During this era, the development of pointework, although still at a fairly basic stage, profoundly affected people's perception of the ballerina. Many lithographs of the period show her virtually floating, poised only on the tip of a toe. This idea of weightlessness was capitalised on in ballets such as La Sylphide and Giselle, and the famous leap apparently attempted by Carlotta Grisi in La Péri.
Other features which distinguished Romantic ballet were the separate identity of the scenarist or author from the choreographer, and the use of specially written music as opposed to a pastiche typical of the ballet of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The invention of gas lighting enabled gradual changes and enhanced the mysteriousness of many ballets with its softer gleam. Illusion became more diverse with wires and trap doors being widely used.
Romantic ballets are generally divided into two acts: the first represented in the light of day and associated with reality; the second one takes place at night, in a supernatural world, where a tragic ending usually takes place. Some important romantic ballets have survived to us, albeit with some changes compared to the originals. Among the most famous are La Sylphide (1832) and Giselle (1841).
History:
The romantic ballet appears at the beginning of the xix th century (Romantic period) and succeeds the ballet d'action including Jean-Georges Noverre was the great theorist. The period of romantic ballet lasts about thirty years, from 1815 to 1845 - 1850.
The romanticism, appeared at the end of the xviii th century in Germany (Goethe and Schiller) and Great Britain (Walter Scott and Lord Byron), is spreading throughout Europe in the early xix th century and touches the France under the Restoration, with authors like Madame de Staël, Châteaubriand or Lamartine, among others. In music, Beethoven is one of his pioneers (The Creatures of Prometheus, Vienna 1801: this work, the only ballet of its author, contains another novelty in the Beethoven orchestration: it is indeed the only work where Beethoven uses the harp (n ° 5 of the ballet).
A new era is opening and dance is not spared: all artists dream of a revolutionary art free from the demons of the Ancien Régime, a new breath, lyrical, exotic, fairy, sensual.
While in Paris in 1815, coming from Russia, a disciple of Noverre, Charles Didelot presents Flora and Zephyr to the opera: the dancers Albert and M Miss Gosselin flit about the stage, hanging on steel son. It is a shock for the public who discovers an aerial, ethereal dance. M Miss Gosselin had pioneered two years ago by standing on the tips.
The romantic ballet gradually abandons the myths of ancient Greece to turn to the Nordic mythology populated by elves, ondines, trolls. It is the reign of the pale and ethereal dancer, embodying nostalgia and spleendressed in vaporous muslin and crowned with wildflowers. This famous vaporous dress is developed by the French couturier Eugène Lami. The dancer is, in turn, reduced to the role of "carrier", highlighting the grace and delicacy of his partner. The dancer will have to wait until the 1930s to see his status evolve from the wearer to the real dancer, thanks in particular to the choreographer Serge Lifar, in Paris.
The first great romantic ballet is La Sylphide, premiered at the Paris Opera on March 12, 1832 by Filippo Taglioni for his daughter Marie. It is the apotheosis of the white ballet which will triumph for thirty years.
For a long time, the real problem of romantic ballet is music.
Since Rameau's "Les Indes Galantes" (opera-ballet) (1735), Glück's "Don Juan" in 1761, and Beethoven's "The Creatures of Prometheus" in 1801, the choreographers are mostly satisfied with much lesser musicians and many ballets of the time have sunk into oblivion, faced with indigent scores. Thus Jean Schneitzhoëffer, timpanist of the Opera, composes "La Sylphide", whose music, certainly easy and melodious, is forgotten as soon as heard, as will be the case of many works by Cesare Pugni or Ludwig Minkus, to mention they. The Danish choreographer August Bournonville (1805-1879), will present in 1836 a new version of "The Sylphide", on a new score of the young Hermann Lovenskjold, very "nice" too,
A well-known exception is Ferdinand Herold's "La Fille mal gardée" (1828), an original romantic ballet by its subject, totally comical and without reference to the Nordic supernatural.
It was not until the 1840s to see the beginnings of musical evolution. Adolphe Adam remains a pioneer in this sense, being the first to introduce in ballet the principle of the leitmotiv: motive or musical theme that returns from one end to the other of a work to portray a character, an object, an emotion... "Giselle" (1841) is an excellent example. The musical value of ballets will grow, especially with Adolphe Adam ("The Devil in Four" 1845, The Pretty Girl of Ghent "1847," The Corsair "1856), Daniel François Auber Spirit (" Marco Spada "1857), Jacques Offenbach ("The Butterfly" 1860), Leo Delibes ("Coppelia" 1870, "Sylvia" 1876)...
Tchaikovsky's friends will try to dissuade him from writing ballet music, "inferior genre", his answer will be without appeal: "There is no lower genre in music, there are only small musicians" Admirer of "Giselle" and ballets of Delibes, he will prove his statements by composing "Swan Lake" (1877), "Sleeping Beauty" (1889) and "Nutcracker" (1892).
He thus opened the way to Glazunov, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Messager, Lalo and other composers who will contribute to give his nobility to ballet music.
Ballerina refinement
The romantic era has accentuated the role of the dancer: the female protagonist has become the main component and essential part of the ballet, thus taking the male role in the background. The golden age of the romantic ballet is initially associated with the Taglioni family, above all because it was Maria Taglioni who showed the novelty of the dance en pointe.
The full affirmation of the romantic ballet took place when Filippo Taglioni, Maria's father, created especially for her the famous ballet La Sylphide. Maria was the protagonist and for her the painter Eugène Lamy created a light and flimsy costume, which would later become the emblem of the romantic dancer with the name of tutu.
Maria has become the prototype of the romantic dancer, applauded above all for her sentimental emphasis and the technicality to accentuate the emotional component. In fact, the romantic style is characterized by gentle movements, curved arms and an accentuated tilt forward of the bust. This gives the dancer a soft and light look. The movement of the legs becomes more elaborate, raising the technical level. Other famous romantic dancers were Carlotta Grisi (the first "Giselle"), Lucile Grahn, Fanny Cerrito and Fanny Elssler. Other dancers and choreographers who marked the course of the romantic ballet were Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot(authors of Giselle), Joseph Mazilier, Arthur Saint-Léon and the brothers Lucien and Marius Petipa.
Cult of the ballerina
The Romantic era marked the rise of the ballerina as a central part of ballet, where previously men had dominated performances. There had always been admiration for superior dancers, but elevating ballerinas to the level of celebrity came into its own in the nineteenth century, especially as female performers became idealized and objectified. Marie Taglioni became the prototypical Romantic ballerina, praised highly for her lyricism. The movement style for Romantic ballerinas was characterized by soft, rounded arms and a forward tilt in the upper body. This gave the woman a flowery, willowy look. Leg movements became more elaborate due to the new tutu length and rising standards of technical proficiency. Important Romantic ballerinas included Marie Taglioni, Carlotta Grisi, Lucille Grahn, Fanny Cerrito, Pauline Leroux and Fanny Elssler. The plots of many ballets were dominated by spirit women—sylphs, wilis, and ghosts, who enslaved the hearts and senses of mortal men and made it impossible for them to live happily in the real world.
Costumes and scenes
The romantic dancer's costume is therefore the romantic tutu. Its main feature is the white color, the bell shape of the skirt consisting of the overlay of several layers of light cloth, initially of tarlatana and muslin and later of tulle. Above the skirt, the dancer wore a tight white corset. In the second act of the romantic ballet, which stages an enchanted world, all the dancers of the corps de ballet wear the white tutu, which justifies the names of white and ballet-blanc acts.
Design and scenography
Romantic tutu
The costume for the Romantic ballerina was the romantic tutu. This was a full, white, multi-layered skirt made of tulle. The ballerina wore a white bodice with the tutu. In the second acts of Romantic ballets, representing the spiritual realm, the corps de ballet appeared on stage in Romantic tutus, giving rise to the term "white act" or ballet-blanc. The dancers wore pointe shoes to give the effect of floating. However, sometimes they decided to throw in extra sharp, sassy movements to portray the given concept or intent, often using high kicks and fast turns.
Special effects
Romantic ballet owed much to the new developments in theatre effects, particularly gas lighting. Candles had been previously used to light theatres, but gas lighting allowed for dimming effects and other subtleties. Combined with the effects of the Romantic tutu, ballerinas posing en pointe, and the use of wires to make dancers "fly," directors used gas lighting to create supernatural spectacles on stage.
Famous ballets
La Somnambule (1827)
La Sylphide (1832)
Le Diable boiteux (1836)
La Fille du Danube (1836)
La Gipsy (1839)
Le Diable amoureux (1840)
Giselle (1841)
La Jolie Fille de Gand (1842)
La Péri (1843)
Ondine (1843)
La Vivandière or Markitenka (1844)
La Esmeralda (1844)
Éoline, ou La Dryade (1845)
Le Diable à Quatre (1845)
Pas de Quatre (1845)
Catarina, or La Fille du Bandit (1846)
Le Jugement de Paris (1846)
Paquita (1846)
La Fille de marbre (1847)
Electra, ou La Pléiade perdue (1849)
Le Violon du diable (1849)
La Filleule des fées (1849)
Les Métamorphoses (1850)
Vert-Vert (1851)
Le Corsaire (1856)
Le Papillon (1861)
Coppélia (1870)
Notable choreographers
Source from Wikipedia
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