History

Theatre in London, and by extension ballet, did not exist in isolation. It was influenced from both without and within, by literary and artistic movements, by people, by trends, by fashion and by taste. As with any major city in Europe, these various influences blended together with local taste to create a unique artistic world that, though it drew inspiration from many places, still had its recognisable voice.

France

France, specifically Paris, could be said to have had the largest influence on ballet in London in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. William Thompson was known to somewhat idolise Paris as the birthplace of ballet, leading to a large part of the repertory of his troupe at Her Majesty’s Theatre and later Covent Garden consisting of Parisian ballets revised and staged in his own design. Thompson was especially fond of the composer Adolphe Adam, creating his own versions of six of the composer’s ballets. Both François Bardet and Auguste Péchard (Thompson’s Official Composers) were French and were trained at the Paris Conservatoire, giving Thompson’s works a more “French” flavour than the ballets created at other theatres like the Alhambra and the Empire. 

Parisian theatre trends also influenced London, especially with the programming of ballets following an opera (or an extract of an opera). Thompson also aimed to restore ballet as integral part of an opera (as opposed to following opera), a convention which was based in Parisian Grand Opéra.

Additionally, the language of ballet was French. The steps were referred to in French, the ranks of the troupe were based on the Paris Opéra (with modifications by Thompson) and the ballets were referred to (at least backstage) by their French titles. Due to the presence of dancers of varying nationalities, French was often the lingua franca used in rehearsals, since many of the foreign dancers spoke better French than they did English. 

As for Thompson’s choreography, examination of the Meisenburg Notations reveals his style to be based on the old French school with its emphasis on placed positions and precise footwork. Additionally, it may be plausible to suggest that Thompson’s revivals were based on recollections of the original Parisian choreography, though the extent of Thompson’s of fidelity to the original Paris production is a matter which cannot be settled with what evidence survives to us today.

French dancers were also a constant feature of the troupe, including names such as Marguerite Lemoine, Antoine Férat and Louise Grignon.

Italy

The Italians were widely known for their virtuoso technique. Italian virtuosos could be found in many ballet troupes in Europe, most notably in Milan at the Teatro alla Scala but also in Paris and St Petersburg. Isabella Velluti, Thompson’s première danseuse from 1877 to 1886, was trained in Milan and did much to imbue Thompson’s French-based choreography with Italian flair.   

Italy is also remembered as the creators of the ballet féerie. Féeries were characterised by their fantastic plots and spectacular visuals, often without much discernible dramatic content. The ballet féerie became popular in Europe in the 1880s following the successful première of Luigi Manzotti and Romualdo Marenco’s Excelsior at the La Scala, Milan in 1881. Excelsior was swiftly exported to London (where it premièred at The Alhambra) and St Petersburg, achieving success in both cities.

Thompson disliked the genre, considering its lack of dramatic narrative and focus on spectacle (as displayed at theatres such as the Alhambra), the very thing he was aiming to remedy by his revivals of multi-act narrative ballets. Even his 1890 ballet Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, which was billed as a ballet féerie, was more in the spirit of an episodic and loosely plotted ballet pantomime than a true ballet féerie. However, the grandeur of the ballet féerie certainly influenced him, as through the 1880s and 1890s his ballets would become larger and larger, culminating in the lavish four-act grand ballet The Swords of Toledo in 1896.

The troupe also included several notable Italian dancers such as Isabella Velluti, Rafael Caravetti and Giulia Moretti. 

Germany

German influence on London ballet was not as prominent as French or Italian influence, but was none the less present. Thompson’s staging of The Wayward Daughter (one of the more popular ballets at Covent Garden) was based on the version created by Paul Taglioni (brother of the legendary Marie Taglioni) in Berlin. Marta Draeger, Thompson’s première danseuse from 1887 to 1894, was also trained in Berlin, though she was noted to be “Italian” in her dancing, having been trained by Italian teachers. Additionally, the Duchess of Connaught, the later Patroness of the Royal Ballet was Prussian by birth and so was acquainted with Berlin ballet. Thompson attempted to revive another Taglioni-Hertel ballet, Satanella in 1889, but eventually did not do so due to the high price demanded by Berlin for the score. 

Vienna was less of an influence on Thompson’s leadership than his successor Richard Hague‘s. Hague revived two Viennese ballets: The Pearl of Iberia and The Fairy Doll, both revived in 1912. This was because Thompson (and by extension Hague) considered Viennese ballets to be closer to confections than true narratives; pretty, light works that Thompson considered to be “not as serious” as Romantic and later narratives.

Some notable German dancers in the troupe included Marta Draeger and Johann Faber.  

Russia

Despite the dominance of the ballets of Marius Petipa in modern day ballet, St Petersburg seems to have had little influence on London ballet, at least in comparison to Paris and Milan. This could be for several reasons, ranging from geographical distance to the taste of Thompson or the London critics. There is evidence that Thompson requested to stage some of Petipa’s works in London, but none of these requests seem to have come into fruition. 

It would not be until after the First World War that Russian ballet would greatly influence London ballet, even though the Ballets Russes staged performances in London prior to the war. Through the twentieth century the Russian versions of the ballets became the “standard version,” leading to the London-specific pas and inflections being abandoned in favour of the Russian international standard. 

Notable Russian dancers in the troupe included Gavril Vadimovich Savelyev, but it is worth stating that the numbers of Russian dancers in the troupe was always very few.