New-York tribune., 1922-07-30
THE RUSSIAN
CAVALCADE
Continued from page foa.r)

~""t@>" WIN Ills American audience.
Two years passed before the next wave Of
the Russian invasion broke on our shores, and
on 1t there rode into favor another trio Of
individuals or groups-the eminent pianist,
sergei Rachmaninoff; the company of Russian
dancers headed by Anna Pavlowa and Mihail
Mordkin, and Andreieff's Russian Balalaika
Orchestra. RachmarinofT was an artist in his
prime, and hence there was none of the naive
curiosity in his reception which attached TO
that Of EHan, but he was promptly and
warmly accepted and he has bound his ad-
mirers to him more securely with the passing
Of the years
Through Pavlowa and Mordkin America had
its first taste of the exotic loveliness and
imaginative viriity of the Russian dance In
vited to the Metropolitan Opera House in the
early months of 1910 after their triumphs in
Western Europe, they followed their triumph
IN New York with whirlwind tour of the
country until jealousy crept in and parted the
two foremost dancers of their generation who,
IN the opinion of many, should still be working
together instead of wasting their great gifts
on inferior partners. The reception OF
Andreieff's Balalaika Orchestra was much less
sensational, but the picturesque and romantic
qualities of the organization were readily
acknowledged
Up to this time, however, the flaming colors
of the Ballet Russo and their ACCOMPANYING
vivid choreographic ensemble were hidden
secrets to ua. Pavlowa and Mordkin had
brought drab backgrounds and scant support
1t remained for Morris Gest to bring over in
1911 the vanguard Of the real Ballet Russo
the brilliant settings and costumes of Leon
Bakst and a company Of dancers, including
Lydia Lopokova, Mile. Baldina, Theodore and
Alexis Kesloff, Alexis BulgakofP, Alexander
Volinin, Ivan Tarasof and Nicholas ZwereF,
all grouped around Gertrude Hoffman This
"Saison Russo" was Mr.. Gest's first venture in
introducing the art of his native country TO
the public of the land Of his adoption It's
record remained untouched for five years until
the DiaghileR Ballet Russo arrived
The years just prior to and succeeding the
outbreak of war saw a gap in the Russian
cavaicade. The advent Of the luxurious, popu-
lous and prohibitively costly DiaghilefR Ballet
early in 1916 was the drum major in charge
Of the latest section of the parade. No sue
ceeding year has failed to add its quota to the
ranks Of marching Russian artists. Foremost
in the Diaghileff company during its first year
were Adc!ph Bolm and Leonid Miassin, while
the strange genius of Nizhinsky, rescued from
IN Austrian prison camp, was added a year
later. And foremost in Diaghileff's repertoire
were "Thamar," "The Afternoon OF Faun,"
"Prince Igor "Scheherazadep and "Cleo-
patra," while in addition to the canvases of
Bakst the scenic settings Included work by
Benois and Golovin.
The Diaghileff Ballet lost fortune during
it's two years in America and left behind as a
permanent residuum only Adolph Bolm, who
remained to stage "Coq DOR which Morris
Gest obtained for the Metropolitan Opera
House, "The Birthday of the Infanta" for
the Chicago Opera Company and to found his
own Ballet Intime.
In the same year, 1915, Ossip Dymow ar
rived, bringing the manuscript Of his play
"Nju," which he succeeded in getting produced
only to see it dire failure. The year 1917
saw the star of another young Russian violin
ist, Jascha Heifetz, loom on the horizon and
win for him acclaim more emphatic even than
that which had been accorded to EIman q
decade before
Heretofore no Russian painter Of theefrst
rank had sought America in person and
equipped with full display Of his canvases
Boris Anisfeld, in flight from the disruptive
forces of revolution, corrected this lapse by
bringing himself and representative array
of his work in 1918 Numerous exhibitions of
his colorful canvases followed in the next few
seasons end he settled down to live and work
among US. The same year also contributed
the pugnacious and meteoric Sergei Prokofeff,
pianist and composer, who came in flight from
the same chaos by way of the Orient
Once more in the ensuing season, 1919, Nor
ris Gest stepped forward to serve as q living
link between the stages Of his native and
adopted countries by inducing Michel Fokine,
first and greatest of the directors of the 1nodsrn
Ballet Russo and the genius underlying
Diaghilef's early fame, to come to America to
devise and. rehearse the great ballet In Mr.
Gest's spectacular production Of "Aphrodite."
Fokine remained to do the ballet In "Mecca,"
too, for Mr.. Gest, and, like many Of his COM
patriot artists, he has become an American
fixture, achieving his latest triurnph with his
two ballets for the ZiegfeId "Folhes Of 1922"
Yielding to the same persuasions which
brought Anisfeld' from Petrograd two years
earlier, Nicholas Roerich, foremost living
Russian painter and supreme Interpreters of
the mysticism Of the Great White. North and
OF the legends of old Muscovy, came In 1920