

Maria Taglioni
The first dancer en point
Filippo Taglioni
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Born in Milan with Father Carlo, he received his dance training predominantly with Carlo Blasis and Jean-François Coulon. She made her dance debut at age 17 in Pisa performing female roles. He danced in other Italian cities before becoming a dancer (at age 22) with the Paris Opera. With Vestris firmly in control there, he readily accepted an invitation to be the first dancer and ballet teacher for the Royal Swedish Ballet in Stockholm, Sweden.
In Stockholm, she married dancer Sophie Karsten, the daughter of a famous Swedish opera singer Christoffer Cristiano Karsten and Polish actress Sophie Stebnowska, in 1803. Together they had two children, Marie Taglioni and Paul Taglioni, both of whom became dancers. themselves.
For several years the family lived in Vienna and Germany, but to escape the dangers of the Napoleonic wars, Filippo moved them to Paris. He danced and choreographed from all over Europe, especially in Italy, Austria, Sweden, Denmark and Germany. Finally, he was invited to take a more permanent position with the Kärntnertortheater in Vienna.
Once settled in Vienna, he called Marie, who had been studying ballet in Paris. Upon arrival, Filippo was discouraged by his artistic progress and began training his own. He had his ballet practice six hours a day for six months, using a technical level training method. He was very strict with her, and had no sympathy for her sore and bleeding toes. He tried to make his light style and delicate, with an emphasis on ballon jumping and pointe work, something that was unknown before this time. When she was ready he took her back to Paris.
After Marie's professional debut became so popular that Filippo was able to negotiate a six-year contract for the two of them. The triumphant premiere of La Sylphide on March 12, 1832, made her the most acclaimed leading dancer of the romantic era and he the most renowned choreographer of the day. The great romantic period of dance is said to have been announced on that night. Due to this great success, the two of them traveled a lot together and toured Europe and Russia.
As she grew older, she became eccentric and unpredictable, and eventually lost all of Marie's carefully accumulated fortune in reckless speculation. However, he must be recognized as a pioneer in a style of ballet that was to forever alter the very nature of matter.
Taglioni died in Como, Italy on February 5, 1871, at the age of 93.
The ongoing ballet audience knows the romantic ballet La Sylphide as being choreographed by Danish ballet master August Bournonville. Which is in fact the Sylphide of the public are the most familiar today, but it was not the version given in 1832.
The original production of La Sylphide was first presented by the Paris Opera Ballet at Salle Le Peletier in 1832, and was choreographed by Filippo Taglioni himself to the music of Jean Madeleine Schneitzhoeffer, with a libretto by Adolphe Nourrit after a story by Charles Nodier. The main roles were danced by Marie Taglioni and Joseph Mazilier.
Bournonville originally intended to organize the 1832 version in Denmark, but the Paris Opera demanded too high a price for the orchestral parts of Schneitzhoeffer's score. In light of this, Bournonville decided to perform his own version of The Sylphide on the same stage, with a new score by Herman Severin Løvenskiold. The production released in 1836 with the prodigy Lucile Grahn and Bournonville in the lead roles. Due to the strong tradition of the Royal Danish Ballet this version is still being performed in Denmark to this day, and since then it has been staged around the world.
In 1972, ballet master Pierre Lacotte revived from the original Filippo Talgioni, La Sylphide for the Paris Opera Ballet, with notable dancer Ghislaine Thesmar as Sylph. Schneitzhoeffer's original score was reconstructed from a manuscript that took place in the National Library of France. As Taglioni's original choreography was long lost, Lacotte choreographed the ballet in the style of the time. The Paris Opera has released since production on DVD / video twice.
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