It will be readily appreciated how vital a bearing the designs of Léon Bakst have upon that _ensemble_ which has been so strongly emphasised as the outstanding feature, and the fundamental secret, of the Russian Ballet’s success. But it should be remembered that Bakst’s creations as seen upon the stage fall short by a good deal of what they really are. It is inevitable, unfortunately, that this should be so. It is no easy task for the actual scene painter to reproduce upon a large scale the artist’s design with that absolute fidelity to colour and tone which alone can do it proper justice: and that the wearers of the costumes should be able to sustain without relapse their impersonations of the characters so vividly depicted in essentials by the artist’s brush and pencil is more than can reasonably be expected from even the most accomplished _corps de ballet_. How much the designs of Léon Bakst suffer in translation, only those who have seen the wonderful originals can realise. * * * * * The music of the ballets is mostly the work of Russian composers, and the fact that, as a general rule, it has been specially written preserves the unity of purpose. In a few cases the Russians have ventured to lay hands on music to which they have no legitimate claim, and though their sense of the fitting has saved them from banality or desecration, it is notable that these are the occasions when they give the least complete satisfaction. Much may be forgiven for the beauty of the dancing, _qua_ dancing, in “Les Sylphides,” but one doubts the propriety of the employment of Chopin’s music. As an “interpretation” of the latter, the dances are merely ridiculous, but in justice to the Russians it must be observed that they have never put them forward as such. The use made of Schumann’s “Carnaval” and Weber’s “Invitation à la Valse” is more legitimate--indeed the delicate romance of “Le Spectre de la Rose” confers almost a dignity upon the latter somewhat sentimental composition. More recently Debussy has been pressed into service, but the peculiar un-ballet-like nature of “L’Après-Midi d’un Faune” and “Jeux” makes comment in the present connection needless. The fact remains that the happiest results have been obtained from the co-operation of native composers like Nicolas Tcherepnin, Balakirev, and Igor Stravinsky. From the latter has come, in “L’Oiseau de Feu” and “Pétrouchka,” perhaps the most effective music in the whole repertoire of the Russian Ballet--a circumstance which makes it the more disappointing, at least to the simple-minded, that his third ballet, “Le Sacre du Printemps,” should be distinguished by such marked, not to say eccentric, characteristics.