Joseph Hansen (8 March 1842 in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

– 27 July 1907 in Asnières) was a Belgian dancer and choreographer. He was ''maître de ballet'' ( ballet master) of the

Paris Opera Ballet The Paris Opera Ballet () is a French ballet company that is an integral part of the Paris Opera. It is the oldest national ballet company, and many European and international ballet companies can trace their origins to it. It is still regarded ...

from 1887 to 1907.Wild 2012, p. 321; Guest 2006, p. 66. Pitou 1990, p. 638, states he was balletmaster from 1887 to 1896, when he was replaced by Ladam, but continued to choreograph and produce ballets there until his death in 1907.

Life

Ballet director at the

Théâtre de la Monnaie The Royal Theatre of La Monnaie (french: Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, italic=no, ; nl, Koninklijke Muntschouwburg, italic=no; both translating as the "Royal Theatre of the Mint") is an opera house in central Brussels, Belgium. The National O ...

in Brussels from 1865 à 1871, he was its ballet master from 1871 to 1875, putting on the first production of ''

Coppélia ''Coppélia'' (sometimes subtitled: ''La Fille aux Yeux d'Émail'' (The Girl with the Enamel Eyes)) is a comic ballet from 1870 originally choreographed by Arthur Saint-Léon to the music of Léo Delibes, with libretto by Charles-Louis-Éti ...

'' on 29 November 1871. He held the same role at the

Opéra de Paris The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be ...

during the 1875–1876 season. He was in London in 1877–1878, then worked at the

Bolshoi Theatre The Bolshoi Theatre ( rus, Большо́й теа́тр, r=Bol'shoy teatr, literally "Big Theater", p=bɐlʲˈʂoj tʲɪˈatər) is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds ballet and ope ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

from 1879 to 1882, where in 1880 and 1882 he put on his own version of ''

Swan Lake ''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoye ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, link=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failur ...

'' by

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

(1880) and directed Russia's first production of ''

'' (1882).

Original choreography

* ''Une fête nautique'' (Brussels, 11 January 1870) * ''Les Belles de nuit'' (Brussels, 16 March 1870) * ''Les Nations'' (Brussels, 14 October 1871) * ''Les Fleurs animées'' (Brussels, 4 March 1873) * ''La Vision d'Harry'' (Brussels, 25 December 1877) * ''Pierrot macabre'' (Brussels, 18 March 1886) * '' La Tempête'' by

Ambroise Thomas Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas (; 5 August 1811 – 12 February 1896) was a French composer and teacher, best known for his operas '' Mignon'' (1866) and ''Hamlet'' (1868). Born into a musical family, Thomas was a student at the Conservatoire de ...

(

Paris Opera The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be ...

, 26 June 1889) * ''Le Rêve'' by Léon Gastinel (

, 9 June 1890) * ''Psyché et l'Amour'' (

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

, 1 June 1891) * '' La Maladetta'' by Paul Vidal (Paris Opera, 24 February 1893) * ''Fête Russe'', arr. by Paul Vidal (Paris Opera, 24 October 1893) * ''Les Cygnes'' (Paris, 5 January 1896) * '' L'Étoile'' by

André Wormser André Alphonse Toussaint Wormser (1 November 1851 – 4 November 1926) was a French Romantic composer. Life and career André Wormser was born in Paris and studied with Antoine Marmontel and François Bazin at the Paris Conservatoire. As a ver ...

(Paris Opera, 31 May 1897) * ''La Légende de l'or'' (Paris, 24 April 1897) * ''Danses de Jadis et de Naguère'' (Paris Opera, 11 November 1900) * ''

Bacchus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; grc, wikt:Διόνυσος, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstas ...

'', ballet in 3 acts, 5 scenes by

Alphonse Duvernoy Victor-Alphonse Duvernoy (; 30 August 1842 – 7 March 1907) was a French pianist and composer. Life and career The son of noted bass-baritone Charles-François Duvernoy (1796–1872), Duvernoy was born in Paris and became a student of Antoine ...

, libretto by Hansen and

Georges Hartmann Romain-Jean-François "Georges" Hartmann (15 May 1843 – 22 April 1900) was a French music publisher, dramatist and opera librettist (publishing under the pen name Henri Grémont). Born in Paris, he was the son of Jean Hartmann (1804–1880), a G ...

after a poem by Auguste Mermet (Paris Opera, 26 November 1902) * '' La Ronde des saisons'' by

Henri Büsser Paul Henri Büsser (16 January 1872 – 30 December 1973) was a French classical composer, organist, and conductor. Biography Büsser was born in Toulouse of partly German ancestry. He entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1889, where he studied ...

(Paris Opera, 22 December 1905) * ''Le lac des Aulnes'' by Maréchal (Paris Opera, was finished by Vanara, 25 November 1907)

Notes

Bibliography

* Guest, Ivor (2006). ''The Paris Opéra Ballet''. Alton, Hampshire: Dance Books. . * Pitou, Spire (1990). ''The Paris Opéra: An Encyclopedia of Operas, Ballets, Composers, and Performers. Growth and Grandeur, 1815–1914''. New York: Greenwood Press. . * Pritchard, Jane (2008). ''"The Great Hansen": An Introduction to the Work of Joseph Hansen, a Forgotten European Choreographer of the Late Nineteenth Century, with a Chronology of His Ballets.'' Dance Research. Winter 2008. Vol. 26 Issue 2. p73. . *

Wild, Nicole Nicole Wild (20 June 1929 – 29 December 2017) was a French musicologist, chief curator at the Paris Opera Library and Museum, and a specialist in the history and iconography of opera in France in the 19th century. Early life and education Bor ...

(2012). ''Dictionnaire des théâtres parisiens (1807–1914)''. Lyon: Symétrie. . . {{DEFAULTSORT:Hansen, Joseph 1842 births 1907 deaths Belgian male ballet dancers Belgian choreographers Ballet masters Entertainers from Brussels Dance directors of La Monnaie 19th-century ballet dancers Paris Opera Ballet artistic directors