Dieux mendiants, Les

Shier, Spencer: Vera Nelidova in costume for 'Les Dieux mendiants' ('The gods go a-begging'), Covent Garden Russian Ballet Australian tour, 1939

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David Lichine's Les Dieux mendiants (The gods go a-begging) premiered at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on September 17, 1937. Based on a pastorale by Boris Kochno (under the pseudonym Sobeka), the work was set to an arrangement by Sir Thomas Beecham of music by Handel, with costume and scenery design by Juan Gris.

An earlier Les Dieux mendiants had been choreographed in 1928 by George Balanchine for the Diaghilev Ballets Russes. Lichine's work, created for the de Basil company, reused the 1928 libretto, music and design. The costumes were those Gris had created for Les Tanatations de la bergere, with new designs for the gods, and the scenery was based on Bakst's designs for Daphnis and Chloe. While Lichine's choreography did not mirror Balanchine's, it did retain certain elements, with Alexandra Danilova dancing the role of the Serving Maid in both premieres.

Les Dieux mendiants was performed in Australia by the Covent Garden Russian Ballet and the Original Ballet Russe during their tours of 1938-9 and 1939-40. Its premiere at His Majesty's Melbourne on October 6, 1938, was the first opportunity to view Lichine's choreography in this country and featured Tatiana Riabouchinska and Yurek Shabelevesky in the lead roles of the Divinities - the Serving Maid and the Shepherd. The Argus review of the premiere described the work as a 'rococo vision of lords and ladies dancing on the greensward in elegant costumes', deeming it 'a very slight confection with some strikingly effective dances'. While the choreography was considered 'thin' and the 'climax perfuctory', Riabouchinska was praised for her 'lyrical qualities' and Shabelevsky for his 'virile grace' in 'the part Lichine obviously designed for himself'.

In 1966, Robin Grove also staged a version of The Gods Go A-Begging to the Handel-Beecham score for the Victorian Ballet Company.

Bibliography:

Vicente Garcia-Marquez, The Ballets Russes: Colonel de Basil's Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo 1932-1952 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990); 'Brilliant Dancing: Ballet season', The Argus, 7 October 1938, p. 2.

See also: Ballets Russes Australian tours ; Lichine, David ; Riabouchinska, Tatiana

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