Ballet Russes and the “Cutting Edge”

One thing I have found interesting in researching Auric’s music for the Ballet Les Facheux, is Diaghilev’s fascination with choreography and composer’s who stirred up controversy. The Ballet Russes had a history of performances causing hiccups and then going on to be financially and culturally popular. In more extremes, Parades and Les Sacre du Princeps caused such a stir at their first receptions¹
, that they built up a sense of wonder around the rest of the “more mundane shows”. A hostile first reception means more buzz for the company, and therefore more money. This is interestingly reflected in the scholarly information for Auric’s three Ballets Les Facheux, Les Matelots, and Pastorale. Out of the three, Les Matelots is reported to have been received the best of the three in the beginning, yet, the other two ballets have a lot more information on them.

There seems to be two reasons that Auric was hired to write for Les Facheux, which ended up being a breakout moment for the young composer. The Ballet Russes was struggling financially in the early 20’s, and as a result, Diaghilev sought out younger, cheaper, composers to write music for him. Even with the cheaper composers, he sometimes had difficultly had trouble paying them. I feel, however, the more charming reason the Auric was chosen was because he had heard that is was being hissed. Either way, Diaghilev cultivated newness and freshness into his ballets, and Auric’s score reflects the modernity of the ballet and the time.