Ballet by Nijinsky
The Afternoon of a Faun () is a ballet choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky for the Ballets Russes, and was first performed in the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris on 29 May 1912. Nijinsky danced the main part himself. The ballet is set to Claude Debussy's symphonic poem "Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune". Both the music and the ballet were inspired by the poem "L'Après-midi d'un faune" by Stéphane Mallarmé. The costumes, sets and programme illustrations were designed by the painter Léon Bakst.
The style of the 12-minute ballet, in which a young faun meets several nymphs and proceeds to flirt with and chase them, was deliberately archaic. In the original scenography designed by Léon Bakst, the dancers were presented as part of a large tableau, a staging reminiscent of an ancient Greek vase painting. They often moved across the stage in profile as if on a bas relief. The ballet was presented in bare feet and rejected classical formalism. The work had an overtly erotic subtext beneath its façade of Greek antiquity and ended with a scene of graphic sexual desire. This led to a controversial reception from both audience and critics, and the quality of the ballet was debated widely through multiple news reviews. The piece also led to the dissolution of a partnership between Nijinsky and Michel Fokine, another prominent choreographer for the Ballets Russes, due to the extensive amount of time required to train the dancers in what was then an unconventional style of dance.
"L'Après-midi d'un Faune" is considered one of the first modern ballets and proved to be as controversial as Nijinsky's "Jeux" (1913) and "Le Sacre du printemps" (1913).
Creation.
Conception.
The ballet was developed as a possible new production for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. Michel Fokine choreographed most of the dances that the company performed. Fokine had originally worked as a choreographer with the Imperial Russian Ballet. In addition to Fokine, all the different specialists for the new ballet company had also come from the Imperial Russian Ballet company. Initially, the Ballets Russes took advantage of the 3 months summer break when the Imperial ballet closed and its staff were free to do other things. The Ballets Russes used this time to stage their own ballets and operas in Paris. Diaghilev began looking around for an alternative to the style which Fokine customarily delivered before deciding to allow his senior male dancer, Vaslav Nijinsky, to try his hand at choreography.
Diaghilev, Nijinsky, and Bakst developed the original idea for "The Afternoon of a Faun". The artwork on ancient Greek vases and Egyptian and Assyrian frescoes, which they viewed in the Louvre museum, was their source of inspiration. Bakst had previously worked with Vsevolod Meyerhold who was an innovative theatre producer and director that had introduced concepts like two-dimensionality, stylized postures, a narrow stage, and pauses and pacing to emphasise significant moments into his productions. Bakst, Nijinsky, and Diaghilev transferred these concepts to a ballet format in "Faun". Nijinsky's aim was to reproduce the stylised look of the ancient artworks on the stage. In his portrayal of the faun, Nijinsky managed to reproduce exactly the figure of a satyr shown on Greek vases in the Louvre.
Development.
Jean Cocteau, a French poet, explained the Mallarmé poem to Nijinsky who spoke little French, and helped develop an outline for the ballet's acts. Claude Debussy's symphonic poem, Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, was used for the orchestral music. After the summer season in Paris, Nijinsky returned to St Petersburg for the new Russian season. There, he began work on the choreography with the help of his sister, Bronislava Nijinska, who was herself a senior dancer. Bronislava would later choreograph her own ballets for the Ballets Russes.
Léon Bakst designed the stage setting which was more impressionist than representational. The splashes of muted greys, browns, and greens on the backcloth mirrored the fluid music, suggesting the scene rather than defining it precisely. It was hung at the line of the second wings rather than the back of the stage to deliberately narrow the performance space. The stage floorcloth was black as far back as the mound which the Faun lies upon. From there, it was green to the back of the stage. Baskt organized the lighting to emphasise the flattened look of the dance.
The dancers' costumes were designed to stand out against the muted background. Nijinsky wore a cream body suit with brown piebald patches to represent the coat of an animal. His faun costume was completed with the addition of a short tail, a belt of vine leaves, and a cap of woven golden hair surrounding two golden horns which gave the impression of a circlet. Nijinsky's ears were extended with wax to look more pronounced and pointed while his makeup was designed to make his face appear more animal. The nymphs wore white muslin that was tailored into long pleated tunics and decorated with stencilled patterns in blue or rust red. Some tunics had checkered borders and others had wavy lines or leaves. The nymphs had little makeup, except that their eyes were painted in pale pink. They wore tight wigs of golden rope which hung down in long strands. The Faun and senior nymph wore golden sandals while the rest of the dancers had bare white feet with rouged toes.
Difficulties.
Vaslav Nijinsky was an exceptional dancer but not an exceptional teacher. Nijinsky's sister notes in her memoir that, throughout the development of all his ballets, he had difficulty explaining to others what he needed them to do and operated through demonstration rather than explanation. Bronislava notes that Nijinsky ignored the gap in ability between the dancers he directed and his artistic vision for the choreography. Nijinsky had difficulty accepting the limitations of others, expecting them to be able to perform as well as he could. Bronislava acted as his guinea-pig, trying out dances and positions. She describes the experience as feeling as though Nijinsky were a sculptor and she the clay which he positioned through each step.
Nijinsky and his sister performed the partially developed work for Diaghilev and Bakst in St. Petersburg at the start of 1911. From the beginning, the ballet's development was kept secret until Diaghilev was ready to stage it, because he feared it would offend Fokine. The company was relying on Fokine for other ballets that were also in production, and thought that he might walk out if his position as undisputed choreographer to the company was challenged. The "régisseur", Grigoriev, was let into the secret in early 1912. In March of the same year, rehearsals began with other members of the company. Fokine, who now knew about the project, resented the loss of rehearsal time for his own productions. He attacked Nijinsky's incompetence at getting across his own ideas, claimed he only had the job because he was Diaghilev's lover, and announced his intention to resign which confirmed Diaghilev's fears.
The 12-minute ballet required 90 rehearsals. This led to the reduction of time Fokine received with the dancers which was the basis for many of his complaints. All the dancers suffered the same difficulties Bronislava had reported in trying to adapt to the strange new movements. Nijinsky's choreography felt completely unnatural to them which lengthened the time they needed for training. By this time, Nijinsky had fully devised what he wanted each dancer to do, so he could focus on training them without having to work on developing the ballet at the same time. The general view amongst the dancers was that he was mad and the ballet was doomed to failure. Even Diaghilev started to have doubts and asked Nijinsky whether there might be changes to the difficult choreography. In response to this, Nijinsky threatened to resign.
Choreography.
Much of the movement takes place with groups of dancers passing each other in parallel lines, as if in a moving frieze. As the focus of attention passes from one group to another, dancers take a stylised pose, as might be seen on an ancient vase, and become still. The music is suggestive of a languorous summer's day in an exotic clime, and the dancers move steadily and languorously to match.
The ballet starts with the sound of a flute as the curtain rises to show the faun lying on his mound. The faun is supporting himself with his left arm while his right holds a flute to his lips. He then eats from first one and then another bunch of grapes, holding them to his face. The movements are stylised and angular, but are also suggestive of the movements of an animal. The flute music is then joined by horns and a rippling harp. As the flute tune repeats for the third time, three nymphs walk on from the left of the stage with synchronised, stylised movements. Then, two more nymphs, moving in unison but differently from the first group, join the other dancers onstage.
They perform a long arabesque to music from two flutes and a harp. These instruments are joined by strings as the music progresses while a sixth nymph walks to centre stage and holds a pose before joining the pair. The six nymphs freeze when the last nymph enters with a mechanical walk across the stage as she lets her outer veils fall to reveal a short golden garment beneath. The nymphs all begin to move. The tableau on the stage consists of a group of three, a group of two, and a single nymph who either dances with the pair to balance the scene or strikes poses at variance to the pair.
The faun remains motionless as the first six nymphs enter, but then he follows the progress of the last nymph with his eyes. A clarinet starts to play as his head begins to move, and he rises to his feet as a cello joins in. The six nymphs have begun to bathe the new arrival. Accompanied by an oboe, they move in and out, kneeling and rising with their elbows turned out from their sides as they keep their hands pointed at their waists or to the sky. Violins accompany an increase in tempo as the faun descends from his mound. The pair of nymphs depart to the left of the stage carrying one of the discarded veils while the first three nymphs carry off a second veil to the left. The music changes to a soulful clarinet solo. The sixth nymph who has been left isolated centre stage suddenly notices the faun behind her and runs off to the left, hands in air.
The faun and the last nymph are alone on stage as the music changes with a new air of excitement from the woodwind section which builds along with the violins and the harp. The faun approaches the nymph with bursts of movement, and the two dance around each other in a standoffish courting display. He executes his only jump in the ballet across an imagined stream issuing from a waterfall shown on the backdrop. The music becomes louder as the nymph becomes more enthusiastic. It subsides again as they link arms, but she breaks away and exits flat footed to the left. The faun watches her go in disappointment before smiling, then he turns back to her discarded veil. To a solo violin backed by horns, flute, and clarinet, the faun throws back his head and bares his teeth. Laughing, he takes the veil. He examines it with great delight as the harp and the flute repeat the opening melody.
The woodwind brings in staccato chords as the three nymphs return from stage left to challenge the faun who falls back from their advance. The music changes with an oboe taking up the tune as the nymphs turn back offstage again with their hands in the air. The faun examines the veil, holding it in the air against his head until the cor anglais and flutes accompany the pair of nymphs as they enter from stage left. They again challenge the faun with flapping arms, and are followed by the lagging sixth nymph who dances the same challenge just as the pair turn to leave. The faun falls back, exchanging stares with the nymphs before the last nymph breaks off and she too retires. The faun is now alone. He nods his head over the veil and returns to his mound. A