the Netherlands on 11 November (Gregorian calendar) 1688. The Battle of the Boyne in Ireland took place a few months later on 1 July 1690 (Julian calendar). That maps to 11 July (Gregorian calendar), conveniently close to

1725-466: The Gregorian calendar. Similarly, George Washington is now officially reported as having been born on 22 February 1732, rather than on 11 February 1731/32 (Julian calendar). The philosopher Jeremy Bentham , born on 4 February 1747/8 (Julian calendar), in later life celebrated his birthday on 15 February. There is some evidence that the calendar change was not easily accepted. Many British people continued to celebrate their holidays "Old Style" well into

1794-501: The Imperial Ballet. His appearance as a dandy with a grey lock amazed the ballerinas, who soon nicknamed him ‘Chinchilla’. He was especially interested in young Mathilde Kschessinska , who was flattered by the attention of an already famous art connoisseur. Even though they would fight later and temporarily break contact, the friendship would last through all their lives. Diaghilev brought the members of Mir iskusstva with him to

1863-648: The Imperial Theatres. After several increasingly antagonistic differences of opinion, Diaghilev refused to go on editing the Annual of the Imperial Theatres and was discharged by Volkonsky in 1901. However, the scandal also ruined Wolkonsky’s career; in a week, he was similarly fired. By that time, even the Emperor , persuaded by Kschessinska, took Diaghilev’s side. Sergei didn’t think much of a civil servant career, so he went abroad and immersed in his other plans. The success of

1932-508: The Imperial theatres. Apollinary Vasnetsov , Alexandre Benois, Léon Bakst, Valentin Serov, Eugene Lansere and other contemporary artists began working on decorations and costumes. In 1900, Prince Serge Wolkonsky entrusted Diaghilev with the staging of Léo Delibes ' ballet Sylvia, a favorite of Benois. The two collaborators concocted an elaborate production plan that startled the established personnel of

2001-430: The Julian and Gregorian dating systems respectively. The need to correct the calendar arose from the realisation that the correct figure for the number of days in a year is not 365.25 (365 days 6 hours) as assumed by the Julian calendar but slightly less (c. 365.242 days). The Julian calendar therefore has too many leap years . The consequence was that the basis for the calculation of the date of Easter , as decided in

2070-564: The Julian calendar had added since then. When the British Empire did so in 1752, the gap had grown to eleven days; when Russia did so (as its civil calendar ) in 1918, thirteen days needed to be skipped. In the Kingdom of Great Britain and its possessions, the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 introduced two concurrent changes to the calendar. The first, which applied to England, Wales, Ireland and

2139-510: The Julian date of the subsequent (and more decisive) Battle of Aughrim on 12 July 1691 (Julian). The latter battle was commemorated annually throughout the 18th century on 12 July, following the usual historical convention of commemorating events of that period within Great Britain and Ireland by mapping the Julian date directly onto the modern Gregorian calendar date (as happens, for example, with Guy Fawkes Night on 5 November). The Battle of

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2208-706: The Russian and Finnish artists at the Stieglitz Academy with the works of those such as Mikhail Vrubel , Valentin Serov , and Isaac Levitan . In the same year he opened an exhibition of young Russian painters in Germany. Though the young art connoisseur had no private fortune, he managed to gain the protection and support of such high nobility as the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich and later even Nicholas II . The Russian-Finnish exhibition of 1898 became

2277-627: The ancient icons. The exhibition was designed by Léon Bakst and occupied 12 rooms in the Grand Palais . It, too, enjoyed enormous success and in many ways paved the way for the future success of the Ballet Russe. France was soon immersed in fashion à la russe. Diaghilev was offered the Legion of Honour award, but refused in honour of Bakst. In 1899, Prince Serge Wolkonsky received directorship of all Imperial theaters. On 10 September 1899, he gave Diaghilev

2346-415: The art department coordinator and the construction coordinator, keeping track of the art department budget and scheduling, and overall quality control. They are often also a liaison to other departments, especially construction, special effects, property, transportation (graphics), and locations departments. The art director also attends all production meetings and tech scouts in order to provide information to

2415-554: The art director for the visual aspects. But the art director may come up with the headline or other copy, and the copywriter may suggest a visual or aesthetic approach. Each usually welcomes suggestions and constructive criticism from the other, as such collaboration often improves the work. Although a good art director is expected to have good graphic design judgment and technical knowledge of production, it may not be necessary for an art director to hand-render comprehensive layouts , or even be able to draw, now that virtually all but

2484-421: The art director is responsible for solidifying the vision of the collective imagination while resolving conflicting agendas and inconsistencies between contributors' ideas. Despite the title, an advertising art director is not necessarily the head of an art department. In modern advertising practice, an art director typically works with a copywriter as a creative team. In advertising, an art director makes sure

2553-511: The classics. On 6 March 1905, he opened an exhibition of the ‘Russian portraits of the 18th and 19th centuries’ at the Tauride Palace with more than 4000 paintings collected from 450 owners. Diaghilev himself travelled to acquire the portraits and wrote a catalogue of 2300 art works with information on the artists, models, and other relevant data. The exposition, designed by Benois, was an innovative example of art synthesis and greatly impressed

2622-401: The client's message is conveyed to their desired audience. They are responsible for the advertising's visual aspects, while working with other team members such as the graphic designer. They work together to devise an overall concept (also known as the "creative" or "big idea") for the commercial, mailer, brochure, or other advertisements. The copywriter is responsible for the textual content, and

2691-486: The combination of the two. It was through their use in the Calendar Act that the notations "Old Style" and "New Style" came into common usage. When recording British history, it is usual to quote the date as originally recorded at the time of the event, but with the year number adjusted to start on 1 January. The latter adjustment may be needed because the start of the civil calendar year had not always been 1 January and

2760-400: The company, but the old relationship between the men was never re-established; moreover, Nijinsky's magic as a dancer was much diminished by incipient mental illness. Their last meeting was after Nijinsky's mind had given way, and he appeared not to recognise his former lover. Diaghilev was known as a hard, demanding, even frightening taskmaster. Ninette de Valois, no shrinking violet, said she

2829-532: The correct rhythm. Members of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes later went on to found ballet traditions in the United States (George Balanchine) and England ( Ninette de Valois and Marie Rambert ). Ballet master Serge Lifar went on a technical revival at the Paris Opera Ballet , enhanced by Claude Bessy and Rudolf Nureyev in the 1980s. Lifar is credited for saving many Jewish and other minority dancers from

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2898-573: The costumes and the set. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Diaghilev stayed abroad. Once it became obvious that he could not be lured back, the new Soviet regime condemned him in perpetuity as an especially insidious example of "bourgeois decadence". Soviet art historians wrote him out of the picture for more than 60 years. Diaghilev made Boris Kochno his secretary in 1920 and staged Tchaikovsky 's The Sleeping Beauty in London in 1921; it

2967-533: The end of the following December, 1661/62 , a form of dual dating to indicate that in the following twelve weeks or so, the year was 1661 Old Style but 1662 New Style. Some more modern sources, often more academic ones (e.g. the History of Parliament ) also use the 1661/62 style for the period between 1 January and 24 March for years before the introduction of the New Style calendar in England. The Gregorian calendar

3036-484: The first action of the recently formed society ‘ Mir iskusstva ’, established by Benois and Diaghilev earlier that year. The group also included Konstantin Somov, Dmitry Filosofov, Léon Bakst, and Eugene Lansere . Soon, with the help of Savva Mamontov (the director of the Russian Private Opera Company) and Princess Maria Tenisheva, the group founded the journal Mir iskusstva (World of Art). The magazine

3105-526: The first part of the Ruslan and Lyudmila . The ballets followed the operas and were performed after the second intermission. Leading dancers Vaslav Nijinsky , Anna Pavlova , Tamara Karsavina , Ida Rubinstein , Mikhail Mordkin immediately became world-known stars. Diaghilev’s innovation was to synthesize dance, music and visual arts with set decorations and costumes into a single performance. During these years, Diaghilev's stagings included several compositions by

3174-756: The late Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, such as the operas The Maid of Pskov , May Night , and The Golden Cockerel . His balletic adaptation of the orchestral suite Sheherazade , staged in 1910, drew the ire of the composer's widow, Nadezhda Rimskaya-Korsakova , who protested in open letters to Diaghilev published in the periodical Rech. Diaghilev commissioned ballet music from composers such as Nikolai Tcherepnin ( Narcisse et Echo , 1911), Claude Debussy ( Jeux , 1913), Maurice Ravel ( Daphnis et Chloé , 1912), Erik Satie ( Parade , 1917), Manuel de Falla ( El Sombrero de Tres Picos , 1917), Richard Strauss ( Josephslegende , 1914), Sergei Prokofiev ( Ala and Lolli , 1915, rejected by Diaghilev and turned into

3243-674: The most frequent guests. Sergei Diaghilev composed his first romance at the age of 15. When he entered the Saint Petersburg Imperial University , he also had private music lessons with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov . Instead of the usual four, it took him six years to graduate. By his own admission, Diaghilev used his student years ‘to look around’ and find his true interests in life. Seven months after graduation he opened his first exhibition. During his years at University, Diaghilev's cousin Dmitry Filosofov introduced him to

3312-615: The most learned of the group. In the late 1890s, Diaghilev created several art exhibitions that were intended to introduce the contemporary artists to the local public and, later, to the Europeans. The exposition of British and German watercolorists in 1897 at the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts became a huge success—one which Diaghilev repeated in 1898 with the exhibition of

3381-421: The most preliminary work is done on computer. Except in the smallest organizations, the art director/copywriter team is overseen by a creative director , senior media creative or chief creative director. In a large organization, an art director may oversee other art directors and a team of junior designers , image developers and/or production artists , and coordinate with a separate production department. In

3450-447: The movie Gone with the Wind , David O. Selznick felt that William Cameron Menzies had such a significant role in the look of the film that the title art director was not sufficient, and so he gave Menzies the title of production designer. This title is now commonly used as the title for the head of the art department, although the title actually implies control over every visual aspect of

3519-452: The other, stili novi or stilo novo , abbreviated st.n. and meaning "(of/in) new style". The Latin abbreviations may be capitalised differently by different users, e.g., St.n. or St.N. for stili novi . There are equivalents for these terms in other languages as well, such as the German a.St. (" alter Stil " for O.S.). Usually, the mapping of New Style dates onto Old Style dates with

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3588-545: The paper to print the issues. He invited many of his fellow members in Mir iskusstva to work on the magazine, design fonts and create illustrations. He also showed himself as a successful promoter by finding sponsors, advertisers, and new distribution channels. As recalled by Benois, the success of the magazine went to Sergey’s head and very soon he was thinking about himself as ‘the only one, without whom nothing can be done. At that time Diaghilev started frequent visits to repetitions of

3657-493: The post of officer on special duty. The post was usually a nominal one, but since Diaghilev managed to actively engage into the theatrical world, he was soon made responsible for the production of the Annual of the Imperial Theaters. As editor-in-chief, he reformed the edition and converted it into a full-scale luxurious magazine with critical essays, playbills, articles about artists and lots of pictures. Diaghilev even changed

3726-457: The set designers in preparation for all departments to have a visual floor plan of each location visited. The term "art director" was first used in 1914 by Wilfred Buckland when this title was used to denote the head of the art department (hence the Academy Award for Best Art Direction ), which also included the set decorator. Now the award includes the production designer and set decorator. On

3795-459: The spring of 1908, Diaghilev mounted a production of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, starring Feodor Chaliapin, at the Paris Opéra. Boris Anisfeld created the sets, designed by Bakst and Benois. To maximize authenticity, one of the artists Ivan Bilibin even travelled to Arkhangelsk Oblast to purchase the costumes. The tour became a sensation and the success was overwhelming, however, financially, it

3864-634: The start of a new year from 25 March ( Lady Day , the Feast of the Annunciation ) to 1 January, a change which Scotland had made in 1600. The second discarded the Julian calendar in favour of the Gregorian calendar, skipping 11 days in the month of September to do so. To accommodate the two calendar changes, writers used dual dating to identify a given day by giving its date according to both styles of dating. For countries such as Russia where no start-of-year adjustment took place, O.S. and N.S. simply indicate

3933-459: The turn of the century, however, harmonic and metric devices became either more rigid, or much more unpredictable, and each approach had a liberating effect on rhythm, which also affected ballet. Diaghilev was a pioneer in adapting these new musical styles to modern ballet. When Ravel used a 4 time in the final part of his ballet Daphnis and Chloe (1912), dancers of the Ballets Russes sang Ser-gei-dia-ghi-lev during rehearsals to keep

4002-517: The visitors. The paintings were combined into groups and accompanied with notes, and the interiors were decorated differently in order to emphasize their meanings and double the effect. The exhibition enjoyed enormous success and raised Diaghilev to the top of art and society elite. Passionate to promote Russian art abroad, in 1906, Diaghilev organized and opened the ‘Two Centuries of the Russian art and Sculpture’ exposition at Salon d'Automne . It included 750 works from 103 authors, from modern artists to

4071-500: Was Igor Stravinsky . Diaghilev heard Stravinsky's early orchestral works Fireworks and Scherzo fantastique , and was impressed enough to ask Stravinsky to arrange some pieces by Chopin for the Ballets Russes. In 1910, he commissioned his first score from Stravinsky, The Firebird . Petrushka (1911) and The Rite of Spring (1913) followed shortly afterwards, and the two also worked together on Les noces (1923) and Pulcinella (1920) together with Picasso , who designed

4140-475: Was a production of remarkable magnificence in both settings and costumes, but, despite being well received by the public, it was a financial disaster for Diaghilev and Oswald Stoll , the theatre-owner who had backed it. The first cast included the legendary ballerina Olga Spessivtseva and Lubov Egorova in the role of Aurora. Diaghilev insisted on calling the ballet The Sleeping Princess . When asked why, he quipped, "Because I have no beauties!" The later years of

4209-474: Was altered at different times in different countries. From 1155 to 1752, the civil or legal year in England began on 25 March ( Lady Day ); so for example, the execution of Charles I was recorded at the time in Parliament as happening on 30 January 164 8 (Old Style). In newer English-language texts, this date is usually shown as "30 January 164 9 " (New Style). The corresponding date in the Gregorian calendar

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4278-575: Was born in Selishchi to a noble officer Pavel Diaghilev  [ ru ] . His mother died from childbed fever soon after his birth. In 1873, Pavel met and married Elena Panaeva, who loved Sergei and raised him as her own child. The House of Diaghilev  [ ru ] in Perm was a local cultural centre, and the Diaghilevs housed a musical evening every second Thursday, Modest Mussorgsky being one of

4347-587: Was celebrated as the New Year festival from as early as the 13th century, despite the recorded (civil) year not incrementing until 25 March, but the "year starting 25th March was called the Civil or Legal Year, although the phrase Old Style was more commonly used". To reduce misunderstandings about the date, it was normal even in semi-official documents such as parish registers to place a statutory new-year heading after 24 March (for example "1661") and another heading from

4416-545: Was implemented in Russia on 14 February 1918 by dropping the Julian dates of 1–13 February 1918 , pursuant to a Sovnarkom decree signed 24 January 1918 (Julian) by Vladimir Lenin . The decree required that the Julian date was to be written in parentheses after the Gregorian date, until 1 July 1918. It is common in English-language publications to use the familiar Old Style or New Style terms to discuss events and personalities in other countries, especially with reference to

4485-513: Was intended to serve ‘the god Apollo’ and promote modern art. The first issue was released in February 1898. As recalled by Benois, Diaghilev, as the art director , created the style and designed the publication, wrote critical essays, and, in 1904, published a monograph on Dmitry Levitzky . Nevertheless, Benois remembered him as the member of Mir iskusstva least interested in philosophy and literature, frequently revealing huge gaps in his knowledge of

4554-536: Was rather skeptical about ballet; he said that ‘anyone with no special wit can enjoy it, there is no sense or subject in ballet’. Serge Lifar recalled that to the end of his days Diaghilev referred to the corps-de-ballet dancers as ‘a herd of cattle’. Nevertheless, in 1909 the very first ballet Saison Russe took place and its success overwhelmed even the artists themselves. The first season included Le Pavillon d'Armide , Polovtsian Dances , Nuit d’Egypte , Les Sylphides , and operas Boris Godunov , The Maid of Pskov and

4623-520: Was too afraid to ever look him in the face. George Balanchine said Diaghilev carried around a cane during rehearsals, and banged it angrily when he was displeased. Other dancers said he would shoot them down with one look, or a cold comment. On the other hand, he was capable of great kindness, and when stranded with his bankrupt company in Spain during the 1914–18 war, gave his last bit of cash to Lydia Sokolova to buy medical care for her daughter. Alicia Markova

4692-508: Was unprofitable and ended with a loss of 85,000 francs . By 1909, Diaghilev was at odds with Kschessinska , and the Russian state treasury refused to finance the future tours. Sergei turned for help to his other friend, Misia Sert . Due to her efforts, the company ended up being able to rent the Théâtre du Châtelet , which was less prestigious than the Palais Garnier . At that time, Diaghilev

4761-496: Was very young when she joined the Ballets Russes and would later say that she had called Diaghilev "Sergypops", and that he had said he would take care of her like a daughter. Dancers such as Alicia Markova, Tamara Karsavina , Serge Lifar, and Lydia Sokolova remembered Diaghilev fondly as a stern but kind father-figure who put the needs of his dancers and company above his own. He lived from paycheck to paycheck to finance his company, and though he spent considerable amounts of money on

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