Between Eternal Values and Personal Foibles: Khovanshchina in Diaghilev’s Version

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to reconstruct the history of the production of Khovanshchina in Diaghilev’s version, which was implemented in Paris in 1913. That grandiose project united the efforts of four geniuses: Stravinsky, Ravel, Chaliapin and Diaghilev himself. It aroused 
active discussion in the press and raised a very important problem of copyright. But, in the heat of the argument, many facts were distorted. Memoirs and manuscripts discovered during the last decades make it possible to learn the truth. This paper takes all known 
sources into account, and, in conclusion, tries to answer the key question of the debate: was Diaghilev right?