Joseph Hansen (8 March 1842 in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

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

ballet master A ballet master (also balletmaster, ballet mistress, ''premier maître de ballet'' or ''premier maître de ballet en chef'') is an employee of a ballet company who is responsible for the level of competence of the dancers in their company. In mo ...

) 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 ...

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 (, ; , ; both translating as the "Royal Theatre of the Mint") is an opera house in central Brussels, Belgium. The National Opera of Belgium, a federal institution, takes the name of this theatre in which it is ho ...

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 kn ...

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, p=bɐlʲˈʂoj tʲɪˈat(ə)r, t=Grand Theater) is a historic opera house in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bové. Before the October Revolutio ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

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

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

'' by

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular ...

(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 (opera), Hamlet'' (1868). Born into a musical family, Thomas was a student at the C ...

(

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 kn ...

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

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

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

, 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 ve ...

(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 myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ) by the Gre ...

'', ballet in 3 acts, 5 scenes by Alphonse Duvernoy, 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 ...

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, conductor and teacher. Among his teachers were César Franck, Charles Gounod and Jules Massenet. In addition to his own compositions Büsser edi ...

(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 (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