- Born:
- June 23, 1810, Vienna, Austria
- Died:
- Nov. 27, 1884, Vienna (aged 74)
Fanny Elssler
Fanny Elssler (born June 23, 1810, Vienna, Austriaâdied Nov. 27, 1884, Vienna) was an Austrian ballerina who introduced theatricalized folk dance (character dance) into ballet. She was celebrated for her spirited, spectacular dancing and for her technique, especially her point work.
Daughter of a valet and copyist for the composer Franz Joseph Haydn, she studied under Jean-Pierre Aumer and made childhood appearances at the KĂ€rntnerthor Theatre with her sister Theresa, also a dancer. Engagements in Naples, Berlin, and London brought her international fame. After three months of intensive study with Auguste Vestris, she made her Paris OpĂ©ra debut in 1834 in Jean Co-alliâs ballet La TempĂȘte, derived from William Shakespeareâs The Tempest. Her immediate success divided Parisian balletomanes into two camps, since the warmth and spontaneity of her dancing was in marked contrast to the ethereal lightness of her greatest rival, Marie Taglioni. ThĂ©ophile Gautier called Elssler âthe Spaniard from the north.â In La Gypsy (1839), made famous by her performance of the cracovienne, a Polish folk dance, and in La Tarentule (1839), she revealed extraordinary pantomimic ability. Her sensational success in Le Diable boiteux (1836), in which she introduced the Spanish cachucha, challenged Taglioniâs supremacy. To unseat her rival, still called the greatest classical ballerina, she made one attempt in Taglioniâs favourite ballet, La Sylphide; the endeavour was most unsuccessful, since she lacked Taglioniâs lightness and elevation.
Between 1840 and 1842 Elssler toured the United States, winning extravagant adulation and earning enormous sums. She had broken her contract with the Paris Opéra in order to extend her American tour and could not return there, but she danced with continuing success in England, Germany, Italy, and Russia until her retirement in 1851.
