Ivan Valberkh

He was born as Ivan Lesogorov on 14 July 1766 in Moscow, Russian Empire.{{Cite web |title=The First One Hundred Years Of Life Of The St. Petersburg' Ballet School |url=http://www.aha.ru/~vladmo/d_txt2.html |access-date=2024-01-20 |website=www.aha.ru |archive-date=2019-02-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190211145801/http://www.aha.ru/~vladmo/d_txt2.html |url-status=live }} He is also referred as Waldberg or Lessogorov-Wahlberg or Walberch. His father was a theater tailor and his great-grandfather was a captured Swedish officer who earlier served in the army of Sweden during the reign of King Charles XII and decided to stay in Russia.{{Cite web |last=Galayda |first=Anna |date=2023-08-07 |title=10 greatest Russian CHOREOGRAPHERS of all time |url=https://www.rbth.com/arts/336466-ballet-greatest-russian-choreographers |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=Russia Beyond |language=en-US |archive-date=2023-09-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230926151112/https://www.rbth.com/arts/336466-ballet-greatest-russian-choreographers |url-status=live }}

He studied at the St Petersburg Ballet School under Gasparo Angiolini and Giuseppe Canziani and graduated in 1786.{{Cite web |title=HISTORY OF THE MARIINSKY BALLET |url=https://www.mariinsky.ru/en/company/ballet/history_ballet/ |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=www.mariinsky.ru |archive-date=2024-01-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240117132817/https://www.mariinsky.ru/en/company/ballet/history_ballet/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=Giuseppe Canziani, ballet master in St. Petersburg, Russia |url=http://www.saint-petersburg.com/famous-people/giuseppe-canziani/ |access-date=2024-01-20 |website=www.saint-petersburg.com |archive-date=2022-01-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220127092415/http://www.saint-petersburg.com/famous-people/giuseppe-canziani/ |url-status=live }} He published two letters in which he accused the Jean-Georges Noverre of violating the rule of the three unities. In the 1786, he become soloist in court ballet troupe, a position which was almost never awarded to the Russians, at the Bolshoi Theatre in St Petersburg.{{Citation |last1=Craine |first1=Debra |title=Valberkh, Ivan |date=2010-01-01 |work=The Oxford Dictionary of Dance |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780199563449.001.0001/acref-9780199563449-e-2387 |access-date=2024-01-19 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/acref/9780199563449.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-956344-9 |last2=Mackrell |first2=Judith |archive-date=2024-01-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240120142139/https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780199563449.001.0001/acref-9780199563449-e-2387 |url-status=live }} In 1793, he introduced Prince Alexander Aleksandrovigh Shakhovskoy to theaters.{{Cite journal |last=Malnick |first=Bertha |date=1953 |title=A. A. Shakhovskoy |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4204508 |url-status=live |journal=The Slavonic and East European Review |volume=32 |issue=78 |pages=29–51 |issn=0037-6795 |jstor=4204508 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240121093301/https://www.jstor.org/stable/4204508 |archive-date=2024-01-21 |access-date=2024-01-20}}

In 1794, he was appointed to lead the St Petersburg School and promoted to post of ballet inspector to oversee the company.{{Citation |last1=Craine |first1=Debra |title=Russia and the USSR |date=2010-01-01 |work=The Oxford Dictionary of Dance |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780199563449.001.0001/acref-9780199563449-e-2043 |access-date=2024-01-19 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/acref/9780199563449.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-956344-9 |last2=Mackrell |first2=Judith |archive-date=2024-01-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240120142229/https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780199563449.001.0001/acref-9780199563449-e-2043 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=Russia and the USSR |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100434290 |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=Oxford Reference |language=en |archive-date=2024-01-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240120142140/https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100434290 |url-status=live }} He was the first Russian to head St Petersburg Ballet School.{{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Carol |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a9Ht2zcHc6wC&dq=Ivan+Valberkh&pg=PA23-IA102 |title=Ballet in Western Culture: A History of Its Origins and Evolution |date=2002 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-94257-7 |language=en |access-date=2024-01-20 |archive-date=2024-01-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240121093303/https://books.google.com/books?id=a9Ht2zcHc6wC&dq=Ivan+Valberkh&pg=PA23-IA102#v=onepage&q=Ivan%20Valberkh&f=false |url-status=live }} When the ballet school was closed for some time and the students were dismissed, he took some of the most capable students to his home, where they continued their studies. There he taught Eugenia Kolosova and Adam Glushkovsky.{{Citation |last=Elyash |first=Nikolai I. |editor-first1=Selma Jeanne |editor-last1=Cohen |title=Kolosova, Evgenia |date=1998 |encyclopedia=The International Encyclopedia of Dance |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195173697.001.0001/acref-9780195173697-e-0939 |access-date=2024-01-19 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195173697.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-517369-7 |archive-date=2024-01-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240120142140/https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195173697.001.0001/acref-9780195173697-e-0939 |url-status=live }}

File:И. И. Вальберх.jpg

In 1795, he made his debut with A Happy Repentance. His ballet 'The New Werther' (1799), based on Goethe, established his reputation as the first Russian to make a contemporary themed ballet. He, probably for the first time in history of ballet, took a recent tragic event as a plot. Between 1794 and 1801, he was a teacher at the St. Petersburg Theatrical School. In 1802, he was sent on a business trip to Paris at public expense to learn advanced ballet. There he criticised French ballet and recognized authorities such as Auguste Vestris and returned back to Russia disappointed. He also worked and taught in Moscow in 1807, 1808, and 1811.{{Citation |last=Souritz |first=Elizabeth |editor-first1=Selma Jeanne |editor-last1=Cohen |title=Bolshoi Ballet |date=1998 |encyclopedia=The International Encyclopedia of Dance |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195173697.001.0001/acref-9780195173697-e-0257 |access-date=2024-01-19 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195173697.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-517369-7 |archive-date=2024-01-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240120142231/https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195173697.001.0001/acref-9780195173697-e-0257 |url-status=live }}

In 1809, his Romeo and Juliet was first ballet to be performed based on a Shakespearean tragedy in Russia.{{Cite web |title=ARTSEDGE: Romeo and Juliet: Making Connections to the Arts: The Performing Arts |url=https://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/exploring/randj/connections/performing/ballet.html |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=artsedge.kennedy-center.org |archive-date=2021-04-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210412163741/https://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/exploring/randj/connections/performing/ballet.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Chien |first=Jane Ann |date=2022-05-03 |title=About Helgi Tomasson's Romeo & Juliet |url=https://www.sfballet.org/discover/backstage/about-helgi-tomassons-romeo-juliet/ |access-date=2024-01-20 |website=San Francisco Ballet |language=en-US |archive-date=2023-09-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928140008/https://www.sfballet.org/discover/backstage/about-helgi-tomassons-romeo-juliet/ |url-status=live }} He succeeded Charles Didelot as ballet master of Bolshoi Theatre in St Petersburg after he left in 1811. During the Napoleonic wars, he choreographed many ballets which had patriotic themes. His first patriotic ballet “Love for the Fatherland” was performed 4 days after Battle of Borodino. His patriotic ballets were so inspiring that many people in the audience enlisted in the army.{{Cite web |title=The Beginnings of Russian Ballet |url=https://michaelminn.net/andros/history/beginnings_of_russian_ballet/index.html |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=michaelminn.net |archive-date=2021-06-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210617025337/https://michaelminn.net/andros/history/beginnings_of_russian_ballet/index.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite book |last=Swift |first=Mary Grace |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/168/oa_monograph/chapter/2706124#fn8_1 |title=VIII. Soulful Flights in Russia |date=1974 |publisher=Wesleyan University Press |isbn=978-0-8195-7798-6 |language=English}}

He married Sofija Petrovna Walberg and had 14 children, including Maria Ivanovna Walberg, with her. He died on 26 July 1819 in St Petersburg.{{Cite web |date=1763-07-23 |title=Ivan Ivanovich Lesogorov |url=https://www.geni.com/people/Ivan-Ivanovich-Lesogorov/6000000049199751821 |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=geni_family_tree |language=en-US |archive-date=2024-01-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240124131950/https://www.geni.com/people/Ivan-Ivanovich-Lesogorov/6000000049199751821 |url-status=live }}

During his time under Gaspero Angiolini, he started preferring pantomime and mastered it. Charles Le Picq was a role model for him.{{Citation |last=Elyash |first=Nikolai I. |editor-first1=Selma Jeanne |editor-last1=Cohen |title=Valberkh, Ivan |date=1998 |encyclopedia=The International Encyclopedia of Dance |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195173697.001.0001/acref-9780195173697-e-1793 |access-date=2024-01-19 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195173697.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-517369-7 |archive-date=2024-01-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240120142429/https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195173697.001.0001/acref-9780195173697-e-1793 |url-status=live }}{{Citation |title=La Bayadère |date=2022-01-19 |url=https://www.numeridanse.tv/en/dance-videotheque/la-bayadere |access-date=2024-01-20 |language=en |archive-date=2022-05-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220529054926/https://www.numeridanse.tv/en/dance-videotheque/la-bayadere |url-status=live }} His productions were filled with action which stated the instructive importance of ballet. He embraced the concepts of Noverre's ballet d'action in his ballets to create dramatic elements.{{Cite web |title=Staging Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet in the language of classical ballet |url=https://rune.une.edu.au/web/bitstream/1959.11/7059/7/open/SOURCE04.pdf |access-date=2024-01-20 |archive-date=2024-01-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240120142729/https://rune.une.edu.au/web/bitstream/1959.11/7059/7/open/SOURCE04.pdf |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=A Study on the Stage Costume Design in Natalia Goncharova |url=https://koreascience.kr/article/JAKO201017337338276.pdf |access-date=2024-01-20 |archive-date=2024-01-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240120142652/https://koreascience.kr/article/JAKO201017337338276.pdf |url-status=live }} In his productions, the pantomime often suppressed the dance. He became attracted to the idea of sentimentalism and its democracy. Valberkh created a new style that was based the traditions of sentimentalism in Russian art.{{Citation |last1=Uralskaya |first1=Valeria I. |title=Russia |date=1998 |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195173697.001.0001/acref-9780195173697-e-1511 |access-date=2024-01-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240120142738/https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195173697.001.0001/acref-9780195173697-e-1511 |archive-date=2024-01-20 |url-status=live |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195173697.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-517369-7 |last2=Zhornitskaya |first2=Maria I. |last3=Uralskaya |first3=Valeria I. |last4=Inozemtseva |first4=Galina V. InozemtsevaGalina V. |last5=Vanslov |first5=Elena G. FedorenkoElena G. FedorenkoVictor V. |last6=Souritz |first6=Elizabeth |last7=Souritz |first7=Elizabeth |last8=Shereemetyevskaya |first8=Natalia |last9=Chernova |first9=Natalia |encyclopedia=The International Encyclopedia of Dance}} He called his choreographic works “moral ballets”. He also wanted to stop being guided by the tastes of the royal court. He sought to collaborate mainly with Russian composers like Nikolai Sergeevich Titov and Nikolai Alexeyevich Titov.{{Cite book |last=Бахрушин |first=Юрий |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VfZmDwAAQBAJ&dq=%D0%98%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD+%D0%98%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87+%D0%92%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B1%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%85&pg=PA48 |title=История русского балета. Учебник для вузов |date=2017-12-02 |publisher=Litres |isbn=978-5-04-093591-8 |language=ru}}

He incorporated Russian folk dance elements into ballets.{{Cite web |last=Birtles |first=Katie |date=2021-01-30 |title=A short history of how Russia became the epicentre of ballet |url=https://www.trafalgar.com/real-word/history-russian-ballet/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231112011923/https://www.trafalgar.com/real-word/history-russian-ballet/ |archive-date=2023-11-12 |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=Real Word |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |title=History of ballet in Russia: how it became synonymous with Russian culture {{!}} TV BRICS, 22.03.23 |url=https://tvbrics.com/en/news/history-of-ballet-in-russia-how-it-became-synonymous-with-russian-culture/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230601155109/https://tvbrics.com/en/news/history-of-ballet-in-russia-how-it-became-synonymous-with-russian-culture/ |archive-date=2023-06-01 |access-date=2024-01-20 |website=TV BRICS |language=en}} In his ballet 'Militia', he invoked folk style, kazachok and khorovod, together with military marches to enhance a drama contrasting merry celebration with impassioned scenes of the militia's departure.{{Cite journal |last=Wiley |first=Roland John |date=2015 |title=Dances in Opera: St. Petersburg |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26357866 |url-status=live |journal=Dance Research: The Journal of the Society for Dance Research |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=227–257 |doi=10.3366/drs.2015.0139 |issn=0264-2875 |jstor=26357866 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211106041809/https://www.jstor.org/stable/26357866 |archive-date=2021-11-06 |access-date=2024-01-20}}

He often took inspiration and based his ballets on literature.{{Citation |last1=Ilicheva |first1=Marina A. |title=Maryinsky Ballet |date=1998 |encyclopedia=The International Encyclopedia of Dance |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195173697.001.0001/acref-9780195173697-e-1120 |access-date=2024-01-19 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195173697.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-517369-7 |last2=Krasovskaya |first2=Vera M. |archive-date=2024-01-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240120142708/https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195173697.001.0001/acref-9780195173697-e-1120 |url-status=live }} His productions mostly repeated European repertoire. His creative work was filled with Russian themed ballets and established a distinctive type of national performance, divertissements which depicted ordinary people's life.{{Cite web |title=Ivan Valberkh |url=https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Ivan+Valberkh |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=TheFreeDictionary.com |language=en |archive-date=2020-11-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201130141647/https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Ivan+Valberkh |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=The Mariinsky Ballet {{!}} Japan ArtsJapan Arts |url=https://www.japanarts.co.jp/en/artist/mariinskyballet/ |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=Japan Arts |archive-date=2022-11-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221124074708/https://www.japanarts.co.jp/en/artist/mariinskyballet/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=Making of nationalistic dance |url=https://orb.binghamton.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1067&context=dissertation_and_theses |access-date=2024-01-20 |archive-date=2024-01-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240120142652/https://orb.binghamton.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1067&context=dissertation_and_theses |url-status=live }} He also made ballet on foreign historical personage.{{Cite book |last=Meisner |first=Nadine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qNmUDwAAQBAJ&dq=Ivan+Valberkh&pg=PP1 |title=Marius Petipa: The Emperor's Ballet Master |date=2019-05-01 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-065930-1 |language=en |access-date=2024-01-20 |archive-date=2024-01-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240120142755/https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=qNmUDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Ivan+Valberkh&ots=ptlY9BnL-u&sig=V4AJPzayYvxE2v1FkzsdUguZgYk&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Ivan%20Valberkh&f=false#v=onepage&q=Ivan%20Valberkh&f=false |url-status=live }}

He felt that the center of attention was not a hero with his passions, but a simple man with his feelings. He looked for his heroes among ordinary people and often showed an ordinary person who remained faithful to his convictions despite being in difficult circumstances. His productions had two titles - one told about the main character and the plot while the other directly deduced the moral that triumphed the last act.{{Cite web |title=Иван Иванович Вальберх (Ivan Valberkh) {{!}} Belcanto.ru |url=https://www-belcanto-ru.translate.goog/valberkh.html?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc |access-date=2024-01-20 |website=www-belcanto-ru.translate.goog |archive-date=2024-01-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240120124451/https://www-belcanto-ru.translate.goog/valberkh.html?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc |url-status=live }} Many of his ballets had a didactic character.{{Cite book |last1=Leach |first1=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=93kbnItM9_AC&dq=Ivan+Valberkh&pg=PA82 |title=A History of Russian Theatre |last2=Borovsky |first2=Victor |date=1999-11-29 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-43220-7 |language=en |access-date=2024-01-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240120142820/https://books.google.com/books?id=93kbnItM9_AC&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA82&dq=Ivan+Valberkh&hl=en#v=onepage&q=Ivan%20Valberkh&f=false |archive-date=2024-01-20 |url-status=live}}

{{Expand section|date=February 2024}}

• Happy Repentance (1795)
• The New Werther (1799)
• The Village Heroine (1800)
• Sacrifice of Gratitude (1802)
• Blanca, or, A Marriage of Revenge (1803)
• The Count Castelli, or, A Murderous Brother (1804)
• The Consequence of the Village Heroine (1806)
• Clara, or, The Resort to Virtue (1806)
• The Triumph of Evgenia's Love, or, The Secret Marriage (1807)
• Raoul the Blue-Beard, or, The Dangers of Curiosity (1807)
• Orpheus and Eurydice (1808)
• Romeo and Juliet (1809)
• The New Heroine, or, The Cossack Woman (1811)
• The People's Volunteer Corps, or, Love for the Motherland (1812)
• The Home Guard, or, The Love for the Fatherland (1812)
• The Militia, or, Love for the Homeland’ (1812)
• Russians in Germany, or, What Comes of Love for the Motherland (1813)
• Cossack in London (1813)
• Festival in the Allied Armies' Camp at Montmartre (1813)
• The American Heroine, or, Perfidy Punished (1814)
• Russian Victory, or, The Russians in Paris (1814)
• Cendrillon (1815)
• The Amazon (1815)
• Henry IV, or, The Reward of Virtue (1816)

• [https://books.google.com/books?id=jt2KAQAAQBAJ&dq=%D0%98%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD+%D0%98%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87+%D0%92%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B1%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%85&pg=PA564 П. С. Мочалов. Летопись жизни и творчества]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valberkh, Ivan}}

Category:18th-century ballet dancers from the Russian Empire

Category:1766 births

Category:1819 deaths

Category:Ballet masters