Romanticism: The Taglioni Family

Dance dynasties played a key role in the history of Italian ballet well into the nineteenth century. Many dancers received their early training at home or in family apprenticeships and performed with touring companies whose members were frequently related. The most celebrated Italian dance dynasty of the nineteenth century was the Taglioni family.  Founded by Carlo Taglioni, a Turin-born "grotesque" dancer and choreographer active in the late 1700s, and his wife, Maria Petracchi Taglioni, also a dancer, it remained a presence in the ballet world for four generations. Carlo's sons, Filippo and Salvatore Taglioni, both made their mark as choreographers--Filippo with La Sylphide (1832) and other ballets that defined French Romantic style, Salvatore by choreographing scores of ballets for the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. Filippo's daughter Marie Taglioni, the first Sylphide, achieved even greater fame; her lightness and fragility, coupled with her refined use of pointe, created a new, ethereal image of the ballerina. Her brother Paul, who, like Marie, was largely trained by his father, settled in Berlin, where he had a long and productive career as a choreographer, while also maintaining an international presence that included several seasons at La Scala.  His daughter, known as Marie-Paul Taglioni or Marie Taglioni the Younger, made her debut in 1847 at Her Majesty's Theatre in London, where her father was ballet master, and for the next twenty years appeared in most of his ballets as première danseuse. Her cousin, Salvatore's daughter Louise, began her career in Naples in her father's ballets; heading north, she made her London debut in 1846 and spent most of the following decade at the Paris Opéra.

Portrait of Amalie Galster Taglioni
Lithograph by Friedrich Jentzen after a drawing from nature by Franz Krüger, Berlin, [183-?]. Amalia Galster Taglioni was a German ballerina who married Paul Taglioni in 1829 and became his regular partner. They danced together in Paris, London, and Warsaw, sometimes in Paul's own choreography but also in ballets created by his father for his sister Marie. Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

Paul Taglioni
Lithograph by Josef Kriehuber from a drawing by Josef Stoufs, Vienna, 1856.  Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

Salvatore Taglioni
Lithograph by F. Wenzel from a drawing by Luigi De Crescenzo, [Naples, 1850?]. Born in Palermo in 1789, Salvatore Taglioni studied in Paris, made his debut at the Opéra, then settled in Naples, where he ruled the Teatro San Carlo, the largest theater in all Europe, until political events closed it in 1861. As a choreographer, Taglioni was both prolific and skilled. He staged more than 150 ballets--epics in three, four, or five acts on historical, allegorical, tragic, fantastic, romantic, and even comic themes, full of spectacular effects and intricate narratives.  Although he never became an international celebrity, he was considered by many, including the Danish choreographer August Bournonville, to be "the finest living ballet composer in Italy." In this lithograph, each laurel leaf bears the name and year of one of Taglioni's ballets.  Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

Marie Taglioni in the Ballet La Gitana by the Choreographer Signore Filippo Taglioni, Father of the Eximious Artist

Lithograph by Roberto Focosi, Milan, [1841]. The most celebrated member of the Taglioni dynasty, Marie Taglioni made her Milanese debut in 1841, when she appeared at La Scala in her father Filippo's ballet La Gitana (1838), the story of a girl abducted as a child by Gypsies. Born in Stockholm in 1804, Marie was her father's pupil and protegée. His rigorous teaching instilled strength as well as the lightness and fluidity that defined her unique gifts and the attributes of Romantic style. Although Amalia Brugnoli had worked on pointe, it was Marie, with her ethereal, virginal grace, exemplified in her father's ballet La Sylphide (1832), who made this technique a cornerstone of the expressive universe of ballet Romanticism. Unlike their French and English counterparts, most Italian prints of the Romantic period are black-and-white, and many, like this one, bear a dedicatory verse to the dancer memorialized. Cia Fornaroli Collection, Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

Marie-Paul Taglioni in the title role of Paul Taglioni's Satanella, or Les Metamorphoses
Color lithograph by Eusebio Planas from a drawing by Paul Bürde, New York, 1853.  Paul Taglioni choreographed Satanella in London in 1850 for Carlotta Grisi, then revived it two years later in Berlin for his daughter Marie-Paul Taglioni. In 1866 Marie-Paul left the stage to marry Prince Josef von Windisch-Graetz.  Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

Marie-Paul Taglioni as the Flower Fairy in Paul Taglioni's Thea, ou la Fée aux Fleurs
Color lithograph by Emilien Desmaisons from a drawing by Alexandre de Valentini, [Paris?, 1847?].  Marie-Paul made her London debut in 1847 as the Flower Fairy in Thea, ou La Fée aux Fleurs, the first of many ballets choreographed by her father that she would dance. The score was by the prolific Italian composer Cesare Pugni, who wrote the music for nearly all the ballets produced at Her Majesty's Theatre in the 1840s. In 1850 Pugni accepted an appointment in St. Petersburg and for the next two decades composed the scores for numerous ballets, including Arthur Saint-Léon's The Little Humpbacked Horse (1864) and Marius Petipa's The Daughter of Pharaoh (1862). Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

Balli di Salvatore Taglioni, con autografi di Barbaia (Ballets by Salvatore Taglioni, with autographs by [the impresario Domenico] Barbaja)

Collection of holographs and other manuscripts of scenarios, cast lists, production, notes, and drawings, relating to ballets staged by Salvatore Taglioni at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples, 1814-1865.  Il Narciso corretto (Narcissus chastened), which featured Taglioni, his wife Adelaide Perrault Taglioni, Pierre (Pietro) Hus, and a member of the Vestris dynasty, premiered at the Teatro San Carlo in 1820.  One of era's most powerful impresarios, Domenico Barbaja (1778-1841) began his career as a waiter and billiards player, amassing a fortune by introducing French roulette into Italian opera houses.  (Until well into the 1800s, games of chance were allowed only in opera houses, with the impresario receiving a monopoly on such activity.)  Barbaja controlled the royal opera houses of Naples, including the Teatro San Carlo, for over thirty years, and also served as the impresario of La Scala and the Vienna Kärntnertortheater.  Cia Fornaroli Collection, Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

Satanella
Libretto of Filippo Taglioni's Satanella, a "fantastic ballet in six parts" produced at La Scala in 1842 with Marie Taglioni in the title role.  In the company list, note how the "primi ballerini" or "first dancers" are divided into the categories of "French dancers," "character dancers," and "demi-caractère dancers."  Carlo Blasis and his wife, Annunciata Ramacini Blasis, are listed under the rubric of the "Scuola di Ballo"--or School of Ballet--as Masters of Perfection.  Walter Toscanini Collection of Research Materials in Dance, Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

Handbill for a "Straordinario Spettacolo" with Marie Taglioni at Bologna's Gran Teatro Comunale, 26 November 1842
The program for this "special performance" with the "most celebrated Madame Taglioni" consisted of the Prologue of the opera Eustorgia da Romano; Act III of Antonio Guerra's ballet Il Lago delle Fate (The Lake of the Fairies); the "Grand Symphony" from Guglielmo Tell; Act I of the opera Eustorgia; La Caccia di Diana (Diana's Hunt), a solo; Act III of the opera Il Giuramento (The Oath), and, lastly, the "Spanish Dance entitled La Gitana [The Gypsy]."  Walter Toscanini Collection of Research Materials in Dance, Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

Portrait of Amalie Galster Taglioni
Lithograph by Friedrich Jentzen after a drawing from nature by Franz Krüger, Berlin, [183-?]. Amalia Galster Taglioni was a German ballerina who married Paul Taglioni in 1829 and became his regular partner. They danced together in Paris, London, and Warsaw, sometimes in Paul's own choreography but also in ballets created by his father for his sister Marie. Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

Paul Taglioni
Lithograph by Josef Kriehuber from a drawing by Josef Stoufs, Vienna, 1856. Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

Salvatore Taglioni
Lithograph by F. Wenzel from a drawing by Luigi De Crescenzo, [Naples, 1850?]. Born in Palermo in 1789, Salvatore Taglioni studied in Paris, made his debut at the Opéra, then settled in Naples, where he ruled the Teatro San Carlo, the largest theater in all Europe, until political events closed it in 1861. As a choreographer, Taglioni was both prolific and skilled. He staged more than 150 ballets--epics in three, four, or five acts on historical, allegorical, tragic, fantastic, romantic, and even comic themes, full of spectacular effects and intricate narratives. Although he never became an international celebrity, he was considered by many, including the Danish choreographer August Bournonville, to be "the finest living ballet composer in Italy." In this lithograph, each laurel leaf bears the name and year of one of Taglioni's ballets. Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

Marie Taglioni in the Ballet La Gitana by the Choreographer Signore Filippo Taglioni, Father of the Eximious Artist
Lithograph by Roberto Focosi, Milan, [1841]. The most celebrated member of the Taglioni dynasty, Marie Taglioni made her Milanese debut in 1841, when she appeared at La Scala in her father Filippo's ballet La Gitana (1838), the story of a girl abducted as a child by Gypsies. Born in Stockholm in 1804, Marie was her father's pupil and protegée. His rigorous teaching instilled strength as well as the lightness and fluidity that defined her unique gifts and the attributes of Romantic style. Although Amalia Brugnoli had worked on pointe, it was Marie, with her ethereal, virginal grace, exemplified in her father's ballet La Sylphide (1832), who made this technique a cornerstone of the expressive universe of ballet Romanticism. Unlike their French and English counterparts, most Italian prints of the Romantic period are black-and-white, and many, like this one, bear a dedicatory verse to the dancer memorialized. Cia Fornaroli Collection, Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

Marie-Paul Taglioni in the title role of Paul Taglioni's Satanella, or Les Metamorphoses
Color lithograph by Eusebio Planas from a drawing by Paul Bürde, New York, 1853. Paul Taglioni choreographed Satanella in London in 1850 for Carlotta Grisi, then revived it two years later in Berlin for his daughter Marie-Paul Taglioni. In 1866 Marie-Paul left the stage to marry Prince Josef von Windisch-Graetz. Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

Marie-Paul Taglioni as the Flower Fairy in Paul Taglioni's Thea, ou la Fée aux Fleurs
Color lithograph by Emilien Desmaisons from a drawing by Alexandre de Valentini, [Paris?, 1847?]. Marie-Paul made her London debut in 1847 as the Flower Fairy in Thea, ou La Fée aux Fleurs, the first of many ballets choreographed by her father that she would dance. The score was by the prolific Italian composer Cesare Pugni, who wrote the music for nearly all the ballets produced at Her Majesty's Theatre in the 1840s. In 1850 Pugni accepted an appointment in St. Petersburg and for the next two decades composed the scores for numerous ballets, including Arthur Saint-Léon's The Little Humpbacked Horse (1864) and Marius Petipa's The Daughter of Pharaoh (1862). Jerome Robbins Dance Division.