<img src=https://d3fr1q02b1tb0i.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/19072042/1-1.jpg class="RSSimage" style="width:100%;margin-bottom:16px;" "border="0" tabindex="0" /><div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><img decoding="async" width="754" height="1024" src="https://d3fr1q02b1tb0i.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/19072042/1-1.jpg" alt="Serge (or Sergei) Diaghilev (1872-1929) in 1916" class="wp-image-9555" style="width:350px" srcset="https://d3fr1q02b1tb0i.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/19072042/1-1.jpg 754w, https://d3fr1q02b1tb0i.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/19072042/1-1-221x300.jpg 221w, https://d3fr1q02b1tb0i.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/19072042/1-1-752x1021.jpg 752w, https://d3fr1q02b1tb0i.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/19072042/1-1-600x815.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 754px) 100vw, 754px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Serge (or Sergei) Diaghilev (1872-1929) in 1916</figcaption></figure> </div> <p>We mark the death on August 19, 1929 – 95 years ago today – of the Russian impresario, patron, art critic, and founder of the <em>Ballets Russes</em> Serge (or “Sergei”) Pavlovich Diaghilev, in Venice.&nbsp; Born in the village of Selishchi roughly 75 miles southeast of St. Petersburg on March 31, 1872, he was 57 years old when he died.</p> <p><strong>Movers and Shakers</strong></p> <p>Serge Diaghilev was one of the great movers-and-shakers of <em>all</em> time.&nbsp; In a letter to his stepmother written in 1895, the 23-year-old Diaghilev described himself with astonishing honesty and no small bit of prescience, given the way his life went on the develop:</p> <p>“I am firstly a great charlatan, though <em>con brio</em> [meaning vivacious and spirited!]; secondly, a great charmer; thirdly I have any amount of cheek [meaning chutzpah; moxie; nerve!]; fourthly, I am a man with a great quantity of logic, but with very few principles; fifthly, I think I have no real gifts.&nbsp; All the same, I think I have found my true vocation – being a patron of the arts.&nbsp; I have all that is necessary except the money – but that will come.” &nbsp;</p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="540" height="800" src="https://d3fr1q02b1tb0i.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/19072109/2.jpg" alt="Diaghilev at 17, circa 1889" class="wp-image-9556" style="width:350px" srcset="https://d3fr1q02b1tb0i.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/19072109/2.jpg 540w, https://d3fr1q02b1tb0i.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/19072109/2-203x300.jpg 203w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Diaghilev at 17, circa 1889</figcaption></figure> </div> <p>Serge Diaghilev’s audacious and spectacular career was intertwined <em>completely </em>with the audacious and spectacular career of one Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971).&nbsp; Without Diaghilev, Igor Stravinsky would <em>never</em> have become <em>STRAVINSKY</em>: the <em>enfant terrible </em>of Western music in the years before World War One.&nbsp; Without Diaghilev, Stravinsky would never have seen his career reborn and finances recover after the war.&nbsp; Conversely, without Stravinsky, Diaghilev might have made his mark but not his <em>legend.&nbsp; </em>Consequently, I’m going to dedicate this post to not just Monsieur Diaghilev, but to his discovery of and ongoing relationship with Igor Stravinsky!</p> <p><strong><a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/110388899" target="_blank" rel="noopener" title="">…Continue reading, and listen without interruption, on Patreon!</a></strong></p> <a href="https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=273590" data-patreon-widget-type="become-patron-button">Become a Patron!</a><script async="" src="https://c6.patreon.com/becomePatronButton.bundle.js"></script><div class="clearfix">&nbsp;</div> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Listen and Subscribe to the Music History Monday Podcast</h2> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Robert Greenberg Best Sellers</h2><p>The post <a href="https://robertgreenbergmusic.com/music-history-monday-serge-pavlovich-diaghilev/">Music History Monday: Serge Pavlovich Diaghilev</a> first appeared on <a href="https://robertgreenbergmusic.com">Robert Greenberg</a>.</p>