Mathilde Kschessinska

Mathilde-Marie Feliksovna Kschessinska (

In 1896, she obtained the rank of

In 1899, Prince Serge Wolkonsky became Director of the Imperial Theaters, succeeding Ivan Vsevolozhsky. Although he held the position only until 1902, he achieved a great deal. Sergei Diaghilev was his immediate assistant, and Wolkonsky entrusted him with the publication of the Annual of the Imperial Theaters in 1900. During this period, new names appeared in the theaters, such as painters Alexandre Benois, Konstantin Somov, and Léon Bakst. However, Wolkonsky was forced to send in his resignation after clashing with Kschessinskaya when she refused to wear the panniers of an 18th-century costume in the ballet La Camargo.^[4] In 1901, he was succeeded by V.A. Teliakovsky.^[3]: 57

Scandals and rumours

The future tsar

Kschessinskaya had been involved with the future

Scandals and rumours around her name developed and persisted as she engaged in a sexual relationship with two Grand Dukes of the Romanov family: Sergei Mikhailovich and his cousin Andrei Vladimirovich. In 1902, she gave birth to a son, Vladimir (known as "Vova"; 30 June 1902 – 23 April 1974); he was later titled H.S.H. Prince Romanovsky-Krasinsky, but said that he never knew for sure who his father was.^[5][6]

However, Kschessinska wrote that "Serge knew for certain that he was not the father of the child" and that she was "full of my love for André and my son." She goes on to state "We decided to call our son Wladimir, in honor of the Grand Duke Wladimir, André's father."^{[3]: 70–74}

Coaching of Pavlova

While Kschessinskaya could be charming and kind to colleagues, such as the young Tamara Karsavina, she was not afraid to use her connections with the tsar to strengthen her position in the Imperial Theatres. She was known to sew valuable jewels into her costumes and came on stage as the Princess Aspicia in The Pharaoh's Daughter wearing her diamond encrusted tiaras and chokers. She could be ruthless with rivals. One of her more famous miscalculations occurred when, while pregnant in 1902, she coached Anna Pavlova in the role of Nikya in La Bayadère. She considered Pavlova to be technically weak and believed that the young ballerina could not upstage her. Instead, audiences became enthralled with the frail, long-limbed, ethereal-looking Pavlova, and a star was born.^[7]

Chickens on stage

Another notorious incident occurred in 1906 when Kschessinskaya's coveted role of Lise in the Petipa/Ivanov production of La Fille Mal Gardée was given to Olga Preobrajenska. One feature of this production was the use of live chickens on stage. Before Preobrajenska's variation in the Pas de ruban of the first act, Kschessinskaya opened the doors to the chickens' coops, and at the first note of the music, the chickens went flying about the stage. Nevertheless, Preobrajenska continued her variation to the end and received a storm of applause, much to Kschessinskaya's chagrin.

Finances

Through her aristocratic connections, she managed to amass much valuable property in the Russian capital.^{[3]: 84–89} The Bolsheviks took over her house soon after the February Revolution. It was here that Vladimir Lenin addressed a meeting of the Petrograd Bolsheviks, shortly after he had addressed the crowd at the Finland Station when he returned in 1917.^[8] She claims in her memoirs that they turned it into a kind of pigsty; she went to court to recover it, only to receive death threats; once she passed near the house, she saw Alexandra Kollontai in the garden wearing one of her overcoats. The Bolsheviks were forced to abandon the house only after the July Days.^[9]

Move to France

Kschessinska was forced to flee her home, with her son Vova, on 27 February 1917 (

On 30 January 1921, Andrei and Mathilde were married at the Russian Church in Cannes. According to Kschessinska, the Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia "bestowed on me the name of Krassinsky, with the title of Princess. Our son was similarly given the title Prince." In 1935, due to their morganatic marriage, they added the name Romanovsky, and Romanov was added to their son's.^{[3]: 175–176}

On 9 December 1925, she converted from the Catholic Church to the Russian Orthodox Church. On 5 February 1929, they moved into their Paris home. On 26 March, Kschessinska opened a dance studio, and gave her first lesson on 6 April. By 1933, she had over a hundred students, boys and girls. Her students included Tatiana Riabouchinska, Pearl Argyle, Andrée Howard, June Brae, Margot Fonteyn, Pamela May, Harold Turner, and Diana Gould. On 14 June 1936, she made her last appearance on stage at the age of 64, a jubilee performance at Covent Garden.^{[3]: 183, 187–188, 195, 200–203, 206}

In 1960, she published an autobiography titled Souvenirs de la Kschessinska (published in English as Dancing in St. Petersburg: The Memoirs of Kschessinska). In later years, she suffered financial difficulties but remained indomitable. She died in Paris at the age of 99. She is buried at the

• Fall of Eagles, 13-part television drama created by John Elliot for the BBC; portrayed by Jan Francis (1974).
• Anna Pavlova, film by Emil Loteanu; portrayed by Natalya Fateyeva (1983).
• Aleksey Uchitel; portrayed by Michalina Olszańska
  (2017).
• Untitled Matilda Kshesinskaya project, written by Paul Schrader (TBA).^[10][11]

See also

• List of Russian ballet dancers

References

1. ^ Kshessinska 1960. Dancing in Petersburg. London, translated Haskell.
2. ^ The latter is Beaumont's version, The Diaghilev Ballet in London, 1940.
3. ^
   ISBN 9781789870787
   .
4. ^ Marius Petipa (1958). Russian Ballet Master: The Memoirs of Marius Petipa. Dance Books Ltd.
5. ISBN 0-374-20730-5
   [reviewed by Martin, Benjamin Franklin (28 November 2010). "Tsar Nikolai II's lover's memoir is only partly fiction". Advocate. Baton Rouge. p. 3E.].
6. ^ Having had a friendly relationship with Prince Wladimir Andreievich for the last 17 years of his life, I have never heard him issuing any doubt as to the identity of his father. In her memoirs, published under the title Dancing in Petersburg, his mother writes on page 89: "Serge knew for certain that he was not the father of the child... We decided to call our son Wladimir, in honour of the Grand Duke Wladimir, André's father."
7. ^ Pavlischeva 2018.
8. ^ Trotsky, Leon History of the Russian Revolution volume 1 chapter 15
9. ^ Trotsky, Leon History of the Russian Revolution volume 2 chapter 2
10. ^ Szalai, Georg (17 May 2012). "Cannes 2012: Paul Schrader to Pen Script for Russian Ballerina Biopic (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
11. IMDb

Autobiography

• H.S.H. The Princess Romanovsky-Krassinsky. Dancing in Petersburg — London, 1960, 1973.
• S.A.S. La Princesse Romanovsky-Krassinsky Souvenirs de la Kschessinska — Paris, 1960.

Sources

• Hall, Coryne, Imperial Dancer: Mathilde Kschessinska and the Romanovs, Sutton Publishing, England, 2005.
• Arnold L.Haskell. Diaghileff. His artistic and private life. — NY, 1935.
• Marija Trofimova, "Prince Serge M. Wolkonsky – theatrical critic of Poslednie Novosti" (“Knyaz Sergei Volkonsky – teatralny kritik gazety Poslednie Novosti”) (in Russian), Rev. Etud. Slaves, Paris, LXIV/4, 1992. [There are a lot articles about Kschessinska's ballet school].
• Pavlischeva, Natalya (2018). Анна Павлова. "Неумирающий лебедь" [Anna Pavlova. The Immortal Swan] (in Russian). Yauza.
  ISBN 978-5-9500752-8-5
  .

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mathilde Kschessinska.

• Mathilde's story on www.peoples.ru (in Russian)
• In search of Mathilde Kschessinska (in English)
• The Ballerina Gallery – Mathilde Kschessinska
• Burgess, Anna (1 November 2021). "Prized manuscript — and valuable lesson — unearthed in Soviet archive". The Harvard Gazette.