Alexander Nikolaevich Benois

Nijinsky gave one of his greatest ever performances in the title role in the 1911 premiere of Petrushka at the Theatre du Chatelet, and it is generally acknowledged to be the crowning achievement of Benois' career. Not only did Benois design the sets and costumes, but also wrote the libretto of the ballet described by Prince Lieven as 'the greatest achievement of the Ballets Russes, their admitted masterpiece' (P. Lieven, The Birth of the Ballets-Russes, New York, 1973, p.131). 

Benois not only designed the sets and costumes for Petrushka but wrote the libretto as well. The plot is simple, with three puppets as the principal characters: Petrushka, the Ballerina, and the Moor. The puppets belong to the Magician, who plays his magic flute and brings them to life. Both Petrushka and the Moor love the Ballerina, but the Moor wins her favour and kills his rival. The Shrovetide fair appealed to Benois as a subject, partly because it provided an opportunity to introduce characters from different social classes and to therefore diversify his costume designs.

His designs concentrate mostly however, on the character of the Moor...: "If Petrushka were to be taken as the personification of the spiritual and suffering side of humanity - or shall we call it the poetical principle? - his lady Columbine would be the incarnation of the eternal feminine ; then the gorgeous Blackamoor would serve as the embodiment of everything senselessly attractive, powerfully masculine and undeservedly triumphant" (A.Benois, Reminiscences of the Russian Ballet, London, Putnam, 1945, p.326).

"The Moor was the character whom I was least satisfied with, which is why I altered his appearance several times ... making his costume sometimes red, light blue or navy. But I think that the first version of 1911 was really the best - a green jacket and trousers made of gold brocade. The excellent dancer Orlov, one of our best character artists, created this role in a masterly way. The chief problem was to give an adequate impression of almost bestial senselessness" (ibid. p.338).

It was a happy period in Benois' life. "Those were indeed wonderful days for us! Seen from a distance, they seem as radiant as the happy days of my childhood and as the most poetical years of my youth. It was wonderful to be working, in an atmosphere of complete friendship and harmony, on a task of whose significance we were all fully conscious." (ibid. p. 330).

Thew four-act opera Sadko was composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. It was first performed on June 7 1930 in the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris. Benois described in Reminiscences of the Russian Ballet the success of his designs on the evening of the premiere: the whole theatre turned towards him after the act showing the Novgorod Harbour and applauded for a long time as he remained in his box.