Ballet master
A ballet master ( English Ballet Master , French Maître de ballet , Spanish Maestro de ballet ), formerly also a dance master , is an employee at the theater or a ballet company who is responsible for the skills of the dancers in the company and the quality of the execution of the Dances ( choreographies ) is responsible. Ballet masters usually train ballet classes on a daily basis and prepare them for current or upcoming pieces.
history
The dance master is originally a dance teacher and has been a kind of behavioral teacher for sons and daughters, like the court master , since modern times , when dance was of great importance for the education of the nobles . This is where the phrase “dance according to his violin” comes from: The dance master's violin was the dance master 's most important tool.
Because the ceremony of the royal court and the Court Theater were virtually inseparable until about 1700, the dance master for the arrangement of social events or were contra dances at the ball as responsible as for the dances on stage that were incorporated even to the majority in operas and plays . This dual function of the ballet master as a dance teacher for the high aristocracy and as a choreographer at the theater continued in part into the 20th century, for example in the person of Carl Godlewski at the Vienna Court Opera .
The dance masters until the end of the 18th century were responsible for the composition of the music and often the composers of the ballet music themselves. This tradition also lasted for a long time in entertainment theater, for example with Charlie Chaplin and Grock , who composed their own music.
There were numerous traveling dance masters who were coveted as advisors to noble and wealthy bourgeois families and were just as responsible for the spread of the latest ballroom dances and fashions as for the development of a ballet repertoire since the 18th century. These dance masters also wrote tracts and other dance instructions that sold well. The most prominent among them is Jean-Georges Noverre . Even Jean Dauberval or Filippo Taglioni were traveling dance masters. At that time, the dance master as the arranger of given dance steps became a choreographer with greater artistic freedom.
A traveler had a higher social position than a traveler . With the traveling dance and ballet masters, however, this demarcation was not always clear. Tanzmeister also took part in the traveling stages for the arrangement of the dances and tableaux vivants . Dance training was the basis for all stage arts. There was as yet no clear distinction between actors, singers and dancers and therefore only a few specialized ballet troupes.
Ballet dance became more professional in the 19th century. With this, the dance master could finally become a “ballet master” and rise from a teacher of social decency to an artistic director who hardly had to deal with amateurs or actors and singers who were not very advanced in dance. This high degree of specialization in the dance profession was counteracted by currents that began with François Delsarte and later led to expressive dance and dance theater .
Since the end of the 19th century, the position of first ballet master was also referred to as main choreographer , who in turn was a kind of artistic director . His tasks included developing dances, selecting pieces, making arrangements with the composer and, of course, training the dancers.
After 1900 the term Second Ballet Master was used to describe the rector or head of a ballet company. Since the term ballet master still has the function of dance master attached, independent ballet companies often have a ballet director today .
present
Today the ballet master at the theater is often subordinate to a ballet director. He leads the daily training, assists the guest choreographers with new productions, takes over the evening performance management and can also lead the rehearsals when resuming . His function corresponds in many ways to that of assistant director in drama and opera.
Ballet masters need great experience as dancers. Larger houses often employ several ballet masters.
Famous ballet masters
- Gottfried Taubert (1670–1746): dance master in Danzig and Leipzig . In 1717 he published the authoritative treatise on baroque dance in the German language Rechtschaffener Tanzmeister , which, in addition to the first German translation of the Feuillet notation, also contains several dances by Raoul-Auger Feuillet and Louis Pécour .
- Jean Dauberval (1742–1806): French ballet master. Today he is considered the father of comic ballet.
- Filippo Taglioni (1777–1871): from 1803 ballet master in Stockholm .
- Jean Coralli (1779–1854): Ballet master at the Paris Opera .
- August Bournonville (1805–1879): from 1828 to 1879 ballet master of the Royal Danish Ballet and still the most productive choreographer in Denmark .
- Jules Perrot (1810–1892): from 1850 to 1859 ballet master at the Kirov Ballet in Saint Petersburg . Before Perrot went to Russia , he worked in his home country, France .
- Marius Petipa (1818–1910): was after Arthur Saint-Léon ballet master of the Imperial Theaters in Saint Petersburg and Moscow .
- Arthur Saint-Léon (1821-1870): French ballet master and from 1859 to 1869 successor to Jules Perrot at the Kirov ballet.
- Enrico Cecchetti (1850–1928): Italian ballet master with the Ballets Russes ensemble .
- Carl Godlewski (1862–1949), German-Austrian ballet master and choreographer at the Vienna Opera .
- Tatjana Gsovsky (1901–1993), Russian-German ballet dancer, choreographer and ballet master at the Berlin State Opera , at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and at the Frankfurt Opera .
- Frederick Ashton (1904–1988): 1963 ballet master, choreographer and director with the Royal Ballet .
- George Balanchine (1904–1983): from 1949 to 1982 ballet master and director with the New York City Ballet .
- Alice Kaluza (1920–2017) is a German dancer, choreographer and ballet master at the Berlin State Opera
- Maja Michailowna Plissezkaja (1925–2015) was a Russian prima ballerina and choreographer and one of the most successful ballet dancers worldwide.
- Kenneth MacMillan (1929–1992): from 1970 ballet master, choreographer and director with the Royal Ballet.
- Rudolf Chametowitsch Nurejew (1938–1993): from 1983 to 1992 ballet master at the Ballet de l'Opéra de Paris . Before that he was a well known dancer.
- Anthony Dowell (* 1943): from 1980 ballet master, choreographer and director with the Royal Ballet.
Individual evidence
- ^ Righteous dance master, or thorough explanation of the French Tantz art, consisting in three books ... , Leipzig , Friedrich Lanckischens Erben, 1717, 1176-54 ff. Reprinted Leipzig 1976 in the Documenta Choreologica series .
literature
- Walter Salmen : The dance master. History and profiles of an occupation from the 14th to the 19th century , Hildesheim: Olms 1997. ISBN 978-3-487-10440-9
- Arnold Jacobshagen (Hrsg.): Practice music theater. A manual, Laaber: Laaber-Verlag 2002, pp. 51-52, ISBN 3890075126