Details
DIAGHILEV, Sergei Pavlovich (1872-1929). Autograph letter (signed with a small drawing of a cat) to 'My Dear One' [Serge Lifar], Munich, n.d. [August 1929], in Russian, on paper with printed heading of the Regina Palast Hotel, 2 pages, oblong 8vo (docketed by Lifar in the top right hand corner of the 1st page); [with] Anne PAVLOVA (1881-1931). Letter signed to an unidentified correspondent, Paris, 27 June 1909, one page, 8vo.
DIAGHILEV'S LAST LETTER TO LIFAR, saying that the production of Hindemith's Cantata is disappointing and rather strange, and reporting on his visit to Munich where he has met, among others, the Polignacs; everyone is mad about Mozart and Wagner, both composers are geniuses, and he himself wept bitterly during Tristan und Isolde which he saw today. While reassured by Lifar's telegram he reproaches him for not writing, and asks if he has not forgotten 'his cat' (i.e. Diaghilev).
Lifar refers to the present letter in his memoirs (Ma Vie, page 70). Diaghilev was already in failing health, and died in Venice on 19 August, after meeting Lifar there. Lifar later wrote cynically on Diaghilev's last days: 'No longer does he need others ... he addresses me from his bed of pain in touching letters and telegrams that beseech his "kitten" not to forget its old "cat"' (Diaghilev, 1940, p. 510).
Pavlova, about to leave Paris [after her appearance with the Ballets Russes], thanks her correspondent for his assistance ('le soutien puissant et distingué que j'ai trouvé de votre part.')
DIAGHILEV'S LAST LETTER TO LIFAR, saying that the production of Hindemith's Cantata is disappointing and rather strange, and reporting on his visit to Munich where he has met, among others, the Polignacs; everyone is mad about Mozart and Wagner, both composers are geniuses, and he himself wept bitterly during Tristan und Isolde which he saw today. While reassured by Lifar's telegram he reproaches him for not writing, and asks if he has not forgotten 'his cat' (i.e. Diaghilev).
Lifar refers to the present letter in his memoirs (Ma Vie, page 70). Diaghilev was already in failing health, and died in Venice on 19 August, after meeting Lifar there. Lifar later wrote cynically on Diaghilev's last days: 'No longer does he need others ... he addresses me from his bed of pain in touching letters and telegrams that beseech his "kitten" not to forget its old "cat"' (Diaghilev, 1940, p. 510).
Pavlova, about to leave Paris [after her appearance with the Ballets Russes], thanks her correspondent for his assistance ('le soutien puissant et distingué que j'ai trouvé de votre part.')
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