Marie Guy-Stéphan

Marie Guy-Stéphan
Hand-coloured daguerreotype portrait of a bolero dancer with castanets, c. 1850. The original piece is preserved in the Photo Library IPCE (Institute of Cultural Heritage of Spain) in Madrid. It's a whole plate daguerreotype, the maximum size standard. It is a masterpiece of the History of Photography.
Born
Marie-Antoinette Guy-Stéphan

(1818-11-18)18 November 1818
Paris, France
Died20 August 1873(1873-08-20) (aged 54)
Paris, France
NationalityFrench
OccupationDancer
Years active1843-1851
Career
DancesBolero School

Marie-Antoinette Guy-Stéphan (18 November 1818 - 20 August 1873) was a French dancer who triumphed at Spanish theaters between 1843 and 1851.[1]

Richard Ford, travel writer, arrived in Spain in 1830 and wrote about the rivalry between Guy-Stéphan and Maria Brambilla, specialist in Donizetti and first dancer of La Scala.[2]

She debuted in Madrid in 1840 and around 1844 danced the title role for the first production of Giselle in Spain.[3] She performed in numerous works by Marius Petipa and was often partnered with him.[3] In the beginning of 1850s in Madrid's Teatro del Circo she has a rivaling with Sofia Fuoco. Guy-Stéphan was a favourite of Marquis de Salamanca so when Fuoco became a favorite dancer of general Narvaez theatrical rivalry turned into a political one. Those who preferred the government (and Fuoco) were wearing red carnation flowers in the buttonhole while the supporters of Marquis de Salamanca (and Guy-Stéphan) demonstrated their notion by wearing white ones.

In 1853 she moved to Paris and made her Paris Opéra debut in Aelia et Mysis, by Mazilier.[3] She performed at Théâtre Lyrique and at Théâtre de la Gaîté around same time.[3] She created roles including in Néméa, ou l'Amour vengé (1864), by Arthur Saint-Léon.[3]

Cyril W. Beaumont had a painting after J. H. Lynch showing Guy-Stéphan dancing 'Las Boleras de Cadiz' from the ballet divertissement L'Aurore at Her Majesty's Theatre in London in 1843 (now in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum),[4] and an engraving of Guy-Stéphan dancing in the same ballet appears in La Ilustración of 23 March 1850.[5] There is also an 1850 daguerreotype showing a dancer with castanets who has been identified as Marie Guy-Stéphan.[6]

References

  1. ^ Le Guide Musical: Revue Internationale de la Musique Et de Theâtres Lyriques. Vol. 19. Bruselas. 4 September 1873. Nécrologie. A Paris, le 20 août, à l'âge de 55 ans, Mme Marie-Antoinette Guy-Stephan, ancienne danseuse de l'Opéra, dont la carrière a eu de l'éclat; elle avait pris sa retraite en 1856"{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. ^ Mora, Miguel (2008). La voz de los flamencos: retratos y autoretratos. Siruela. p. 341. ISBN 9788498411652.
  3. ^ a b c d e Commire, Anne; Klezmer, Deborah (2007). Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages. Vol. 1. Thomson-Gale. p. 1176. ISBN 9780787675851 – via Encyclopedia.com.
  4. ^ V&A website.
  5. ^ "Madame Guy Stephan en el baile titulado La Aurora". La Ilustración (12). Madrid: 96. 23 March 1850 – via Biblioteca Nacional de España.
  6. ^ Plaza Orellana, Rocío (2013). Los bailes españoles en Europa. El espectáculo de los bailes de España en el siglo XIX. Córdoba: Editorial Almuzara. p. 6. ISBN 9788415338840.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.