Amazing, beautiful and talented woman, who became one of the most striking and fantastic celebrities of the world ballet of her time, she lived a long, happy and extremely eventful life, like a shining star illuminating numerous rows of grateful listeners and ardent fans …
Childhood
The future Austrian ballet dancer Fanny Elsler, who at birth received from her mother a gold seamstress and her father, who served as a valet and personal secretary with the famous composer Josef Haydn, the name Francis, was born on June 23, 1810 in the capital of Vienna.
Fanny grew up an unusually active, agile and gifted girl. Already at the age of seven, she first appeared before an audience that was completely fascinated by her sincere and lively dance. Soon, parents, inspired by the talent of their daughter, sent young Francis together with her older sister Teresa to study at the Burgtheater Ballet School in Hofburg, which is the winter residence of the Austrian royal Habsburg dynasties and the main residence of the entire Vienna imperial court.
The very first performance in the biography of Fanny Elsler took place in 1824, at the oldest opera house in Europe, San Carlo.
Even then, the young dancer was extremely beautiful and charming. By her seventeen years, she finally became a real ideal of beauty and an object of imitation for secular girls.
Youth
To her adulthood, Fanny Elsler, in addition to the sophisticated attractiveness, which nature generously endowed with her, possessed extraordinary physical abilities. Even after the most difficult dance steps, her breathing still remained steady. The ballerina was unusually flexible, light and flexible. One of the admirers of her talent subsequently wrote:
Watching her, you feel some kind of lightness, your wings grow …
In addition to the above, the dancer also had a rare gift of pantomime, which further enhances the effect of her performances.
When the young ballerina Fanny Elsler turned seventeen, she finally conquered her native Vienna and left to conquer Italy, after which Germany, France and Great Britain fell at her beautiful feet.
Elsler has never been a classic ballet dancer. On the contrary, her main highlight was Spanish folk dances, and her dance steps, unlike the slow and smooth ballet, were joyful, lively and consisted mainly of a series of small, quick and simple movements that made the hearts of the audience tremble.
On stage, Fanny Elsler avoided academic rules and regulations. Soon, she began to be considered an unsurpassed dancer of ballet interpretations of such folk dances as kachucha, mazurka, krakowyak, tarantella and even Russian dance.
By 1830, Elsler had already managed to become one of the most visible and vivid figures in the world of ballet, finally conquering the scenes of Italy and Germany.
The heyday of creativity
In June 1934, the dancer was invited to the Paris Grand Opera, one of the most famous and significant theaters of opera and ballet in the world. It was in Paris that Fanny Elsler found her creative triumph and true world fame.
Those years were not at all simple for France, saturated with bloody strife and political wars. However, with the arrival of the beautiful Elsler, all passions abated for a while, and the ardent eyes of Parisians increasingly began to turn to "the owner of the most beautiful legs in the world, impeccable knees, delightful hands, a worthy goddess of breasts and girlish grace."
The very first performance of the ballerina on the stage of the Paris Opera in the play "The Tempest" on September 15, 1834 produced the effect of a bursting bomb, and this furor lasted for six whole years, during which Fanny Elsler continued to be the leading dancer of the Opera.
In 1840, the ballerina went on a two-year tour of the United States of America and Cuba, becoming the first European dancer to conquer the cultural life of these countries. Even in America, for which ballet was a curiosity at that time, Fanny was a resounding success. Fans of her work literally carried her in her arms and showered with gold.
Elsler's crowned and most beloved audience was the incendiary Spanish dance "Caccia", which she performed in the ballet production of "The Lame Demon".
After returning from America, Fanny conquered the stage of Great Britain, and in 1843 she was even elected an Honorary Doctor of Choreographic Sciences at Oxford University.
Personal life
The reverse side of the creative life of Fanny Elsler was no less intense. Back in 1824, during her performances at the San Carlo Theater in Naples, she met the son of King Naples Ferdinand IV, Crown Prince Leopold of Salerno, from whom her son Franz was subsequently born.
Five years later, Elsler accepted the courtship of a prominent politician, writer and publicist, and at the same time a passionate admirer of theatrical art Friedrich von Gentz.
Von Gentz was forty-six years older than Fanny. He treated his young wife with the favor of his father's wise experience, and devoted much time and effort to her education, upbringing and training in sophisticated secular manners. In general, this marriage could be considered quite successful for both parties, but it did not last long - already in 1832, Friedrich von Gentz died.
The main mystery and secret of personal life of Fanny Elsler was her relationship with Napoleon II, the only legitimate son of Napoleon Bonaparte himself.
Napoleon II
Napoleon Francois Joseph Charles Bonaparte, Napoleon II the King of Rome, Franz the Duke of Reichstadt, was most different from other offspring of famous parents only in that he was the only heir to the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. The young king was destined to live only twenty-one years, and Fanny Elsler - to become his first and last smile.
The history of their relationship is so mysterious and contradictory that it is no longer possible to separate the truth from fiction. According to the contemporaries of this couple, around the Vienna Royal Palace in Hofburg there was an old park in which, after dark, the emperor’s heir met ballerina Fanny Elsler, who was then married to Frederick von Gentz.
One way or another, but both Napoleon II and von Gentz died in 1832, with a difference of one month. At the same time, the young king died a month later than his opponent, and according to one version he was poisoned. Whether the duel took place between them, and whether von Gentz fell at the hands of Napoleon II, and the heir himself at the hands of people avenging the death of von Gentz, we will never know …
Elsler herself, after the death of her secret chosen one, could no longer remain in Austria. Unable to perform where Napoleon II’s eyes were forever closed, she left for Paris.
Russia
In 1848, after the end of all her triumphal tours in Europe and America, Fanny Elsler unexpectedly came to Russia, where she shone for three seasons on the Petersburg and Moscow stages.
The success and love of the Russian audience came to her after her roles in the ballet performances "Dream of the Artist" and "Lisa and Knee." Elsler, who at that time was almost forty years old, managed to make the public believe that the heroine of the production was only sixteen.
When the dancer showed her crowned kachucha, krakowyak and especially Russian dance, the popularity of Fanny in Russia reached the level of hysteria.
Below in the photo - Fanny Elsler performs kuchuchu.
During her farewell performance with the ballet production of Esmeralda, enthusiastic spectators threw about three hundred bouquets onto the stage only after the first act. After the performance, the admirers of the talent of the ballerina harnessed to her carriage instead of horses and drove home.
Leaving Russia, fascinated by the reception she received, Fanny Elsler vowed that she would leave the ballet forever and after the farewell performance in her native Vienna would never go on stage again.
