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Acknowledgements
This book began with an article about the Ballets Russes that I hoped to write but never did, so the first people I want to thank wonât have any idea why: Charlotte Sinclair of
Vogue
; Elinor Hughes and Tim Morley, who, promoting the Diaghilev exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2010, encouraged my growing interest in Nijinsky even though I couldnât find anyone to commission me to write about him; and Deirdre Fernand, who unwittingly gave me the final push when she suggested that despite my being neither a dance critic nor a dancer, writing a book about ballet need not be an impossible dream.
Many people helped and advised me while I worked on the book. I am grateful to the staffs of the British Library; the library of the Victoria and Albert Museum and its Theatre Collection at Blythe House; Bob Kosovsky and Amy Schwegel of the New York Public Library, music and dance divisions respectively; Tom Clark; Fiona Porter; Pieter Symonds and Arike Oke of the Rambert Ballet Company and Ann Stewart, whom I met through them, as well as Marc Farah, for putting me in touch with Pieter in the first place. Nuala Herbert gave me a valuable insight into the
Rite of Spring
and Pell Mountain lent me Russian books that I could not have seen elsewhere. My father, John Moore, stepfather, Josh Miller, and Lady Bateman read the book in draft and supplied me with important corrections.
Living in Simon and Lucy Harrisonâs house while I wrote the book gave me the gift of a study with a door I could close behind me. And Haydee Dullasensured that I never worried about my children when I was thinking about Nijinsky. Most of all, though, I am indebted to my husband, whose unfailing love and support make everything possible; work is the least of it.
Grateful thanks are due to Andrew Franklin, Daniel Crewe, Penny Daniel, Valentina Zanca and everyone at else Profile Books as well as Jane Robertson, who negotiated my typescript, and with all of whom it has been a delight to work at every stage. Pryor Dodge of the Dodge Collection, and Dr Hans-Michael Shäfer of the Neumeier Foundation provided most of the exquisite photographs and drawings which illuminate the book. Andrew Kidd has been (as expected) the best of agents: I hope there will be many more projects like this in our future together.
One of the greatest pleasures of this book was working again with the late Peter Carson, who commissioned it and continued to edit and support it even after retiring. I count myself immensely privileged to have been one of his writers.
1. Nijinsky in the dress uniform of the Imperial Theatre School,
c
.1900. This was taken at the time that Nijinsky, aged eleven, entered the senior schoool as one of six male students in his year and won the coveted scholarship that would fund his education. The silver lyres, the schoolâs insignia, are embroidered on his collar.
2. Nijinsky and Anna Pavlova in the first version of
La Pavillion dâArmide
, 1907. It was as Armidaâs Favourite Slave, a role written especially for him the year he graduated, that the eighteen year-old Nijinsky in his pearl choker bewitched Prince Lvov and Sergey Diaghilev.
3. Nijinsky in Paris in 1909. Along with the rest of the Ballets Russes, the awkward boy found himself inhabiting âan unreal and enchanted worldâ.
4. Nijinsky in playful mood, posing for publicity stills for the âDanse
Liz Carlyle
Gene Wolfe
Ernest Dempsey
Nicola Rhodes
H. T. Night
Richard Laymon
Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli
Mark Billingham
Sadie Hart
Lillianna Blake