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Maurice BEJART (Vaslav NIJINSKY)

Notes préparatoires manuscrites pour le spectacle "Nijinski : clown de dieu" : textes du journal de Nijinski

s.d. [ca 1971], 21x29,7cm, 3 feuillets filigranés.

Maurice BéJART (Vaslav NIJINSKY)
Handwritten preparatory notes for the "Nijinsky: Clown de Dieu" performance. Texts from Nijinsky’s diary
[c. 1971] | 21 x 29.7 cm | loose leaves
Handwritten manuscript from the choreographer Maurice Béjart. Three leaves, 60 lines written in black ink.
Maurice Béjart’s handwritten preparatory notes for the show in tribute to dancer Nijinsky, entitled, Nijinsky: Clown de Dieu. Here Béjart lists Nijinsky’s diary extracts that were intended to be read during the performance, indicating their place in the ballet.
In 1971, Maurice Béjart created the “Clown de Dieu,” a ballet dedicated to Vaslav Nijinsky, a famous Russian dancer and choreographer of Polish origin. The work retraces a young man’s slow descent into hell, in search of spirituality, love and truth; it also makes reference to Nijinsky’s most famous roles in his short and dazzling career: “Le Spectre de la rose”, “Shéhérazade”, “Petrouchka”, and “L’Après-midi d’un faune”. The ballet was performed by his faithful company Ballet du XXe Siècle, using music by Tchaikovsky and the electroacoustic composer Pierre Henry. The choreographer thus hoped to contribute to the legacy of this dancer, who went mad in the 1920s, being remembered for his legendary physical grace.
During the performance, Béjart makes use of extracts from Nijinsky’s own diary, which were recited by Laurent Terzieff at the time of its creation at the Forest National sports hall in Brussels. In this work manuscript, the choreographer copies each quotation, indicating its position in the ballet (“before pas de deux”), and the narrator’s intonation (“3 times Very loudly, mid-range, then a whisper”).
Nijinsky, then on the verge of madness, had written this diary, incorporating his mystical reflections and introspection during the 1918-1919 winter, shortly before he was detained. Béjart will qualify this in an interview about “upsetting human and social document” and this also inspired him with the title of the ballet, “Clown of God.” The passages selected by Béjart in this manuscript return to the happy times in the dancer’s life – his marriage to Romola de Pulszky (“The love I experienced when getting married was not sensual. It was eternal”) and they evoke the tragic destiny of a man whose sensitivity caused his loss: “I am flesh and feeling, God in flesh and feeling... I am a Dove.”
Provenance: Maurice Béjart’s personal archives.

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