Nietzschean Transitions in Nijinsky's Ballets

144 Pages·2017·1.93 MB·English

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Religious Studies Theses Department of Religious Studies
Summer 8-17-2012
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Sarah Levine
Georgia State University
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Levine, Sarah, "The Birth of Tragedy out of the Spirit of Dance: Nietzschean Transitions in Nijinsky's
Ballets." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2012.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/3235333
This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Religious Studies at ScholarWorks @
Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Religious Studies Theses by an authorized
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[email protected].
THE BIRTH OF TRAGEDY OUT OF THE SPIRIT OF DANCE:
NIETZSCHEAN TRANSITIONS IN NIJINSKYʼS BALLETS

by

SARAH LEVINE

Under the Direction of Louis A. Ruprecht, Jr.

ABSTRACT
This project compares the career of the early 20th century ballet dancer, Vaslav Nijinsky,
to Friedrich Nietzscheʼs theory of the tragic arts. In The Birth of Tragedy (1872) and elsewhere,
Nietzsche argues that artists play the central role in communal mythmaking and religious re-
newal; he prescribes the healing work of the “tragic artist” to save modernity from the deca-
dence and nihilism he identifies in scientism, historicism, and Christianity. As a dancer, and es-
pecially as a choreographer for the Ballets Russes (1912-1913), Nijinsky staged a kinetic re-
sponse to modern culture that not only displayed shared concerns with Nietzsche, but also, as I
argue, allow him to be interpreted as Nietzscheʼs archetypical tragic artist. By juxtaposing the
philologist-philosopher and dancer-choreographer as artists, I situate the emergence of Modern
Art as a nascent movement still bound to Romanticism even while rebelling against it, and as an
attempt to reinterpret art in a mythic (and thoroughly modern) context.

INDEX WORDS: Vaslav Nijinsky, Friedrich Nietzsche, 20th century dance, Modern Art, Tragic
artist, Art and religion, The Birth of Tragedy, Ballets Russes
THE BIRTH OF TRAGEDY OUT OF THE SPIRIT OF DANCE:
NIETZSCHEAN TRANSITIONS IN NIJINSKYʼS BALLETS

by

SARAH LEVINE

A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Master of Arts
in the College of Arts and Sciences
Georgia State University
2012
Copyright by
Sarah Yael Levine
2012
THE BIRTH OF TRAGEDY OUT OF THE SPIRIT OF DANCE:
NIETZSCHEAN TRANSITIONS IN NIJINSKYʼS BALLETS

by

SARAH LEVINE

Committee Chair: Louis A. Ruprecht, Jr.

Committee: Molly Bassett
Melanie Pavich

Electronic Version Approved:

Office of Graduate Studies
College of Arts and Sciences
Georgia State University
December 2012
iv

DEDICATION
For my mother, Catherine Levine.
v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This thesis could have never been completed without the love, support, and sensitive
criticism of my colleagues, advisors, and family. I first wish to thank my peers in the Department
of Religious Studies, whose intellectual desires often fueled my own. I most appreciate the bond
development by the core group who watched this project—and me—grow and blossom: Rachel
Blume, Suzanne Tryon, Jay Vickers, Ashley Gnat-Vickers, Nicholas Newell, Kathryn Yates and
especially, John Sullivan: our Wednesday afternoon sessions of constructive criticism, tears,
and laughter were invaluable, as were the drinks we shared to wind down.
The advice and guidance provided by my committee advisors, Melanie Pavich and Molly
Bassett encouraged me to be confident in this project and forced me to articulate its merit. The
hours they spent sharing conversation with me, considering my ideas, reading drafts and offer-
ing suggestions are reflected in this work.
I most wish to thank the director of this thesis, Lou Ruprecht, whose faith and trust in my
intellectual pursuits has, for several years now, helped not only to sustain, but also grow my
reverence for history, art, and most importantly, life. I am fortunate to look to him as a mentor
and as a friend, and what is produced here represents many of our shared passions.
Finally, I want to thank my family—my mother, Catherine, and brother, Joshua, for their
unending and patient love they have given me through my many academic pursuits; they are my
soul, and so they sing here.
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..........................................................................................................v 
LIST OF FIGURES..................................................................................................................viii 
1. INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................1 
2. NIETZSCHEʼS TRAGEDY......................................................................................................7 
2.1  The Birth of Tragedy out of the Spirit of Music and the artistic sacrament.7 
2.2  Mythologizing Ancient Greece......................................................................11 
2.3  Apollo, Dionysus, and the achievement of the Greek affirmation of life....17 
2.4  The Necessity of Suffering and the End of Suffering..................................24 
2.5  The Death of Tragedy ....................................................................................30 
2.6  Reason, Christianity, Modernity, and Decadence........................................35 
3. NIJINSKY, ARTIST OF THE FUTURE.................................................................................43 
3.1  The Diary ........................................................................................................45 
3.2  Nijinskyʼs cultural and artistic milieu: East meets West.............................55 
3.3  Prophecies and Premonitions.......................................................................62 
3.4  The early development of a tragic artist.......................................................67 
3.5  Serge Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes.......................................................73 
3.6  Staging Tragic Ballets....................................................................................82 
3.6.1  “L'après-midi d'un faune”.............................................................................85 
3.6.2  “Jeux”..........................................................................................................95
vii
3.6.3  “Le Sacre du Printemps”..............................................................................99 
4. CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................112 
REFERENCES.......................................................................................................................117 
APPENDICES........................................................................................................................122 
Appendix A: Jacques Rivière, excerpt from “Le Sacre du Printemps,” trans.
Miriam Lassman........................................................................................................122 
Appendix B: Adolphe Boschot, “Le Sacre du Printemps, ballet en deux actes de
MM. Roerich, Stravinsky, et Njinsky,” trans. Truman Bullard................................131
viii
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 3-1 Nijinsky with Lydia Nelidova as the bathing Nymph..........................................88
Figure 3-2 Nijinsky as the faun; Figure 3-3 Bronislava Nijinska and Nijinsky....................88
Figure 3-4 Male dancers in Le Sacre du Printemps...........................................................105
Figure 3-5 Village Maidens...................................................................................................105