1. I am indebted to the Research Foundation of the State University of New York for a University Award to pursue research in the libraries of London and Paris during the summer of 1982. I should also like to acknowledge my gratitude to the The British Library at Colindale, Victoria and Albert Theatre Museum, the Bibliothèque Nationale, Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, and Bibliothèque de l'Opéra for extending the use of their materials and facilities in the preparation of this paper. Finally, a note of thanks needs to be extended to the librarians of the Dance and Theatre Collections, Library and Museum of the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, The New York Public Library.

2. According to the list of “Artistes Chorégraphes, Maîtres de Ballet et Professeurs de Danse,” in Annuaire des Artistes et Enseignement dramatique et musicale, 31e Année (1921–1922)Google Scholar, well over half the names were those of women. It is difficult to discern whether the women were indeed “chorégraphes” or “maîtresses” or “professeurs” of dance. Isadora Duncan, of course, was a choreographer, as were Anna Pavlova and Ida Rubenstein. Neither Anderson's nor Bronislava Nijinska's name appeared in the 1921-22 or the 1923-24 editions, probably because the listing was not honorary but self-sponsored, requiring a fee.

3. Among the scrapbooks and photographs left by the late Elena Kommissarzhevskaya Baliev, Baliev's widow, there is a handwritten document of 29 pages entitled “Nikita Balieff's Biography,” with corrections by a different hand, perhaps Baliev's own. In our brief review of Baliev's early career, the material here is drawn from this unidentified and unedited manuscript, now at the Theatre Collection, the Library and Museum of the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, The New York Public Library.

4. Sayler, Oliver M., “The Strange Story of Balieff's Chauve-Souris,” in Balieff's Chauve-Souris of MoscowGoogle Scholar, American Season, Under the Direction of F. Roy Comstock and Morris Gest. Souvenir Programme [1923-24], pp. 10-11. Sayler recounts that in 1905 Baliev “and a wealthy friend” [i.e., Tarasov] went to Berlin and were still there in 1906 when the MAT arrived on its first extended tour outside of Russia. “Knowing that the company needed funds and that his friend was willing to provide them, anonymously, he [Baliev] went to the business manager, Nemirovitch-Dantchenko, and told his story. Everyone laughed at him, but the ridicule turned into something else next day, when he turned up with the cash in hand, a sum in excess of $16,000.”

5. Stanislavsky, Constantine, My Life in Art, trans. Robbins, J. J. (New York: Theatre Arts Books, 1948), pp. 450–57Google Scholar, et passim.

6. Dantchenko, Vladimir Nemirovitch, My Life in the Russian Theatre, trans. Corunos, John (London: Geoffrey Bles, 1937), p. 293Google Scholar.

7. Sayler, p. 13. At first, performances were given only once a month or so, and especially after an important premiere at one of the public theaters. The artist-audience was by invitation only.

8. Meyerhold on the Theatre, trans, and ed. with crit. comm. by Braun, Edward (New York: Hill and Wang, 1969), p. 111Google Scholar. See also Braun, Edward, The Theatre of Meyerhold: Revolution on the Modern Stage (New York: Drama Book Specialists, 1979), p. 90, and pp. 101–02Google Scholar; for a description of bohemian night life in the cabaret theaters of St. Petersburg, see Livshits, Benedikt, The One and a Half-Eyed Archer, trans., intro., andannot. by Bowlt, John E. (Newtonville, MA: Oriental Research Partners, 1977), pp. 213–33Google Scholar. Appignanesi, Lisa, Cabaret, Rev. Ed. (New York: Grove Press, 1984), p. 54Google Scholar, claims that the Letuchaya Mish took its name from the famous Viennese cabaret die Fledermaus. Although no direct evidence for this is given, it is quite possible that Baliev borrowed the name since he visited Vienna in 1906 while with the MAT company on its tour of Germany and Austria. This claim is repeated, citing Lisa Appignanesi, by Pearson, Anthony G., “The Cabaret Comes to Russia: ‘Theatre of Small Forms’ as a Cultural Catalyst,” Theatre Quarterly 9, 36 (Winter 1980), 34Google Scholar. Professor Pearson's article came to my attention too late to be taken into account in my discussion of the Chauve-Souris.

9. Sayler, p. 13. Sergei Sudeikin designed the murals for the foyer of Baliev's new theater in 1914. Elsewhere, Sayler says that Sudeikin and Baliev met each other in 1905, but it was more likely in 1906. See note 4. Sayler reports that they were introduced at a meeting of newspaper men and that the “representatives of the press … urged both Balieff, who had just joined the Moscow Art Theatre, and Sudeykin to found cabarets.” Sayler, Oliver M., “Sergei Sudejkin, Court Painter.” Morris Gest Presents Nikita Balieff's Théâtre de la Chauve-Souris - Direct from the Apollo Theatre, Paris and New York, Souvenir Programme [1927], p. 29Google Scholar, Theatre Collection, Museum and Library of the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, The New York Public Library. In 1910, Sudeikin helped found Meyerhold's The House of Interludes in St. Petersburg with Boris Pronin and Ilya Sats, and when, in 1911, it folded, he helped start The Stray Dog, with E. Evreinov, Pronin, and others. See Livshits, p. 231, note 1.

10. Sayler, Oliver M., The Russian Theatre (New York: Brentano's, 1922), pp. 196–99Google Scholar.

11. Ibid.

12. The Great Soviet Encyclopedia: A Translation of the Third Edition, vol. 14 (New York: Macmillan, 1977), p. 444Google Scholar.

13. Sayler, , Russian Theatre, p. 318Google Scholar.

14. There were six divertissements in the second half of the program: “Trepak,” “Pas d'Orange,” “Czardas,” “Songe d'Amour,” “Pas de deux: Danse de la Fée Dragée,” and “Indian Dance.” When Karsavina left for Paris in June, three new numbers were added: “Le Chat et La Chatte,” (erroneously attributed to Casse-Noisette and not to The Sleeping Beauty), “Danse Russe,” and the “Warrior Dance.”

15. “Russian Dancers: Mile. Karsavina Returns,” The Daily Mail, 17 May 1910, p. 5Google ScholarPubMed.

16. “Russian Dancers,” The Daily Telegraph, 17 May 1910, p. 10Google ScholarPubMed.

17. “The London Coliseum,” The Stage, 9 June 1910, p. 10Google Scholar.

18. “Coliseum,” The Morning Post, 7 June 1910, p. 13Google ScholarPubMed.

19. “The Alhambra,” The Stage, 1 June 1911, p. 13Google Scholar.

20. “The Dance Dream' at the Alhambra,” Sunday Times, 4 June 1911, p. 6Google Scholar.

21. “The Alhambra: ‘The Dance Dream’,” The Daily Telegraph, 30 May 1911, p. 7Google ScholarPubMed. A more critical view of Gorsky's ballet as a whole is given by Roslavleva, Natalia, Era of the Russian Ballet, Forw. by De Valois, Dame Ninette (New York: Da Capo Press, 1979 [1966]), p. 166Google Scholar, who said the ballet “was composed, for the most part, in the old tradition and to a medley of music. The choreographer had to work with the Alhambra corps de ballet, who could not possibly implement anything more serious or artistic.” Some English critics, however, found reason to praise the English dancers, in one case comparing their work favorably with the accomplishments of the soloists. In the Sunday Times, 4 June 1911, the reviewer, after citing Adamovich and Anderson, said “and two dear little English dancers, the Misses Cormani and Agnes Healy, were so agile, ubiquitous, rapturous, that they could vie with their Imperial visitors, and made us feel proud of our own terpsichorean art.”

22. I am indebted to the late Mr. Russell Hartley, Director of the San Francisco Archives for the Performing Arts, who provided me with copies of the photographs of Anderson and Leonid Zhukov in these relatively unfamiliar ballets of Gorsky.

23. Horosko, Marion, “In the Shadow of the Russian Tradition,” Dance Magazine, January 1971, pp. 36–37Google Scholar.

24. Sayler, , Russian Theatre, p. 107Google Scholar.

25. The preface to Sayler's, Oliver M.The Russian Theatre Under the Revolution (Boston: Little, Brown, & Co., 1920), p. 9Google Scholar, is dated October 1919. Sayler provides a list of contenders to replace Mordkin as Geltser's partner on p. 115.

26. Lobanov, Nikita D., “Russian Painters and the Stage,” Transactions of the Association of Russian-American Scholars in USA, 2 (1968): 196Google Scholar.

27. Meyerhold on the Theatre, pp. 43-45.

28. As quoted in Meyerhold on the Theatre, p. 43, n. 1.

29. As quoted in Meyerhold on the Theatre, p. 45.

30. Meyerhold on the Theatre, p. 30.

31. Rudnitsky, Konstantin, Meyerhold the Director, trans. Petrov, George (Ann Arbor: Ardis Press, 1981), pp. 126–27Google Scholar; see also Deak, Erantisek, “Meyerhold's Staging of Sister Beatrice” TDR, 26, 1 (Spring 1982): 42–50Google Scholar for another discussion of the production with a number of excellent photographs.

32. As quoted in Rudnitsky, p. 118.

33. Rudnitsky, p. 132.

34. Meyerhold on the Theatre, p. 111.

35. As quoted in Rudnitsky, p. 146.

36. Ibid.

37. As quoted in Braun, , Theatre of Meyerhold, pp. 105, 107Google Scholar.

38. Rudnitsky, p. 158.

39. For additional details on Sudeikin's, devices for the production, see Meyerhold on the Theatre, pp. 140–41Google Scholar.

40. Lobanov, 197, credits Sudeikin with this assignment.

41. Propert, W. A., The Russian Ballet in Western Europe, 1909–1920 (London: John Lane the Bodley Head Ltd., 1921), pp. 32–33Google Scholar, with illustrations for the curtain and three costume designs.

42. Buckle, Richard, Diaghilev (New York: Atheneum, 1979), p. 256Google Scholar. Buckle, however, sees less of Diaghilev's influence than Propert: “It (Salomé) was a tentative work with choreography by a young character dancer from Moscow, Boris Romanov, and we may guess Diaghilev had been too preoccupied to give much attention to it” p. 256. Svetlov, Valerian in Commedia Illustré (5 juin 1913)Google Scholar interprets the symbolist effects in Sudeikin's design for Salomé as follows: “Le rideau se lève sur une grande toile peinte qui doit traduire les idees musicales de l'introduction du ballet dans le langage de la peinture, c'est-à-dire que la forme du developpement musical est rendue par le dessin et les sonorités par la gamme des couleurs. Les décors ne sont pas seulement des peintures, mais aussi, et même plûtot des symboles. Ainsi la draperie d'or symbolise Salomé en tant que reine. Le ciel étoile et les séraphins ailés des panneaux figurent le séjour de Jochanaan dans le désert. Lápparition de Salomé dans le ciel est une allusion à la légende de Salomé errant dans l'au-delà, et transposée en comète avec l'éternelle tête de Jean-Baptiste.” As quoted in Bablet, Denis, Esthétique générale du décor de théâtre de 1870 à 1914 (Paris: Editions de Centre National de al Rechèrche Scientifique, 1983 [1965]), p. 204Google Scholar. See Bowlt, John E., Russian Stage Design Scenic Invention, 1900–1930 from the Collection of Mr. & Mrs. Nikita D. Labonov-Rostaosky (Jackson, MS: Mississippi Museum of Art, 1982) for definitions and dates of art movements, pp. 13–15Google Scholar; for an overview of the period, pp. 16-42; for Sudeikin's, Salomé, p. 279Google Scholar. On the Blue Rose Movement, Russian symbolism, and the theater, see Bowlt, John E., Russian Art 1875–1975: A Collection of Essays (New York: MSS Information Corp., 1976), pp. 70–73Google Scholar, et passim. John E. Bowlt observes elsewhere that “when, after only a few months, the Theater Studio closed and Meierkhold moved to Vera Komissarzhevskaia's theater in St. Petersburg, two important artists — Nikolai Sapunov and Sergei Soudeikine — followed, contributing to a number of novel productions there. Soudeikine, in particular, played an appreciable role in the development of modern Russian stage design, especially after 1910, the date of his decor and costumes for Meierkhold's production of the comedy The Transformed Prince.” See Russian Theater and Costume Designs from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, introd. Bowlt, John E. (San Francisco, 1979), p. 14Google Scholar.

43. Lobanov credits Sudeikin with this assignment for Diaghilev, claiming the outbreak of World War I prevented the production from taking place, 197. Roslavleva adds that Tcherepnin's failure to complete the score in time as another reason for Diaghilev's abandonment of The Red Masks. According to Roslavleva, p. 166, the ballet would have been Alexander Gorsky's first significant piece in Western Europe.

44. Notes of a Director by Alexander Tairov, frans. and intro. by Kuhlke, William (Coral Gales, FL: University of Miami Press, 1969), pp. 66 ff.Google Scholar

45. Kuhlke, , “Introduction,” to Notes, p. 21Google Scholar.

46. Lobanov in his checklist for Sudeikin, 197, includes Beaumarchais's The Marriage of Figaro, Kuzmin's The Joy of Girls, an operatta, and Benavente's The Inside of Life as given at the Kamerny, but omits de Rougemonf's The Carnival of Life. Although Kuhlke, p. 146, n. 12, confirms The Carnival of Life, one hesitates to rely on this checklist exclusively because of some other misinformation on Sudeikin, e.g., the given and patronymic names for Sudeikin, the date he first started designing, a production of Maeterlinck's La Mort de Tintagiles designed by Sapunov for Vera Kommissarzhevskaya in 1906, etc. Under the circumstances, it seems safe to say that Sudeikin designed at least two plays for Tairov during the second season of the Kamerny (1915-16).

47. Volback, Walter R., Adolphe Appia, Prophet of the Modern Theatre: A Profile (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1968), pp. 88–89Google Scholar, discusses the collaboration of Appia and Salzmann at Hellerau. Sayler said that Salzmann in 1916 gave Tairov exclusive permission to use his system of lighting at the Kamerny. Unfortunately, the war prevented Tairov from purchasing all the necessary equipment to implement Salzmann's theories fully. See Tairov, , Notes, p. 123Google Scholar.

48. “L'Etranger à Paris,” La Croix, 4 janvier 1921, p. 2Google Scholar.

49. Bastia, Jean, “Le deuxième spectacle de la Chauve-Souris,” Comoedia, 4 février 1921, p. 1Google Scholar; the reviewer tells us that the Chauve-Souris performed in Tours before arriving in Paris.

50. Sayler, , Russian Theatre, p. 319Google Scholar. Sayler says that Nicholas Remisov was ReMi, the caricaturist for the satirical weekly Novy Satirikon, published in St. Petersburg.

51. A[ugust] N[ardy], “Avant-Première — ‘La Chauve-Souris’ au Théâtre Femina,” Bonsoir, 20 décembre 1920, p. 3Google Scholar.

52. Sorbets, Gaston, “Les Spectacles de la ‘Chauve-Souris’,” L'Illustration, 26 février 1921, p. 205Google Scholar.

53. J.K. “Théâtres: ‘La Chauve-Souris de Moscou’,” Journal des débats, 24 décembre 1920, p. 3Google Scholar.

54. Ibid.

55. de Beauplan, Robert, “Le Théâtre,” La Liberté, 28 décembre 1920, p. 3Google Scholar.

56. Nozière, , “Femme de Luxe — La Chauve-Souris,” L'Avenir, 5 février 1921, p. 2Google Scholar.

57. Bastia, p. 1.

58. Sorbets, p. 205.

59. Ibid.

60. “Les curieux spectacles de la ‘Chauve-Souris’ au Théâtre Femina,” Le Matin, 9 janvier 1921, p. 4Google Scholar.

61. Ibid.

62. “Théâtres,” Journal des débats, 27 mars 1921, p. 3Google ScholarPubMed.

63. Meunier, Alexandre, “Représentations du Théâtre de la Chauve-Souris,” Paris Music-Hall, 15 février 1921, p. 6Google Scholar.

64. Bastia, Jean, “Le troisième spectacle de ‘La Chauve-Souris’,” Comoedia, 26 mars 1921, p. 1Google Scholar.

65. Gignoux, Régis, “Les Premières,” Figaro, 23 mars 1921, p. 4Google Scholar.

66. Ibid.

67. Catulle-Mendes, Jane, “Spectacle de la Chauve-Souris de Moscow,” La Presse, 24 février 1921, p. 2Google Scholar.

68. Catulle-Mendès, Jane, “Nouveau Spectacle de la Chauve-Souris,” La Presse, 24 mars 1921, p. 2Google Scholar.

69. Seize, Pierre, “‘La Chauve-Souris’ au Théâtre Femina,” Bonsoir, 24 mars 1921, p. 3Google Scholar.

70. “A la Chauve-Souris de Moscou,” L'Evinèment, 4 février 1921, p. 2Google Scholar.

71. de Beauplan, Robert, “Le troisième spectacle de la Chauve-Souris,” La Liberté, 24 mars 1921, p. 2Google Scholar.

72. [Aurélien] Lugné-Poë, , “Au Théâtre Femina,” Comoedia, 26 décembre 1920, p. 1Google Scholar.

73. Ibid.

74. Ibid.

75. Ibid.

76. Ibid. Lugné-Poē's observation on Craig's Hamlet is examined in detail by Laurence Senelick, “The Craig-Stanislavsky Hamlet at the Moscow Art Theatre,” Theatre Quarerly 6 (Summer 1976): 108 et passim., and again in his “Moscow and Monodrama: The Meaning of the Craig-Stanislavsky Hamlet,” Theatre Research International 6 (1981): 122Google Scholar.

77. Lugné-Poē, , “La semaine théâtrale,” L'Eclair, 8 février 1921, p. 3Google Scholar.

78. Ibid. Lugné-Poë elaborates further on the two kinds of décor — l'école réaliste et l'école synthètique — in a short essay from an unidentified source: La Semaine Théâtrale: Les deux écoles dans l'art du décor, Collection Rondel (Rt. 12266), Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal. Sudeikin's decor is said to be representative of l'école synthètique, and Lugné-Poë characterizes certain tableaux of the Chauve-Souris as “essais,” a kind of literary conceit for Baliev's theater of miniatures.

79. These excerpts are taken from the following reviews in the order in which the quotes appear: Bastia, Jean, “Le deuxième spectacle de la Chauve-Souris,” Comoedia, 4 février 1921, p. 1Google Scholar; Descaves, Lucien, “Spectacles: Le Théâtre,” L'Intransigeant, 5 février 1921, p. 2Google Scholar; J. K. “Théâtres: Femina — La Chauve-Souris,” Journal des débats, 5 février 1921, p.3Google Scholar; Seize, Pierre, “Les bons soirs et les mauvais,” Bonsoir, 1 janvier 1921, p. 5Google Scholar; Frèjaville, Gustave, “Théâtres,” Journal des débats, 16 janvier 1921, p. 5Google Scholar. Adrien-Bertrand, Suzanne, “Premières Représentations,” Le Rappel, 5 février 1921, p. 3Google Scholar; and Edmond Sée, “Au Théâtre Femina,” L'Oeuvre, 6 janvier 1921, p. 3Google Scholar.

80. Scize, Pierre, “Au Théâtre Femina: Le deuxième spectacle de la ‘Chauve-Souris’ est digne du premier,” Bonsoir, 4 février 1921, p. 3Google Scholar; Adrien Bertrarfd, p. 3.

81. Lugné-Poë, , L'Eclair, p. 3Google Scholar.

82. Catulle-Mendès, 4 février 1921, p. 2Google Scholar. The score used for this number is not identified by the press; it was probably a traditional polka tune with a special arrangement made by Henri Forterre. According to Vera Stravinsky and Craft, Robert, Stravinsky in Pictures and Documents (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1978), p. 627Google Scholar, n. 11, Stravinsky was “infatuated with Katinka” (Nikitina), whom he met through the Sudeikins in March 1921. Stravinsky “immortalized” her by adding her theme song to a polka section in Three Easy Pieces. The Comoedia reported that Stravinsky was at the répétition générale for the deuxième programme, “Soirée,” 4 février 1921, p. 2. It is clear from this that Stravinsky knew Mme Anderson and her choreographic work as early as 1921. Both Anderson and Sudeikin were to be assigned choreographer and scenic designer, respectively, for Stravinsky's American premiere of Les Noces at the Metropolitan Opera House, 25 April 1929.

83. Meunier, p. 6.

84. Lugné-Poë, , L'Eclair, p. 3Google Scholar; he paraphrases Colette's review in Le Matin, 2 février 1921, p. 3Google Scholar.

85. Nozière, p. 2. Translation mine. While some critics compared La Fontaine de Bakhtchisarai with Schéhérazade, others recalled Max Reinhardt's Sumurûn, a wordless play by Frederich Freska, in nine scenes, based on The Tales of the Arabian Nights, with original music specifically composed for the scenario by Victor Hollander, premiere at Kammerspiele des Deutschen Theater, Berlin, 22 April 1910. In some ways, the scenario also suggests Alexander Gorsky's The Dance Dream, which appeared only a few months after Reinhardt's London premiere in 1911. The reawakened interest in mimed drama may, at least in part, have been prompted by the silent cinema, See Carter, Huntly, The Theatre of Max Reinhardt (New York: Benjamin Blom, 1964 [1914]), pp. 197–209Google Scholar.

86. Gignoux, Régis, “Les Premières,” Le Figaro, 4 février 1921, p. 3Google Scholar.

87. Sée, Edmond, “Spectacle de ‘La Chauve-Souris’ de Moscou,” L'Oeuvre, 4 février 1921, p. 3Google Scholar.

88. Meunier, p. 6.

89. Nozière, p. 2.

90. Bastia, 4 février 1921, p. 1.

91. Ibid.

92. Catulle-Mendès, 22 mars 1921, p. 2.

93. Sceize, Pierre, “Sur les ailes de la Chauve-Souris,” Bonsoir, 19 mars 1921, p. 3Google Scholar.

94. Seize, 24 mars 1921, p. 3.

95. “Nikita Balieff's Biography,” p. 1.