Enrico Rastelli

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Head statue of Rastelli
Enrico Rastelli 1930 in Berlin
Rastelli 1930 in Berlin
Enrico Rastelli painted by Rudolf Heinisch , 1929

Enrico Rastelli (born December 19, 1896 in Samara , † December 13, 1931 in Bergamo ) was an internationally celebrated Italian juggler .

Life

As the son of the artist couple Alberto Rastelli and Giulia Rastelli (née Bedini), Enrico Rastelli performed in his parents' aerial acrobatics as a child . Later he formed an equilibrium trio with his mother and the apprentice Serafino Ivanov, who also became a juggler . The artists worked with the perche , a free-standing or elastic ladder balanced by the lower man on the shoulders or head, on which the upper man balances and juggles while standing free.

He began his juggling career in 1915 in Russia at the Truzzi circus . The circus owner Massimiliano Truzzi learned to juggle from Rastelli. Later he worked mainly in western Europe and the USA. He developed many of his own litter numbers that brought him world fame. He was the first to juggle balls made of elastic rubber. In 1922 he appeared in the London Hippodrome Variety Theater. Around 1923/1924 he achieved his breakthrough in the New York Hippodrome Theater : In addition to the purely 'technical' ability, it was in particular the apparent lightness of the performance that impressed the audience. For example, the Berliner Tageblatt reported on March 10, 1927: “It is unheard of how he - often with childlike pleasure - masters the balls like no other, how they obey this great artist, and how he gracefully and easily, as if one It would be child's play to accomplish tricks that were previously not thought to be humanly possible. "

On August 1, 1930, his soccer- style performance premiered in the Apollo Theater in Düsseldorf . The catchphrase of the football Rastelli for football players with a particularly pronounced feel for the ball is based on Rastelli's juggling.

Enrico Rastelli is said to have juggled ten balls. This would make him the first juggler known by name to succeed in this. However, there are no authenticated reports that prove this beyond any doubt. In contrast to Jenny Jaeger , for example , he did not show this performance on stage.

At the height of his success, the celebrated star juggled for the first time at a charity festival in his hometown of Bergamo on December 6, 1931. It was the last appearance in his short life. Enrico Rastelli died on December 13, 1931 at the age of 34 from the effects of meningitis . Enrico Rastelli's grave is on the Cimitero Monumentale of Bergamo. He left behind his wife Henriette (née Price) and his three children Roberto, Elvira and Anna.

Opinions on Rastelli's art

MH Shapiro:

" Enrico Rastelli, juggler de luxe, has been compared to the best of all decades and there is every reason to believe that he is justly entitled to a niche of fame as high as any of them. A marvelous showman of inimitable skill. "

Ed Haffel:

" Enrico Rastelli next showed remarkable skill in a truly extraordinary exhibition of juggling feats that scored solidly. This chap has no master. "

After attending a performance, Joachim Ringelnatz wrote:

Nothing has happened so big in the Variété before me.
I saw tender animal genius before a hard work life.
I thank you, I an audience like many thousands thank you.
You, who recognize the safe pole in swaying,
you know, when I thank you, probably why.

Posthumous appreciation

From 1962 to 1970 the Rastelli Prize was awarded as the “Oscar of the jugglers” .

literature

  • Leonardo Angelini:  Rastelli, Enrico. In: Raffaele Romanelli (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 86:  Querenghi-Rensi. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2016.
  • Pietro Barachetti: Enrico Rastelli - il signore dell'equilibrio. Bergamo: Grafica & Arte 1996. ISBN 8-872-01184-1
  • Karl-Heinz Ziethen: Non Plus Ultra - Enrico Rastelli and the best jugglers in the world - Francis Brunn, Sergei Ignatow, Anthony Gatto. Berlin: Die Jonglerie Lüft KG 1996. ISBN 3-9801140-9-0
  • August Heinrich Kober: The miracle of the dancing balls. Berlin: Scherl 1938.
  • Peter Petz: World famous at the age of fifteen Schneider book 1957

Web links

Commons : Enrico Rastelli  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ juggling.org: Juggling Hall of Fame Massimiliano Truzzi
  2. ↑ knerger.de: The grave of Enrico Rastelli
  3. ↑ Hellmut Schöner : Berchtesgaden through the ages. Supplementary Volume I, 1982. see pp. 560-561, see also Rudy Horn
personal data
SURNAME Rastelli, Enrico
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian juggler
BIRTH DATE December 19, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Samara
DATE OF DEATH December 13, 1931
PLACE OF DEATH Bergamo