A Russian who inspired artists, musicians, and dancers, Sergei Diaghilev (1872-1929) took the ballet to new heights of public enjoyment.

And what, dear sir, do you do in the company"" asked King Alfonso of Spain upon meeting Sergei Diaghilev, famed impresario of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. "You don't conduct the orchestra or play an instrument. You don't design the mise en scene, and you don't dance. What do you do"" Ever charming and self-assured, Diaghilev replied, "Your Majesty, I am like you. I do no work. I do nothing, but I am indispensible."

Diaghilev's response was more than modest. He devoted his lifetime to promoting the arts--to a reverence for quality in the old and the new in music, painting, and the dance, and, eventually, to a merging of the three arts in the theatre form known as ballet.

Diaghilev was born in 1872 into an aristocratic, wealthy family on...