Arthur Saint-Léon

Charles Victor Arthur Michael Saint -Léon ( born September 17, 1821 in Paris, † September 2, 1870 ) was a French violinist, dancer, choreographer and dance theoretician.

Life

Arthur was the son of Léon Michel Saint- Léon, who was " Figurant " at the Paris Opera, and Adèle Joséphine Nicolau. He grew up in Stuttgart, where his father was employed for 14 years as a dance master of the princesses. He studied violin with Joseph Mayseder and Nicolò Paganini. In 1834 he debuted as a 13 -year-old violinist with a violin concerto by Pierre Rode in Stuttgart. Between 1840 and 1863 he composed a number of works for violin, but also the viola d'amore.

As a dancer, he debuted on July 31, 1835 in Munich, together with Miss Scherzer in pas de deux from Joseph Schneider's ballet The travelers Ballet Society ( music: Pentenrieder ).

In 1837 the family returned to Paris, where Arthur further studied dance and performed as a violinist. In 1838 he debuted as a character dancer at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels. After that he went to Vienna ( 1841), Milan (1842 ), Turin ( 1841-46 ) and Rome ( 1843), where Saint- Léon choreographed his first ballet " La Vivandière ". Tänzerische engagements followed in Venice, Florence, Turin, Hamburg, Berlin ( 1846/47: The Sutler and the postilion ), Paris, Stockholm, Madrid and London. In Vienna, Saint- Léon danced for the first time with the famous Fanny Cerrito as a partner. In London both danced together very often. They soon became a couple in private, traveled together to Rome, Florence, Parma, and back to London. For this ballet, there is a complete record of the Pas de six in Saint- Léon Sténochorégraphie. The success of this ballet led her to a tours in England and Italy. On April 17, 1845 married in the Eglise des Batignolles in Paris.

1847 Saint- Léon was from the Paris Opera commissioned a new ballet with Cerrito to choreograph as a dancer. To this end, he brought the ballet Alma, ou La Fille de feu, which was created in 1842 by Cerrito and André Deshayes, under the new title La Fille de Marbre on stage. The ballet - described by Théophile Gautier enthusiastic - was a great success. In Tartini Violinista (1848 ) Saint- Léon appeared in a dual role as a dancer and violinist.

Cerrito and Saint- Léon afterwards went to Venice, where they released three new ballets at the Teatro La Fenice. In March 1851 they separated themselves artistically and personally. They danced one last time as a couple in a gala in October 1851. Thereafter Saint- Léon took the place of a first dance teacher and ballet master at the Paris Opéra.

After a season in London Saint- Léon went to Lisbon, where he took three years at the Teatro de São Carlos new and old ballets to the performance. He became a professor at the Lisbon Conservatory, and was awarded the Order of Christ Cross by the Portuguese king. Financial difficulties forced him to give back in Europe touring until he ballet master at the Imperial Theatre in Saint Petersburg in 1859. He held until his death, even if he was not living there that post. He is the first who brought out a ballet on a Russian theme there (The Humpbacked Horse ). Since he had to be present only for six months each, he often traveled to Paris.

1865 Saint- Léon discovered the young German dancer Adèle Grantzow which he saw dancing in 1858 in Hanover. He recommended it as a prima ballerina at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, where she became his mistress. On November 11, 1866 Saint- Léon's ballet La Source was premiered in Paris. Saturated Adèle Grantzow who had to go back due to their contract to Moscow, the Italian dancer danced Guglielmina Salvioni. Mme Grantzow was replaced at the Paris premiere of Coppélia, this time due to illness, by an Italian dancer.

Saint- Léon could not connect, where his works were rather poorly absorbed in his Parisian successes in Russia. He went so far that he even called for a critic to a duel. 1866 commissioned him the Paris Opéra choreography of Coppélia. Due to the constant travel between Paris and Moscow the first performance could only take place on 25 May 1870. He died on September 2, 1870 in Paris of a heart attack, just three months after the premiere of Coppélia.

Works

Writings

• La Sténochorégraphie, 1852
• De l' Etat actuel de la Danse, 1856
• Théorie de la danse de la gymnastique théâtrale, 1859