Gasparo Angiolini

(born Feb. 9, 1731, Florencedied Feb. 6, 1803, Milan) Italian choreographer. In 1757 he became ballet master of the Vienna court opera house; in 1761 he collaborated with the composer Christoph Willibald Gluck to produce Don Juan, and he later choreographed other ballets to Gluck's music. In 1765 Angiolini became ballet master of the Imperial Theatre in St. Petersburg. He was among the first to integrate dance, music, and plot in dramatic ballets, developing the form known as ballet d'action. He maintained a rivalry with Jean-Georges Noverre and disagreed with his interpretation of the ballet d'action.