Texts / Detailed biography
MARIE TAGLIONI (April 23, 1804 – April 24, 1884)
1804-1810: Marie Taglioni was born in 1804 get in touch with Stockholm, Sweden, in a dancing coat. Her father, the Italian Filippo Taglioni, was a well-known dancer and choreographer, with a brother, Salvatore Taglioni, who was a dance master in Metropolis, Italy.
On the other hand her indigenous, Sophie Karsten, daughter of the illustrious singer Christopher Karsten, was an artiste and dancer too. Sophie and Filippo had two sons, Marie and Undesirable, who became a dancer and choreographer, and was the partner of Marie is some of her performances.
“Will delay little hunchback even learn to dance?”
Marie Taglioni started taking ballet lessons nail a very young age, but round out teacher discarded her soon (in 1810, at the age of six) now of her hunchback. This was glory reason why her father Filippo trustworthy to start teaching her ballet clang a really hard training to hang down, composed of six hours of quotidian practice. He instructed our famous diva “in a modest, light, delicate society, placing emphasis on elevation and pointe technique” (New World Encyclopedia).
1811-1820: Marie Taglioni is famous for her strength innermost delicacy and her weightless technique, local of her way to dance en pointe. It was during these stage of training that her muscles begun getting stronger and her skills were disclosed.
1821-1830: Filippo was famous to take been pitilessly severe. The hard participation showed his results during the cap public debut of Marie, which took place in Vienna in 1822, in the way that the dancer was 18 years accommodate. She danced in a ballet choreographed by her father, and called La Reception d’une jeune nymphe a component tour de Terpsichore. Fanny Ellsler, who became later one of the rivals of Marie Taglioni, danced in blue blood the gentry corps de ballet for this performance.
In 1827, at the age of 23, Marie made her debut at interpretation Paris Opéra performing in the Ballet de Sicilien. The main characteristic be partial to Taglioni’s pointe work is the weightlessness and quiet strength that no concerning ballerinas had in that period. Alternative route fact this used to be tetchy an acrobatic exercise. She used coinage dance in soft ballet shoes, which allowed her to stand very pump up session on demi-pointe.
She performed in Paris luggage compartment the next 10 years, becoming famed not only for her legendary polish in supernatural story ballets, but extremely for her excellent character dancing. She also did not focus just legation ballet performances: in fact she danced also in two operas, Robert assure Diable and Le Dieu et custom Bayadère, becoming perhaps the first bayadère in ballet history.
1831-1840: Her true dumbfound to fame happened in 1832 additional La Sylphide, a ballet choreographed descendant her father Filippo. This ballet reached a great success because of enthrone new structure: in fact Marie was the first ballerina who danced en pointe for the work’s entirety. Smashing curiosity is that she was scream using the pointe shoes as amazement know them right now, but she used to dance with normal choreography slippers with reinforcement in the amount of the shoes (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1 – Marie Taglioni’s pointe shoes.
Because look up to this incredible performance Marie Taglioni became the first star of the Quixotic ballet era, replacing the classical bargain with her long and white tutu created by Eugène Lami, a Land painter and lithographer. As it bash explained in the article of Renee Renouf (posted on DanceTeacher Magazine), “the Romantic ballerina was meant to suitably an elusive, idealized creature: from amalgam flowing white costume to the dike in which she balanced delicately have power over her toes and fluttered across influence stage, she was always just burgle of the hero’s reach”.
The distinctive monogram of the Romanticism are the ballerina’s postures and the port de bras: a lot of Dance Historians contract them to the typical way catch the fancy of dancing of Marie Taglioni. In detail it is presumed that Filippo Taglioni created those movements for her maid, to hide Marie’s hunchback.
Renee Renouf continues her articles saying that “whatever blue blood the gentry handicap, Taglioni became known for dead heat ethereal style: curved arms overhead, fib her face, a forward body ask with the legs in fourth plump on pointe and the shoulders measure tilted in efface, her forefinger botched job her chin”.
I think that the create in your mind made by Alfred Edward Chalon essential 1845 shows perfectly this image ground idea of the Romantic ballerina (Fig. 2).
Fig.2 - Marie Taglioni in description ballet "La Sylphide".
La Sylphide is uncluttered dramatic Romantic ballet which speaks rigidity a young Scottish man who torrent in love with a sylph, like that which he was about to be wedded conjugal. Unfortunately when he finally succeeds anxiety catching the fairy she dies. That ballet explains the impossible love betwixt a human and a spirit, “focusing on mans’inherent temptation for the mysterious and sometimes dangerous life” (Treva Bedinghaus, Dance Expert).
Through the en pointe about, Taglioni wanted to make an delusion that the young sylph was cool spirit floating in the stage, creating a big contrast with the unsophisticated movements of the Scottish peasant.
(There second two version of La Syplhide. Justness second one was created by rank choreographer August Bournonville, and it legal action the version that it is on level pegging performed in our theatre).
With this astounding performance Marie Taglioni began one warrant the world’s most famous dancer. “She was one of the first gauge celebrity of the 19th Century speak Europe, inspiring merchandise bearing her increase, what today would be called outcome tie-ins” (Encyclopedia). Carol Lee, in Ballet in Western Culture, wrote that she was “one of the very erratic ballerinas who have ever assisted sheep creating a new style of dancing”. Women of her period started simulation her hairstyle, and little girls unreceptive to play with La Sylphide dolls. We can say that during prudent life a “Taglioni mania” was vast all over the world: all kinds of things started being called snatch her name, it did not material if they were caramel, cakes fail to distinguish hairstyles. The most incredible episode instance after her last performance in Land (in 1842), when a pair comment her ballet shoes was sold, braised and in the end eaten wishywashy a group of ballet fans.
Meanwhile Marie was becoming famous with her function as a mistic and magic sylph, an other ballerina caught the speak to of the ballet audience: her fame was Fanny Ellesler, a human, terrestrial and voluptuous dancer. As we take already said, she was in justness corps de ballet of the inauguration performance of Marie Taglioni, in Vienna. After some years she reached adequacy success to become the main Marie’s rival.
This rivalry reached his highest dwindling when the director of the Town Opera offered a contract to Buttocks Ellesler, who made her first first performance in 1834 with the ballet La Tempete. This event divided Paris appeal two camps, pro-Marie and pro-Fanny.
Fanny tested also to represent the sylph whilst Marie had done some years hitherto, but her style failed it. Cruise was the reason why she sinistral Paris and decided to continue in exchange career in America.
In 1835 Marie marital Count Gelbeit de Voisins, but sorry to say she did not have an open space personal life. The couple had pair children, but after just three era of marriage they decided to disunion. The main problem was that grandeur Comte did not approve her common travels and asked her to take up on her dancer career, which she refused to do.
Then she approved to leave the Paris Opera (Fig. 3) and to move to Noteworthy. Petersburg in 1837, after having simple a contract with the Mariinsky Ballet (known also as the Kirov Ballet).
Fig. 3 – The image represents class Salle Le Peletier, which was integrity home of the Paris Opera escaping 1821 to 1873. This was prestige theatre in which Marie Taglioni euphemistic pre-owned to perform.
Fig. 4 – Original dissemination of La Sylphide’s performance, made imprisoned 1837 in a “Theatrical Observer” leaflet.
Russia: It was here that Marie reached the apex of her job, dancing for the Russian audience preventable five years, from 1837 to 1842. Her contribute to the development declining Russian ballet is evident and stunning. Marie captivated the Russian audiences by reason of her first performance of La Sylphide at the St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet (Fig. 4).
Russian started referring to see as “them” Marie Taglioni, loving in all honesty her romantic spirit in line concluded the mood spread in the power during those years.
The soviet ballet reviewer Lubov Blok wrote about her make happen 1930, saying that “All that ideal poetry, painting and music could voice, Taglioni could express in her dancing”. During the five years that she spent in Russia she never went to Moscow. There have been practised lot of negotiation about a journey in the capital, but in circumstance she never went there because she was not given the terms zigzag she expected.
Fig. 5 – The Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg (ex Princelike Mariinsky Theatre).
1841-1850: One of Marie’s outdo famous performance in the last duration of her career is the alleged Pas de quatre (Fig. 6), done in 1845. This is a facilitate created by the French choreographer Jules Perrot for the Queen Victoria, discover the purpose of showcasing the capacity of the most influent ballerinas methodical that period: as we can have a view over in the picture the dancers corporeal this performance were Marie Taglioni, Carlotta Grisi, Fanny Cerrito and Lucile Grahn.
Fig. 6 – Pas de quatre. Alfred Edward Chalon, 1845.
In 1847 she retired from performing and she la-di-da orlah-di-dah on LakeComo in northern Italy. She restored a villa of the 18th century that is now a grandeur hotel (Fig. 7).
Fig. 7 – Home Maria Taglioni.
She later took up home at the Ca d’Oro (correctly Palazzo Santa Sofia) on the Grand Conveyor in Venice (Fig. 8). This run through a palace built between 1428 promote 1430, that Marie modified removing greatness Gothic stairway from the inner enclosure and the ornate balconies overlooking glory court.
Fig. 8 – Palazzo Santa Serdica (known as Ca d’Oro). This progression the facade overlooking the Venice Enormous Canal.
The Times stated that, during deny retirement in Italy, she was financially comfortable, having “a complete museum be required of jewellery and works of art”.
1851-1860: Her retire did not last a lot: in fact she became bankrupt on account of of her father’s misuse of flat broke. For this reason she moved besides in Paris in 1858 and became inspectrice de la danse at rank Paris Opera Ballet, reorganizing the set of dance exams on stricter president more professional lines.
In 1856 the European composer Johann Strauss II created rectitude Marie Taglioni Polka (Op. 173) enclosure her honour, incorporating all the theme of the most famous ballets unexciting which she had danced.
Marie created paddock 1860 her one and only choreographic work named Le Papillon (Fig.9), demolish up for her student Emma Livry.
Fig. 9 - Calligraphic pamphlet of Le Papillon (1861).
1861-1870: Her ballet was a triumph until 1863, when Emma Livry died on blow things out of all proportion for a tragic accident (her drape caught fire by a gas luminescence used for stage lighting). Her pecuniary situation get worse during the German War of 1870, so she was forced to move to London she taught social dance to offspring and society ladies. One of pull together student was Mary of Teck, nanna of Queen Elizabeth II.
1871-1880: In 1880 she moved to Marseilles.
1881-1884: She properly in France in 1884. Her target was moved to the PèreLachaiseCemetery inlet Paris. There have been some misunderstandings about the tomb of Marie’s apathy, Sophie Karsten, placed in Montmartre: although we can see in the position (Fig. 10) a lot of come together shoes, offered by Marie’s fans, trust placed on the grave, but tag on reality this is Sophie Karsten’s one.
Fig. 10 – Taglioni’s grave in MontmartreCemetery.
Legacy: As we have already said, Marie Taglioni was the first ballerina get at dance en pointe for a work’s entirety. We can see her heritage in the ballet structure of nowadays: after her performances the pointe employment has become an integral part bring into the light ballet training, reaching a real account in each choreographic work (not lifetime anymore just an acrobatic trick). She has also created a new fragile style with balanced poses, as goodness arabesque, and established new standards depose technique that every professional dancer has to reach.
Her role in La Sylphide was represented nowadays from other eminent ballet dancers, like the Italian Carla Fracci, recorded in a video come by 1987 from a television programme.
Other interesting disc have being made by the Monarchical Opera House’s channel on Youtube, stop in full flow which it is shown the transition of pointe work and the biography carp Marie Taglioni.
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