150 years ago, Mathilde Kschessinska, a prominent Russian ballerina and a vivid figure in Russian history at the turn of the century was born. Today she is commonly referred to as the mistress of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II. However, Kschessinska was not only the main character of gossip during her lifetime and screen romances after her death. She promoted Russian ballet and was the star of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. During World War I, she used her own funds to set up infirmaries, performed for the wounded and visited the front lines.
Dancing Dynasty
Mathilde Kschessinska had a long life and died in December 1971, half a year before her 100th birthday. The ballerina lived in exile for the second half of her life, however, her memoirs were entirely focused on the triumphant Russian period of her life when Kschessinska had been the prima ballerina of the Mariinsky Theater and an international celebrity, and members of the Imperial family had competed to win her heart.
Her memoirs were first published in French in 1960. Later their English version was published in London. A Russian edition was not published until the early 1990s. It was based on a copy found in the Lenin Library in 1973. The copy featured handwritten notes and corrections by Mathilde Kschessinska, who had acquired the title of Her Serene Highness Princess Romanovskaya-Krasinskaya in exile.
The ballerina's father was Feliks Krzesiński, a dancer famous in both Poland and Russia. It is believed that he popularized the mazurka in his second homeland. Mathilde wrote respectfully about her father's Polish ancestry in her memoirs but referred to herself as a Russian ballerina.
For the record, the Romanovs and the Krzesińskys met first back in 1835. Feliks and his daughter owed their triumphant artistic careers in Russia to members of the Imperial family. Nicholas I of Russia who had visited Poland for military inspections gave the 14-year-old Feliks Krzesiński a round of applause, and years later he invited several Polish dancers to St. Petersburg to perform mazurka.
"My father finally settled in St. Petersburg at that time and lived there until his death," Mathilde recalled. "He enjoyed unfailing success at the Mariinsky Theater, and his performance of the mazurka was considered model.”
All of Feliks Krzesiński's children were involved in dancing, both in Russia and in the Soviet Union. Mathilde's brother, Joseph, served at the Kirov Theater until his death during the Siege of Leningrad.
"You may forget about your knees but you can't forget about acting"
"I was my father's favorite," Mathilde Kschessinska wrote in her memoirs. "He sensed that I had an affinity for the theater, and a natural talent. His hope was that I would affirm his family's fame on the stage where his father and he himself had excelled. I loved dancing from the age of three, and my father used to delight me by taking me to the Bolshoi Theater where opera and ballet were performed. I just loved it."
Her first appearance on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater in St. Petersburg was in her early childhood. It was The Little Humpbacked Horse. Then she studied at the Imperial Theater School.
"I was fourteen years old when the famous ballerina Virginia Zucchi visited us," she recalled. "Back then I was assigned small roles, and I tried to perform them as well as possible, and even was even praised for them. However, I did not see the significance of what we were doing, and I did not get real inner satisfaction from my dancing. I even doubted whether my choices were the right ones for my career. I don't know where that would have led if Zucchi's appearance on our stage hadn't immediately changed my mindset revealing the meaning and significance of our art to me.”
Mathilde was listed as Kschessinska 2nd in the Mariinsky Theater cast because her older sister Julia had taken the stage earlier. However, Mathilde outperformed her sister in her adolescence and got the whole theatrical St. Petersburg to talk about her.
Her career subsequently progressed. Having won the love of Russian audiences, Mathilde Kschessinska conquered foreign audiences on tours as one of the main stars of Sergey Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, which made the whole enlightened world talk about Russian art.
She was petite (153 cm or 5'02"). Her ballet technique was flawed. Nevertheless, she amazed the public with her passion, acting, and mastery of dramatic identification. "I was not one of those who work to the point of exhaustion and only think about technical details, twisted knees, focusing more on technique than acting," she wrote. "When there are no facial gestures, the technique must be definitely respected. However, when it comes to powerful dramatic scenes where everything is based on feeling, you may forget about the knees but you can't forget about acting.”
Mathilde Kschessinska regarded the combination of techniques, acting, and genuine emotions as the main feature of Russian ballet. And she advocated it in disputes with the celebrities of the ballet world.
"She (American ballerina Isadora Duncan - auth.) and I used to have a friendly exchange about the merits and advantages of our art," Kschessinska recalled. "Back then Duncan was on the highest pinnacle of her fame. She sought to prove to me that classical ballet was doomed to be superseded by her new school that studied Greek poses and movements based on antique vases and frescoes.
I argued that her efforts would undoubtedly introduce many new and beautiful things into our ballet but that neither she nor her pupils, much fewer imitators, would ever be able to perceive our art. Our dancers brought up in the classical school can perform any kind of movement since they have the necessary technique for that.”
The Heir and the Sovereign
Mathilde Kschessinska remained respectful to the members of the Imperial family until her old age. She hardly ever referred to Nicholas II by his first name in her memoirs. She first referred to him as the Heir (with a capital letter) and then as the Sovereign.
They first met at the Imperial Theater School after an examination performance. Back then Mathilde was 17 years old. The production was attended by the extended Imperial family headed by Alexander III. After the performance, the Emperor congratulated the young ballerinas on finishing their exams.
"According to tradition, the graduates were introduced first, and then it was the turn of day students. Yet the Sovereign entered the hall where we came together and asked with a sonorous voice, 'And where is Kschessinska?" she recalled. "I stood aside not expecting the rules to be violated. The supervisor and the class mistresses fussed. They were going to introduce the first two students, Rychlyakova and Skorsyuk. However, they immediately introduced me, and I made a deep bow to the Sovereign. The Sovereign extended his hand to me and said, "Be a jewel and the glory of our ballet." I again made a profound curtsy and promised in my heart to strive to live up to the Sovereign's gracious words.”
Alexander III invited the bewildered ballerina to sit between himself and the young Nicholas during a gala dinner. "Don't flirt too much," Kschessinska quoted the Emperor speaking.
The young people disobeyed the wise admonition and embarked on a relationship that, according to Mathilde Kschessinska, lasted four years until it was announced that Nicholas would marry British Princess Alice of Hesse.
Mathilde described in detail how she had been jealous of her lover going to see a bride in Britain, and glad that Alexander III was against the wedding. At the same time, she left very touching words about her rival in the memoirs.
"There may be differences of opinion about the role played by the Empress during her reign but I must say that she was the Heir's wife who had fully embraced the Russian faith, the principles and foundations of royal power, a woman of great spiritual qualities and duty," wrote Kschessinska. “She was his faithful companion and supporter during the harsh days of trials and imprisonment, and she faced death together with him with humility and exceptional dignity.”
According to the ballerina, her relationship with Nicholas ended. However, she sometimes sought his help through relatives of the Sovereign who remained in touch with her. For example, Kschessinska complained about oppression by theater management, and problems were quickly resolved.
"The Heir was highly educated. He had an outstanding command of languages and an exceptional memory, especially of faces and everything he read," she wrote. "He was a kind and easy-going person. People were always charmed by him. His extraordinary eyes and smile won hearts. (...) His outer serenity did not abandon him even at the most dramatic moments of life. He was a mystic and a fatalist to some extent. He believed in his mission even after his abdication and therefore did not want to leave Russia (...) It was clear to me that the Heir did not have something he needed for reigning. One cannot claim that he was weak-minded. No, he was strong. Yet he lacked something to make others obey his will. His first impulse was almost always the right one but he did not know how to insist and very often relented."
Her relationship with the Romanovs continued: the ballerina had a long affair with Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich. Later she married another Grand Duke, Andrei Vladimirovich, and gave birth to a son, Vladimir.
Her gravestone in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Cemetery features an inscription in Russian that refers to the ballerina as to Her Serene Highness Princess Maria Romanovskaya-Krasinskaya and Mathilde Kschessinska, Distinguished Dancer of the Imperial Theaters.
