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The Flower Festival in Genzano (Danish : Blomsterfesten i Genzano) is a one-act ballet by Danish choreographer and ballet master August Bournonville (1805–1879). Bournonville created the work for Denmark's Royal Ballet on December 19, 1858, at the Royal Danish Theatre, on the basis of Danes' general enthusiasm for Italy. The libretto, which is adapted from a tale in Impressions de voyage by Alexandre Dumas, tells the story of a pair of young lovers, Rosa and Paolo, which alludes to the festival still celebrated each June in Genzano, Italy. The music is by Edvard Helsted and Holger Simon Paulli.
Bournonville was a dancer, choreographer, ballet teacher and director. He was son of the dancer and French ballet master Antoine Bournonville, who was a disciple of the great Noverre. Auguste was born in Copenhagen in 1805, studied with his father, and completed his training in France—with Vestris, the last virtuoso of the French classical style—before becoming a star of the Paris opera.
Bournonville's contributions to the development of romantic ballet, in the course of his long reign as head of the Royal Danish Ballet, far outweighed French influence. He created an entire balletic school and style, including a repertoire of more than 50 ballets, most noted for their strong characters, naturalistic (vs. exaggerated) movement, and exotic locales.
The ballet premiered on 19 December 1858 in Copenhagen and was danced in its entirety by Denmark's Royal Ballet until 1929, when it was dropped from the repertoire. It is considered one of Bournonville's most perfect compositions. It has to be seen in the Festival of Flowers in Genzano which is a transition to naturalism (one of the stages of Auguste's style) and is characterized as a masterpiece of Bournonville's international virtuosity, so that it is a clear example of the Danish style, with a very strong and quite good technique, giving greater importance to the feet. This is why he made use of the vividness and variety of the jumps, the softness of the feet, the speed and brilliance of the small battery. The original ballet disappeared shortly after its premiere, but in 1875, Bournonville made a divertissement, in which he kept the pas de deux he had used in the montage he had already made for the Vienna Festival of Flowers. This remained in the repertoire until 1929 but in 1949 Harald Lander (director of the Royal Ballet) took it to the stage. That is why the entire ballet is lost but the fragment remains. It is considered one of Bournonville's most perfect compositions. It is often performed in ballet finery to show the Bournonville style.
The so-called Flower Festival in Genzano pas de deux has become an extremely popular repertory piece with ballet companies and is often utilized in whole or in part by dancers on the ballet competition circuit. The music of this pas de deux is often erroneously credited to Holger Simon Pauli and/or Eduard Helsted in modern theatre programs, films, etc. The true origins of this famous pas de deux stem from an 1842 staging of Bournonville's Napoli for the ballet of the Kärntnertortheater in Vienna. For this production, the danseur Lorenzo Vienna —who performed the principal role of Gennaro in Napoli—created a pas de deux for the third act to new music by the Austrian composer Matthias Strebinger (1807–1874). Bournonville then added the pas de deux to the full-length The Flower Festival in Genzano and the composer of that work, Holger Simon Pauli, adapted Strebinger's music accordingly. For this reason some current companies sometimes insert the pas de deux of Festival de Flores in Genzano in the pas de deux de six of Napoli. Although it is believed that the music of the pas de deux is from the Austrian composer Strebinger, when passing from Napoli it was reorchestrated by Paulli, since he, along with Helsted, had been the authors of the original Genzano Flower Festival, and that is why he continues have attributed to him the authorship of the piece.
The entrée of the pas de deux opens with an episode for solo violin, followed by a polka-like section. After the adage follows the male variation —this is set to a waltz taken from Adolphe Adam's score for Joseph Mazilier's 1845 ballet Le Diable à quatre . The series of relatively short, tuneful passages continues and the pas de deux concludes with a characteristic coda. The music is completely representative of ballet music from the period. The decoration was designed by Messrs, Christensen and Lund.
Regarding the performance of the work, it should be mentioned that the dancer performs a small gargouillade and her round of petit manège, with four grand jetés in the first arabesque at the end of the solo; also, the repeated series of fast relevés at the tip in his second solo. All this is part of the characteristic Bournonville style that uses few familiar steps. A small circle is performed four times by the couple, with the man holding the woman in a low inclined position and she jumps right while doing fast jambe ronds. There is also a game of flirtation between the couple at the beginning of the coda, a fact that is not found in any other Bournonville choreography. Another element that it is not usual for Bournonville to use it is the fragment where she is held by the dancer arriving at the position of first arabesque, and then turns to the left which rotates in avant arabesque and then she turns again to return to the correct first arabesque, it is not a sequence that usually found in any of the other Bournonville choreographies. In the two solos of the man the soloists perform steps that use the strong rhythms of the music. However, in the man's first solo we observe that he only follows direct lines (performs a diagonal and then moves in parallel) and is very simple in the use of the stage. The man's second solo is perhaps the only part that is totally in Bournonville's best known style. It is not known which dancers performed the first Festival of Flowers in Genzano, but however there are old films in which the rescued pas de deux is shown.
August Bournonville was a Danish ballet master and choreographer. He was the son of Antoine Bournonville, a dancer and choreographer trained under the French choreographer, Jean Georges Noverre, and the nephew of Julie Alix de la Fay, née Bournonville, of the Royal Swedish Ballet.
Erik Belton Evers Bruhn was a Danish ballet dancer, choreographer, artistic director, actor, and author.
In ballet, a pas de deux is a dance duet in which two dancers, typically a male and a female, perform ballet steps together. The pas de deux is characteristic of classical ballet and can be found in many well-known ballets, including Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and Giselle. It is most often performed by a male and a female though there are exceptions, such as in the film White Nights, in which a pas de deux is performed by Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines.
Ib Andersen is a Danish ballet dancer and choreographer. He was principal dancer for the Royal Danish Ballet 1975-1980, for the New York City Ballet 1980-1990, freelancing ballet master 1990-2000 and artistic director of Ballet Arizona 2000-2024.
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo is an all-male drag ballet troupe that parodies the conventions of romantic and classical ballet. The company's current artistic director is Tory Dobrin.
Napoli, or The Fisherman and His Bride is a ballet created in 1842 for Denmark's Royal Ballet by Danish choreographer and ballet master August Bournonville. It tells the story of Teresina, a young Italian girl who falls in love with Gennaro, a fisherman, and culminates in the marriage of the lovers.
Dame Merle Park, is a British ballet dancer and teacher, now retired. As a prima ballerina with the Royal Ballet during the 1960s and 1970s, she was known for "brilliance of execution and virtuoso technique" as well as for her ebullience and charm. Also admired for her dramatic abilities, she was praised as an actress who "textured her vivacity with emotional details."
Tarantella is a ballet choreographed by George Balanchine to Grande Tarantelle by Louis Moreau Gottschalk, arranged by Hershy Kay. The ballet premiered on January 7, 1964, at the New York City Center, performed by New York City Ballet's Patricia McBride and Edward Villella.
Le Conservatoire, or A Marriage by Advertisement is a two-act vaudeville ballet created by the Danish choreographer and ballet master August Bournonville in 1849 for the Royal Danish Ballet. The ballet's setting is a dance studio at the Conservatoire de Paris. Bournonville studied at the Paris Conservatoire in the 1820s with the renowned dancer Auguste Vestris. The ballet launched the career of prima ballerina Juliette Price. A divertissement within the larger work called "The Dancing School" permitted Bournonville to display the basics of his style and raise them to the level of enduring art.
The Kermesse in Bruges, or The Three Gifts is a burlesque ballet in three acts created by the Danish ballet master and choreographer August Bournonville to music by Holger Simon Paulli, first performed by the Royal Danish Ballet on 4 April 1851. The Danish title is Kermessen i Brügge eller De tre Gaver. The ballet tells the story of three brothers who receive magic gifts from an alchemist.
Thomas Lund is the head master of The Royal Danish School of Ballet in Copenhagen. Lund admitted to The Royal Danish School of Ballet in 1986 aged 11. He became apprentice in 1991, member of the corps de ballet of The Royal Danish Ballet in 1993, soloist in 1996 and was appointed principal dancer in 2000. In September 2012 Lund retired as a Principal Dancer to become the head master of The Royal Danish School of Ballet He held that position until June 2022.
Edvard Mads Ebbe Helsted was a Danish composer. He is the brother of composer Carl Helsted.
Frank Andersen is a former Danish ballet dancer who was twice artistic director of the Royal Danish Ballet. He has been an influential supporter of the Danish choreographer August Bournonville.
Manuel Legris is a French ballet dancer. He is an étoile with the Paris Opera Ballet for 23 years. On September 1, 2010, he became the director of the Vienna State Ballet. In December 2020, he was appointed artistic director of the La Scala Theatre Ballet.
Alban Lendorf is a Danish ballet dancer, choreographer, and actor, who was a principal with the Royal Danish Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre. He also was a guest artist with the English National Ballet and the Stanislavski Ballet.
Dinna Bjørn is a Danish ballet dancer and choreographer. She has specialized dancing and directing the ballets of August Bournonville. Bjørn has also created five Hans Christian Andersen ballets for the Pantomime Theatre in Copenhagen's Tivoli.
Elise Juliette Christiane Price, usually known as Juliette Price, (1831–1906) was a Danish ballet dancer. She studied under August Bournonville, becoming his favourite dancer.
Toni Lander née Pihl Petersen (1931–1985) was a Danish ballerina who specialized in the ballets of August Bournonville. After becoming a solo dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet in 1950, she was a guest dancer with the Original Ballet Russe in 1951. She was then engaged by the Paris Opera Ballet until 1954. Lander also appeared with the London Festival Ballet in the late 1950s and with the American Ballet Theatre in the 1960s. After a few years back in Denmark in the early 1970s, in 1976 she joined the Ballet West in Salt Lake City. After a short illness, she died there of cancer in May 1985.
Heidi Ryom Kristensen was a Danish ballerina and educator for the Royal Danish Ballet. She began dancing at the Royal Danish Ballet school and became an in 1972 before being made a corps dancer at the Royal Danish Ballet two years later. In 1982, Ryom was appointed principal solo dancer at the Royal Danish Theatre before retiring from her position as a solo dancer in 1997 and became a character dancer and educator. She was appointed Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog in 1988 and was promoted to Knight First Class of the Order of the Dannebrog eight years later.