Jean Coralli
Jean Coralli (15 January 1779 – 1 May 1854) was a French ballet dancer and choreographer, best known for collaborating with Jules Perrot in creating Giselle (1841), the quintessential Romantic ballet of the nineteenth century.[1]
Early life and career
Born Giovanni Coralli Peracini, he was a son of a Bolognese family resident in Paris, where his father was a comedian at the Théâtre Italien. As a child he studied at the ballet school of the Paris Opera but chose to go to Vienna to make his debut as a dancer and choreographer. He danced for a short while at the Paris Opera in 1802 and at the King's Theatre in London and then returned to Vienna to assume the position of ballet master at the Hoftheater (Court Theater). During these early years, he and his wife formed the celebrated dancing couple Giovanni and Teresa Coralli and were often pictured in contemporary prints. They danced leading roles in most of the ballets that Coralli created at the Hoftheater, including Helena und Paris (1807). Beginning in 1809, the Corallis appeared as principal dancers at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, and at the Teatro São Carlo in Lisbon.[2]
From 1825 to 1829, Coralli served as ballet master of the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin in Paris, where he created ten full-length ballets and divertissements for fourteen plays. His company included Charles-François Mazurier, a noted comic dancer, as well as Jules Perrot (1810-1892) and Joseph Mazilier (1801-1868), talented dancers who would both become famous choreographers. The Porte Saint-Martin was known for its championship of the Romantic drama and its innovative ballets, many of which anticipated the productions of the Paris Opera. For an 1828 play, Coralli choreographed a pas de sylphides that foreshadowed the supernatural ballets blancs of later years.[3]
Working at the Paris Opera
In 1831, Coralli was engaged as premier maître de ballet of the
The pinnacle of Coralli's choreographic career was in 1841, when the ballet Giselle, ou Les Wilis was first presented during the summer season at the Paris Opera. The scenario, written by
Gautier and the composer Burgmüller were again Coralli's collaborators in his next ballet, La Péri (1843), a complicated tale of an oriental fairy beloved by a youth who sees her in an opium dream. With Grisi and Petipa as the principal dancers, Coralli's choreography was acclaimed by press and public, and the ballet enjoyed a great success. His penultimate ballet, Eucharis (1844), was a failure, and his last ballet, Ozaï (1847), was performed only ten times. Coralli retired from his position at the Paris Opera in 1854 and died only four years later.[8]
Selected works
Coralli's chief works include in following.[9]
- 1806: Paul et Rosette
- 1806: Amphion
- 1807: Les Incas
- 1807: Hélène et Pâris
- 1815: La Dansomanie
- 1816: Les Noces de Zéphire et Flore
- 1825: La Statue de Vénus
- 1825: Les Ruses Espagnoles
- 1826: Monsieur de Pourceaugnac
- 1826: Gulliver
- 1826: La Visite à Bedlam
- 1827: Le Mariage de Raison
- 1827: La Neige
- 1828: Les Hussards et les Jeunes Filles
- 1828: Léocadie
- 1829: Les Artistes
- 1830: La Somnambule
- 1830: Le Mariage de Raison
- 1831: L'Orgie
- 1832: La Tentation
- 1834: La Tempête, ou L'Île des Génies
- 1836: Le Diable Boiteux
- 1837: La Chatte Métamorphosée en Femme
- 1839: La Tarentule
- 1841: Giselle, ou Les Wilis, with Jules Perrot
- 1843: La Péri
- 1844: Eucharis
- 1847: Ozaï
See also
References
- ^ Susan Au, "Coralli, Jean," in International Encyclopedia of Dance, edited by Selman Jeanne Cohen and others (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), vol. 2, pp. 201–204.
- ^ Marie-Françoise Christout and Gino Tani, "Coralli, Jean," in Enciclopedia dello Spettacolo (Rome: Le Maschere, 1954).
- ^ Marion Hannah Winter, The Pre-Romantic Ballet (Brooklyn, N.Y.: Dance Horizons, 1975).
- ^ Au, "Coralli, Jean," in International Encyclopedia of Dance (1998), vol. 2, p. 202.
- ^ Ivor Forbes Guest, Fanny Elssler (London: A. & C. Black, 1970).
- ^ Edwin Binney, Le Ballets de Théophile Gautier (Paris: Nizet, 1965).
- ^ Cyril W. Beaumont, The Ballet Called Giselle (London: Dance Books, 1996).
- ^ Ivor Forbes Guest, The Romantic Ballet in Paris, 2nd rev. ed. (London: Dance Books, 1980).
- ^ Horst Koegler, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Ballet, 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press, 1982).