Carolina Alice Brianza,[1][2] who went by the name Carlotta Brianza (1 April 1865[1] – 25 June 1938[2]), was an Italian prima ballerina, dancing with La Scala in Milan and later with the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg.
Biography
Born in Milan, Brianza studied at the ballet school of La Scala under Carlo Blasis.[3] She went on to dance as the company's prima ballerina in Luigi Manzotti's Excelsior. She toured the United States with the ballet in 1883 and danced it in Saint Petersburg in 1887. Thanks to her popularity there, in 1889 she was hired by the Mariinsky Theatre where she danced with Enrico Cecchetti in Lev Ivanov's The Tulip of Haarlem in 1889. On 15 January 1890, she danced Aurora in the premiere of Marius Petipa's Sleeping Beauty. She continued her dancing career in Vienna, Italy, Paris and London before returning to Paris where she taught until she retired. In 1921, Sergei Diaghilev brought her out of retirement to dance (as the 'bad fairy', Carabosse) in The Sleeping Beauty.[4] She died at Clichy on 25 June 1938.[2]
Notable performances
Among Brianza's notable appearances are:[5]
- c. 1883: debut in Luigi Manzotti's Excelsior at La Scala, Milan
- 1883: one of five Star Premiere Danseuses in the Kiralfy Brothers Excelsior in New York
- 1887: as the Spirit of Light in Luigi Manzotti's Excelsior, Arcadia Theatre, Saint Petersburg
- 1890: as Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty
- 1892: as Sylvia in Sylvia, Arcadia Theatre, St Petersburg
- 1895: Sylvia, La Scala
- 1896: Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, staged by Giorgio Saracco, La Scala
- 1921: Carabosse in the Ballets Russes production of The Sleeping Beauty, London
See also
Further reading
- Nijinska, Bronislava (1992). Bronislava Nijinska--early Memoirs. Duke University Press. pp. 49–. ISBN 978-0-8223-1295-6.
- Wiley, Roland John (1997). The Life and Ballets of Lev Ivanov: Choreographer of The Nutcracker and Swan Lake. Oxford University Press. pp. 110–. ISBN 978-0-19-816567-5.
References
- 1 2 Marriage certificate from Saint-Josse-ten-Noode of 7 May 1902 transcribed on registry of the Mairie of the 17th arrondissement of Paris on 4 April 1908, act number 664, view 8/31 (in French)
- 1 2 3 Death certificate at Clichy, number 1014, view 103/121 (in French)
- ↑ "Brianza, Carlotta" (in Italian). Treccani.it. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
- ↑ "Ballet". Core of Culture. Archived from the original on 18 February 2014. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
- ↑ "Last Glories of the Italian School". New York Public Library. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
