Gusti Pichler

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Auguste "Gusti" Rosa Pichler (born October 10, 1893 in Vienna , Austria-Hungary , † April 13, 1978 in Vienna, Austria ) was an Austrian dancer .

life and career

Gusti Pichler was born on October 10, 1893 into a family of the Mosaic faith in Vienna. From 1903 she completed a dance training at the ballet school of the Vienna State Opera , of which Joseph Haßreiter was acting at that time . As the American dance critic of Austrian descent, George Jackson later described, Gusti Pichler came from a poor family background, which was also confirmed by her classmate at the time, who later became the poet and sculptor Hedwig Peitlschmidt . Her teacher regularly asked those who could afford it for clothing donations, whereby Gusti Pichler was always a recipient of these clothing donations.

As it was the custom at the time to send the best young ballerinas to the La Scala ballet school in Milan , this honor was also bestowed on Gusti Pichler. But since she, at that time still very young, was afraid of homesickness , she resisted and instead stayed in Vienna, where she trained under the then prima ballerina Cecilia Cerri , a former student of Carlo Blasis and Viennese prima ballerina from 1907 to 1919.

After gaining her first stage experience at the age of ten, she was employed at the Vienna Court Opera from the end of 1908 and appeared as a solo dancer for the first time at the end of 1913. Starting in 1920 as the first dancer, she acted as prima ballerina at the Vienna State Opera between spring 1925 and 1935 . After her predecessor Elsa von Strohlendorf , who held this position from 1919 to 1924, she was only the second Austrian to receive this honor. Before that, from 1870 to 1873 with Guglielma Salvioni , from 1879 to 1892 with Luigia Cerale , from 1892 to 1905 with Irene Sironi , from 1905 to 1907 with Josefine Gandini and from 1907 to 1919 with Cecilia Cerri exclusively Italian women . However, Pichler called herself the first Austrian prima ballerina, although she was well aware that Elsa von Strohlendorf had been doing this before her. So she let it be noted while she was still alive that the inscription “First Prima Ballerina” should be engraved on her tombstone, which actually happened afterwards.

At that time the characteristic of Gusti Pichler's beauty, her charm and her sovereign classical technique was called “Viennese style”. She appeared in major roles in ballets by Joseph Haßreiter, Heinrich Kröller and Margherita Wallmann , among others , and also excelled in numerous opera ballets . Her major roles included Odette in Swan Lake , Swanilda in Coppélia , Darinka in The Red Shoes , the title role in The Princess of astragalus , Princess praline in whipped cream and the title role in The dancer Fanny Elssler .

In 1935 the prima ballerina, in her early 40s, became an honorary member of the Vienna State Opera . In addition to her stage presence, Pichler also appeared in various films, including as Countess Esterhazy in the 1926 film Franz Schubert's Last Love . Some film recordings by Pichler are still available today; Among other things, a recording of a performance of On the Beautiful Blue Danube in the Vienna Opera House from 1935. The video clip published online by Pathé News shows Pichler accompanied by other ballerinas and a male dance partner (probably Willy Fränzl ). Either Joseph Haßreiter or his successor Willy Fränzl appeared as choreographers.

Pichler was married to the English major and former stock exchange clerk Frank Everest-Short (1883–1953), who was around ten years his senior . This was already married in second marriage after his first marriage to Elizabeth Irvine-Smith (1879 / 80-?), With whom he had two children Martin (1909-1996) and Primrose Short (1913-1996), divorced. The marriage between Pichler and Short remained childless. After retiring Shorts from the British Army after reaching the age limit, he appeared as a businessman. Soon after the annexation of Austria , after initial work in Vienna for Bickford & Co. , a producer of detonators for bombs, with the help of Albert Göring and his wife from the Nazis to London via Cairo . The two then lived together in London for some time before Pichler returned to Vienna, possibly after Shorts' death.

Grave of Gusti Pichler at the Vienna Central Cemetery

On April 13, 1978, Pichler died at the age of 84 in her hometown of Vienna and was buried at the Vienna Central Cemetery in an honorary grave at the Ehrenhain in group 40 (grave no. 56). Her last address, at which she was registered until her death, was Starhemberggasse in the 4th district of Vienna, Wieden .

literature

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personal data
SURNAME Pichler, Gusti
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pichler, Auguste Rosa (full name); Pichler-Short, Auguste Rosa (full name after marriage)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian dancer
DATE OF BIRTH October 10, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna , Austria-Hungary
DATE OF DEATH April 13, 1978
Place of death Vienna , Austria