The Countess

This long yellow velvet skirt matches jacket 68.88/4a and is part of the costume designed by Léon Bakst for the character of the Countess from Scene III of The Sleeping Princess. This scene portrays a hunting party in which the Countess, amongst other noblewomen, is seen vying for the Prince’s affections. The skirt has a long train with a hand loop and the jacket is embellished with metallic braid and pink and turquoise wool.

This costume was worn by Lubov Tchernicheva (1890 – 1976), who trained at the Imperial Ballet School in St Petersburg before becoming a member of the Maryinsky Theatre in 1908. She joined Diaghilev’s Company permanently in 1911 with her husband, rehearsal director, Serge Grigoriev, and they remained with the company till it folded in 1929.

This costume was made by Grace Lovat Fraser (nee Crawford) in London. Fraser (1889- 1977) was a singer, actress, costume designer, translator of plays, author and friend of the Ballets Russes. Fraser was approached just three weeks prior to the opening of the Sleeping Princess to make a number of costumes. On meeting with Bakst, she was told to interpret, not copy, the designs and that the patterns must be embroidered or appliquéd, not printed or stencilled. The finished item shows the inexperience of Lovat Fraser and her team, but also the time constraints they were working under.

In 1921, Serge Diaghilev staged a reconstruction of the Imperial Theatre’s The Sleeping Beauty. This ballet had been choreographed in 1890 by Marius Petipa to the music of Tchaikovsky. Inspired by the success of the long-running musical Chu Chin Chow, Diaghilev hoped that The Sleeping Princess, as he renamed it, would run forever. It was a hugely ambitious project. Diaghilev secured the Alhambra Theatre, London and the financial backing of Sir Oswald Stoll to the tune of over £20,000. He employed Nicolas Sergeyev, the former régisseur of the Mariinsky, to stage Petipa’s choreography. Diaghilev altered the score with additions from The Nutcracker and other ballets, and employed Bronislava Nijinska to create additional choreography. The full length ballet was divided into five scenes, The Christening, The Spell, The Vision, The Awakening and The Wedding

Léon Bakst was commissioned to design the opulent costumes and sets. In just over three months, a staggering six changes of complex set and nearly 300 individual costumes were made for Diaghilev’s most ambitious project to date. No expense was spared with even the costumes for minor roles being exquisitely crafted. The costumes were made between workshops in Paris and London with many constructed by Bakst’s preferred costume maker, Mme Muelle, in Paris.

The Sleeping Princess opened on 2 November 1921. A full-length ballet was a new experience for London audiences, and initially was a great success. The production needed to run for six months in order to break even. After the New Year, sales began to drop and on 4 February 1922, after 105 consecutive performances, The Sleeping Princess closed. Despite the work’s perceived failure, it remains one of the longest-running ballets ever performed on the West End.

Stoll seized the sets and costumes in lieu of the outstanding debt, and the company was given a month’s leave. The costumes were stored under the stage of the Coliseum. Diaghilev was eventually able to settle the debt and buy back the costumes in 1925, but he had moved on artistically and only some costume from Scene V were used again. The majority of the surviving costumes were sold in a renowned auction at Sotheby’s, London, in 1968, and the remainder in 1973. The costumes in the museum’s collection were purchased in 1968.