Arthur Saint-Leon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Arthur Saint-Léon (Paris, September 17, 1821- September 2, 1870) was the Maître de Ballet of St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet from 1859 until 1869.
He is famous for creating the choreography of the ballet Coppélia.
[edit] Biography
Saint-Léon was encouraged by his father, he himself a dancer of the Paris Opéra Ballet, to study music and dance. Saint-Léon studied violin with Joseph Mayseder and Nicolò Paganini. At the same time, he studied ballet so he could perform both as violinist and dancer. When he was 17 years old, he made his début as first demi-charactére dancer at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels. He started to tour across Europe dancing in Germany, Italy, England, obtaining a lot of success. In particular, the London audience, who did not like at that time to see men dancing on stage, liked him very much. He was much appreciated for his tours and his jumps. He was able to gain applause in every theatre he danced, and this was not very common in the Romantic Era, where the only star on stage was the Ballerina dancing on her pointes.
When in Wien, Saint-Léon could dance for the first time with Fanny Cerrito and from that very moment the two of them became almost indivisible, till they got married in 1845. For Cerrito, Saint-Léon choreographed a ballet that was a hit in London La Vivandière (1843). He created also ballets for the Teatro La Fenice in Venice and for the Paris Opéra.
He became the teacher of the master class at the Opéra and he was in charge to choreograph the divertissements of the most important ballet production. He parted from his wife in 1851 and when she was invited to dance at the Opéra, Saint-Léon retired.
After touring across Europe, (he also worked three years for the Teatro San Carlos in Lisbon), he was invited to follow Jules Perrot as maître the ballet at the Imperial Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, from 1859 to 1869.
Even if Saint-Léon choreographed many ballets, the only one arrived to us almost complete is Coppélia (1870). It is surely his best ballet and it had a great success when it was performed for the first time.
Saint-Léon is famous also because he invented a method of ballet notation described in the book: La Sténochoréographie, ou Art d'écrire promptement la danse published in 1852. It is the first method of ballet notation in which were considered not only the feet but also the body and the head.
[edit] Main Choreographies
- 1843 La Vivandière (mus. Cesare Pugni)
- 1847 Alma, ou la Fille de feu (mus. Cesare Pugni)
- 1849 Le Violon du Diable (mus. Cesare Pugni). Here, Saint-Léon performed both as dancer and violinist.
- 1850 Stella (mus. Cesare Pugni)
- 1860 Graziella ou La Querelle amoureuse (mus. Cesare Pugni)
- 1861 La Perle de Seville (mus. Cesare Pugni)
- 1864 Fiametta (mus. Léon Minkus)
- 1864 The Little Humbacked Horse (mus. Cesare Pugni)
- 1866 The Golden Fish (mus. Léon Minkus)
- 1866 La Source (mus. Léon Minkus and Léo Delibes)
- 1869 Le Lys (mus. Léon Minkus) Here, Minkus re-used much of the music he wrote for La Source.
- 1870 Coppélia (mus. L. Delibes)it:Arthur Saint-Léon
