In this Book

My Theatre Life

Book
August Bournonville, Patricia N. McAndrew
1979
Published by: Wesleyan University Press
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
summary
Born in Copenhagen in the early nineteenth-century and trained by his father, French ballet master, Antoine Bournonville, August Bournonville was an iconoic dance master and principal choreography of the Royal Danish Ballet with his incorporation of French Romanticism in his ballet choreography. Known for detailed, quick footwork and delicate arm and torso contrast, Bournonville’s style of dance became known as the Bournonville Method, today considered the unfiltered 19th century technique of the French school of classical dance. Over a century since his death, Bournonville’s influence remains seen on the Danish and greater European stage, imported to theatre classes and stages across the world.

Table of Contents

open access

Cover

Half-Title Page

pp. i

Portrait of August Bournonville

pp. ii

Title Page

pp. iii

Copyright

pp. iv

Dedication

pp. v-vi

Contents

pp. vii-viii

Illustrations

pp. ix-x

Foreword

pp. xi-xii

Introduction

pp. xiii-xvi

Translator’s Note

pp. xvii-xviii

Acknowledgments

pp. xix-xx

Volume One

pp. 1-2

Preface

pp. 3-5

I. The Dance

pp. 7-11

II. Pantomime

pp. 12-17

III. The Ballet

pp. 18-23

IV. Myself

pp. 24-34

V. Celebrities

pp. 35-49

VI. Parallels

pp. 50-58

VII. The Results of My Endeavors

pp. 59-65

VIII. Ballet Compositions

pp. 66-118

IX. Lyric Attempts

pp. 119-128

Volume Two: Theatre Life and Reminiscences

pp. 129-130

Introduction

pp. 131-160

I. Reflections

pp. 133-159

II. The Year 1848

pp. 160-166

III. Old Memories (With Notices of the Finest Members of the Ballet from 1829 to 1864)

pp. 167-171

IV. Divertissements

pp. 172-180

V. Ballet Compositions: Second Period

pp. 181-266

VI. Danish National Festivals

pp. 235-263

VII. Ballet Compositions: Third Period

pp. 264-286

VIII. Three Years in Stockholm

pp. 287-319

IX. Dramatic Celebrities of the Danish Stage

pp. 320-333

X. A Retrospect

pp. 334-335

Volume Three

pp. 337-338

Part I. The Theatre Crisis and the Ballet

pp. 339-340

Introduction

pp. 341-343

I. The Theatre Crisis

pp. 344-406

II. Works Done for the Royal Danish Theatre by A.B.

pp. 407-410

Part II. Memoirs and Period Pictures

pp. 411-412

Introduction

pp. 413-414

I. Memoirs and Period Pictures

pp. 415-495

II. Danish National Festivals (The Constitution Festival, 1854)

pp. 496-502

III. End-Word

pp. 503-503

Part III. Travel Memoirs, Reflections, and Biographical Sketches

pp. 505-506

I. Travel Memoirs

pp. 507-570

I. Travel Memoirs (2)

pp. 571-629

II. Reflections

pp. 630-637

III. Biographical Sketches Drawn from Memory

pp. 638-722

Index A-J

pp. 675-691

Index K-Z

pp. 692-709
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