Sophie Chevigny

Sophie Chevigny
Born
Sophie Chevigny

12 May 1772
Paris, France
Died10 March 1855 (aged 82)
Montreuil, Eure-et-Loir, France
Nationality France
Other namesGeneviève-Sophie Chevigny
Mademoiselle Chevigny
Occupations

Sophie Chevigny (12 May 1772 – 10 March 1855), known professionally as Mlle Chevigny was an 18th century French ballet dancer and mime who performed as a principal dancer at the Opéra de Paris.

Early life

Geneviève-Sophie Chevigny was born in Paris, France on 12 May 1772.[1]

In the late 1780s, she had a son with French architect Jacques Cellerier who designed the Théâtre de l'Ambigu-Comique.[1]

Entertainment life

Studying in Paris with the dancer Jean-Antoine Favre, Chevigny achieved early recognition at the Théâtre de l'Ambigu-Comique before being called to the Académie Royale de Musique (now Paris Opéra) for her debut on 23 February 1790.[2] Going by the stage name Mlle Chevigny, she became one of the principal dancers of the Royal Academy.[3] Within two years, she was promoted to the rank, a position she shared for a long period with Madame Gardel, and later with the dancer Clotilde Mafleuroy.[4] She performed for the first time as a mime in Maximilien Gardel's Premier Navigateur in 1791. Mlle Chevigny was selected by Louis Milon, the Academy's assistant ballet-master, for a role in the ballet Les Noces de Gamache in 1801.[5]

An illness interrupted her career, and after a short-lived retirement in 1804, public reaction brought her back in 1806.[4] Mlle Chevigny's portrayal of Eurycleia, Ulysses' nurse, in Le Retour d'Ulysse by Louis Milon, which premiered on 27 February 1807, was a great success.[6] In 1810, Mlle Chevigny was cast in Persée et Andromède by Pierre Gardel as Cassiopeia.[7] The role of Octavia in Antoine et Cléopâtre brought Mlle Chevigny great success. The ballet, featuring music by Rodolphe Kreutzer, had its first performance on 8 March 1808.[6] She performed in Gardel's 1812 ballet L'enfant prodigue as the Prodigal Son's mother.[8]

Throughout her twenty-five-year career at the Opera, she successfully created numerous roles in pantomime ballets performed at the theater, including Le jugement de Paris, Oenone, Figaro, Suzanne, Telemachus, Eucharis, Hero and Leandre, Venus, The Marriage of Gamache, Quitterie, Lucas and Laurette, Nicole, The Loves of Antoinette and Cleo, Shepherd, and Octavie, each earning her widespread acclaim.[4] Mlle Chevigny chose to retire permanently from the theater in 1815.[9] On 15 February 1815, she sent a letter to the Minister for the Maison du Roi, applying for a retirement pension. She had settled into retirement in Paris, and was listed on the pension roll of the Opéra de Paris.[10][9]

Death

Sophie Chevigny died in Montreuil, Eure-et-Loir, France on 10 March 1855.

  • Autographed letter signed by Mademoiselle Chevigny to the minister and secretary of state for the Maison du Roi, Paris, 15 February 1815.
    Autographed letter signed by Mademoiselle Chevigny to the minister and secretary of state for the Maison du Roi, Paris, 15 February 1815.

References

  1. ^ a b Aschengreen, E. (2002). Of Another World: Dancing Between Dream and Reality : Festschrift Presented to Professor Emer. Erik Aschengreen. Denmark: Museum Tusculanum Press.
  2. ^ Biographie universelle et portative des contemporains, ou dictionnaire historique des hommes vivants, et des hommes morts depuis 1788 jusqu'à nos jours,...: ouvrage entièrement neuf, contenant un grand nombre de notices qui ne se trouvent dans aucune des biographies déjà publiées et rédigé d'après les documents les plus authentiques,.... (1834). France: F.G. Levrault.
  3. ^ Beffroy de Reygny, L. A. (1802). Dictionnaire néologique des hommes et des choses ou notice alphabétique des hommes de la Révolution, qui ont paru a l'Auteur les plus dignes d'attention ... Par le Cousin Jacques. Tome premier [-second]: Dictionnaire neologique des hommes et des choses ou notice alphabetique des evenemens, epoques, anecdotes, monumens, decouvertes, institutions les plus remarquables; des hommes de la Revolution Francaise, qui ont paru les plus dignes d'attention ... (n.p.): (n.p.).
  4. ^ a b c La grande encyclopédie: inventaire raisonné des sciences, des lettres et des arts par une Société de savants et de gens de lettres. (1885). France: Société anonyme de la Grande encyclopédie.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Aschengreen, E. (2002) was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b Vuillier, G. (1898). La Danse. (n.p.): Hachette.
  7. ^ Le Ménestrel: journal de musique. (1884). (n.p.): Le Menestrel.
  8. ^ Mercure de France au dix-neuvième siècle. (1812). France: (n.p.).
  9. ^ a b Biographie universelle et portative des contemporains, ou dictionnaire historique des hommes vivants, et des hommes morts depuis 1788 jusqu'à nos jours,...: ouvrage entièrement neuf, contenant un grand nombre de notices qui ne se trouvent dans aucune des biographies déjà publiées et rédigé d'après les documents les plus authentiques,.... (1834). France: F.G. Levrault.
  10. ^ Projets de lois pour la fixation des recettes et des dépenses de l'exercice 1843: Annexes. (1842). France: Imprimerie Royale.