Imperial Dancer: Mathilde Kschessinska and the Romanovs (23 page)

To do this Fokine had to fight the traditionalists in the Imperial Theatre, who included Nicolai Legat and Mathilde Kschessinska. Diaghilev now allied himself with Fokine. He dreamt of bringing the Imperial Ballet to Western Europe but this was not as easy as it sounded. Only a handful of privileged dancers were allowed to take short commercial engagements abroad. Mathilde was one of those privileged few.

On 10 February 1907 Fokine’s new ballet
Eunice
, based on Henryk Sienkiewicz’s novel
Quo Vadis?
, was staged for a charity evening at the Maryinsky. Mathilde was the slave Eunice and Pavel Gerdt was her master Petronius. The ballet was a complete break with tradition. To create the atmosphere of ancient Greece the Italian virtuoso tricks like
fouettés
and
pirouettes
were omitted and as the dancers were forbidden to perform barefoot on the Maryinsky stage the illusion was maintained by painting toenails on to their tights. Out went the rigid, corseted tutus and in came flowing tunics. The
corps de ballet
performed a dance with real torches and the Egyptian
pas-de-trois
made history when the girls danced with dark make-up on their bodies. Mathilde danced a solo in and out of a ring of eight sharp swords stuck into the stage with the sharp ends up, and Pavlova performed a Dance of the Seven Veils. ‘I am proud of having been from the beginning a supporter of Fokine’, Mathilde later wrote, publicly trying to align herself with the new influences.
²⁶

Anna Pavlova was now a ballerina with her own devoted followers, who rivalled those of Kschessinska in the fervour of their support. In January 1906 when Pavlova made her debut as Aspicia in
Pharaoh’s Daughter
all the seats were sold out three days beforehand. This had not happened when Mathilde last performed the role.

Mathilde could not bear Pavlova’s success – but help was at hand. A new star was about to appear on the scene.

On 29 April 1907 Vaslav Nijinsky graduated from the Imperial Theatre School. He was an outstanding dancer who when he jumped just seemed to hover in the air. Mathilde congratulated Nijinsky and asked him to partner her in the winter season, which would in effect make him a soloist. It was a smart move on Mathilde’s part, ensuring that the spotlight would remain firmly on her, not on Pavlova or one of the other younger dancers.

Mathilde returned from her summer break earlier than usual and was annoyed that Nijinsky was still rehearsing with Karsavina. Nevertheless, she gave her most dazzling smile and said with a shrug of the shoulders that it really did not matter at all, ‘she was in excellent form and could dance right now, but Nijinsky needed two weeks to learn such a large number of dances’.
²⁷
Nijinsky soon learned that Mathilde was always punctual for rehearsals.

On 28 October they danced
La Fille mal Gardée
and the
pas-de-deux
from
The Gardener Prince
, based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale ‘The Swineherd’, now re-set in the France of Louis XIV. It was taught to Mathilde by Ludmilla Schollar, who had danced the work with Nijinsky at his graduation performance six months earlier. Although the newspaper
Novoe Vremenie
called it ‘rather charming’ the audience seemed unimpressed and it was not performed again. One critic singled out Nijinsky, observing that ‘ballerinas might be vexed with him – with the fact that he secures our exclusive attention through his own success’. Yet Mathilde was not annoyed. She congratulated him in his (and her) native Polish and invited him to dance with her in Moscow. After his first public performance Nijinsky presdented Mathilde with a decorated box. By a strange coincidence, Mathilde dropped this box some years later around the time Nijinsky lasped into insanity. It was left, symbolically, unrepaired.
²⁸

In November they danced
Nocturne
, a romantic Chopin ballet choreographed by Mathilde’s friend Claudia Kulichevskaya, teacher of the advanced girls’ class at the Theatre School. For non-repertoire performances artists had to select a suitable costume from the Maryinsky wardrobe or supply their own. Mathilde commissioned Bakst to design their costumes, hers a flowing ankle-length silk tunic inspired by Isadora Duncan. Her variation was ‘a dazzling display … she whirled like a fiery ball shooting out tongues of flames’, recalled Bronislava Nijinska. Mathilde’s interpretation ‘was quite a contrast from the ethereal … image of Pavlova’. She remained always the prima ballerina, determined to exhibit her technical brilliance.
²⁹

Legat’s cumbersome five-act ballet
The Little Red Flower
, based on S.T. Aksakov’s story of the same name, was also performed in December. Nijinsky fell ill the evening before the première and Legat stepped into his place. Although Kschessinska and Legat danced a special
pas-de-deux
, ‘Reverie’, the ballet was not well received.

Fired by her success with a new young partner, Mathilde took Nijinsky to Moscow to dance
La Bayadère
in January 1908. As she
had hoped, his presence ensured maximum attention to her own performances. The following month she was back at the Maryinsky for
The Sleeping Beauty
.

Nijinsky was not a problem – but Mathilde now had to cope with the threat posed by Pavlova.

On 16 February 1908 there was to be a charity performance at the Maryinsky staged by Fokine, in which Pavlova was also to appear. Mathilde was to dance
Eunice
and later perform
Nocturne
with Nijinsky in the
divertissement
. The tension was now mounting between Kschessinska and Pavlova and there was a dispute over who should appear in the most advantageous spot on the programme. ‘Ballet-Storm’, ‘Incident Pavlova-Kschessinska’, screamed the press, as the ballerinas argued over who was to dance first. When Fokine cancelled the
divertissement
Mathilde promptly refused to dance in
Eunice
– but to her fury Fokine immediately gave the role to Pavlova.
³⁰

Rehearsals were also under way for a new Fokine ballet. Alexandre Benois was taken by Fokine to meet the company and watch the rehearsal. The ballerinas were wearing their charming practice dresses, designed during the 1830s, which were compulsory for all the dancers in the Imperial Theatres. They answered his courtly bow with a beautiful curtsey, strictly in accordance with court protocol. ‘Kschessinska, who did not conform to rules, was the only dancer to appear in a tutu – much shorter than the regulation ones.’
³¹

The new ballet was
Le Pavillon d’Armide
, based on a story by Gautier. In his dream, a vicomte falls in love with Armida, one of the figures in a Gobelin tapestry whose figures come to life. When he wakes from his sleep her scarf is in his hand. Mathilde was to dance Armida but bureaucratic obstacles and personal intrigues bedevilled the production. Just a week before the first performance Mathilde announced that she was withdrawing from the ballet. No satisfactory reason was given. As she left, Fokine called her a ‘she-devil’. Benois said she ‘acted to please the Directorate, hoping that her refusal would put a stop to the production’, while Fokine thought she was upset with him for giving
Eunice
to Pavlova. Guesses in the theatre included no
variation
for the ballerina or lack of an effective entrance, but her withdrawal from such an important role can only be attributed to a wish to sabotage the ballet.
³²

Pavlova now offered to step into the role, preventing Mathilde from ruining the production. Mathilde had not expected this. She and Gerdt had already posed for a photograph in their costumes, from which Benois painted the tapestry. When the ballet was performed the face of
Armida bore the features of Kschessinska, not Pavlova. The ‘Imperial clique’ ensured that the ballet was not a success.

By 1908 Pavlova was appearing regularly in Europe. In 1912 she bought Ivy House in Golder’s Green and made London her permanent home. Her most famous role would be the ‘Dying Swan’, created for her by Fokine.

On 26 April 1908 Mathilde left for Paris on the Nord Express, accompanied by Claudia Kulichevskaya, Vova, his governess, Mathilde’s maid, valet, and a dressmaker-dresser. They would meet Andrei in Paris. Also on the train was Andrei’s uncle Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich. Before they even left Russia five-year-old Vova, whose health was not good, fell ill and Paul telegraphed for a doctor to meet them at the next station.

Paul had been banished by the Tsar in 1902 for contracting a morganatic marriage with his divorced mistress some years after the death of his young wife. With Paul on the train was his eldest child, Grand Duchess Marie, for whose marriage to Prince William of Sweden a few days earlier he had been briefly permitted to return to Russia. The marriage had been arranged by Marie’s guardian and Mathilde thought that neither the 18-year-old bride nor her 23-year-old husband seemed happy. Mathilde and Marie soon found that they liked each other immensely and by the time the newlyweds left the train at Berlin the next day a warm friendship had been established.

In Paris Mathilde rented an apartment on the rue Villaret-de-Joyeuse in the 17th Arrondissement with Vova, so that she could control what he ate. Andrei booked into the Astoria Hotel. Mathilde was due to appear as a guest artist at the Paris Opéra. This Paris season was prompted by rivalry with Diaghilev, with whom she now had an on/off relationship. Spurred on by the success of his exhibitions of Russian painting and concerts of Russian music, Diaghilev had brought Mussorgsky’s opera
Boris Godunov
to Paris under the patronage of Grand Duke Vladimir, with Feodor Chaliapin singing the title role. The polonaise was to be led by two dancers from St Petersburg. Perhaps Mathilde thought that she should be dancing the polonaise. Yet she probably had little to gain by joining Diaghilev, given her powerful connections at court.

Mathilde rarely appeared abroad. Her last such appearance had been in Vienna in 1903. She was relatively unknown in Western Europe. The Imperial Ballet did not tour; they were the Tsar’s dancers, but of
all the European capitals Paris was the one that counted for most before the First World War. Mathilde needed to conquer it. As Diaghilev had not included her in his Russian season Mathilde arranged an ‘invitation’ when the Director of the Paris Opéra visited St Petersburg the previous winter. The wheels had been oiled by Andrei, who gave a large dinner for Monsieur Broussan in his St Petersburg palace.

Mathilde intended to be partnered by Nijinsky, but he was ill so Nicolai Legat partnered her instead. Her enthusiasm for Nijinsky upset Legat, whose friendship with Mathilde had placed him in an especially strong position with a direct line to the court. He now realised he could no longer count on Mathilde or her influence with the Imperial family. When Nijinsky partnered her in
La Bayadère
in January Legat was reluctant to coach him in the role. Then Legat heard that Nijinsky would be going to Paris with Mathilde and he ‘became extremely jealous’ because Mathilde wanted to share the triumphs of the glamorous young star. Recalling the Polish background of both the Kschessinskys and the Nijinskys, he commented: ‘One Pole can see another Pole from far away.’
³³
(‘Birds of a feather flock together.’)

Mathilde was to dance
Coppelia
, which she did not like, and
La Korregane
, which she had never danced. She studied this in Paris with Rosita Mauri, who had recently performed the role. Neither ballet had an effective solo for Mathilde to show off her virtuoso technique. Nevertheless, according to
Le Figaro
, ‘the Opéra’s entire
corps de ballet
from the
premiers sujets
to the rats [the lowest rank of dancers], attended the last rehearsal before her debut and gave her an ovation that lasted several minutes’.
³⁴

On 19 May [NS] Mathilde and Andrei were in the audience for Chaliapin’s first triumphant performance of
Boris Godunov
. Also present were Grand Dukes Paul and Cyril, together with Grand Duke Michael Nicolaievich, who had travelled from Cannes. Grand Duke Vladimir, learning of the triumph by telegram, arrived in Paris next day with his wife.

Probably most of these Grand Dukes were in the audience on 23 May [NS] when Mathilde made her debut in
Coppelia
. Although the audience was appreciative Mathilde was not really satisfied, claiming that she undoubtedly would have scored a greater success if allowed to perform one of her own ballets. Mathilde also complained that there had been no publicity about her arrival. Later it was stated that she was ‘one of the best and most loyal customers of the French couturiers, to whom she was well-known’.
³⁵
Nevertheless she was awarded the
Academic Palms (Palmes académiques) in silver and presented with an inscribed medal from the dancers of the Opéra. The
St Petersburg Gazette
reported that the ballerina had scored two triumphs – the first was securing a debut at the Opéra, which jealously guarded its doors against foreigners, the second with her dancing.
Le Figaro
noted that Mathilde ‘sent flowers and sweets to all her colleagues who had danced with her’. She was ‘invited’ to appear the next year – ‘but the deciding role was played by money, generously showered on her patron’.
³⁶

Social life was not neglected either. Mathilde and Andrei lunched at the Café de Paris with Princess Lobanov-Rostovsky, and dined with Monsieur and Madame Nicholas Benadaki, prominent members of the Russian community. The Benadakis gave a private concert in the little theatre at their mansion, where Grand Duke Paul and his wife Princess Paley were among the audience who watched Mathilde and Legat dance
Nocturne
.