Background
Guest, Ivor Forbes was born in 1920 in England.
(Fanny Elssler was one of the most brilliant stars of the ...)
Fanny Elssler was one of the most brilliant stars of the Romantic ballet. The accepted rival of Taglioni, she represented the passionate expression of the dance. Théophile Gautier distinguished the two ballerinas by describing Elssler as a pagan dancer and Taglioni as a Christian dancer. There was no doubt that it was Elssler he preferred. Her style found its true expression in her famous Spanish character dance: the Cachucha, but even more, it was her dramatic genius that conquered the audiences before whom she appeared. She approached, more closely than any other ballerina of her time, the ideal of the complete dancer-actress, and her example lives on today in the tradition which modern ballerinas follow in the role of Giselle. In Ivor Guest's biography her performances come vividly to life through eye-witness accounts, and the story of her life is told with a wealth of detail, much of it hitherto unpublished. Among the highlights are Elssler's adventurous tour of the United States (she was the first great ballerina to cross the Atlantic), her fantastic triumphs in Russia, her sentimental friendship with the great publicist, Gentz, and the persistent legend of her liaison with the son of Napoleon. Based on wide research, this is a definitive study of one of the greatest figures in the history of ballet.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0713610611/?tag=2022091-20
(Stars of the romantic ballet, as well as the choreographe...)
Stars of the romantic ballet, as well as the choreographers, composers, designers, and balletomanes of the time are brought to life in a colorful panorama of this great age of French ballet. The age of romanticism in the first half of the nineteenth century was one of the greatest periods in the history of ballet. In a span of three decades (1820 to 1847) ballet became what it had never been before a major theater art, gaining new vitality and meaning from the ideas of the romantic movement which rapidly infiltrated each one of its component parts: scenarios, music, décor, choreography and dance style. The center of the romantic ballet was the Paris Opéra. Its high priest was the poet Théophile Gautier, who wrote the scenarios of Giselle and other ballets. He explained the dual nature of the romantic ballet by contrasting the two rival ballerinas, the spiritual Taglioni and the passionate Elssler. This definitive study, completely revised and updated, handsomely produced and beautifully illustrated, is based on exhaustive research of the archives of the Paris Opéra and printed and pictorial sources of the time.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1852731192/?tag=2022091-20
(In the development of ballet the Romantic period was a go...)
In the development of ballet the Romantic period was a golden age which has passed into theatrical legend and has provided many an inspiration for later generations of choreographers and dancers. Of the many centres of ballet activity in those fruitful years, London made a contribution of exceptional importance. At Her Majesty's Theatre during the 1840s, the greatest choreographic genius of his day, Jules Perrot, produced an incredible series of masterpieces in which the brightest stars of an unprecedented galaxy of ballerinas were featured, not only individually but - and here London was to be unique - dancing alongside one another. ¬This, the most glorious achievement of the Romantic ballet, provides the highlight of Ivor Guest's classic study which also describes the developments which led up to it and the sad decline that shortly afterwards overtook ballet with almost dramatic suddenness. From an exhaustive examination of contemporary accounts and memoirs, Ivor Guest brings to life the personalities of the ballet scene of that time - Lumley, the impresario, the great Perrot himself, international stars such as Taglioni and Elssler, Cerrito and Carlotta Grisi, and the English dancers of more modest renown, of whom the most promising was the ill-fated Clara Webster. A reissue of a classic work and a companion to the same author's The Romantic Ballet in Paris, this book is the story of an important period in ballet history and of those who played their part in it. Ivor Guest began his research into the history of ballet over sixty years ago, and has published more than thirty books on the subject. Many of his books are standard specialist works noted not only for the depth of his research and his understanding of the political, social, and artistic background, but for their readability. He has long been prominently involved with the Royal Academy of Dance, which, under his chairmanship from 1969 to 1993, enjoyed a period of great expansion, and of which he is now a Vice-President. Ivor Guest is married to Ann Hutchinson, the leading authority on dance notation.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1852731702/?tag=2022091-20
("The Paris Opera Ballet" is the cradle of ballet, tracing...)
"The Paris Opera Ballet" is the cradle of ballet, tracing the origin of ballet as a theatre art back to its foundation by Louis XIV in 1669. Over more than three centuries, dance has retained its place as a potent element in its repertory in a long sequence of ballets and divertissements that have been presented on a succession of stages, culminating in our time in the Palais Garnier and the Opera Bastille. In 1976, to mark the centenary year of the former of those two theatres, Ivor Guest was commissioned by the Opera to write the history of its ballet, a work which he brought up-to-date in 2002, and which is now presented for the first time in an English edition.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1852731095/?tag=2022091-20
Guest, Ivor Forbes was born in 1920 in England.
(In the development of ballet the Romantic period was a go...)
(Stars of the romantic ballet, as well as the choreographe...)
("The Paris Opera Ballet" is the cradle of ballet, tracing...)
(Fanny Elssler was one of the most brilliant stars of the ...)
(Book by Guest, Ivor, Marcel Dekker)
(Non-fiction: fine arts dance)
(Book by Guest, Ivor)
Married.