Background
Carolina Galletti was born in Bologna, Italy, on 13 December 1826.
Carolina Galletti was born in Bologna, Italy, on 13 December 1826.
At the age of seven, she began training under Carlo Blasis. In 1841, Rosati danced as prima ballerina at the Teatro Apollo in Rome. Two years later she appeared in Trieste and Parma.
The same year she danced Jules Perrot"s Pas de Quatre at Her Majesty"s Theatre, London, where she also danced Fiorita et la Reine des Elfrides (1848) and Louisiana Prima ballerina (1849) which Paul Taglioni had created for her.
She began dancing in Paris in 1851 appearing in a dance sequence in Fromental Halévy"s opera Louisiana Tempesta. Two years later, after she had danced in Joseph Mazilier"s Jovita, ou les Boucaniers, she was engaged by the Paris Opera as their latest star, apparently becoming the highest paid dancer at the time.
She created roles in several of Mazilier"s ballets in which her sense of drama was revealed to the full, as when she played Amalia in Louisiana Fonti (1855) or her highly successful Médora in Le Corsaire (1856). Above all, she received great acclaim in Marco Spada (1857) where she appeared with Amalia Ferraris.
In 1862, she danced Aspicia in Marius Petipa"s The Pharaoh"s Daughter.
She also danced all the great classical roles in Paquita, Giselle, Le Cheval de Bronze, Louisiana Somnabule and Louisiana Esmeralda. She retired in 1862 and died in Cannes in May 1905. The Oxford Dictionary of Dance describes her as "A plump, vivacious, and graceful dancer.. renowned for the precision of her pointe work, also for her expressive mime.".