Mathilde Kschessinska

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Mathilde Kschessinska : biography

31 August 1872 – 6 December 1971

Mathilda-Marie Feliksovna Kschessinskaya ( (19 August (31 August) 18726 December 1971 (also known as Her Serene Highness Princess Romanova-Krasinskaya from 1921) was a Russian ballerina from a family of Polish origin. Her father Feliks Krzesiński and her brother both danced in St. Petersburg. She eventually attained the highest rank, that of prima ballerina assoluta.Mary Clarke and David Vaughan (eds) 1977. The encyclopedia of dance & ballet. Pitmans, London. p201 She was also a mistress of the future Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.Kshessinska 1960. Dancing in Petersburg. London, transl Haskell.

She was known in the West as Mathilde Kschessinska or Matilda Kshesinskaya.The latter is Beaumont’s version, The Diaghilev Ballet in London, 1940.

Prima ballerina

In 1896, she obtained the rank of Prima ballerina of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres. The old maestro Petipa did not consent to its granting to Kschessinskaya, and although she possessed an extraordinary gift as a dancer, she obtained it primarily via her prestige at the Imperial Russian Court.

Scandals and rumours

Two grand dukes

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 given the title Prince Romanovsky-Krasinsky, but said that he never knew for sure who his father was.Though Andrei acknowledged Vova as his son, it is possible that Vova’s biological father was Grand Duke Sergei, whose patronymic he was given. It has also been suggested that Grand Duke Vladimir Romanov was the father. Another rumor, with Nicholas II as father, was assumed by Adrienne Sharp in her fictional account of Kschessinska, The True Memoirs of Little K (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010), ISBN 0-374-20730-5 [reviewed by ].

The future tsar

Earlier, Kschessinskaya had been involved with the future Nicholas II, from 1890, when he was a grand duke and she was just seventeen, having met him in the presence of his family after her graduation performance. The relationship continued for three years, until Nicholas married Princess Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt—the future Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna — in 1894, shortly after the death of his father, Tsar Alexander.

Coaching of Pavlova

While Kschessinska 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 also be ruthless with rivals. One of her most 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 other ballerina could not upstage her. Instead, audiences became enthralled with the frail, long-limbed, ethereal-looking Pavlova, and a star was born.

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.

Relationship with Petipa

Petipa allowed Kschessinskaya to create only a small number of new roles, as he considered Legnani to be the superior ballerina. Although she was able to command top billing in theatre programs or on posters, her efforts to obtain more new roles were thwarted by Petipa, whose authority over the artistic direction of the Imperial Ballet was not challenged by the Emperor himself. Among the few roles Kschessinskaya created were Flora in Le Réveil de Flore (1894) and Columbine in Harlequinade (1900). She also became the first Russian danseuse to master the 32 fouettés of Legnani.