Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Carlotta Grisi

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Carlotta Grisi
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

(born June 28, 1819, Visinada, Istria, Austrian Empire — died May 20, 1899, Geneva, Switz.) Italian ballerina of the Romantic era. She trained at the ballet school of La Scala in Milan. In 1834 she became the protégé of the dancer and ballet master Jules Perrot. She was engaged at the Paris Opera, where her first creation was Giselle (1841). Grisi remained the undisputed principal ballerina of the Opera until 1849 and was praised for her seemingly spontaneous and effortless style. She retired in 1853.

For more information on Carlotta Grisi, visit Britannica.com.

Search unanswered questions...

Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics

Dictionary of Dance: Carlotta Grisi
Top
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Dictionary of Dance

Grisi, Carlotta (b Visinada, June 1819, d St Jean, Switzerland, 20 May 1899). Italian dancer. One of the great ballerinas of the Romantic era, she earned her place in history by creating the title role in Giselle. She studied at the La Scala ballet school in Milan with Claude Guillet and joined the La Scala corps de ballet in 1829 while still a child. In 1834, while on tour in Italy, the 14-year-old Grisi met Jules Perrot, who was to become the most important influence in her career. He choreographed most of his important ballets for her; she became both his pupil and his mistress and in 1836 took the name of Madame Perrot, although they never married. In 1836 and 1837 she danced in Paris, London, and Vienna, although she did not really come to the public's attention until 1840 when she appeared with Perrot in the character dances of the opera Zingaro in Paris. The following year she got a contract with the Paris Opera; her first roles were ballet divertissements in operas, among them Donizetti's La Favorite. Then came the title role in Giselle in the summer of 1841, choreographed by Coralli and Perrot. Other ballerina roles followed: in Albert's La Jolie Fille de Gand (1842), Coralli's La Péri (1843), Perrot's La Esmeralda (London, 1844), Pas de quatre (London, 1845), Les Quatres saisons (London, 1848), La Filleule de fées (Paris, 1849), The Naiad and the Fisherman (St Petersburg, 1851), and Gazelda (St Petersburg, 1853), Mazilier's Le Diable à quatre (Paris, 1845), Paquita (Paris, 1846), and Grisélidis (Rome, 1848), and P. Taglioni's Métamorphoses (London, 1850). Grisi regularly appeared in London throughout the 1840s, and was ballerina with the Imperial Theatres in St Petersburg (1850-3). She retired in 1854, barely 34 years old, to Switzerland. Gautier, who wrote the librettos of Giselle and La Péri for her, wrote of Grisi that ‘she is nature and artlessness personified’.

Wikipedia: Carlotta Grisi
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
Lithograph by an unknown artist of the ballerina Carlotta Grisi in the tite role of Adam's Giselle, Paris, 1841.

Carlotta Grisi, real name Caronne Adele Josephine Marie Grisi was an Italian ballet dancer. She was born on June 28, 1819 in Visinada, Istria and died on May 20, 1899 in Saint-Jean, a district of Geneva, Switzerland. She was trained at the ballet school of Teatro alla Scala in Milan and later with dancer/balletmaster Jules Perrot.

Biography

At her 1836 debut in London Grisi performed with the accomplished danseur Jules Perrot. She next appeared in Paris at the Théâtre de la Renaissance (1840) and a year later, toured with Perrot to other parts of Europe. Through Perrot's contacts, the pair worked in Paris, London, Vienna, Munich, and Milan where she sang and danced. Of her two talents, it was her dancing that was acclaimed. By dancing Perrot's choreography, which at that time was receiving great attention, she gained notable attention of both the public and the critics.

Her greatest role however was that of Giselle. The world première of this two-act ballet was on June 28, 1841 at the Theatre de l'Academie Royale de Musique, Paris. The part of Albrecht was danced by Lucien Petipa, (the brother of the great Marius Petipa), with the part of Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis danced by Adele Dumilatre. It caused a sensation and inspired its reviewers to proclaim Giselle to be the greatest ballet of its time and a triumphant successor to the Romantic masterwork La Sylphide. As such, it immediately established Grisi as a star in her very first full-length ballet in Paris. Her salary grew from 5,000 francs to 12,000 in 1842 and 20,000 by 1844, with additional performance fees on top. It also marked the beginning of a change in her relationship with Jules Perrot.

Grisi's last performance in the west was in Paul Taglioni's Les Métamorphoses (aka Satanella, 1849).

In 1850, she joined Perrot in St. Petersburg, Russia, where he had been appointed balletmaster, and she danced Giselle at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre. The first Giselle in Russia had been danced by Fanny Elssler, and so the initial reaction to Grisi's interpretation of the role was not enthusiastic. However, over time the Russians appreciated her talents. She was Prima Ballerina of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres in St. Petersburg from 1850 to 1853, working not only with Perrot but also Joseph Mazilier who staged for her La Jolie Fille de Gand and Vert-Vert especially for her.

In 1854, with her daughter, she left Russia for Warsaw, where she intended to continue dancing, but she became pregnant by Prince Léon Radziwill who then persuaded her to retire from ballet at the height of her fame. Grisi gave birth to her second daughter, Léontine Grisi, and, at the age of 34, settled near Geneva to spend the next forty-six years of her life in peaceful retirement. She died in Saint-Jean, Geneva, Switzerland, on May 20, 1899, a month before her 80th birthday.

One of the Giselle's creators, Théophile Gautier, described her dancing as having a childlike artlessness, a happy and infectious gaiety.

Notable Roles

The famous Romantic ballerina Carlotta Grisi as Giselle (1841), in a colored lithograph of the period

External links

v • d • e
Ballet
General information Tamara Toumanova & Serge Lifar.jpg
Ballet by genre
Ballet by region
Ballet technique
Ballet apparel

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Dictionary of Dance. The Oxford Dictionary of Dance. Copyright © 2000, 2004 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Carlotta Grisi".  Read more