Katti Lanner

Catherine Josepha Lanner, also Katti Lanner ( born 14 September 1829 in Vienna, † November 15, 1908 in London) was an Austrian dancer and ballet master.

The daughter of composer Joseph Lanner and his wife Franziska née Jahns studied at the School of the Vienna Court Opera in 1845 and debuted in theaters on Kärntnertor in Antonio Guerra Angelica. In 1847 she had her first major success as Fenella in the opera La Muette de Portici. Other leading roles she danced as Myrtha in Giselle (1852 ) and the ballets The transformed women (1853 ) by Paul Taglioni and The Toreador (1854 ) by Antoine Bournonville.

After her mother 's death in 1855, Catherine Lanner, Vienna decided to leave. Already in 1856 she managed a triumphant success in the title role of Giselle in Berlin. Further stages of her life were Dresden and Munich. Finally, she was hired as a ballerina and ballet mistress to the Municipal Theatre of Hamburg. There she directed the choreography of ten ballets, including Uriella, the demon of the night (1862 ), The Rose of Seville ( 1862) and The Asmodeus or the Devil's son on trips (1863 ).

After four years, she left Hamburg and went on tour to Scandinavia and Russia, then to Bordeaux and Lisbon. 1872 was followed by a stint in New York. In 1875 she opened her residence in London. She has appeared in Belgium, Baden -Baden, Paris, Copenhagen and back America. In London, she managed all ballet productions at the Drury Lane Theatre. After the opening of the Empire Theatre in Leicester Square it was established in 1887 ballet mistress there. Until 1897 she practiced from this office and was then still active. She choreographed here 33 ballets and made London a center of ballet, in particular by the appearance of the ballerina Adeline Genée.

Katti Lanner was married from 1868 until the divorce with the dance master Johann Baptist Alfred Karl Viktor Geraldini. Her daughters were Catherine, Albertine and Sophie, who later became a renowned harpist.