Salvatore Viganò (March 25, 1769 – August 10, 1821), was an Italian

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

dancer Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoi ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

.Opera Glass
/ref> Portrait of Salvatore Viganò, dancer (1769-1821) - Archivio Storico Ricordi ICON010867

Viganò was born in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. He studied composition with Luigi Boccherini (his uncle) and by the mid-1780s was composing original music. In 1788, he appeared as a dancer on the stage in Venice. He performed in the coronation festivities of

Charles IV of Spain , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Charles III of Spain , mother =Maria Amalia of Saxony , birth_date =11 November 1748 , birth_place =Palace of Portici, Portici, Naples , death_date = , death_place = ...

in 1789. He became a pupil of the French dancer and choreographer

Jean Dauberval Jean Dauberval, a.k.a. Jean D’Auberval, (born Jean Bercher in Montpellier, 19 August 1742 – Tours, 14 February 1806), was a French dancer and ballet master. He is most noted for creating the ballet, ''La fille mal gardée'', one of the ...

. In 1791, he and his wife achieved success as a dancing team in Venice, where he choreographed his first ballet, ''Raoul de Créqui''. He was ballet master in Vienna and collaborated with

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

on the ballet '' The Creatures of Prometheus''. He returned to Italy in 1804 and became the ballet master of ''La Scala'' ballet school in Milan. He is considered the father of a new kind of performance called "" where the pantomime served the dance and the ensembles were very significant. He died in Milan. Viganò's elder sister,

Vincenza Viganò-Mombelli Vincenza (or Vincenzina) Viganò-Mombelli (1760–1814) was an Italian ballerina and librettist. She is remembered today as the librettist of Rossini's first opera '' Demetrio e Polibio''. Her husband was the tenor Domenico Mombelli. Life and care ...

was also a dancer and the librettist of Rossini's first opera ''

Demetrio e Polibio ''Demetrio e Polibio'' (; ''Demetrius and Polybius'') is a two-act operatic ''dramma serio'' by Gioachino Rossini to a libretto by Vincenzina Viganò-Mombelli. The opera was orchestrated for flute, oboes, clarinets, basson, horns, trumpets, and ...

''.Gillio, Pier Giuseppe (2011)
"Mombelli, Domenico"
'' Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani'', Vol. 75. Online version retrieved 9 May 2018 .

Major works

* ''La vedova scoperta'', 1783 (opera) * '' The Creatures of Prometheus '', 1801 (music

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

) * ''Coriolano'', 1804 (music

Joseph Weigl Joseph Weigl (28 March 1766 – 3 February 1846) was an Austrian composer and conductor, born in Eisenstadt, Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is ...

) * ''Gli Strelizzi'', 1809 (various artists) * ', 1812, La Scala (music

Franz Xaver Süssmayr Franz Xaver Süssmayr (German: ''Franz Xaver Süßmayr'', or ''Suessmayr'' in English; 1766 – September 17, 1803) was an Austrian composer and conductor. Popular in his day, he is now known primarily as the composer who completed Wolfgang Amad ...

) * ''Il Prometeo'', pantomime ballet, 1813 (music Beethoven,

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

, Haydn, Viganò) * ''Numa Pompilio'', 1815 * ''Mirra'', 1817 *''Otello'', 1818 (various artists, among the others

Gioachino Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards f ...

, Paolo Brambilla and Michele Carafa) * ''Dedalo'', 1818 *''La Vestale'', 1818 (various artists) *''I Titani'', 1819 (music

Johann Caspar Aiblinger Johann Caspar Aiblinger (23 February 1779 – 6 May 1867) was a German composer associated with the Cecilian Movement. Aiblinger was born in Wasserburg am Inn, Bavaria. In his eleventh year, he commenced his studies at Tegernsee Abbey, where ...

and Viganò) *''Giovanna d'Arco'' 1821 * ''Didone'', 1821 (finished by Vigano's brother, Giulio as Salvatore died before completing it)

References

Italian choreographers 18th-century Italian ballet dancers Ballet librettists Italian classical composers Italian male classical composers Italian opera composers Male opera composers Musicians from Naples 1769 births 1821 deaths 19th-century Italian ballet dancers Italian male ballet dancers {{dance-bio-stub