Reconstructing "Anacreonte": Theatrical Dancing in Parma, 1759
(Margret Butler, Guillaume Jablonka)
Parma was one of the foremost centers for French opera and ballet outside Paris in the mid- eighteenth century, second only to Vienna. In 1749 Parma's new Bourbon sovereign began to transform it into a modern and sophisticated capital by importing French cultural products of all kinds. Chief among the imports was a large troupe of French singers, dancers, and actors, who performed the era's most up to date ballets and operas for the court and public over a three-year period. Jacques-Simon Mangot, Jean-Philippe Rameau's brother-in-law, directed Parma's court music and influenced its dances and operas in significant ways.
Among the many French entertainments Parma's troupe presented was the balletto titled Anacreonte (1759), a newly-created adaptation of Rameau's Anacréon (an entrée from his opéra-ballet Les Surprises de l'Amour from 1748). In the absence of a score, Butler has reconstructed the balletto based on the scenario in the printed Italian libretto for Parma and Rameau's score, showing the relation of Parma ballet to the original work. This reconstruction reveals, in its music and dramaturgy, a fusion of French and Italian aesthetic principles, ones entirely consistent with the political and social milieu in which it took shape. It also demonstrates the work's importance for contemporary reforms of theatrical dance.
In this workshop participants will learn how Parma might have approached this innovative work: after Butler's presentation on the ballet's reconstruction and aesthetic context, Jablonka will explore some proposals regarding the choreographic and pantomimic solutions Parma might have found to the work's dramaturgical and generic challenges.
Margaret Butler, Gainesville, Florida, USA:
Margaret Butler is an associate professor of musicology at the University of Florida whose research focuses on European opera of the eighteenth century. Her articles have appeared in the Journal of the American Musicological Society, Eighteenth-Century Music, Early Music, Music in Art: International Journal for Musical Iconography, and in other journals and collections. She authored the chapter on Italian Opera in The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Music. Current projects include a book on French and Italian entertainments in mid-century Parma.
Guillaume Jablonka, Asnieres sur Seine, Frankreich:
Guillaume Jablonka trained as a ballet dancer in Strasbourg (France) and then moved to Ballet du Nord under the direction of Jean Guizerix and Wilfride Piollet. He discovered baroque dance while working for Company L'Eventail (Marie-Genevieve Masse) and founded then Divertimenty, for which he works as a choreographer, dancer and teacher. His research focuses mainly on the reconstruction of the divertissements and pantomime ballets notated in 1782 by Auguste Ferrere. He is currently preparing a master degree in Paris 3 – Sorbonne Nouvelle.
