Diaghilev and Petrouchka

Diaghilev told me a wonderful story about Petrouchka. The ballet was supposed to finish with Petrouchka murdered by the Moor and dragged off by his legs by the magician. But during the final rehearsals, Diaghilev suggested that Petrouchka appear again above the little theatre and stick out his tongue, mocking the magician, proving that he is alive forever. Fokine, Stravinsky, and Benois were all against the idea. "No, Sergei," Benois said, "that is the end." But Diaghilev insisted and threatened to throw away the whole ballet unless the end was changed. There is in Russia this tradition of Ivanushka Durak--Ivan the Fool. Everybody takes him for an idiot, but in the end he outsmarts them all. In old Russia, there were these men who were elevated--not saints, not monks but holy men who would wander the countryside on foot and then one day suddenly turn up at the gate of some big estate. They were simple people, not at all sophisticated or educated. But they were always welcome, because it was said that they could guide people, that they were prophets. They would be taken in and given food and a place to sleep until they were ready to move on. Diaghilev understood that an ending that confirmed this tradition would make the ballet stronger. The new ending was brilliant; the ballet survived because of it.

Choura: the memoirs of Alexandra Danilova. 1987. Page 90.