Paris Opera Ballet
The Paris Opéra Ballet is the official ballet company of the Opéra national de Paris, otherwise known as the Palais Garnier, though known more popularly simply as the Paris Opéra. Its origins can be traced back to 1661 with the foundation of the Académie Royale de Danse and the Le Ballet de l'Opéra (1713) by King Louis XIV of France. The official name of the company is Le Ballet de l'Opéra national de Paris.
History
see also: Ballet du Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique, predecessor of the Paris Opéra Ballet
History of the Paris Opéra Ballet....
see also: History of ballet
When the French King Louis XIV decided to create the Academie Royale de Danse (Royal Academy of Dance)in 1661, its aim was to restablish the perfection of dance. Using 13 professional dancers to drive the academy, it would be the first of three entities established for the purposes of national cultural enrichment.
In 1672, King Louis XIV gave a patent to Jean-Baptiste Lully, handing him directorship of the Académie Royale de Musique which had been founded as Académie d'Opéra in 1669. This was the great institution of opera, baroque ballet (the art-form that would one day evolve into classical ballet), and music in Paris. At this time French ballet and opera were virtually inseparable, and from 1671 until Lully's death in 1687 the ballet was directed by the dancing master Pierre Beauchamp, most noted for setting down the five positions of the feet. These institutions were maintained lavishly at the expense of the crown. In 1713 Louis XIV made the Opéra a state institution, including a resident company of professional dancers known at that time as Le Ballet de l'Opéra, lead by Fraincine and Dumont: it was open to boys and girls from poor families, aged 9 to 13, and existed since then without interruption (it's the oldest dance school still existing...)From that time until the 1810s the Académie Royale de Musique held 12 theatres as their principal venues, most of which were destroyed by fires. All of these theatres, regardless of the "official" names which they were given, were all commonly known as the Paris Opéra or Opéra de Paris.
At that time, the Surintendant des ballets du Roi was Charles-Louis Beauchamp (born in Versailles in 1636), who composed all the ballets which were danced at the Court (on some musics of Lully). His successor was Louis-Guillaume P�court (1653-1729), then Blondi (1675-1739), who was the teacher of Marie Sall� and la Mariette. Among the remarkable dance professors of this time were also Jean Ballon (1676-1739), praised for his qualities of "danseur noble", and Lestang (?-1739), Louis Lasserre who was ordonnateur des f�tes et ballets de Cour and Deschars.
Mademoiselle La Fontaine (1665-1736) was the first woman who danced on the stage of the Academy of Music, when she premiered Le Triomphe de l'Amour. Then came other famous ballerinas such as Marie-Th�r�se de Subligny (1666-1736), Mademoiselle Prevost and Mademoiselle Desmartins. The most famous male dancers of that period were Michel Blondy and Jean Balon.
The King Louis XIV himself danced quite often in the ballets of the Court; in the Ballet de la Nuit in 1653, he danced many roles including an hour, a star and the Sun, and in 1685, aged 47, he still danced the role of a nymph in L'Eglogue de Versailles!
Among the most successful ballets of Beauchamp were Alcidiane (1658), la Raillerie (1659), l'Impatience (1661), les F�cheux, les Amours Deguis�es (1664), le Mariage forc� (after Moli�re), le Palais d'Alcine and Les Plaisirs de l'Ile enchant�e.
In 1713, two years before his death, Louis XIV published a Règlement concernant l'Opéra which made the Opera become a state institution, with a permanent company of 20 dancers (10 men, 10 women).
Ranking
There are five ranks of dancer in the Paris Opéra Ballet, from highest to lowest they are:
- étoiles
- premières sujets
- sujets
- coryphées
- quadrilles
see also: Ballerina
choreographers
- Jean Dauberval: La fille mal gardée (1789).
- Pierre Gardel: Télémaque (1790), Psyché (1793), Le jugement de Pâris (1793), La dansomanie (1800)
- Philippe Taglioni: La Sylphide (1832)
- Jules Perrot: Giselle (1842)
- Jean Coralli: Giselle (1842)
- Carlo Blasis
- Arthur Saint-Léon: Coppélia (1870)
- Louis Meranté: Sylvia (1875)
- Serge Lifar: Les Créatures de Prométhée (1929), Icare (1935), Istar (1941), Suite en blanc (1943)
- Rudolf Nureyev: Raymonda (1983), Swan Lake (1985)
- Maurice Béjart: Arepo (1986)
- William Forsythe: In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated (1987)
note: works given were created for the Paris opera Ballet
Dancers
- Yvette Chauviré
- Sylvie Guillem
- Emma Livry
- Marie Taglioni
See also
- Audric Bezard
Credits
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