Imperial Dancer: Mathilde Kschessinska and the Romanovs (4 page)

With the example of Zucchi and the inventiveness of Johansson, Mathilde attained a mastery of technique, a combination of the grace of the French dancers, the strength of the Italians, with Russian spirit. School reports show that her marks for ballet rose to an average of 11 (‘very good’) for aptitude, application and progress in the 1888/9 school year.
¹¹
In 1888 she danced in the anniversary gala to celebrate her father’s fiftieth year as performer in Warsaw and St Petersburg.

Mathilde seems to have had no close friends among the female pupils. Maybe this was a result of her being a day pupil, or maybe she just preferred the company of the opposite sex. All her life Mathilde liked to flirt. One day the young geography master asked her to come to the blackboard instead of another pupil who did not know the answer. Mathilde, who had not expected to be called, begged to be allowed to answer from her desk. She did not wish the teacher to see her inelegant check stockings and thick boots.

All communication between girls and boys at the Theatre School was strictly forbidden. They met only for rehearsals or ballroom dancing, where the pupils were strictly chaperoned. They were forbidden to talk and the girls were punished if they so much as looked at their partner while dancing. The supervisors were exceptionally severe but the toughest, most awe-inspiring, was the principal, Varvara Lishoshcherstiva, who always dressed in black, permitted no joking or flirting and guarded her girls jealously. ‘Everyone was afraid of her.’
¹²
Nevertheless, they all had their own particular boyfriend. Crumpled notes were passed during dances, ‘and the pupils used a special code
of smiles, looks and signs’.
¹³
This strict chaperonage and the constant counting of the girls had its origins in the elopement of one of the boarders with an officer of the Horse Guards whom she met while at home for the holidays. Since then all the windows on the street side were of frosted glass and boarders over fifteen years of age were only allowed home for one day at Easter and three at Christmas.

Mathilde’s first real flirtation took place at Krasnitzy when she was fourteen, with an Englishman named Macpherson. She was entertained by the thought of a romance with this well-dressed young man but the last straw was when he turned up on her birthday accompanied by his fiancée. To gain revenge, in front of all the guests, Mathilde cornered Macpherson into accompanying her morning expedition to pick mushrooms, and his fiancée had no choice but to agree. He gave her a small ivory purse decorated with forget-me-nots and by the end of the walk Mathilde was happy to see that she had entirely supplanted his fiancée. After this Macpherson sent flowers and love letters to Mathilde but she had already become bored with her conquest. Nevertheless, Macpherson’s wedding did not take place.

At about this time Mathilde began to keep a diary, writing in Polish, her first language, and continuing later in Russian. She also began to write her ‘autobiography’ which, heavily edited and extensively revised, bears substantial differences to the version published in English and French in the 1960s.
¹⁴

Felix Kschessinsky was well known to the Imperial family, all keen theatre-goers, and was on intimate terms with the Tsar’s uncle Grand Duke Nicholas Nicolaievich senior whose mistress, Ekaterina Chislova, was a ballerina. Felix was now founding a theatrical dynasty. Julie graduated into the Maryinsky ballet company in 1883; Joseph followed three years later. Good-looking, tall and slim, Joseph made his debut as the gypsy chief Inigo in
Paquita
. This was one of his father’s old roles and Joseph followed Felix’s interpretation so closely that in the interval Alexander III was surprised when he saw Felix in the auditorium. ‘All the time I thought it was you dancing, and only now saw that it was your son – Bravo!’ the Tsar exclaimed.
¹⁵
Joseph, like his father, became adept at Polish, Hungarian and gypsy dances and was an accomplished mime. Julie was considered very beautiful and especially good at character dances.

In March 1889, a year before her own graduation, Mathilde was chosen to dance in that year’s graduation performance in front of members of the Imperial family. She now saw at first hand the
importance of being graded first in her year. Among the 1889 graduates was Olga Preobrajenska, a lovely dancer who was given only a character dance with an inadequate partner and a
pas-de-trois
which she performed with two students from the Theatre School, sixteen-year-old Mathilde Kschessinska and fifteen-year-old George Kyasht. Given no chance to impress, Olga entered the Maryinsky company in the back row of the
corps de ballet
. Mathilde was determined that at her own graduation she would have a dance which would enable her to shine.

Pupils graduated from the school at the age of seventeen and were then eligible for acceptance into the Imperial Theatres Company. As they knew the Kschessinsky family well, it must have been with a certain amount of curiosity that on 23 March 1890 Alexander III, Empress Marie Feodorovna and Tsarevich Nicholas watched the graduation performance of Mathilde, the youngest member of the dynasty.

Mathilde was among the pupils graded first that year, so was allowed to choose her own dance. She chose with care. Partnered by another graduating student, Rachmanov, she performed the coquettish
pas-de-deux
from
La Fille mal Gardée
– first the playful churning of the butter, then the valse, and finally the lovers playing hobby-horses – an innocent young girl’s declaration of feelings to her beloved.
¹⁶
Her blue dress was decorated with little forget-me-nots. ‘When I came out on to the stage I had the strange feeling that everything depended on how I would dance today, which made me increasingly fearful,’ Mathilde confessed.
¹⁷
Nevertheless she acquitted herself well.

After Mathilde’s formal presentation to the Tsar and Tsarina and Alexander III’s command to be the glory and adornment of the ballet, an informal supper was served. Members of the Imperial family shared the horseshoe-shaped table with the students. Although as a day pupil Mathilde had no special place, Alexander III insisted that she sit next to him. Then he motioned the Tsarevich to sit on her other side. ‘Careful now!’ he added. ‘Not too much flirting!’
¹⁸

Attempts at conversation were somewhat banal and stilted. In her published memoirs Mathilde only recorded one example. Nicholas looked at the plain white glasses on the table and said, ‘I am sure you don’t use glasses like that at home.’
¹⁹
Mathilde was immediately smitten by his blue eyes and tender expression. Nicholas’s eyes, recalled a contemporary, were ‘wonderful … Of the most delicate shade of blue, that looked you straight in the face with the kindest, the tenderest, the most loving expression.’
²⁰
Although the older members of the Imperial family moved around the table speaking to as many of the pupils as
possible, Nicholas spent the whole evening with Mathilde. ‘When we finally parted we saw each other in a new light,’ she wrote. ‘In both our hearts an attraction had been born impelling us irresistibly towards each other.’
²¹

Nicholas’s diary entry was, true to form, more laconic: ‘Went to a performance at the theatrical institute. There were some short plays and a ballet. We had a fine supper with the pupils.’
²²

Mathilde’s meeting that day with 21-year-old Tsarevich Nicholas sealed her destiny. From that first encounter, the men she would ensnare belonged to one of the wealthiest and most powerful families in the world – the Romanovs.

A few days after her graduation performance, as Mathilde and Julie were driving near Winter Palace Square, the Tsarevich passed in his carriage. He turned and gave Mathilde a long look. On another occasion, walking along the Nevsky Prospekt, she saw Nicholas and his sister Xenia looking through the tall stone balustrade which surrounded the garden of the Anichkov Palace, the Tsar’s St Petersburg residence. Mathilde dreamed about the Tsarevich constantly and on his birthday, 6 May, she decorated her room with little red, white and blue Russian flags.

In those days it was usual for the Grand Dukes to have an actress or ballerina for a mistress, a fact that Mathilde, with her almost ‘pathological’ obsession with the Imperial family,
²³
must have known. For the young dancers in the Imperial Theatres a rich ‘protector’ provided economic security and social influence. It was a goal towards which many of them strived.

As she studied for her final school examinations Mathilde was determined on two things – not only would she be the glory and adornment of the Tsar’s ballet, but also she would see the Tsarevich again.

So far there had been only chance encounters. ‘Nevertheless,’ she wrote in her diary, ‘he will be mine!’
²⁴

Two

‘M
ADLY IN
L
OVE WITH
L
ITTLE
K’

T
he Maryinsky Theatre was designed by Albert Cavos in 1860 and named after Alexander III’s mother, Empress Marie Alexandrovna. This lovely theatre, with its blue velvet chairs and hangings, white and gold stalls and crystal chandeliers, received a subsidy of two million gold roubles from the Tsar. Four tiers of boxes were arranged in a semi-circle around the stalls. The most fashionable was the second tier, the
bel étage
.

In most European countries ballet had been reduced to little more than an entertainment by the closing years of the nineteenth century, the dancers only performing during the course of an opera. In Russia it was different. There were five Imperial theatres – three in St Petersburg and two in Moscow. At the Maryinsky two evenings a week, Wednesdays and Sundays, were set aside for ballet performances which were unrivalled anywhere in Europe. The Imperial family were great devotees of the ballet and every year two new works were produced. The costumes and sets were lavish – heavy silks, plush velvets and embroidery all done by hand. One production alone was allotted the enormous budget of 40,000 roubles.

From 1869 the chief ballet master at the Maryinsky was a Frenchman, the great Marius Petipa, probably ‘the single most influential choreographer in the history of classical ballet’. During his years in Russia, although he never really mastered the language, Petipa created forty-six new ballets, revived seventeen more and choreographed thirty-five dances for operas as well as five ballet
divertissements
(concert programmes of ‘varied solos, duets and small group dances’)
¹
Among his creations are many still danced today –
Don Quixote, Raymonda, La Bayadère
and
Sleeping Beauty
. An accomplished mime artist, almost unrivalled in his choreography for the
corps de ballet
, Petipa commanded total respect. His voice echoed round the room in his broken Russian-French: ‘Listen,
ma belle
. Yew danse like mai cook!’
²
Discipline in the Imperial theatres was strict. Dancers could not be late for rehearsals, wear a different practice
dress to that stipulated, or make a mistake on stage. Service in the company lasted for twenty years, after which dancers were expected to retire on a permanent government pension. They could leave after a minimum of five years on forfeit of that pension.

Mathilde was about to step into Petipa’s glittering kingdom.

Mathilde Kschessinska made her official debut at the Maryinsky on 22 April 1890 at a farewell performance for the conductor Papkov. She performed the same
pas-de-deux
, but this time was partnered by the experienced dancer Nicolai Legat, who had graduated two years earlier. Mathilde would have been well drilled on how to take a curtain: ‘curtsey to the right – Imperial box; curtsey to the left – director; two steps forward, semi-round curtsey to the
parterre
; back … raise your eyes, smile in curtseying to the gallery’, and never touch your knee to the floor unless royalty was present.
³

Nicolai Legat became one of Mathilde’s regular partners. He and his younger brother Sergei (who graduated in 1894) were also talented artists who later published albums of caricatures of leading figures in the Russian ballet, including Mathilde.

A few weeks later Mathilde sailed through her final school examinations, gaining the first prize, the
Complete Works
of Lermontov. Her average marks for the final term were 11, 11 and 12 (‘perfection’). Her diploma showed she had graduated with distinction.
⁴
She then left for Krasnitzy with her family.

This was the prelude to the summer season at Krasnoe Selo, the permanent military camp about 15 miles from St Petersburg where the Guards held their summer manoeuvres every year between May and the end of August. The men lived in large tents, the officers in little Russian-style wooden houses. Although many of the Grand Dukes served in the army and attended the manoeuvres, the highlight was the beginning of August when the Emperor and Empress spent a week in the camp.

Artists of the Imperial theatres performed during July and the first two weeks of August. Elegantly gowned and bejewelled officers’ wives drove in carriages to attend Krasnoe Selo’s little wooden theatre. The programme usually included a comedy and a ballet
divertissement
. Soloists received 100 roubles, members of the
corps de ballet
15, plus a first-class railway ticket and a present from the Tsar, paid for by His Majesty’s Chancellery. For the women this was usually a pin, bracelet or brooch made by the court jeweller, Fabergé.