Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-02-23
THE DECAY OF THE BALLET.
1t Was Never Seen in Its Perfection in
America.

Neio York Tri6une.
Paul Taglioni, who died in Berlin Janu-
airy :, had been tifty-eight years in the
service of the Court Theatre there. No
vember T, 1873. he celebrated his golden
jubilee, and the occasion was made a
memorable one by an extraordinary gath
ering Of persons connected with the arts
that are allied to the drama, by some OF
the incidents of the celebration, and by
the wealth lavished on the old choregra-
pher in the shape of gifts. The celebra-
tiOn took place in the cOncert-rOOm Of the
Royal Opera. Besides the great and lit
tie ballerine of the royal ballet, delegates
from the operas and the theatres of
many other cities were present, and
among the Geographic messages
of generalization was one from Fanny
Ellsler, then herself G5 years old, but hale
and hearty. The old dance-master's wife
was also present, and his daughters,
Marie Taglioni (the Princess Windisch-
gratz and Augnste TagliOni, an actress
in the Court Theatre at Berlin. Addresses
were read from Vienna, Naples, Milan,
Madrid, st. Petersburg and London; the
chorus OF the opera sang mOtet ''GOtt
grusse Dich," the Emperor sent a decora-
ton (Order of the Crown, third class,
and a Cabinet document relative to a life
pension. and speeches lnnumerable were
!
hOnOTs the old man bore himself up long
enough to say that he had ''liyed in Ger
many only 50 years, and consequently
had no words to express his feelings"
The death of Paul TaglOni is a re-
minder of the gl0ries that have departed
from the ballet. Once it dominated the
theatre and crowded play ana opera INTO
the back ground. The elder Nestris could
not reprOVe his son for not having per
Ia il frfU Nv no h,
King of Sweden, "when the Queen of
France had performed hers by asking him
to do So: he wanted mo misunderstand-
ing between the houses of Nestris and of
Bourbon, which had hitherto lived on the
best OF terms" Theresa Elsler, a sister
of the great Fanny. was only one of the
many that danced themselves into the
Peerage. She married Prince Adalbert
of Prussia. Long before her time
barharina, a famous Italian ballerina
who had married Lord Stuart Mackenzie,
became the favorite OF Frederick the
Great, had to be included in invitations
extended to the royal person to dinner,
and her debts were paid by the State;
and against the head of the unlucky
priest who married her to COcceji was
Illuminated a decree condemning HIM to
prison on bread and water. Then, the
Kings anger suhsiding and his love re-
turning, she was made the Countess Cam
panini, lived a blameless married life,
built a nunnery with her vast wealth
when her husband died, and, entering it,
became an abbess.
1t is the boast of a few white-haired
theatre-gOers that they saw Fanny Ellsler
dance in this city, but the full glory of
the ballet never shOne on America. Even
in England it died before Mr.. MaplesOn
began his reign in Her Majestys. formerly
The Kings. The advertisements which
Mr.. MaplesOn and Mr.. Abbey give US are
but ghosts of the ballet of the past No
one celebrates dancer now as Thackerav
did Taglioni in "The Newcomes," and
Heine, if alive to-day, would scarcely
take a commission for new "Mephisto-
phela." ''The world is growing old, or at
least stiff, the times are out of Joint, and
Europe has almost given up dancing"
wrote an English journalist, paraphras-
ing the complaint of Rita Sangalli: and
then he expressed what had brought it
about in England. We quote:
1T was held, we believe, by Mr., Lumley
himself, that the decay of the ballet in
England might be dated from the DAYS of
that Pas de Quatre which we expended so
much diplomatic talent in organizing,
For the great dancers had their little van
tiles and were troubled by questions of
precedence even az great singers are said
to be in the present day; and it was the
of the ballet that in a combined
step the most important dancer who took
part in it should appear last and the least
important first, Who, then, in the Pas
de Quatre, should make the first entry or
dance the first solo? 1t seemed impossi-
BILE to decide this all-impOrtant point,
when suddenly the ingenious manager
suggested that the youngest should begin.
This novel principle in StaOp-dancinp haV
ing been accepted-probably through the
with which it had been pro-
claimed-a new competition arose; and
by balancing the claims of
youth against those of talent, and the
claims Of talent against those of youth. it
was found possible to effect happy com
promise"