Saint-Leon А. (1821-1870), ballet dancer, choreographer

Categories / Art/Music, Theatre/Personalia
SAINT-LEON Charles Victor Arthur Michel (1821-1870), French dancer, ballet master, teacher, composer. Educated by his father, a dancer and musician. From 1859 to 1869 he was ballet master of the court company in St. Petersburg. During his term he composed the ballets Saltarello, or Passion for Dancing (to his own music, 1859), Graziella, or Love Quarrel (1860), Paquerette (1860), Mariquita, the Pearl of Seville (1862), and The Little Humpbacked Horse (1864) to music by C. Pugni, F. Benoit and S. Pinto. Taking up as his concern supposedly-trifling subjects, Saint-Leon changed ballet performance by tying together both structuring and thematic principles, which would later become essential M.I. Petipa's work. A master of classical dance, Saint-Leon used 50 different national dances in his ballets. Among the principal performers of his ballets were C. Rosatti, M.N. Muravyeva, A.I. Prikhunova, M.S. Surovshchikova-Petipa, and N.K. Bogdanova. The ballet master used to live at 1 Nikolskaya Street (now Glinki Street).

References: Слонимский Ю. И. Мастера балета: К. Дидло, Ж. Перро, А. Сен-Леон, Л. Иванов, М. Петипа. М.; Л., 1937. С. 133-167; Красовская В. М. Русский балетный театр второй половины XIX века. Л.; М., 1963. С. 63-89; Свешникова А. Л. Два года из десяти: Артур Сен-Леон в России // Балет. 1994. № 6. С. 16-18.

G. N. Dobrovolskaya. Benoit Francois
Bogdanova Nadezhda Konstantinovna
Muravyeva Maria Nikolaevna (Marfa Nikiforovna)
Petipa Marius Ivanovich
Pinto Tiago Suares
Prikhunova Anna Ivanovna
Pugni Cesare (Cezar)
Rozati Carolina
Saint-Leon Charles Victor Arthur Michel
Surovshchikova-Petipa Maria Sergeevna
Glinka St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 1
Свешникова А.Л. Два года из десяти: Артур Сен-Леон в России // Балет, 1994
Слонимский Ю. И. Мастера балета: К. Дидло, Ж. Перро, А. Сен-Леон, Л. Иванов, М. Петипа. М.; Л., 1937
Красовская В. М. Русский балетный театр второй половины XIX века. Л.; М., 1963