Tripti Joshi (Editor)

Giuseppina Bozzacchi

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Nationality
  
Italian

Role
  
Ballerina

Name
  
Giuseppina Bozzacchi


Religion
  
Roman Catholic

Occupation
  
Died
  
November 23, 1870

Giuseppina Bozzacchi etoiledeloperaemonsitecommediasimagesportrai

Born
  
23 November 1853 (
1853-11-23
)

Giuseppina Bozzacchi (23 November 1853 – 23 November 1870) was an Italian ballerina, noted for creating the role of Swanhilda in Léo Delibes' ballet Coppélia at the age of 16 while dancing for the Paris Opera Ballet.

Giuseppina Bozzacchi Giuseppina Bozzacchi Wikipedia

Bozzacchi, who was born in Milan, had come to Paris to study with Mme Dominique. The choreographer, Arthur Saint-Léon, and the director of the Académie Royale de Musique, Émile Perrin, had been searching for a suitable Swanhilda, after deciding that none of the ballerinas previously considered – Léontine Beaugrand and Angelina Fioretti – were suitable, while Adèle Grantzow, the favorite ballerina of Saint-Léon, who started to prepare the role with choreograph in 1878 then fell seriously ill. In 1879 they even asked the composer Léo Delibes to seek out a suitable Swanhilda on his trip to Italy. He returned empty-handed, but in the meantime Saint-Léon and Perrin had discovered 16 years old Bozzacchi.

Giuseppina Bozzacchi Giuseppina Bozzacchi as Swanhilde in the SaintLonDelibes

She created Swanhilda on 25 May 1870 in the presence of Emperor Napoleon III. She repeated her success in the following weeks. In July an international dispute broke out between France and Prussia over the succession to the Spanish throne, and on 19 July France declared war. Giuseppina Bozzacchi danced Swanhilda for the 18th and last time on 31 August, when the Paris Opéra closed for the duration of the Franco-Prussian War. The Opéra had stopped paying salaries, and Giuseppina, weakened by lack of food, became ill. She contracted smallpox and fever, and died on the morning of her 17th birthday. She was buried at Cimetière de Montmartre in Paris.

References

Giuseppina Bozzacchi Wikipedia