Jean-Louis Aumer (21 April 1774 – 6 July 1833), also referred to as Jean-Pierre Aumer, was a French ballet dancer and choreographer.

Early life and career as a dancer

Aumer was born in

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

of a manual labourer and non-theatrical parents and received little formal education. At an early age he became a pupil of

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 m ...

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 a ...

. When Dauberval became '' maître de ballet'' in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

, Aumer went with him. In 1791 when Aumer was still sixteen, he went with Dauberval to London, where he first performed professionally.Guest 2008, p. 56. Believing he was growing too tall to be completely successful as a dancer, he studied Dauberval's choreographic methods and the related fields of music and art as well. He was engaged as a dancer with the Paris company in 1797 and made his debut there on 15 May 1798 in the " action ballet" ''Le déserteur'', with choreography by

Maximilien Gardel Maximilien Gardel (18 December 1741, in Mannheim – 11 March 1787, in Paris) was a French ballet dancer and choreographer of German descent. He was the son of Claude Gardel, ballet master to King Stanisław Leszczyński, and elder brother by 17 ...

and music by Ernest-Louis Müller. At the Paris Opera he was never to rise above the modest level of ''

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

'', although due to his height he was useful as a mime.

Career as a choreographer

The Paris Opera's '' maître de ballet''

Pierre Gardel Pierre-Gabriel Gardel (; 4 February 1758, in Nancy, France – 18 October 1840, in Paris) was a French ballet dancer, ballet master, violinist, and composer., 2007. He was the son of Claude Gardel and the younger brother of Maximilien Gardel, s ...

presented an obstacle which led Aumer to choose the

Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin The Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin () is a venerable theatre and opera house at 18, Boulevard Saint-Martin in the 10th arrondissement of Paris. History It was first built very rapidly in 1781 under the direction of (1726–1810) to hou ...

as the venue for which to choreograph and produce his early ballets. Faced with the implacable competition from Gardel, Aumer left France for engagements in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

(1808–1814) and

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

(1814–1820). Brief periods in Paris (1821–1822) and London (1824–1825) were followed by his return to the Paris Opera Ballet (1820–1831), where, enriched by the experience of working abroad, he engaged in a profound renovation of the French repertory, capped by his ''chef-d'œuvre'', ''

Manon Lescaut ''The Story of the Chevalier des Grieux and Manon Lescaut'' ( ) is a novel by Antoine François Prévost. It tells a tragic love story about a nobleman (known only as the Chevalier des Grieux) and a common woman (Manon Lescaut). Their decisio ...

'' (1830). Aumer resigned from the Paris Opera in 1831 and died of a stroke in the summer of 1833 in

Saint-Martin-de-Boscherville Saint-Martin-de-Boscherville is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France. Geography A residential village situated by the banks of the river Seine, some west of Rouen at the junction of the D67, D267 ...

. His daughter Sophie-Julie married the danseur around 1826.Van Aelbrouck 1994, p. 163.

Works

* 1804 ''La Fille mal gardée'', after Dauberval (Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin) * 1805 ''Rosina et Lorenzo'' (Théâtre de la Porte St-Martin) * 1805 ''Robinson Crusoé'' (Théâtre de la Porte St-Martin) * 1805 ''Le Page inconstant'', after Dauberval (Théâtre de la Porte St-Martin) * 1806 ''Jenny ou le Mariage secret'' (Théâtre de la Porte St-Martin) * 1806 ''Les Deux Créoles'' (Théâtre de la Porte St-Martin) * 1808: ''Les Amours d'Antoine et de Cléopâtre'' (Opéra de Paris) * 1814 ''Zéphire et Flore'' (Vienna) * 1814 ''Louise et Alexis'', after ''Le Déserteur'' de Dauberval (Vienna) * 1814 ''Myrsile et Antéros'' (Vienna) * 1815 ''La Fête de la rose'' (Vienna) * 1815 ''Les Bayadères'' (Vienna) * 1816 ''Les Noces de Thétis et de Pélée'' (Vienna) * 1816 ''Les Deux Tantes'' (Vienna) * 1817 ''Amour et Psyché'' (Vienna) * 1817 ''Érigone ou le Triomphe de Bacchus'' (Vienna) * 1818 ''Le Sommeil enchanté'' (Vienna) * 1818 ''Aline, reine de Golconde'' (Vienna) * 1819 ''Ossian'' (Vienna) * 1820 ''Emma ou le Mariage secret'' (Vienna) * 1820 ''Alfred le Grand'' (Vienna) * 1820 ''Les Pages du duc de Vendôme'' (Paris Opera Ballet) * 1821 ''Jeanne d'Arc'' (Paris Opera Ballet) * 1824 ''Le Songe d'Ossian'' (

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

) * 1825 ''Cléopâtre, reine d'Égypte'' (London) * 1827 ''Astolphe et Joconde'' (Paris Opera Ballet) * 1827 ''

La Somnambule ou L'Arrivée d'un nouveau seigneur LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smit ...

'' (Paris Opera Ballet) * 1828 ''Lydie'' (Paris Opera Ballet) * 1829 ''La Belle au bois dormant'' (Paris Opera Ballet) * 1830 ''Manon Lescaut'' (Paris Opera Ballet)

Notes

Sources

* Babsky, Monique (1998). "Aumer, Jean-Louis", vol. 1, pp. 201–203, in ''International Encyclopedia of Dance'' (6 volumes), edited by Selma Jeanne Cohen. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (hardcover). (2004 paperback edition). * Beaumont, Cyril W. (1938)
"Jean Aumer", pp. 44–71
in ''Complete Book of Ballets''. New York: Grosset & Dunlop
Copy
at Internet Archive. * Craine, Debra; Mackrell, Judith (2000). ''The Oxford Dictionary of Dance''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. . *

Guest, Ivor Forbes Ivor Forbes Guest DUniv MA FRAD (14 April 1920 – 30 March 2018) was a British historian and writer, best known for his study of ballet. He was chairman of the Royal Academy of Dance for twenty three years (1970–93) and has been a Vice-Pr ...

(2008). ''The Romantic Ballet in Paris''. Alton, Hampshire: Dance Books. . * Pitou, Spire (1985). ''The Paris Opera: An Encyclopedia of Operas, Ballets, Composers, and Performers. Rococo and Romantic, 1715-1815''. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. . * Van Aelbrouck, Jean-Philippe (1994). ''Dictionnaire des danseurs: Chorégraphes et maîtres de danse à Bruxelles de 1600 à 1830''. Liège: Mardaga. . *

Winter, Marian Hannah Marian Hannah Winter (March 20, 1910 – December 15, 1981) was an American musicologist and dance historian. She has been called one of "the woforemost names in American dance history."Kisselgoff, Anna (February 2, 1986).Dance View; Dance Histo ...

(1974). ''The Pre-Romantic Ballet''. London: Pitman. .

External links

NY Times review
by

Roslyn Sulcas Roslyn Sulcas is a dance critic and culture writer for ''The New York Times''. She was raised in Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Pa ...

, June 28, 2007
Aumer
on Data.bnf.fr {{DEFAULTSORT:Aumer, Jean-Louis 1774 births French male ballet dancers French ballet masters French ballet choreographers 19th-century French ballet dancers 1833 deaths Aumer, Jean-Pierre Aumer