Gasparo Angiolini

Gasparo Angiolini , actually Domenico Maria Angiolo Gasparini (born February 9, 1731 in Florence , † February 6, 1803 in Milan ) was a dancer , choreographer and theorist.

Angiolini and Jean Georges Noverre are among the most important dancers and choreographers of the 18th century. As a dancer, he may have surpassed Noverre. For posterity, he is particularly important because of his theoretical writings and the numerous ballet scenarios he wrote. As a theorist, he was rather forgotten compared to Noverre, who left behind numerous writings; Angiolini has only recently been recognized again in this regard.

One of his best-known works is the ballet Don Juan , which premiered in Vienna in 1761 and for which Christoph Willibald Gluck composed the music. It is now performed again occasionally. The same applies to the works of Angiolini as to the ballet compositions in the second half of the 18th century in general: an exact record of the sequence of steps does not exist for any ballet of this time. A reconstruction of the kind that is possible for the dances of the early 18th century handed down in Beauchamp - Feuillet notation is impossible. A new staging of these ballets is limited, apart from a few precisely described scenarios, to a general knowledge of step material, costumes and the use of the original music.

Works (selection)

• Don Juan, ou Le Festin de Pierre, ballet with music by Christoph Willibald Gluck , premiere October 17, 1761 Burgtheater Vienna
• La rencontre imprévue ou les pélerins de la Mecque, ballet with music by Christoph Willibald Gluck , premiere January 7, 1764 Burgtheater Vienna
• Semiramis
• Didone abbandonata

literature

• Sabine Huschka: The aesthetic of representation of the "ballet en action". Notes on the dispute between Gasparo Angiolini and Jean-Georges Noverre. In: Uwe Schlottermüller, Howard Weiner, Maria Richter: From the shepherd's idyll to the revolution. European dance culture in the 18th century. Proceedings, 2nd Rothenfels Dance Symposium, 21. – 25. May 2008. fa-gisis, Freiburg (Breisgau) 2008, ISBN 978-3-931344-06-1 , pp. 93-106.