Sergei Diaghilev cherished music from a very young age, with Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s works leaving a lasting impression. In 1890 he studied at St. Petersburg University while taking lessons from Rimsky-Korsakov. During those university years he admitted enjoying the atmosphere and the form of things, even describing himself as fond of a certain snobbish polish.
Shortly after graduation, Diaghilev moved back to St. Petersburg where he began organizing exhibitions featuring European and Russian artists such as Levitan and Serov. His interest in theater grew through editorial work, first with the modernist periodical Mir Iskusstva and then in the Imperial Theater Yearbook, which connected him with a circle of like-minded creators. At the Imperial Theatre, the first production of the ballet Sylvia arose, though it faced controversy and was not nurtured to completion. Diaghilev invited familiar artists from the art world to participate, a move that unsettled local authorities. He severed ties with the theater management in protest.
From 1906 Diaghilev started staging exhibitions abroad, and in 1908 he presented the world with the first Russian Season in Paris, a landmark event in cross-cultural exchange.
The thorny path of the Russians Seasons
The inaugural season drew on the talents of World of Art artists Alexander Benois, Lev Bakst, and Nicholas Roerich, alongside Imperial Theater luminaries such as Vaslav Nijinsky, Tamara Karsavina and the decadent diva Ida Rubinstein. With a modernist approach to music, choreography, and visual design, the productions found eager audiences in Paris. Audiences in the West witnessed notable ballets including Armida Pavilion, Polovtsian Dances, and Boris Godunov.
Rinat Dulmaganov, General Producer of the National Opera Center in St. Petersburg and a key voice in Diaghilev’s circle, noted that the impresario fused different art forms into a single production. The concept wove together music, visual arts, and dance into one expressive organism. Stravinsky’s score and Nijinsky’s choreography became emblematic of the Russian Seasons, as explained by Dulmaganov in an interview with socialbites.ca. Faina Dmitrieva, chair of the Diaghilev House Cultural Foundation, highlighted how the impresario showcased national culture abroad, even when pieces like the Rite of Spring initially puzzled Western audiences. Contemporary memoirs recount cases of dissent and misunderstanding, with audiences whistling, vilifying artists and composers, and loudly voicing disapproval.
As Dmitrieva put it, the works drew on deeply national folklore expressed through modernist fortitude. Sergei Pavlovich himself predicted that the time would come for these ideas to be understood, and history later vindicated that claim.
The premiere of The Rite of Spring, choreographed by Nijinsky and conceived with Stravinsky and Roerich, premiered in Paris in May 1913. The ballet centers on a pagan spring rite, a provocative storm of ritual that challenged contemporary tastes. Diaghilev did not chase public appeasement, and in a Times interview he spoke about a twenty-five-year pursuit to inaugurate a new theater movement. The claim that the first calls of the era included the Polovtsian Dances, Petrushka, The Holy Spring, Parade, and more, is attributed to Rinat Dulmaganov in discussions with socialbites.ca.
Diaghilev as a catalyst
Diaghilev’s leadership helped assemble a galaxy of ballet stars. He recruited the impressionist choreographer Leonid Myasin from Moscow’s corps to lead the company from 1915 to 1921. He was seen as a philanthropic force who enriched artists with world culture, sending them to museums and filling their minds with books, according to Dulmaganov. In 1917 Myasin staged Parade, a controversial ballet conceived by Pablo Picasso with music by Erik Satie. During this period Diaghilev began exploring cinema and sought to translate its energy onto the stage, creating bold, kinetic tableaux that drew on contemporary image-making.
Parade’s Paris premiere sparked a riot of reaction. A chaotic blend of cubist spectacle and slapstick movement provoked a furious response from some attendees who cried out against the Russians and Picasso. Contemporary accounts describe the scene as chaotic and provocative, with acrobatics, mock performances, and a chorus of protest. Ilya Ehrenburg later recalled the era with colorful language about the flaming reception the piece received. The Parade period left a lasting imprint on theater and ballet, helping to form new circles around composers like Stravinsky and groups that bridged music and the visual arts.
By 1924 the group welcomed Georges Balanchivadze, better known as Balanchine, a rising choreographer who created major works within the Russian Seasons, including the ballet and opera Child and Magic with music by Maurice Ravel. After Diaghilev’s death Balanchine moved to the United States, contributing significantly to Broadway and the development of modern neoclassical ballet. Mikhail Fokin, also part of the era, faced a decline after mid-1910s, a point highlighted by ballet critic Vadim Gaevsky. Nijinsky’s later years were plagued by mental health struggles, diagnosed as schizophrenia, following the theatre’s tumultuous trajectory.
Most observers credit Diaghilev with redirecting modern dance toward a broader, more inclusive sound palette and with shaping the decor and staging of performances to become as influential as the choreography itself. His legacy is seen in how he matched sound, scenery, and movement into a cohesive artistic language, often at the center of sensational moments that defined the era, as Dulmaganov notes in retrospective assessments. The final curtain for the Russian Seasons fell on August 4, 1929 in Vichy, France. Diaghilev died shortly after, on August 24, from blood poisoning. His friends Misia Sert and Coco Chanel contributed to his funeral arrangements.