The Art of Ballet

by Mark Edward Perugini

In the course of time Mme. Lanner came to settle in London, and had produced ballets at Her Majesty’s—at which she had also appeared—and at Drury Lane, before her invaluable services were secured by the far-seeing management of the Empire in 1887.

She had already, some ten years before, established her National School of Dancing; and with this to draw upon, it was only natural that, from the first, her productions at the Empire should be marked by a uniformly high standard of technique. At no theatre or opera-house can a high standard be maintained unless it can draw upon some such school, either on the premises or off, where young talent is fostered and developed, where consistent practice is kept up under critical eyes, and where a uniform degree of technical efficiency and a high sense of style are cultivated. So it has been with Milan and Paris, Vienna and Petrograd; and so it became when Mme. Lanner began her association with that series of productions at the Empire of which it may be truthfully said that each achieved both artistic and financial success.

The programme on the opening night, Thursday, December 22nd, 1887, included two ballets, “Sports of England” and “Dilara.” The former—the costumes for which were designed by Mr. Percy Anderson—was, as its title betokens, a representation of the various British sports and pastimes, and was naturally very popular with the habitués of the Empire. The second—the costumes of which were designed by Mr. C. Wilhelm—was a brilliant spectacle, of Eastern character; and both ballets, arranged by Mme. Lanner, with music by Hervé, had a run of some months.

They were succeeded by “Rose d’Amour” in May, 1888, which those who remember it speak of to-day as one of Mme. Katti Lanner’s greatest triumphs. It was notable, too, for the appearance of such dancers as Mlle. Adèle Rossi—who, I believe, had come from the Paris Opera—Mlle. Santori, Mlle. de Sortis; Ænea, the flying dancer, and the wondrous Mons. Cecchetti, who, gifted with amazing youth, was appearing recently with the Russians at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. “Rose d’Amour,” like Darwin’s poem of a century earlier, dealt with “the loves of the plants,” or at any rate of the flowers, and the quarrels in flowerland. It was a long and rather elaborate production, with a prodigal array of lovely costumes designed by Mr. Wilhelm; and it rather opened the eyes of Londoners as to the possibilities of the art of Ballet. “Diana,” a graceful idyll on classic lines—the scenario of which was suggested by Mr. Wilhelm, and arranged by Mme. Lanner—followed on October 31st of the same year, with that graceful dancer, Mme. Palladino, and Signor Albertieri in the cast, and, later, Mme. Malvina Cavallazzi, who appeared for the first time in ballet skirts at the Empire, and for the last time in the same typical costume; her subsequent appearances being usually in male character, of which she was a truly fine exponent. “Diana” was followed by “Robert Macaire.”

Early next year came the first London production of Paul Martinetti and Hervé’s “A Duel in the Snow,” which was less in the nature of a regular ballet than of pure pantomime, was a finely dramatic effort well staged and acted. In the spring of ’eighty-nine was produced another superb ballet, “Cleopatra” (inspired by Sir Rider Haggard’s novel, then appearing in serial form in the pages of the Illustrated London News), which ran for some four months and was immensely admired.

In the autumn it gave place to a popular production, dealing with the diversions, and bearing the title of “The Paris Exhibition”; and in December of the same year, on the eve of Christmas Eve, came a wonderful production, “The Dream of Wealth,” by Mme. Katti Lanner, with music by that fine composer—so long afterwards associated with the Empire—Mons. L. Wenzel, and with costumes and accessories designed “as before” by Mr. Wilhelm. The cast included that superb mime, Signora Malvina Cavallazzi, as a Miser; Signor Luigi Albertieri as the Demon of Avarice; and dainty little Mlle. Bettina de Sortis as première, representing “The Key of the Jewel Casket.”

The same admirable trio were included in the new ballet, “Cécile” (by Lanner, Wenzel, and Wilhelm, again), which followed on May 20th, 1890, the première danseuse being Mlle. Giuri, a dancer of exquisite finish and singularly élégante style, as well as a most admirable mime. The period of the divertissement was Louis-Seize, and the production was very charmingly staged, one of the chief points being a wonderful colour scheme of almost one tone, composed of white and silver and mother-of-pearl. This was in the second tableau, depicting a court in the palace of a Rajah who had very wrongly abducted a pupil from a French school! In this ballet that delightful English dancer Miss Topsy Sinden first made her London début as a tiny child, with her brother, Bert Sinden.

The spring of next year was marked by the production of “Orfeo,” the scenario of which was by Mr. Wilhelm, the scenery by Telbin. It was an impressive example of classic ballet. Mme. Cavallazzi was a superb exponent of the title-rôle, Miss Ada Vincent was excellent as Eurydice, and good support was given by Mlle. Adèle Rossi and Signor Cecchetti. The autumn of the same year saw the advent of “By the Sea,” perhaps the earliest of the “up-to-date” ballets; and on December 22nd that of “Nisita,” the latter a romantic ballet with an Albanian setting, a very pretty second tableau showing a “Revel of the Fairies,” and with Mlle. Emma Palladino as the handsome heroine Nita, and Mme. Cavallazzi as the hero, Delvinos. The first night this was produced, December 22nd, 1891, by the way, there was one of the very worst fogs London has ever seen, so thick that you could not see the drop curtain from the third row of the stalls! But the innate brightness of the production overcame its gloomy environment at birth and it ran for months.

In May, 1892, came “Versailles,” another superb production for the scenario of which, as well as of course the costumes, Mr. Wilhelm was mainly responsible, though it was as usual “choregraphically” arranged by Mme. Katti Lanner, with delightful music by Mons. Leopold Wenzel. This ran until September, when “Round the Town” (a ballet the scenario of which was by Mr. George Edwardes and Mme. Lanner) was staged, and proved so popular as a topical divertissement (not unlike our present day Revues) that it held the bill for some months. An interesting point in connection with this ballet was that the late Miss Katie Seymour, one of the very neatest English dancers that ever trod the London boards, joined the cast after the production had run a little time, and as a Salvation Lassie performed an eccentric dance with Mr. Willie Warde, also an extremely able English dancer, that was one of the successes of the theatrical season. In 1893, the theatre was closed from October 27th to November 2nd, owing to intervention by the County Council.

One of the finest productions yet seen at a theatre which by now had become famous for its ballets, was “Faust,” first produced on May 6th, 1895. The scenario of this, as well as the costume designs, were by Mr. Wilhelm, and it was an ingenious variation of the Gounod version, the music not by Gounod, but by Mr. Meyer Lutz and Mr. Ernest Ford, the ballet being arranged as usual by Mme. Lanner. Mme. Cavallazzi was superb as Faust; Miss Ada Vincent was the Gretchen, Mlle. Zanfretta was a striking exponent of Mephistopheles, and among the cast was Mr. Will Bishop, a clever eccentric dancer, who was associated with the Empire for several seasons. This was followed, in the January of 1896, by a charming ballet entitled “La Danse,” in which the history of dancing was illustrated and various dancers of the older schools, such as Sallé, Taglioni and others, as well as the modern, were typified. In October came “Monte Cristo”—another superb production staged and designed by Mr. Wilhelm, to whom I am indebted for many interesting details of the Empire’s history. This brings to a close the record of success from the opening of the Empire in 1887 to the close of 1896. This first phase was one of increasing triumph; a second, more splendid still, was to come. We had seen Ballet perfect of its kind. But yet, perfection was to be crowned by the supremacy of terpsichorean and mimetic art—the art of Adeline Génée.