Marguerite and Armand

Sir Frederick Ashton was born in Ecuador in 1904 and determined to become a dancer after seeing Anna Pavlova dance in 1917 in Lima, Peru. Arriving in London, he studied with Léonide Massine and later with Dame Marie Rambert (who encouraged his first ventures in choreography) as well as dancing briefly in Ida Rubinstein’s company (1928-1929).

A Tragedy of Fashion (in which he danced alongside Marie Rambert) was followed by further choreographies (Capriol Suite, Façade) until in 1935 he accepted Dame Ninette de Valois’ invitation to join her Vic-Wells Ballet as Dancer and Choreographer, his principal loyalty remaining with what would become the Sadler’s Wells and ultimately The Royal Ballet. Besides his pre-war ballets at Sadler’s Wells (which demonstrated an increasing authority, with larger resources), Ashton choreographed for revues and musicals. His career would also embrace opera, film, and international commissions, creating ballets in New York, Monte Carlo, Paris, Copenhagen, and Milan. During the War, he served in the RAF (1941-1945) before creating Symphonic Variations for the Sadler’s Wells Ballet’s 1946 season in its new home at Covent Garden, affirming a new spirit of classicism and modernity in English postwar ballet.

During the next two decades, Ashton’s ballets, often created around the talents of particular dancers, included: Scènes de ballet, Cinderella (1948), in which Ashton and Robert Helpmann famously played the Ugly Sisters, Daphnis and Chloe (1951), Romeo and Juliet (1955), and Ondine (1958). He created La Fille mal gardée (1960) for Nadia Nerina and David Blair, The Two Pigeons (1961) for Lynn Seymour and Christopher Gable, Marguerite and Armand (1963) for Dame Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev and The Dream (1964) for Dame Antoinette Sibley and Sir Anthony Dowell.

Appointed Associate Director of The Royal Ballet in 1952, Ashton succeeded Dame Ninette de Valois as Director from 1963 to 1970, and under his direction the company rose to new heights, while his choreographic career continued with Monotones II (1965), Jazz Calendar (1968), Enigma Variations (1968), A Month in the Country (1976) and the popular film success The Tales of Beatrix Potter (1971) in which he performed the role of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle. He was knighted in 1962.

Named Founder Choreographer of The Royal Ballet, Sir Frederick Ashton died in 1988. His ballets, which remain in the international repertoire undiminished, show a remarkable versatility, a lyrical and highly sensitive musicality. He had an equal facility for recreating historical ballets and creating new works. If any single artist can be said to have formulated a native English classical ballet style and developed it over a lifetime, it is Sir Frederick Ashton.

Like Mozart, Franz Liszt was the precociously talented son of a musician in the service of a great aristocrat, in this case the Hungarian Prince Esterhazy. Born in 1811, he became the most celebrated piano virtuoso of his day, as well as a much-admired teacher, conductor and composer. He also encouraged the careers of such other composers as Wagner, Berlioz, Grieg, Saint-Säens and Borodin.

In Vienna, the young Liszt studied piano with Czerny and composition with Salieri. By the age of nine he was giving concerts and composing. In 1827, on his father’s death, Liszt lived with his mother in Paris, teaching, belatedly educating himself by reading and meeting leading authors and artists. Inspired by hearing Paganini play, in 1832 Liszt launched himself as virtuoso concert pianist, and for 20 years toured Europe to triumphant acclaim, giving much of his fees to charities.

From 1833-1839, he lived with the married Countess Marie d’Agoult. Two of their children died, in 1859 and 1862, and the third, Cosima, later married Richard Wagner. In 1847, at the age of 35, he met the married Princess Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, who persuaded him to retire from concert work, settle in Weimar and concentrate on composing. In later life, Liszt took minor orders of the priesthood and known as the Abbé Liszt, divided his time between Rome, Weimar and Budapest. He died at Bayreuth in 1886.

Born in 1904, the son of a wealthy London timber merchant, Cecil Beaton was a high-style fashion, portrait and war photographer, a painter, interior decorator, diarist and award-winning stage and costume designer. Educated at Harrow and Cambridge, he learned photography with his nanny’s Kodak, and, with the keen patronage of Osbert Sitwell, established himself as a successful photographer in the 1930s, with a lucrative Condé Nast contract for Vogue and Vanity Fair. His iconic photo-portraits included Hollywood stars and the British Royal Family, while his war photographs for the British Ministry of Information made a great impact.

After the war, Beaton’s stage and film designs won Tony awards for Quadrille, My Fair Lady, Saratoga and Coco on Broadway, and Oscars for the films Gigi and My Fair Lady. He was awarded CBE (1956), Légion d’Honneur (1960), and knighted in 1972. After a stroke ended his active career in 1974, Beaton auctioned his photography archive and died in 1980. Six volumes of his diaries covering 1922 to 1974 were published in his lifetime. A confirmed bachelor, Beaton lived in some style, entertaining friends at his Wiltshire country homes—Ashcombe (1930-1948) and Reddish (1948-1980). Beaton and Sir Frederick Ashton were friends from the 1920s.