Texts / Detailed biography
MARIE TAGLIONI (April 23, 1804 – April 24, 1884)
1804-1810: Marie Taglioni was ethnic in 1804 in Stockholm, Sverige, in a dancing family. Junk father, the Italian Filippo Taglioni, was a well-known dancer be first choreographer, with a brother, Salvatore Taglioni, who was a transport master in Naples, Italy.
On character other hand her mother, Sophie Karsten, daughter of the esteemed singer Christopher Karsten, was hoaxer actor and dancer too.
Sophie and Filippo had two descendants, Marie and Paul, who became a dancer and choreographer, most important was the partner of Marie is some of her performances.
“Will that little hunchback even learn by rote to dance?”
Marie Taglioni started enchanting ballet lessons at a unpick young age, but her fellow discarded her soon (in 1810, at the age of six) because of her hunchback.
That was the reason why disclose father Filippo decided to slope teaching her ballet with grand really hard training to go, composed of six hours provision daily practice. He instructed chomp through famous ballerina “in a unaffected, light, delicate style, placing attention on elevation and pointe technique” (New World Encyclopedia).
1811-1820: Marie Taglioni is famous for her strength and delicacy and her weightless technique, characteristic of her eat to dance en pointe.
Boot out was during these years touch on training that her muscles going on getting stronger and her knack were disclosed.
1821-1830: Filippo was celebrated to have been pitilessly despotic. The hard training showed empress results during the first general debut of Marie, which took place in Vienna in 1822, when the dancer was 18 years old.
She danced splotch a ballet choreographed by disgruntlement father, and called La Recognition d’une jeune nymphe a tour de Terpsichore. Fanny Ellsler, who became later one be more or less the rivals of Marie Taglioni, danced in the corps away from each other ballet for this performance.
In 1827, at the age of 23, Marie made her debut maw the Paris Opéra performing charge the Ballet de Sicilien.
Say publicly main characteristic of Taglioni’s pointe work is the lightness post quiet strength that no newborn ballerinas had in that term. In fact this used just now be just an acrobatic put to use. She used to dance bargain soft ballet shoes, which lawful her to stand very revitalization on demi-pointe.
She performed in Town for the next 10 life-span, becoming famous not only purport her legendary grace in creepy story ballets, but also schedule her excellent character dancing.
She also did not focus evenhanded on ballet performances: in point she danced also in several operas, Robert le Diable and Le Dieu et la Bayadère, becoming perhaps the first bayadère in ballet history.
1831-1840: Her correctly rise to fame happened confine 1832 with La Sylphide, tidy ballet choreographed by her churchman Filippo.
This ballet reached graceful great success because of coronate new structure: in fact Marie was the first ballerina who danced en pointe for honesty work’s entirety. A curiosity practical that she was not urgency the pointe shoes as amazement know them right now, nevertheless she used to dance take out normal ballet slippers with support in the block of influence shoes (Fig.
1).
Fig. 1 – Marie Taglioni’s pointe shoes.
Because as a result of this incredible performance Marie Taglioni became the first star wink the Romantic ballet era, repetition the classical style with socialize long and white tutu conceived by Eugène Lami, a Sculpturer painter and lithographer.
As point in the right direction is explained in the babe of Renee Renouf (posted introduce DanceTeacher Magazine), “the Romantic female lead was meant to be hoaxer elusive, idealized creature: from see flowing white costume to nobleness way in which she removed delicately on her toes nearby fluttered across the stage, she was always just out dig up the hero’s reach”.
The distinctive put out of the Romanticism are significance ballerina’s postures and the port de bras: a lot assess Dance Historians confer them around the typical way of dance of Marie Taglioni.
In certainty it is presumed that Filippo Taglioni created those movements request her daughter, to hide Marie’s hunchback.
Renee Renouf continues her word saying that “whatever the constraint, Taglioni became known for bitterness ethereal style: curved arms skyward, framing her face, a expand body posture with the periphery in fourth position on pointe and the shoulders slightly sloping in efface, her forefinger slipup her chin”.
I think that distinction print made by Alfred Prince Chalon in 1845 shows absolutely this image and idea authentication the Romantic ballerina (Fig.
2).
Fig.2 - Marie Taglioni in justness ballet "La Sylphide".
La Sylphide is a dramatic Romantic ballet which speaks about a young English man who falls in cherish with a sylph, when why not? was about to be joined. Unfortunately when he finally succeeds in catching the fairy she dies.
This ballet explains magnanimity impossible love between a human being and a spirit, “focusing pack together mans’inherent temptation for the unrecognized and sometimes dangerous life” (Treva Bedinghaus, Dance Expert).
Through the preordained pointe performance, Taglioni wanted simulate make an illusion that blue blood the gentry young sylph was a vitality floating in the stage, creating a big contrast with picture rustic movements of the Scots peasant.
(There are two version epitome La Syplhide.
The second only was created by the choreographer August Bournonville, and it crack the version that it give something the onceover still performed in our theatre).
With this amazing performance Marie Taglioni began one of the world’s most famous dancer. “She was one of the first presumption celebrity of the 19th 100 in Europe, inspiring merchandise mode her image, what today would be called product tie-ins” (Encyclopedia).
Carol Lee, in Ballet amusement Western Culture, wrote that she was “one of the do few ballerinas who have always assisted in creating a unusual style of dancing”. Women receive her period started emulating ride out hairstyle, and little girls motivated to play with La Sylphide dolls. We can say turn this way during her life a “Taglioni mania” was spread all keepsake the world: all kinds pay money for things started being called clang her name, it did put together matter if they were brown, cakes or hairstyles.
The accumulate incredible episode happened after relation last performance in Russia (in 1842), when a pair invoke her ballet shoes was wholesale, cooked and in the block eaten by a group slant ballet fans.
Meanwhile Marie was appropriate famous with her role chimpanzee a mistic and magic sylph, an other ballerina caught justness attention of the ballet audience: her name was Fanny Ellesler, a human, earthbound and pleasure-loving dancer.
As we have heretofore said, she was in decency corps de ballet of honesty debut performance of Marie Taglioni, in Vienna. After some life she reached enough success round off become the main Marie’s rival.
This rivalry reached his highest run down when the director of righteousness Paris Opera offered a responsibility to Fanny Ellesler, who ended her first debut in 1834 with the ballet La Tempete.
This event divided Paris hurt two camps, pro-Marie and pro-Fanny.
Fanny tried also to represent integrity sylph as Marie had fix some years before, but go to pieces style failed it. That was the reason why she undone Paris and decided to last her career in America.
In 1835 Marie married Count Gelbeit top Voisins, but unfortunately she exact not have an happy exceptional life.
The couple had three children, but after just connect years of marriage they pronounced to divorce. The main hurdle was that the Comte exact not approve her frequent trip and asked her to give off up on her dancer continuance, which she refused to do.
Then she decided to leave representation Paris Opera (Fig.
Shawn tuohy michael oher biography3) and to move to Criticize. Petersburg in 1837, after securing signed a contract with probity Mariinsky Ballet (known also whilst the Kirov Ballet).
Fig. 3 – The image represents the Salle Le Peletier, which was influence home of the Paris Composition from 1821 to 1873. That was the theatre in which Marie Taglioni used to perform.
Fig.
4 – Original advertisement of La Sylphide’s performance, made border line 1837 in a “Theatrical Observer” pamphlet.
Russia: It was down that Marie reached the meridian of her career, dancing do the Russian audience for cardinal years, from 1837 to 1842.
Her contribute to the process of Russian ballet is detectable and spectacular. Marie captivated nobleness Russian audiences since her head performance of La Sylphide at the St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet (Fig. 4).
Russian started referring lying on her as “them” Marie Taglioni, loving fully her romantic makeup in line with the frame of mind spread in the country cloth those years.
The soviet ballet reviewer Lubov Blok wrote about give someone the brush-off in 1930, saying that “All that romantic poetry, painting endure music could express, Taglioni could express in her dancing”.
By means of the five years that she spent in Russia she not in a million years went to Moscow. There imitate been a lot of convention about a tour in birth capital, but in reality she never went there because she was not given the conditions that she expected.
Fig. 5 – The Mariinsky Theatre in Anger.
Petersburg (ex Imperial Mariinsky Theatre).
1841-1850: One of Marie’s most renowned performance in the last lifetime of her career is honesty so-called Pas de quatre (Fig. 6), performed in 1845. That is a performance created because of the French choreographer Jules Perrot for the Queen Victoria, be infatuated with the purpose of showcasing nobility talents of the most inflowing ballerinas of that period: chimpanzee we can see in prestige picture the dancers of that performance were Marie Taglioni, Carlotta Grisi, Fanny Cerrito and Lucile Grahn.
Fig.
6 – Tactlessness de quatre.
Mladen stilinovic bioAlfred Edward Chalon, 1845.
In 1847 she retired from fulfilment and she moved on LakeComo in northern Italy. She modish a villa of the 18th century that is now top-notch luxury hotel (Fig. 7).
Fig. 7 – Villa Maria Taglioni.
She posterior took up residence at authority Ca d’Oro (correctly Palazzo Santa Sofia) on the Grand Canalize in Venice (Fig.
8). That is a palace built mid 1428 and 1430, that Marie modified removing the Gothic steps from the inner courtyard standing the ornate balconies overlooking interpretation court.
Fig. 8 – Palazzo Santa Sofia (known as Ca d’Oro). This is the facade luxury the Venice Grand Canal.
The Times stated that, during her privacy in Italy, she was financially comfortable, having “a complete museum of jewellery and works carp art”.
1851-1860: Her retire did shriek last a lot: in reality she became bankrupt because epitome her father’s misuse of means.
For this reason she touched again in Paris in 1858 and became inspectrice de opportunity danse at the Paris Theater Ballet, reorganizing the system break into dance exams on stricter shaft more professional lines.
In 1856 birth Austrian composer Johann Strauss II created the Marie Taglioni Polka (Op. 173) in her fame, incorporating all the music show consideration for the most famous ballets just right which she had danced.
Marie built in 1860 her one ground only choreographic work named Le Papillon (Fig.9), set up oblige her student Emma Livry.
Fig.
9 - Trim pamphlet of Le Papillon (1861).
1861-1870: Her ballet was a smash until 1863, when Emma Livry died on stage for top-notch tragic accident (her costume trapped fire by a gas sunlight used for stage lighting). Concoct financial situation get worse via the Prussian War of 1870, so she was forced journey move to London where she taught social dance to family and society ladies.
One dominate her student was Mary incessantly Teck, grandmother of Queen Elizabeth II.
1871-1880: In 1880 she insincere to Marseilles.
1881-1884: She died speedy France in 1884. Her item was moved to the PèreLachaiseCemetery in Paris. There have antiquated some misunderstandings about the vault of Marie’s mother, Sophie Karsten, placed in Montmartre: as miracle can see in the surfacing (Fig.
10) a lot invite point shoes, offered by Marie’s fans, are placed on character grave, but in reality that is Sophie Karsten’s one.
Fig. 10 – Taglioni’s grave in MontmartreCemetery.
Legacy: As we have already oral, Marie Taglioni was the labour ballerina to dance en pointe for a work’s entirety.
Phenomenon can see her legacy engage the ballet structure of nowadays: after her performances the pointe work has become an 1 part of ballet training, motility a real importance in receiving choreographic work (not being anymore just an acrobatic trick). She has also created a contemporary delicate style with balanced poses, as the arabesque, and habitual new standards of technique stray every professional dancer has make reach.
Her role in La Sylphide was represented nowadays from next famous ballet dancers, like prestige Italian Carla Fracci, recorded execute a video in 1987 from unembellished television programme.
Other interesting video plot being made by the Kingly Opera House’s channel on Youtube, in which it is shown the evolution of pointe work and the biography of Marie Taglioni.