Alessandro Guerra - Revision history

Djando: /* The Last Years */

2025-12-02T06:05:49Z

‎The Last Years

Djando: /* French Concurrence */

2025-12-02T06:05:15Z

‎French Concurrence

Djando: /* From Circo Romano to Cirque Olympique */

2025-08-07T19:35:17Z

‎From Circo Romano to Cirque Olympique

Djando: /* Mentors: Luigi Guillaume and Christoph de Bach */

2025-08-07T19:31:43Z

‎Mentors: Luigi Guillaume and Christoph de Bach

Djando: /* Mentors: Luigi Guillaume and Christoph de Bach */

2025-08-07T19:28:21Z

‎Mentors: Luigi Guillaume and Christoph de Bach

Djando at 19:24, 7 August 2025

2025-08-07T19:24:49Z

Djando: /* From Circo Romano to Cirque Olympique */

2025-07-30T23:10:01Z

‎From Circo Romano to Cirque Olympique

Djando: /* From Circo Romano to Cirque Olympique */

2025-07-30T03:25:25Z

‎From Circo Romano to Cirque Olympique

Djando: /* French Concurrence */

2024-12-01T20:41:04Z

‎French Concurrence

Djando: /* The Cirque Olympique in St. Petersburg */

2024-12-01T20:39:15Z

‎The Cirque Olympique in St. Petersburg

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 ===The Last Years===
-Guerra and his company went back to perform in the German States, visiting Berlin, Cologne and Munich. Alessandro befriended at this time the peripatetic German playwright, actor and author Karl von Holtei (17798-1880), whose successful novel ''Die Vagabunden'' ("The Vagabonds", 1851) was inspired in part by Alessandro Guerra's tales of his life. In 1849, Guerra performed in Stockholm, Sweden, at the newly built Mothanders Manege at the Djurgården, which stood of the spot of the present [[Royal Circus (Stockholm)|Royal Circus]] and had replaced Tourniaire's circus that had burned down the previous year.
+Guerra and his company went back to perform in the German States, visiting Berlin, Cologne and Munich. Alessandro befriended at this time the peripatetic German playwright, actor and author Karl von Holtei (17798-1880), whose successful novel ''Die Vagabunden'' ("The Vagabonds", 1851) was inspired in part by Alessandro Guerra's tales of his life. In 1849, Guerra performed in Stockholm, Sweden, at the newly built Mothanders Manege at the Djurgården, which stood of the spot of the present [[Royal Circus (Stockholm)|Royal Circus]] and had replaced Tourniaire's circus that had burned down the previous year.[[File:Elivira_Guerra.jpg|thumb|lefht|250px|Elvira Guerra (c.1890)]]
-[[File:Elivira_Guerra.jpg|thumb|lefht|250px|Elvira Guerra (c.1890)]]In 1853, Guerra, who was now seventy-one, was in Turin, the capital of the Duchy of Savoy, in the Italian Piedmont. He continued his company's tours in the Italian states, Austria, the German states, and elsewhere in Europe but, as years passed, he didn't always meet with the same success he had once enjoyed. In 1855, he was in Bordeaux, France, when, after a particularly bad business, he was forced to declare bankruptcy; to save his precious horses, he sold them to the French circus entrepreneur [[Louis Dejean]], the owner of Paris's Cirque Napoléon (today's [[Cirque d'Hiver]]) and [[Cirque des Champs-Élysées]].
+In 1853, Guerra, who was now seventy-one, was in Turin, the capital of the Duchy of Savoy, in the Italian Piedmont. He continued his company's tours in the Italian states, Austria, the German states, and elsewhere in Europe but, as years passed, he didn't always meet with the same success he had once enjoyed. In 1855, he was in Bordeaux, France, when, after a particularly bad business, he was forced to declare bankruptcy; to save his precious horses, he sold them to the French circus entrepreneur [[Louis Dejean]], the owner of Paris's Cirque Napoléon (today's [[Cirque d'Hiver]]) and [[Cirque des Champs-Élysées]].
 Alssandro Guerra passed away on July 5, 1862 in Bologna, in the region of his birth, Emilia-Romagna&mdash;where he may have retired. He was eighty years old. He is buried at Bologna's Cimitero Monumental della Certosa; a plaque on his grave reads: "Alessandro Guerra, supreme in the equestrian arts, whose mastery was always envied and never surpassed, lived among all the civilized people of the globe for 80 years. His widow, daughters and friends pay a tribute of tears and flowers to his body enclosed behind this marble." ("Alessandro Guerra, nei ludi equestri sommo, sempre invidiato ne mai vinto in sua maestria, fra tutte genti civili del globo visse anni LXXX. Alla salma di lui chiusa in questo marmo tributano lacrime e fiori la vedova, le figlie, gli amici.")

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 Compared to his rival, Guerra's circus looked like "a gymnasium," whereas the Cirque de Paris was "a parlor." Guerra's supporters stressed that the Cirque de Paris did not have as many equestriennes as the Cirque Olympique, and that they were not as beautiful—with the notable exceptions, perhaps, of [[Pauline Cuzent]], who had just celebrated her sweet sixteen, and whose "distinction was so perfect that the grandest ladies of the aristocracy asked her to teach them" (to teach them horse riding, that is), and the beautiful [[The Cuzent Family|Madame Lejars]], "La Taglioni du Cirque," Paul Cuzent's stunning sister Antoinette, who had married Jean Lejars.
-The public soon realized that Mrs. Lejars and Cuzent were doing tricks that only men could achieve at Guerra's. And there was Paul Cuzent, at his peak at thirty-three, athletic and handsome with his dark looks, bellicose moustache, and his incomparable talent. If that was not enough for Guerra's regulars to swing toward the Cirque de Paris, they could also laugh there at the antics of their favorite clown, Ludovico Viool, who, sensing the change of wind, quickly deserted Guerra and joined the competition! They could also cheer the juggler on horseback [[Jean Chancelet]], the acrobatic feats of the brothers René and Jacques Dauvergne, and the young equestrian Jules Lejars—who was a mere four-year-old.[[File:Caroline_Loyo_(Vaux).jpg|thumb|left|400px|Caroline Loyo (c.1850)]]
+The public soon realized that Mrs. Lejars and Cuzent were doing tricks that only men could achieve at Guerra's. And there was Paul Cuzent, at his peak at thirty-three, athletic and handsome with his dark looks, bellicose moustache, and his incomparable talent. If that was not enough for Guerra's regulars to swing toward the Cirque de Paris, they could also laugh there at the antics of their favorite clown, Ludovico Viool, who, sensing the change of wind, quickly deserted Guerra and joined the competition! They could also cheer the juggler on horseback [[Jean Chancelet]], the acrobatic feats of the brothers René and Jacques Dauvergne, and the young equestrian Jules Lejars—who was a mere four-year-old.[[File:Caroline_Loyo_(Vaux).jpg|thumb|left|300px|Caroline Loyo (c.1850)]]
 Guerra, however, didn't stay hands tied. One of his sponsors, the powerful Count Orlov, had presented him with 200,000 rubles, no less, to fight the invader, and Guerra used that money to beef-up his company. He called for his old companion Gaetano Ciniselli, the aerial gymnast [[Charles Price]] (a future British emulator of [[Jules Léotard]], who worked, as Léotard would, with his father in tow), and, first and foremost, the ''Diva de la Cravache'' ("The Diva of the Crop"), the most illustrious [[Caroline Loyo]] (1820-1892), the greatest high-school rider of the times, who trained her horses herself and the was first to ride them sidesaddle.

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 ===From Circo Romano to Cirque Olympique===
-[[File:Guerra_Circus_Gymnasticus.png|thumb|righ|400px|Guerra at the Circus Gymnasticus]]De Bach’s company was a brilliant one, with such talents as the remarkable Italian equestrian [[Gaetano Ciniselli]] (1815-1881), a pupil of [[The Franconi Dynasty|Adolphe Franconi]] and [[François Baucher]], who will write an important page of Russian circus history; [[The Avrillon Family|Sophie Avrillon-Kennebel]]’s family, with the very young ballerina on horseback [[Virginie Kenebel]] (1819-1884), her daughter, who will become  a star and marry the famous French equestrian and director [[The Franconi Dynasty|Victor Franconi]]; the ropedancer [[The Ravel Family|Jean Ravel]] of the peripatetic French family of mimes and ropedancers, and the Italian clown and tumbler [[Ludovico Viool]]&mdash;in addition to de Bach's second wife, the beautiful Italian equestrienne [[Laura de Bach]] (née Dionisy, 1805-1851) and, of course, Alessandro Guerra himself.
+[[File:Guerra_Circus_Gymnasticus.png|thumb|righ|400px|Guerra at the Circus Gymnasticus]]De Bach’s company was a brilliant one, with such talents as the remarkable Italian equestrian [[Gaetano Ciniselli]] (1815-1881), a pupil of [[The Franconi Dynasty|Adolphe Franconi]] and [[François Baucher]], who will write an important page of Russian circus history; [[The Avrillon Family|Sophie Avrillon-Kennebel]]’s family, with the young [[Virginie Kenebel]] (1819-1884), her daughter, who will become  a equestrian star and marry the famous French master-equestrian and director [[The Franconi Dynasty|Victor Franconi]]; the ropedancer [[The Ravel Family|Jean Ravel]] of the peripatetic French family of mimes and ropedancers, and the Italian clown and tumbler [[Ludovico Viool]]&mdash;in addition to de Bach's second wife, the beautiful Italian equestrienne [[Laura de Bach]] (née Dionisy, 1805-1851) and, of course, Alessandro Guerra himself.
 Yet, Alessandro Guerra was the most prominent star of this very talented group, and after many years in de Bach's shadow, he was ready to go on his own. He left Christoph de Bach at the beginning of the 1826 tour and formed with Jean Ravel a new company; with them, they took the Avrillon-Kennebel clan, Ludovico Viool, and Gaetano Ciniselli. After their debut in Vienna, the company embarked on extended tours of the Italian and German states, following in de Bach's footsteps. It seems that Ravels and Guerra soon parted ways, and Guerra's company took the name of ''Gran Circo de Cavalli'', followed by ''Circo Romano'', before adopting the name ''Cirque Olympique'', a name with a Parisian bouquet that was then so fashionable that even Laura de Bach used it!

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 [[File:Luigi_Guillaume.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Luigi Guillaume]]He was born in 1782 in the historic town of Rimini, on the Adriatic coast, in what was then the Papal States, at the southern end of the Emilia-Romagna region. His parents were Mauro Guerra and Clementina, née Bordini. His family’s origins are not known, but beside his striking equestrian talents, Alessandro was a multi-talented artist: acrobat, juggler, musician, and actor in pantomimes&mdash;which leads us to believe that he came from a stock of traveling entertainers, although this is just an assumption; be that as it may, his brother, Rodolfo Guerra, a talented equestrian in his own right, would hold a significant part in his future company.
-Guerra had been a pupil of the celebrated Italian equestrian and circus pioneer [[Luigi Guillaume]], in whose company (the ''Gran Circo Olympico'') he performed, touring the rich Italian "circuits" of theaters, open-air arenas, and ''politeamas''&mdash;these polyvalent theaters that served as circuses as well as theaters. Then he joined [[Christoph de Bach]]'s company, at Vienna's [[Circus Gymnasticus]] in 1815, where the local press first singled out Alessandro Guerra as an exceptional trick-rider: By 1817, he was a major star of de Bach’s company. On May 17, 1818, at age thirty-six, Alessandro married nineteen years old Adelheid Elisa de Bach (Adelaïde, 1798-1832), Christoph de Bach’s daughter from his first wife, Rosalia, née Masson (1755-1820).
+Guerra had been a pupil of the celebrated Italian equestrian and circus pioneer [[Luigi Guillaume]], in whose company (the ''Gran Circo Olympico'') he performed, touring the rich Italian "circuits" of theaters, open-air arenas, and ''politeamas''&mdash;these polyvalent theaters that served as circuses as well as theaters. In 1815, he joined [[Christoph de Bach]]'s company at the [[Circus Gymnasticus]] of Vienna, where the local press first singled out Alessandro Guerra as an exceptional trick-rider: By 1817, he was a major star of de Bach’s company. On May 17, 1818, at age thirty-six, Alessandro married nineteen years old Adelheid Elisa de Bach (Adelaïde, 1798-1832), Christoph de Bach’s daughter from his first wife, Rosalia, née Masson (1755-1820).
 Besides Vienna, de Bach’s company had a great reputation in the German and Italian states, which they visited regularly. The circus season in Vienna began traditionally on Easter Monday and lasted generally six months. The company traveled extensively the rest of the year: In 1826, for instance, they appeared in Naples, Rome, Florence, Genes, Turin, Milan, Venice, Innsbruck, Munich, Augsburg, Nuremberg, Frankfurt-am-Main, Darmstadt, Stuttgart, and Prague.

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 ===Mentors: Luigi Guillaume and Christoph de Bach===
-[[File:Luigi_Guillaume.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Luigi Guillaume]]He was born in 1782 in the historic town of Rimini, on the Adriatic coast, in what was then the Papal States, at the southern end of the Emilia-Romagna region. His parents were Mauro Guerra and Clementina, née Bordini. His family’s origins are not known, but beside his striking equestrian talents, Alessandro was a multi-talented artist: acrobat, juggler, musician, and actor in pantomimes&mdash;which leads us to believe that he came from a stock of traveling entertainers, although this is just an assumption; his brother, Rodolfo Guerra, a talented equestrian in his own right, would hold a significant part in his future company.
+[[File:Luigi_Guillaume.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Luigi Guillaume]]He was born in 1782 in the historic town of Rimini, on the Adriatic coast, in what was then the Papal States, at the southern end of the Emilia-Romagna region. His parents were Mauro Guerra and Clementina, née Bordini. His family’s origins are not known, but beside his striking equestrian talents, Alessandro was a multi-talented artist: acrobat, juggler, musician, and actor in pantomimes&mdash;which leads us to believe that he came from a stock of traveling entertainers, although this is just an assumption; be that as it may, his brother, Rodolfo Guerra, a talented equestrian in his own right, would hold a significant part in his future company.
 Guerra had been a pupil of the celebrated Italian equestrian and circus pioneer [[Luigi Guillaume]], in whose company (the ''Gran Circo Olympico'') he performed, touring the rich Italian "circuits" of theaters, open-air arenas, and ''politeamas''&mdash;these polyvalent theaters that served as circuses as well as theaters. Then he joined [[Christoph de Bach]]'s company, at Vienna's [[Circus Gymnasticus]] in 1815, where the local press first singled out Alessandro Guerra as an exceptional trick-rider: By 1817, he was a major star of de Bach’s company. On May 17, 1818, at age thirty-six, Alessandro married nineteen years old Adelheid Elisa de Bach (Adelaïde, 1798-1832), Christoph de Bach’s daughter from his first wife, Rosalia, née Masson (1755-1820).

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:24, 7 August 2025
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	''By Dominique Jando''		''By Dominique Jando''
		+

	The Italian equestrian Alessandro Guerra is one of the most important figures of the 19th century equestrian circus. A remarkable horseman whose vigorous, aggressive style (as well as his fiery temper) won him the nickname of "Il Furioso," he was also a versatile performer, a gifted circus director, a pioneer who managed a very talented company and traveled with it far and wide all over Europe with enough success to catch attention and leave his mark wherever he went.		The Italian equestrian Alessandro Guerra is one of the most important figures of the 19th century equestrian circus. A remarkable horseman whose vigorous, aggressive style (as well as his fiery temper) won him the nickname of "Il Furioso," he was also a versatile performer, a gifted circus director, a pioneer who managed a very talented company and traveled with it far and wide all over Europe with enough success to catch attention and leave his mark wherever he went.

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 ===From Circo Romano to Cirque Olympique===
-[[File:Guerra_Circus_Gymnasticus.png|thumb|righ|400px|Guerra at the Circus Gymnasticus]]De Bach’s company was a brilliant one, with such talents as the remarkable Italian equestrian [[Gaetano Ciniselli]] (1815-1881), a pupil of [[The Franconi Dynasty|Adolphe Franconi]] and [[François Baucher]], who will write an important page of Russian circus history; [[The Kennebel Family|Sophie Avrillon-Kennebel]]’s family, with the very young ballerina on horseback [[Virginie Kennebel]] (1819-1884), her daughter, who will become  a star and marry the famous French equestrian and director [[The Franconi Dynasty|Victor Franconi]]; the ropedancer [[The Ravel Family|Jean Ravel]] of the peripatetic French family of mimes and ropedancers, and the Italian clown and tumbler [[Ludovico Viool]]&mdash;in addition to de Bach's second wife, the beautiful Italian equestrienne [[Laura de Bach]] (née Dionisy, 1805-1851) and, of course, Alessandro Guerra himself.
+[[File:Guerra_Circus_Gymnasticus.png|thumb|righ|400px|Guerra at the Circus Gymnasticus]]De Bach’s company was a brilliant one, with such talents as the remarkable Italian equestrian [[Gaetano Ciniselli]] (1815-1881), a pupil of [[The Franconi Dynasty|Adolphe Franconi]] and [[François Baucher]], who will write an important page of Russian circus history; [[The Kenebel Family|Sophie Avrillon-Kennebel]]’s family, with the very young ballerina on horseback [[Virginie Kenebel]] (1819-1884), her daughter, who will become  a star and marry the famous French equestrian and director [[The Franconi Dynasty|Victor Franconi]]; the ropedancer [[The Ravel Family|Jean Ravel]] of the peripatetic French family of mimes and ropedancers, and the Italian clown and tumbler [[Ludovico Viool]]&mdash;in addition to de Bach's second wife, the beautiful Italian equestrienne [[Laura de Bach]] (née Dionisy, 1805-1851) and, of course, Alessandro Guerra himself.
 Yet, Alessandro Guerra was the most prominent star of this very talented group, and after many years in de Bach's shadow, he was ready to go on his own. He left Christoph de Bach at the beginning of the 1826 tour and formed with Jean Ravel a new company; with them, they took the Avrillon-Kennebel clan, Ludovico Viool, and Gaetano Ciniselli. After their debut in Vienna, the company embarked on extended tours of the Italian and German states, following in de Bach's footsteps. It seems that Ravels and Guerra soon parted ways, and Guerra's company took the name of ''Gran Circo de Cavalli'', followed by ''Circo Romano'', before adopting the name ''Cirque Olympique'', a name with a Parisian bouquet that was then so fashionable that even Laura de Bach used it!

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 ===French Concurrence===
-[[File:Paul_Cuzent_-_Eybl.png|thumb|right|300px|Paul Cuzent (1845)]]Guerra changed his programs regularly, and his circus was now well established in the imperial capital, patronized regularly by the court and the Imperial family. Unfortunately, after nearly one year of unmitigated success, the rumor of the imminent arrival of another equestrian company spread over the gilded halls of St. Petersburg. To his consternation, Guerra discovered that it was the ''Cirque de Paris'' of [[Paul Cuzent]], [[Jean Lejars]] (and, for the time being, [[The Loisset Family|Baptiste Loisset]]). The Cirque de Paris was Europe's premier and most successful company at the time.
+[[File:Paul_Cuzent_-_Eybl.png|thumb|right|300px|Paul Cuzent (1845)]]Guerra changed his programs regularly, and his circus was now well established in the imperial capital, patronized regularly by the court and the Imperial family. Unfortunately, after nearly one year of unmitigated success, the rumor of the imminent arrival of another equestrian company spread over the gilded halls of St. Petersburg. To his consternation, Guerra discovered that it was the ''Cirque de Paris'' of [[Paul Cuzent]], [[Jean Lejars]] and, for the time being, [[The Loisset Family|Baptiste Loisset]]. The Cirque de Paris was Europe's premier and most successful company at the time.
 Thus, in the fall of 1846, the Cuzent-Lejarses built another wooden circus in St. Petersburg, near the historic Alexandrinsky Theatre, a few yards from the elegant Perspective Nevsky. It opened its doors on October 8. The press noted that it was well heated and lighted (which, as we saw, was imperative) but that its narrowness rendered it uncomfortable, especially compared to Guerra's "vast" (in contrast) Cirque Olympique. Yet the comparison was not entirely to Guerra's advantage: the Cirque de Paris, it was said, gave a feeling of luxury, with its carpeted corridors, its warm colors, its fragrance burners which perfumed the house, and the flamboyant uniforms of its ''barrière'', the attending personnel at the ring entrance.

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 The richness of the performers' costumes ("in the Parisian fashion"), the talent of the company's equestrians and, no less importantly, the beauty of its equestriennes guaranteed Guerra's enterprise an immediate success. His company, forty-strong, was particularly brilliant. It included [[Giuseppe Chiarini]], who would create his own company ten years later and embark on amazing tours around the world. Along with Joseph Verdier, Chiarini performed scenes on horseback in the manner of the famous British equestrian and director [[Andrew Ducrow]] (1793-1842).[[File:Cirque_Olympique_Russia.jpg|thumb|400px|left|The Cirque Olympique in St. Petersburg (1845]]
-Rodolfo Guerra, Alessandro's brother, played opera arias on the flute while standing on the back of his galloping horse, and the high-school rider Julius Hager rounded up this talented group of equestrians. Yet the male Russian aristocracy came principally to see Guerra's beautiful amazons, who were in large supply in his company: First, the gracious ballerinas on ''panneau'' (a large, flat wooden saddle on which the equestrienne performs as a ballerina): [[Louise Létard]], who danced the ''zabadauda'' on her trotting horse, Josefina Guerra, Rodolfo's wife, who excelled at jumping over ribbons; and Leopoldine Lezenskaya.
+Rodolfo Guerra, Alessandro's brother, played opera arias on the flute while standing on the back of his galloping horse, and the high-school rider Julius Hager rounded up this talented group of equestrians. Yet the male Russian aristocracy came principally to see Guerra's beautiful amazons, who were in large supply in his company: First, the gracious ballerinas on ''panneau'' (a large, flat wooden saddle on which the equestrienne performs as a ballerina) [[Louise Létard]], who danced the ''zabadauda'' on her trotting horse, Josefina Guerra, Rodolfo's wife, who excelled at jumping over ribbons; and Leopoldine Lezenskaya.
 Then, there was the exquisite high-school rider [[Ellen Kremzow]], a favorite of the European equestrian set, who later married the Austrian Count Mensdorff-Pouilly, and was the crown jewel of this bouquet of pretty equestriennes&mdash;which also included Maria Leb, Mathilde Baviera, Rosa Nellie, [[Marietta Orsanigo]], and Angelika Hager. In a completely different genre, the clown acrobat [[Ludovico Viool]], who was on his way to become a significant figure of the Russian circus, made a great impression.