This is a list of historical figures who have been characters in ballets.
This is a list of historical figures who have been characters in ballets.
Hans Christian Andersen , Danish author
Anna Anderson , impostor of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia
Andrew II of Hungary , King of Hungary
Bahram V , King of Persia
Giovanni Boldini , Italian genre and portrait painter
William H. Bonney (Billy the Kid), frontier outlaw in the American Old West
Lizzie Borden , American woman who was acquitted for murder
Marie Anne de Cupis de Camargo , French/Belgian dancer
Caravaggio , Italian Baroque painter
Caroline Matilda of Great Britain , Queen of Denmark and Norway, the wife of Christian VII of Denmark
Fanny Cerrito , Italian ballet dancer and choreographer
Cleopatra , last ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt
Marcus Licinius Crassus , Roman general and politician
Cyrano de Bergerac , French dramatist
Hugh Despenser the Younger , royal chamberlain and a favourite of Edward II of England
Sergei Diaghilev , Russian art critic, ballet impresario, and founder of the Ballets Russes
Charles Didelot , French dancer and choreographer
Isadora Duncan , American dancer
Edward II of England , King of England
Edward III of England , King of England
Caroline Alice Elgar , English author
Edward Elgar , English composer
Empress Elisabeth of Austria , Empress consort of Austria
Elizabeth I of England , Queen of England and Ireland
Franca Florio , Italian noblewoman, socialite and a prominent protagonist of the Belle Époque
Ignazio Florio Jr. , Italian entrepreneur
Saint Francis of Assisi , founder of the Franciscans
Franz Joseph I of Austria , Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary
Piers Gaveston, 1st Earl of Cornwall , English nobleman
Archduchess Gisela of Austria , second daughter of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria
Lucile Grahn , Danish ballerina
Alfred Grünfeld , court pianist of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria
James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell , Lord High Admiral of Scotland and 3rd husband of Mary, Queen of Scotland
Herodias , a princess of the Herodian Dynasty
E. T. A. Hoffmann , German Romantic author
Isabella of France , Queen of England as the wife of Edward II
Ivan the Terrible , Tsar of Russia
August Jaeger , Anglo-German music publisher
Jiang Qing , Chinese figure, 4th wife of Mao Zedong
Frida Kahlo , Mexican painter
Mathilde Kschessinska , Russian prima ballerina
Andrey Kurbsky , Russian figure, political opponent of Ivan the Terrible
Countess Marie Larisch von Moennich , niece of Empress Elisabeth of Austria
Louis XVI of France , King of France
Princess Louise of Belgium , wife of Prince Philipp of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
La Malinche , Aztec mistress of Hernán Cortés
Mao Zedong , Chinese leader
Marie Antoinette , Queen of France and Navarre
Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria , third daughter of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria
Mary, Queen of Scots , Queen of Scotland
Léonide Massine , Russian ballet dancer and choreographer
George "Bay" Middleton , English horseman
Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March , English nobleman
Vaslav Nijinsky , Russian ballet dancer and choreographer
Jean-Georges Noverre , French dancer and ballet master
Niccolò Paganini , Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer
Denis Papin , French physicist, mathematician and inventor
Philippa of Hainault , Queen of England as the wife of King Edward III
Prince Philipp of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Jacques Renaudin (Valentin le désossé), French can-can dancer
Arthur Rimbaud , French poet
Diego Rivera , Mexican painter
Anastasia Romanovna , Tsaritsa consort, first wife of Ivan the Terrible
Salvator Rosa , Italian Baroque painter, poet, and printmaker
Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria , Crown Prince of Austria
Arthur Saint-Léon , French dancer and choreographer
Katharina Schratt , Austrian actress
Clara Schumann , German musician
Robert Schumann , German composer
George Robertson Sinclair , English cathedral organist
Princess Sophie of Bavaria , Archduchess of Austria
Spartacus , Thracian gladiator
Princess Stéphanie of Belgium , Crown Princess of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia
Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley , King consort of Scotland
Eduard Taaffe, 11th Viscount Taaffe , Austrian statesman
Marie Taglioni , Italian/Swedish ballet dancer
Tancred, Prince of Galilee , Norman Crusade leader
Baroness Mary Vetsera , Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria's mistress
François Villon , French poet
Alessandro Volta , Italian physicist
Louise Weber (La Goulue), French can-can dancer
Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev, usually referred to outside Russia as Serge Diaghilev, was a Russian art critic, patron, ballet impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes, from which many famous dancers and choreographers would arise.
VaslavNijinsky was a Polish ballet dancer and choreographer cited as the greatest male dancer of the early 20th century. Born in Kiev to Polish parents, Nijinsky grew up in Imperial Russia but considered himself to be Polish. He was celebrated for his virtuosity and for the depth and intensity of his characterizations. He could dance en pointe, a rare skill among male dancers at the time and was admired for his seemingly gravity-defying leaps.
Michael Fokine was a groundbreaking Russian choreographer and dancer.
John Arthur Lanchbery OBE was an English-Australian composer and conductor, famous for his ballet arrangements. He served as the Principal Conductor of the Royal Ballet from 1959 to 1972, Principal Conductor of the Australian Ballet from 1972 to 1977, and Musical Director of the American Ballet Theatre from 1978 to 1980. Although he resigned from the position of Principal Conductor of the Royal Ballet in 1972, he continued to conduct regularly for the Company until 2001.
Igor Borisovitch Markevitch was an avant-garde Russian composer and eminent conductor of Ukrainian origin who studied and worked in Paris and became a naturalized Italian and French citizen in 1947 and 1982 respectively. He was commissioned in 1929 for a piano concerto by impresario Serge Diaghilev of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo.
The Ballets Russes was an itinerant ballet company based in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America. The company never performed in Russia, where the Revolution disrupted society. After its initial Paris season, the company had no formal ties there.
Sir Anthony James Dowell is a retired British ballet dancer and a former artistic director of the Royal Ballet. He is widely recognized as one of the great danseurs nobles of the twentieth century.
Mayerling is a ballet choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan to the music of Franz Liszt, arranged by John Lanchbery, scenario by Gillian Freeman and designed by Nicholas Georgiadis. The ballet is based on the Mayerling incident, a series of events surrounding the apparent murder–suicide of Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria and his lover, Baroness Mary Vetsera. The ballet premiered on 14 February 1978, at the Royal Opera House, danced by The Royal Ballet, with David Wall as Prince Rudolf and Lynn Seymour as Vetsera.
Mara Galeazzi is an Italian ballet dancer. She was a Principal Dancer of The Royal Ballet.
Wayne Eagling is a Canadian ballet dancer, now retired. After more than twenty years as a popular member of The Royal Ballet in London, he became well known as an international choreographer and company director.
The Hamburg Ballet is an internationally acclaimed ballet company based in Hamburg, Germany. Since 1973, it has been directed by the American dancer and choreographer John Neumeier. In addition there is a ballet school, Ballettschule des Hamburg Ballett, established in 1978. The performances of the Hamburg Ballet are usually held at the Hamburg State Opera, while the training and education facility is the "Ballettzentrum Hamburg - John Neumeier". The Hamburg Ballet is well known for guest performances at home and abroad. In the season 2012/13 the company celebrated its 40th anniversary.
Thiago Bordin is a Brazilian/German ballet dancer and choreographer.
Irek Mukhamedov OBE, is a Soviet-born ballet dancer of Tatar origin who has danced with the Bolshoi Ballet & the Royal Ballet He trained at the Moscow Choreographic Institute under the guidance of Alexander Prokofiev between 1970 and 1978. Upon graduation he joined the Classical Ballet Company, where he spent three years touring around the world. It was with this company that he first danced Romeo, a role that was to become one of his most acclaimed. In 1981 he won the Grand Prix and Gold Medal at the International Ballet Competition in Moscow and was immediately invited to join the Bolshoi Ballet as a principal dancer, where he not only became Grigorovich's favourite danseur but went to become the youngest man ever to dance the leading role in Spartacus. After leaving the Soviet Union, he became a Senior Principal Dancer with the Royal Ballet in London, remaining with the company for many years and dancing lead roles in the classic ballets as well as the English repertoire.
Romola de Pulszky, , was a Hungarian aristocrat, the daughter of a politician and an actress. Her father had to go into exile when she was a child, and committed suicide in Australia. As a young woman she became interested in dance and specifically Vaslav Nijinsky, the noted premier danseur of the Ballets Russes. They married in Buenos Aires in 1913 while the company was on tour. They had two daughters, before he was institutionalized for the remaining 30 years of his life for schizophrenia.
Yury Favorin is a Russian pianist.
Richard Cragun was an American ballet dancer, teacher and ballet director who performed with the Stuttgart Ballet in Germany from 1965 to 1996.
Derek Rencher was a British ballet dancer. A commanding figure among Royal Ballet character dancers for more than four decades, he was probably the most prolific performer in the company's history.