LS in French, two pages, 5 x 7, Hotel de Paris letterhead, February 14, 1926. Letter to ballet critic Edwin Evans, in full: "Nemtchinova and Zverev have permission to dance outside my troupe during the months of February and March. I have also allowed them to accept an engagement with Cochran during this period, after which they will return to me. I send you with gratitude the fruits of Pasquier's troupe. Currently we are showing the new ballet of Auric [Pastorale] which is very beautiful, but quite complicated. If we can arrange the London season, I am going to create my first English ballet with music of Lambert, which I think you know." Impressively double-matted and framed with a colorful Ballets Russes program cover to an overall size of 27 x 17.25. In fine condition.
From this letter, it seems that Diaghilev was aware that two of his stars, Vera Nemtchinova and Nicolas Zverev, planned to leave for London and granted them permission to perform there, but only for a brief period. The pair would never return—working with Massine in London in the Cochran Revue and then with Mikhail Mordkin in New York—and their loss was devastating to Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. Diaghilev goes on to mention his troupe's ongoing performances of Georges Auric's Pastorale, and his intention to stage Constant Lambert's Romeo and Juliet. A fantastic letter from the revered founder of the Ballets Russes.
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