Carlotta Grisi

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

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, Switzerland. She was trained at the ballet school of Teatro alla Scala in Milan and later with dancer/balletmaster Jules Perrot.

Notable Roles

• Created the role of Giselle in the ballet of that name (1841) by Jules Perrot and Jean Coralli.
• The oriental Peri/Leila in Coralli's and Gautier's La Péri (1843)
• The title role in Paquita (1844) by Joseph Mazilier
• Second ballerina in Pas de Quatre (1845) by Jules Perrot
• Mazourka in Le Diable à Quatre (1845) by Joseph Mazilier

Biography

At her debut performance (in London - 1836), Grisi danced 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 Les Metamorphoses (1849).

In 1850, she joined Perrot in St. Petersburg, Russia, where he had been appointed balletmaster, and she danced Giselle at the Bolshoi Theatre. The first Giselle in Russia had been danced by Fanny Elssler, and so the initial reaction to Grisi's "new" interpretation of the role was not enthusiastic. However, over time the Russians appreciated her talents. She was ballerina of the Imperial Theaters in Russia 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.

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 St. Jean, 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. He is famous for coining the phrase, "Art for art's sake",

External links

• Andros on Ballet - Carlotta Grisi
• Carlotta Grisi in Giselle

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