The Art Of Ballet - free ebook by Mark Edward Perugini

THE ART OF BALLET

THE ART OF BALLET BY MARK E. PERUGINI LONDON: MARTIN SECKER NUMBER FIVE JOHN STREET ADELPHI First published 1915 TO MY WIFE...

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PREFACE

S ome may possibly wonder to find here no record of Ballet in Italy, or at the Opera Houses of Madrid, Lisbon, Vienna, Buda-Pest, Berlin, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Warsaw, or Petrograd (formerly St. Petersburg), not to speak of the United States and South America. This, however, would be to miss somewhat the author’s purpose, which is not to trace the growth of Ballet in every capital where it has been seen. To do so effectively were hardly possible in a single volume. A whole book might well be de

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OVERTURE ON THE ART OF BALLET

T here may be some who could not agree that Ballet is an “art,” or even that it has, or ever had, any special charm or historic interest. The charm—as in the case of any other art—will probably always remain rather a matter of individual opinion; the historic interest is merely a matter of fact. No man can hope for agreement with his fellows in all things. The world were flat if it could be so. He may hector, and not convince; he may cajole and not convert; he may tell the simple truth in simple

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CHAPTER I A DISTINCTION, AND SOME DIFFERENCES

The chief elements of Ballet as seen to-day are—dancing, miming, music and scenic effect, including of course in this last the costumes and colour-schemes, as well as the actual “scenery” and lighting. It is in the proper harmonising of these elements that the true art of Ballet-composition, or, as it is called, “choreography,” consists. Each has its individual history, and all have been combined in varying proportions at various periods. But it is only in the past hundred and fifty years or so

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CHAPTER II EGYPT

The origin of the drama is hardly to be reckoned among the historic mysteries. By serious triflers debate might be held as to what should be considered the first dramatic representation and when it actually took place. Some five centuries before the Christian era the first plays of which scholarship has taken note were performed at Athens, those of Thespis, forerunner of the first great dramatists of the world—Æschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. For convenience the origin of Western drama may be

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CHAPTER III GREECE

There is no lack of testimony, pictorial and literary, to the ancient Greek love of the Dance. Among the various arts of war and peace that Vulcan engraved upon that wondrous shield which he fashioned at the entreaty of sad Thetis for her son Achilles, the Dance was not forgotten; and the Homeric singer must have been a lover of the art to limn as clear a picture as is given in the eighteenth book of the Iliad. The “two tumblers” is an interesting detail, but it does not necessarily refer to the

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CHAPTER IV MIME AND PANTOMIME: ROME, HIPPODROME—OBSCURITY

If to Greece modern Ballet owes much for the encouragement of the Dance, to Rome it is even more indebted for the development of the art of Pantomime. By many the word Pantomime is associated solely with that time-honoured entertainment which children, home for the Christmas holidays, are supposed to be too blasé to care for, but which they go to by way of obliging parents who feel it their duty to take them. The Christmas pantomime has long been one of our cherished institutions, though, like t

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CHAPTER V CHURCH THUNDER AND CHURCH COMPLAISANCE

It is a truism of history that opposition towards the amusements of a people only increases the desire for them, and that the undue pressure of a law, or of a too rigid majority, only stimulates the invention of evasions. In dramatic history there is ample proof of this. In England during the seventeenth century the force of Puritan opinion and of law did not crush the Drama, but led to unseemly licence. When, in the early eighteenth century, Paris was enlivened by the spectacle of the majestic

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CHAPTER VI THE BANQUET-BALL OF BERGONZIO DI BOTTA, 1489, AND THE FAMOUS “BALLET COMIQUE DE LA REINE,” 1581

A superb and ingenious festivity was that arranged by Bergonzio di Botta, a gentleman of Tortona, in honour of the wedding of Galeazzo, Duke of Milan, with Isabella of Aragon. The good Bergonzio was a lover of all the best things of life, but especially of dining and of dancing. That historic gourmet , Brillat Savarin, commends him for his taste in the former matter, as may we for the bright idea of combining a dinner with a dance, one of somewhat nobler plan than any modern example! The dinner

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CHAPTER VII THOINOT ARBEAU’S “ORCHÉSOGRAPHIE,” 1588

“In Spring,” we know, “the young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.” In the winter of life it would seem that an old man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of the dances that his time-stiffened limbs can no more achieve with their earlier agility and grace, and he takes to—writing about them. For it is strange but true that some of the most entertaining volumes on the subject are those written on the history of the dance by “grave and reverend seigneurs”; who, one would imagine, had l

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CHAPTER VIII SCENIC EFFECT: THE ENGLISH MASQUE AS BALLET

In considering di Botta’s elaborate feast, and Beaujoyeux’s “ballet,” one is struck by their similarity to the English “disguisings” and masques, which, first introduced to the Court of Henry the Eighth in 1512 as a novelty from Italy, only began to assume definite literary form about a century later. That century contributed towards the development of scenic effect. In studying Arbeau’s manual of contemporary dance and music, one is struck by another thing: he is dealing with a social amusement

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CHAPTER IX BALLET ON THE MOVE

If the masque was a kind of ballet that did not move from its appointed place within sight of the Royal and Courtly audience, by whom it was commanded as a spectacle for private entertainment, there was a “ballet” which did, and became, like the “carrousels” and “triumphs,” a very public spectacle, namely the ballet-ambulatoire , or peripatetic “ballet,” said to have originated among the Portuguese, and much encouraged by the Church. The Beatification of Ignatius Loyola in 1609 is an instance of

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CHAPTER X COURT BALLETS ABROAD: 1609-1650

While the English Court was enjoying its masques, during the reigns of Henry VIII, Elizabeth and James, and the French were labouring forth their heroic ballets under Henri Quatre—more than eighty having been given from 1589 to 1610, without counting insignificant balls and masquerades—Italy was similarly keeping up in the movement which her example had originally inspired. It was the custom there to celebrate the birthday of the Princess by an annual public fête. As one old historian records, t

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CHAPTER XI THE TURNING POINT: LE ROI SOLEIL AND HIS ACADEMY OF DANCING, 1651-1675

For some two centuries Italy had amused herself with Ballet as a courtly entertainment; and so, during one, had England and France. Now, in 1651, it was France who was to give the lead to Europe, for in February of that year Louis-Quatorze, then a lad of thirteen, appeared in a ballet by Benserade, entitled “Cassandra,” and this was the first of many in which he took part until, at the age of thirty, he withdrew from the stage and gave his farewell performance in the ballet of “Flora” in 1669. S

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CHAPTER XII SOME EARLY STARS AND BALLETS

For some time after the founding of the King’s Dancing Academy the French Opera stage was ungraced by the feminine form, though women took part in the performance at some of the minor theatres, such as the famous Theatres of the Fair in Paris. For the entertainment of the more exalted sections of Society the more exalted ladies themselves performed; at Court, however, not on the public stage, where, as in our own theatre in Elizabethan times, youths played the women’s rôles . Such was the case i

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CHAPTER XIII PANTOMIME AT SCEAUX: AND MLLE. PRÉVÔT

The mention of Subligny recalls the interesting fact that during the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV of France there was a considerable importation of French and Italian actors, singers, dancers, and musicians into England. We all know the complaints in The Spectator and other journals of the period against the craze for Italian opera. A little earlier than that Cambert, who had been Director of the King’s Music to the Court of Louis-Quatorze and organist at the Church of St. Honoré in Paris, a

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CHAPTER XIV ITALIAN COMEDY AND THE THEATRES OF THE FAIR

Humanity , like history, repeats itself in its recurring moods. Some years ago London playgoers went rather mad over what was a comparatively new thing to that period, the production of a delightful play without words, namely, MM. Carré and Wormser’s “L’Enfant Prodigue,” acted to perfection by a cast headed by Mlle. Jane May, as Pierrot, with Mlle. Zanfretta as Pierrette. About two thousand years ago the playgoers of ancient Rome began to go mad about what was then thought to be a really new thi

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CHAPTER XV WATTEAU’S DEBT TO THE STAGE

The stage has from time to time been indebted to Watteau for costume and décor . But Watteau’s debt to the stage of his period, to the Opera, to the Italian Comedy, and to the Theatres of the Fair, has hardly been considered sufficiently. Here is not the place to bring forward all the evidence that could be produced. Only an indication of some of the leading possibilities can be given. But while the subject has an interest of its own, on the purely critical side, it is also of interest to studen

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CHAPTER XVI THE SPECTATOR AND MR. WEAVER

Queen Anne had long been dead, but she can never have been very lively when alive, for her period was one when political intrigue, theological controversy, and the War of Spanish Succession were the chief subjects that occupied everybody’s attention, especially her own, and—could anything be duller? Moreover, she was of somewhat portly proportions, had a solemn husband, and—unlike Queen Elizabeth—was really no dancer. With such a queen on the throne, at such a time of stress, can it be wondered

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CHAPTER XVII A FRENCH DANCER IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY LONDON

We have seen that the state of dancing in England was nothing to boast of in the early eighteenth century. We have seen that London had not yet what Paris had had some fifty years—State-aided Opera and Ballet. But the public appreciation of art was there all the same, and an astute manager of that day was as capable of realising, quite as well as any modern, that where there was no home supply it might be profitable to import foreign talent. Strange, is it not, that there was not then, any more

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CHAPTER XVIII LA BELLE CAMARGO

Some say that Camargo had no right to be described “La Belle.” Contemporary accounts of her appearance differ. It was a time when people took sides, and duelled for their opinions. It is a curious fact that several famous dancers have been of questionable beauty—at least, as to face, and when in repose; for it is another curious thing that no dancer ever did or possibly ever could, look plain when dancing, that is, if dancing really well. The animation or gentle grace of the dance, whether quick

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CHAPTER XIX THE HOUSE OF VESTRIS

It is recorded that during one of the many revolts indulged in by the dancers of the Paris Opera against managerial control, which incidentally meant, of course, State and Royal control, some of the leaders were sent to Fort l’Evêque—including Auguste Vestris. So melodramatically pathetic was the farewell scene with his father, Gaetan, that even his colleagues laughed! “Go my son,” said le Diou de la Danse . “This is the most glorious moment of your career. Take my carriage, and ask for the cell

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CHAPTER XX JEAN GEORGES NOVERRE

Supreme above all other writers on the dance and ballet is Jean Georges Noverre, whose genius has been praised by Diderot, Voltaire, by D’Alembert, Dorat, and by David Garrick, the last of whom described him as “the Shakespeare” of the dance. Born at Paris in April, 1727, he was the son of a distinguished Swiss soldier, who had served as an adjutant in the army of Charles XII, and intended his son for a military career. Jean, however, early developed a passion for the stage, and especially for d

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CHAPTER XXI GUIMARD THE GRAND: 1743-1816

For some thirty of Madeleine Guimard’s seventy-three years of life she was the idol of Paris, having risen from obscurity to power, and returned again from a joyous life set in high places to a lonely death in obscurity. Authorities differ, as authorities so often do over the advent of new stars in the firmament of life, as to the date of Guimard’s birth. One says the 2nd, and another the 10th, and yet a third the 20th of October. Edmond de Goncourt—not infallible on other points—gives the date

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CHAPTER XXII DESPRÉAUX, POET AND—HUSBAND OF GUIMARD

There can be nothing more irksome to a man than to be known merely as the husband of his more famous wife. In speaking, however, of Despréaux as “husband of Guimard,” it is not my intention to cast any slight on an estimable and, in his own time, well-known personality; but I do so merely that the reader will thereby be able to “place” her genial and accomplished husband, M. Despréaux to whom reference has already been made. He was born in 1748, five years after Mlle. Guimard, and was the son of

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CHAPTER XXIII A CENTURY’S CLOSE

We have lingered somewhat over these sketches of the eighteenth century; let us hasten over that century’s close, for was it not steeped in blood? “Revolution,” did they not call the madness which seized France? Heralded by fair promises of universal brotherhood, what did all the fine talk of her “intellectuals” and “philosophs” end in? A state of anarchy, national madness; in which no man’s life was safe, and no woman’s honour. War is horrible enough between nations. What, then, is universal wa

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CHAPTER XXIV THE EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY

Though it had not died during the Revolutionary period, either in Paris or London, the art of Ballet, from the death of Louis XV was really of little artistic interest, and was to remain so until the famous ’Forties of last century. The dancers were mostly mechanical; the ballets uninspired; the mounting meretricious; and it was not till the ’forties of last century that a new and all-surpassing danseuse , Marie Taglioni, came to infuse a new spirit into the art and found a tradition that holds

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CHAPTER XXV CARLO BLASIS

The Dance and Ballet had made progress during the past two centuries and had reached the point when, unable to attain to greater perfection of technique, it needed some fresh artistic inspiration. Italy, however, had long been degenerate as regards the Dance, her whole artistic ambition having expressed itself in Opera and an unrivalled excellence in vocal technique. So that towards the end of the eighteenth century and for half the nineteenth, her singers were unmatched throughout the world. Th

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CHAPTER XXVI MARIE TAGLIONI (“SYLPHIDE”)

The great theatrical sensation of the mid-’forties was the famous Pas de Quatre , composed of Lucile Grahn, Fanny Cerito, Carlotta Grisi, and Marie Taglioni, the last-named making a welcome return to the stage after an absence of some years. This was in 1845. Taglioni’s reappearance and a dispute between the dancers as to the order of their entrée gave the event a handsome advertisement. In the end the difficulty was settled by Lumley, the manager of the Opera, deciding that, as Mlle. Taglioni h

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CHAPTER XXVII CARLOTTA GRISI (GISELLE)

Seldom is a good dancer also a born singer; and still more rarely do both talents develop simultaneously to such a point that there can be any serious doubt as to which to relinquish in favour of the other. Yet such was the happy fate of Carlotta Grisi, the cousin of the two famous singing sisters, Giuditta and Giulia Grisi. Carlotta at one time showed such promise of becoming a vocalist that no less a person than the great Malibran advised her to devote her life to singing. But when Perrot, the

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CHAPTER XXVIII FANNY CERITO (“ONDINE”)

Of the great quartette, Cerito was the especial pet of London audiences, among whom she was always known as the “divine” Fanny. This but echoed the pretty worship of her good old father to whom she was always “La Divinita,” and who in the heyday of her success used to go about with his pockets stuffed with her old shoes, and fragments of the floral crowns which had been thrown to her on the stage. From the time of her birth at Naples, in 1821, he had guarded her, and his pride in her talent and

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CHAPTER XXIX LUCILE GRAHN (“EOLINE”)

Lucile Grahn was born at Copenhagen, June 30th, 1821, and is said to have been so delighted with a ballet to which she was taken when only four years old, that she forthwith insisted on learning to dance, and made her regular theatrical début as Cupid when she was seven! For a time she left the stage in order to pursue her studies as a dancer. After seven years of the usual and always taxing training she reappeared, at the age of fourteen, first in “La Muette de Portici,” following with success

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CHAPTER XXX THE DECLINE AND REVIVAL

Following what may be called “the Taglioni era” came a period of comparative dullness. There were successors who charmed their audiences in London, in Paris, in Rome, Vienna and America. There was the brilliant Caroline Rosati; the stately Amalia Ferraris; dashing Rita Sangalli—who married a Baron; dainty Rosita Mauri; Petipa, Fabbri, and others whose name and fame were brilliant but transient. But these, you will say, were all foreigners. Had we no English ballet dancers? Well, it may safely be

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CHAPTER XXXI THE ALHAMBRA: 1854-1903

Both the Alhambra and the Empire were alike in having had a somewhat varied career before they became the rival “homes of English ballet.” There was something like a craze for music-halls in the early ’sixties of last century, and it was probably partly due to this that the Alhambra, which had been opened in 1854 as a Panopticon of the Arts and Sciences (with a Royal Charter granted by Queen Victoria in 1850) failing of its more ambitious purpose, ceased (unsuccessfully) to instruct, and sought

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CHAPTER XXXII THE ALHAMBRA 1904-1914

There was plenty of novelty and ample charm in “All the Year Round,” a ballet in seven scenes, written and produced by Mr. Charles Wilson, with bright and appropriate music by the well-known chef d’orchestre of Drury Lane, Mr. James Glover, on January 21st, 1904, by which time the late Mr. George Scott was Manager. It was one that should always be worth revival, with topical modifications, and though a genuine ballet with a central idea connecting its varied scenes, it seemed in form somewhat to

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CHAPTER XXXIII THE EMPIRE 1884-1906

Before it opened its doors as a regular theatre, with the late H. J. Hitchins as Manager, on April 17th, 1884, the Empire had “played many parts.” The site had been occupied by a royal residence which became in time a picture, or exhibition gallery and a café chantant, before being burnt down in 1865. Then the late John Hollingshead and some friends proposed erecting a theatre on the site, but the scheme fell through and the ruin remained ruinous for some years, until it became for a time a pano

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CHAPTER XXXIV THE EMPIRE 1907-1914

When the news was first announced that an end was to come to Mlle. Adeline Génée’s ten years’ reign at the Empire and that the famous dancer was seeking, if not new worlds to conquer, at least to conquer what was once always spoken of as “The ‘New’ World,” many who had followed the progress of Ballet in London must have wondered where anyone could hope to find a successor to her throne, and who would have the courage to accept an offer thereof. But London theatrical managers are not lacking in r

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CHAPTER XXXV FINALE: THE RUSSIANS AND—THE FUTURE

It is curious to recall the fact that a taste for dancing has always been a characteristic of the Londoners, who have supported really artistic ballet as often as they have had an opportunity. The Elizabethan masques; the ballet dancers imported by Rich in the reign of Anne; and by Garrick, later; by Lumley at Her Majesty’s in the ’forties; the native productions of Ballet at the Empire and Alhambra for over a quarter of a century; and, since, the importation of Russian ballet, first at various

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