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The Triumph of the Veiled Dance: The Influence of Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley on Serge Diaghilev's Creation of the Ballets Russes

The Triumph of the Veiled Dance: The Influence of Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley on Serge... <jats:p> The tremendous impact that Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes made on twentieth-century western arts has been well documented by scholars. Rarely has a theatre art made such an impact on society. And this influence spread beyond theatre directors, composers, costume designers, artists and performers to literature. Diaghilev caught the attention of such writers as Marcel Proust, James Joyce, Jean Cocteau, the Sitwells, Leonard Woolf, indeed, the Bloomsbury group in general, T. S. Eliot, Rupert Brooke, E. M. Forster, and, of course, D. H. Lawrence, too. While this has all been noted in biographies and memoirs, few scholars have considered the possible reasons behind the company's creation. Why would a man who had aligned himself with sumptuous and highly successful art exhibitions and demonstrated such strong passion for opera turn to ballet? </jats:p><jats:p> Any attempt to answer such a question requires an exploration of the events in Diaghilev's life from his St. Petersburg years to the Paris years and early seasons of the Ballets Russes (1895–1913). Two names recur throughout these years: Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley – in person, in writing, and in spirit. A review of Diaghilev's career between 1895 and 1913 together with a textual study of some early ballets suggest that Wilde and Beardsley may have had a stronger influence on Diaghilev and the creation of the Ballets Russes than has previously been noticed. </jats:p> http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Dance Research Edinburgh University Press

The Triumph of the Veiled Dance: The Influence of Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley on Serge Diaghilev's Creation of the Ballets Russes

Dance Research , Volume 27 (1): 93 – May 1, 2009

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Publisher
Edinburgh University Press
Copyright
© 2009 Society for Dance Research
Subject
Media Studies
ISSN
0264-2875
eISSN
1750-0095
DOI
10.3366/E0264287509000267
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

<jats:p> The tremendous impact that Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes made on twentieth-century western arts has been well documented by scholars. Rarely has a theatre art made such an impact on society. And this influence spread beyond theatre directors, composers, costume designers, artists and performers to literature. Diaghilev caught the attention of such writers as Marcel Proust, James Joyce, Jean Cocteau, the Sitwells, Leonard Woolf, indeed, the Bloomsbury group in general, T. S. Eliot, Rupert Brooke, E. M. Forster, and, of course, D. H. Lawrence, too. While this has all been noted in biographies and memoirs, few scholars have considered the possible reasons behind the company's creation. Why would a man who had aligned himself with sumptuous and highly successful art exhibitions and demonstrated such strong passion for opera turn to ballet? </jats:p><jats:p> Any attempt to answer such a question requires an exploration of the events in Diaghilev's life from his St. Petersburg years to the Paris years and early seasons of the Ballets Russes (1895–1913). Two names recur throughout these years: Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley – in person, in writing, and in spirit. A review of Diaghilev's career between 1895 and 1913 together with a textual study of some early ballets suggest that Wilde and Beardsley may have had a stronger influence on Diaghilev and the creation of the Ballets Russes than has previously been noticed. </jats:p>

Journal

Dance ResearchEdinburgh University Press

Published: May 1, 2009

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