Nijinsky (41 page)

54
‘
tournée des mécènes
'
: A. L. Haskell,
Ballet Russe: The Age of Diaghilev
(London, 1968), p. 11.

55
‘benevolent giant'
: Drummond (ed.),
Speaking of Diaghilev
, quoting Marie Rambert, p. 110.

55
‘A conference was'
: A. Khan,
The Memoirs of the Aga Khan
(London, 1953), p. 109.

55
‘It was impossible'
: Romola Nijinsky,
Nijinsky; and, The last years of
Nijinsky
, p. 120.

55
‘bare of adornment'
: Karsavina,
Theatre Street
, p. 215.

55
‘did not want'
: M. Calvocoressi,
Music and Ballet: Recollections of M. D.
Calvocoressi
(New York, 1978), p. 226.

56
‘that would amaze'
: Benois,
Reminiscences of the Russian Ballet in London
, p. 282.

56
‘shouted himself hoarse'
: Karsavina,
Theatre Street
, p. 201.

56
‘had seen a Japanese'
: ibid., p. 214.

57
‘His whole body'
: Nijinska,
Early Memoirs
, p. 270.

57
‘a storm of applause'
: Karsavina,
Theatre Street
, p. 197.

57
‘The familiar barriers … up there'
: ibid., pp. 198–9.

58
‘every movement … his arm'
: C. W. Beaumont,
The Diaghilev Ballet in London
, pp. 16–17.

59
‘wonder of wonders'
:
Commedia
, 20 May 1909.

59
‘seen anything like'
: A. Rubinstein,
My Young Years
(London, 1973), p. 219.

60
‘vacant eyes'
: M. de Cossart,
Ida Rubinstein
(Liverpool, 1987), p. 17.

60
‘so thin you thought'
: Cocteau,
Journals
, p. 55.

61
‘the cunning with'
: Keynes,
Lydia Lopokova
, p. 215.

61
‘He couldn't stand'
: in Drummond (ed.),
Speaking of Diaghilev
, p. 244.

61
‘not this, that'
: J. Bowlt, Z. Tregulova and N. R. Giordano (eds),
Feast of
Wonders: Sergei Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes
(Milan, 2009), p. 21.

61
‘We really did'
: Benois,
Reminiscences of the Russian Ballet in London
, p. 284.

61
‘we all lived'
: S. Grigoriev,
The Diaghilev Ballet, 1909–1929
. (Harmondsworth, 1953), p. 25.

61
And as Diaghilev's most recent biographer Sjeng Scheijen observes, we must take the rapture shown by the ballet's first audiences at face value.

61
‘Right away I'
: S. Kahan,
Music's Modern Muse
(Rochester, NY, 2003), p. 159 and Lifar,
Serge Diaghilev
, p. 161.

61
‘drably provincial'
: ibid., p. 155.

61
‘When one has'
: Tamara Nijinsky,
Nijinsky and Romola
(London, 1991), p. 376.

62
walk upright
: Oliveroff,
Flight of the Swan: A Memory of Anna Pavlova
, p. 163.

62
‘applied maximum … so that'
: Nijinska,
Early Memoirs
, p. 401.

62
‘In no other art'
: French
Vogue
, December 1986. R. Gottlieb (ed.),
Reading Dance
(New York, 2008), pp. 336–7.

62
‘how perfection lay'
: Tamara Nijinsky,
Nijinsky and Romola
, p. 258.

62
‘should be as simple'
: Romola Nijinsky,
Nijinsky; and, The last years of
Nijinsky
, p. p. 93.

62
‘he could never watch'
: ibid., p. 115.

63
‘like an old Marquise'
: ibid., p. 89.

63
‘With Grigoriev following'
: L. Sokolova,
Dancing for Diaghilev
(London, 1960), p. 39.

63
‘incapable of loving'
: ibid., p. 37.

63
‘a capacity'
: Benois,
Reminiscences of the Russian Ballet in London
, p. 190.

63
‘pride and joy'
: Lifar,
Serge Diaghilev
, p. 143.

64
‘new existence'
: Benois,
Reminiscences of the Russian Ballet in London
, p. 289.

64
‘uncanny swiftness … of Jesus'
: Oliveroff,
Flight of the Swan: A Memory of Anna Pavlova
, p. 23.

64
‘tight, nervous … small space'
: D. Bull,
The Everyday Dancer
(London, 2011), p. 159.

64
‘standing in the wings'
: Nijinska,
Early Memoirs
, pp. 517–18.

64
‘very small pair'
: Cocteau,
Journals
, p. 50.

64
‘that murmuring'
: J. Cocteau,
Paris Album 1900–1914
, p. 32.

64
‘We always knew'
: L. Sokolova in Drummond (ed.),
Speaking of
Diaghilev
, p. 144.

65
‘a glass … his shoulders'
: Nijinska,
Early Memoirs
, p. 369.

65
‘His bearing was modest'
: Beaumont,
The Diaghilev Ballet in London
, p. 28.

65
‘just as a horse'
: Romola Nijinsky,
Nijinsky; and, The last years of Nijinsky
, p. 94.

65
‘all the ballerinas'
: Nijinsky,
Nijinsky's Diary
, p. 161.

66
‘great friends'
: Nijinska,
Early Memoirs
, p. 273.

66
‘the peculiar specialities'
: Romola Nijinsky,
Nijinsky; and, The last years of
Nijinsky
, p. 95.

66
‘Bakst thought the women'
: Steegmuller,
Cocteau: A Biography
, p. 78, quoting Paul Morand's diary.

66
‘We are all living'
: Karsavina,
Theatre Street
, p. 200.

67
‘that she was the only woman'
: quoted in Scheijen,
Diaghilev
, p. 186.

68
‘Look at that strength!'
: Buckle,
Nijinsky
, p. 95 and note.

69
‘the mere fact'
: quoted in R. Davenport-Hine,
A Night at the Majestic
(London, 2006), p. 167.

69
‘I did not want … afraid of life'
: Nijinsky,
Nijinsky's Diary
, p. 198.

69
‘loved Diaghilev'
: Nijinsky,
Nijinsky's Diary
, p. 111.

69
‘this world of art'
: Nijinska,
Early Memoirs
, p. 306.

69
‘but exhilarated at the prospect'
: Massine,
My Life in Ballet
, p. 47.

70
‘like going to bed'
: J. Richardson,
Picasso
, vol. 3,
The Triumphant Years
1917–1932
(New York, 2007), p. 7.

70
Figures from Garafola,
Diaghilev's Ballets Russes
, p. 178 and Buckle,
Nijinsky
, p. 106.

71
Speculation on the genesis of
Faune
: Buckle,
Nijinsky
, p. 108 and note.

71
‘an eyeglass'
: S. Lifar,
Ma Vie: From Kiev to Kiev
(trans. J. H. Morgan; London, 1970), p. 41.

71
‘like a street urchin'
: quoted in Stoneley,
A Queer History of the Ballet
, p. 68.

71
‘as if … stage costume'
: Calvocoressi,
Music and Ballet: Recollections of M.
D. Calvocoressi
, p. 209.

72
‘to society what Ida'
: H. Acton,
Memoirs of an Aesthete
(London, 1948), p. 37.

72
‘it was more wonderful'
: F. Rose,
Saying Life
(London, 1961), p. 70.

72
‘Diaghilev's attitude'
: Benois,
Reminiscences of the Russian Ballet in
London
, p. 303.

73
Firebird
: R. Buckle,
Diaghilev
(London, 1979), p. 162, citing Boris Kochno.

73
‘in those days'
: Benois,
Reminiscences of the Russian Ballet in London
, p. 302.

73
‘impossible to describe'
: I. Stravinsky,
Stravinsky in Conversation with
Robert Craft
(London, 1960), p. 174.

73
‘extraordinary … personality'
: I. Stravinsky and R. Craft,
Memories and
Commentaries
(Harmondsworth, 1960), p. 35 (phrases cited in different order from original source).

73
‘the elite … own art'
: Nijinska,
Early Memoirs
, p. 306.

74
‘because I was'
: Nijinsky,
Nijinsky's Diary
, p. 89.

74
‘at ease … social blunder'
: Nijinska,
Early Memoirs
, pp. 306–7.

74
‘essay in choreography'
: Buckle,
Nijinsky
, p. 130.

74
‘supremely right … heartache'
: Nijinska,
Early Memoirs
p. 282.

74
‘I do not wish to share'
: ibid.,, p. 283.

75
‘He was almost always alone'
: ibid., p. 293.

75
‘that it … to speak'
: Nijinsky,
Nijinsky's Diary
, p. 52.

75
‘magic lantern'
: quoted in Haskell,
Ballet Russe: The Age of Diaghilev
, p. 75.

76
‘
Que veux-tu?
': Benois,
Reminiscences of the Russian Ballet in London
, pp. 310–11.

77
‘not unlike the bloom'
: Beaumont,
The Diaghilev Ballet in London
, p. 33.

77
‘inexpressibly wild'
: C. W. Beaumont,
Michael Fokine and his Ballets
(London, 1935), p. 42.

77
‘Nobody will believe me'
: C. M. Joseph in L. Garafola and N. V. N. Baer (eds),
The Ballets Russes and its World
(New Haven, 1999), p. 201.

77
‘conscious of his performances'
: Stravinsky and Craft,
Memories and
Commentaries
, p. 36.

77
‘the grief of the repentant seducer'
: Benois quoted in L. Kirstein,
Nijinsky Dancing
(London, 1975), p. 83.

77
‘his dancing was'
: Beaumont,
The Diaghilev Ballet in London
, p. 24.

77
‘an acrobatic cat'
: D. Parker,
Nijinsky
(London, 1988), p. 104.

78
‘his usual brilliance'
: Nijinska,
Early Memoirs
, p. 310.

79
‘I spit … at us'
: ibid., p. 311.

79
‘But there was'
: ibid., p. 314. 79 the music of Debussy: Bronia's
Memoirs
indicate that even at this early stage he knew the music would be Debussy's, but other sources suggest that the music was the last thing to fall into place, after Nijinsky had got quite far with his choreographic ideas. The fact that the music and his movements seem far apart in the piece might corroborate this.

79
‘I want to move away'
: Nijinska,
Early Memoirs
, p. 315.

80
‘as if to encourage'
: M. Chagall,
My Life
(London, 1965), p. 92.

80
‘an indecent … will be'
: Nijinska,
Early Memoirs
, pp. 319–20.

81
‘Paris is tolerant'
: quoted in Scheijen,
Diaghilev
, p. 218.

81
‘conceited artist'
: Benois,
Reminiscences of the Russian Ballet in London
, p. 318.

82
‘Vaslav was now'
: ibid., p. 318.

82
‘Appalling scandal'
: quoted in Scheijen,
Diaghilev
, p. 217.

82
‘where ballets'
: Nijinska,
Early Memoirs
, p. 325.

82
‘A completely new path'
: ibid., p. 324.

84
‘You don't understand'
: Karsavina,
Theatre Street
, p. 240.

84
‘looking very pompous'
: Benois,
Reminiscences of the Russian Ballet in
London
, p. 340.

84
‘a celestial insect'
: Romola Nijinsky,
Nijinsky; and, The last years of
Nijinsky
, p. 137.

84
‘suggested a cluster of leaves'
: Beaumont,
The Diaghilev Ballet in London
, p. 28.

84
‘When he danced'
: Rambert quoted in Drummond (ed.),
Speaking of
Diaghilev
, p. 115.

84
‘the most perfect'
: Beaumont,
The Diaghilev Ballet in London
, p. 26.

84
‘grace, freshness … the Rose'
: E. Cecchetti and O. Racster,
The Master of the Russian Ballet
(London, 1922), p. 217.

85
‘The fact that'
: Fokine,
Memoirs of a Ballet Master
, p. 182.

85
‘the artistry by which'
: V. Gross,
Nijinsky on Stage
, p. 67.