Hilferding P. (1710-1768), dancer, ballet master

Categories / Art/Music, Theatre/Personalia
HILFERDING Franz Antoine Christophe (1710- 1768), Austrian dancer, ballet master, teacher. Studied dancing in Paris under M. Blondy. In 1759-65, he held the post of court ballet master in St. Petersburg, staging over 20 ballets. He also choreographed ballets for A.P. Sumarokov's allegoric prologues The New Laurels and The Refuge of Virtue (1759, to the music of G.F. Raupach and J. Starzer), as well as for the ballets Return of Apollo to Parnas, and Pigmalion, or Revived Statue (1763, to the music of Starzer). As J.G. Noverre 's and D. Angiolini's predecessor, Hilferding influenced choreographic theatre by turning ballet into a separate art. His ballets are considered lyrical. Hilferding's performances starred S. Obri, V.M. Mikhaylova, J. Mecure, J. Priori and B. Priori, P. Granger, and A. Taulato. He also composed ballets for amateur dancers at the Imperial Court, staging Starzer's Acis and Galatea in 1764, featuring the ten-year-old Grand Prince Pavel Petrovich (Emperor-to-be Pavel I), among other amateurs.

References: Гозенпуд А. А. Музыкальный театр в России от истоков до Глинки: Очерк. Л., 1959. С. 200-205; Музыкальный Петербург: Энцикл. слов.: Т. 1: XVIII в.: В 5 кн. СПб., 1996. Кн. 1. С. 247-249.

G. N. Dobrovolskaya. Angiolini Domenico Gasparo Maria
Blondy Michel
Granger Pierre
Hilferding Franz Anton Christoph
Mecure J.
Mikhaylova Varvara Mikhailovna
Noverre Jean-Georges
Obri (Ubri) Santina
Paul (Pavel) I, Emperor
Priori B.
Priori J.
Raupach Hermann Friedrich
Starzer Josef
Sumarokov Alexander Petrovich
Taulato (Tolato) Alviz (Louis, Leonty)
Музыкальный Петербург: Энцикл. слов.: Т.1: XVIII в.: В 5 кн. СПб., 1996
Гозенпуд А. А. Музыкальный театр в России от истоков до Глинки: Очерк. Л., 1959