Recollections of Three from the Silver Age           2 i

This hasty and enthralling work was accomplished under ex¬
tremely difficult conditions. Every possible delay occurred, al¬
though we overcame all the obstacles. In terms of construction
the decor was very simple, and when he saw it on stage Diaghilev
was delighted and said he had never used such a simple set before.
Charbicr did a wonderful job of painting the scenery according
to my sketches, although he only finished the day of the perform¬
ance—and the costumes were delivered to the Grand Opera dur¬
ing the intermission before the very premiere of the ballet! Nat¬
urally this caused quite a bit of fear and anxiety, and there were
lots of amusing anecdotes. But, "i/ y a un dieu ait theatre," and
everything worked out very well.

After Paris "Midas" was produced in London, but it was not
kept in the Diaghilev repertoire. The music, justifiably or not,
was severely criticized in the press and, as a result, Fokine con¬
fessed that it had really not inspired him very much. In his chore¬
ography Fokine always proceeded first from the music. Never¬
theless, what Fokine did create for the ballet was extremely
attractive and the dancing was just right for Karsavina's style
with the nymphs, a triumphant procession of gods, Apollo's en¬
trance with the nine muses, and the groupings and poses of dryads,
hamadryads and oreads who suddenly rose up from behind the
cliffs against the "blissful" Mantegna depths.