Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-04-01
RUSSIAN BALLET
GROWS IN GLORY
AS SEASON ENDS
Today the Last Programs in a Series
of Matchless
Splendor
.1A rideau baisse pour que le poeme-
dams toutes les memories.


cornmence dams toutes les memories
The curtain fell at the Metropolitan
last night to let the divine poems OF the
Russian ballet begin in all Its memories
Today and tonight 1t rises again Tor the
visual representation of those poems Fhen
a. Faiia-it seems forever. The Ballet
zusse may come again, other dancers may
lance again. But last night Will lnger
dans toutes les memories"
~ How to describe the ecstacy of the
light? There are facts, yes. Four ballets'
7iree of them new, were given: the FIRE
#ird" of Strawinsky and Golovine, the
<Thamar' of Bakst and Balakiren, the
. fternoon of a Faun" of Bakst and De-
/. lssy. the prince Igor" of Borodine and
oertch. These things and more distantly
oJx5fae and the principal dancers will be
ri embered for time. But will any one
Tho was there ever forget that Dionysos
Revealed on the scene and the shrlll cries
81 Pan were heard in the night?
A There came at last that exaltation and
3intoxication of the senses for which we
had so confidently waited, and they came
with a dazzling beauty, an overwhelming
lower. The rapt loveliness of "LOiseau
a8 Ecu" was but prelude. Igor the
Ii representation of wild energy, the
drbaric dances of trans-Caucasia was
"A return to earth, with its sap unspoilt,
~ richness and it's promiscuity and the
han lust for joy and action. Between
= u two stood ''Thamar" and "L'Apres-
340 dun Faune" The latter is that
.rious idyl OF Nijinsky, but last night
zcandal did not rear its head, and only
mysterious and troubling beauty OF II
kined. The setting with zinc trees
Alant-eyed. spotted Faun, the nymphs
- n a Greek frieze. the restricted passion
8 and its instincts, too near the earth
ba human, were it's elements. Yet
An be said with some truth, that Just
Ioebussy Is Mallarme set TO music (and
- 5 Mallarme). so is Nijinsky visual
Debussy land so is Debussy). That
Debussy has added little TO Mallarme,
#ijinslxy has added little to Debussy But
Or the exquisite Righteousness with which
q has used his material, for the inspira-
Ion of Bakst's designs, there must be
5bthing except wonder and praise.
- II was the night of Bakst. and it be-
4rne clear why this man has so infiamed
imaginations of men The scene OF
hamar'' Is a tower. with slanting walls
Heh press In so that one is conscious
aheir weight, with a zigzag stairway
4nR TO the highest window, with blue
keyond Into this sinister place there
the Queen and her attendants. robed
auty in colors that simmer and
Then the story, brief and tragic,
~ itself. A lover is summoned by
taeen. waving her scarf. In the
of the dance, which is the symbol
a lust. the Queen kills her lover. Then
Net, and presently another lover; again
80 scarf is waved with a gesture in
I1difely weary, dreadful passionless and
dead, and-in memory-the scene begins
again.
Il was not the story. In that the safety
of the Ballet Russo must always lie But
the story was essential for IL gave rea-
son ana meaning to the madness and the
beauty Of the dynamic scene What had
he subtle flavor OF peryersity to do with
ths great glories OF color and movement
zrhlch made .afhamar" eternal2 Affect
M beyond the power Of music, universal
E2gand the capacities Of the dance, liv-
.ne ana mastering as no still art may be,
z+a haIIet In tsrhamar" did achieve the
nesfeet fualng OF the elements. created a
asR art One had almost said a new
Hfe. g. ", S.