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The Travels of Ninette à la cour II

Writer: Ricardo Barros
Ricardo Barros
4 hours ago
7 min read

Part II: Ninette in London and Paris, 1781-1782 [1]

 

by Sarah McCleave, Queen’s University Belfast


By the 1780s, London’s King’s Theatre had an established practice of importing choreographers, dancers, and repertory – from Paris and various Italian cities - in a bid to appeal to its entitled and novelty-demanding clientele. Ninette à la cour was taken to London by Gaëtan Vestris, where he was credited as its creator/composer.

Indeed, Ninette à la cour was chosen for his and Auguste Vestris’s joint début and the latter’s benefit night at the King’s Theatre on 22 February. [2] Vestris père assumed his usual role as Astolphe, while Auguste took on the part of young lover Colas. They were joined by two King’s Theatre favourites in Giovanna Baccelli (originally from Venice) as Ninette, and Adelaide Simonet as the wronged countess. The latter’s husband Louis Simonet performed as the dancing-master; the peasants were led by Simon Slingsby and Anna Tantini, the courtiers by Alessandro Zuchelli and Luigi Henry, while Carlo Antonio Delpini played the ‘Mayor of the town’ who presided over the scene where the young lovers signed their wedding contract. This London cast represented a truly international blend of artists and was typical in this respect for the King’s Theatre in the final quarter of the eighteenth century.


‘Gaëtan Vestris in Ninette, London 1781
‘Gaëtan Vestris in Ninette, London 1781


The scenario for this 1781 production was published in the Public Advertiser for 26 February, occupying a full page. [3] Such coverage evidenced an unprecedented level of attention paid to a ballet in a London newspaper. In comparison with the French text of 1782 discussed in the previous blog post, [4] more is made of the amorous exchanges between Nancy and Colas in the opening scene; Nancy’s attachment to Colas is repeatedly established across the piece; when they quarrel towards the end of the first act, his pushing of her is described as ‘inadvertent’. In contrast with Maximilien Gardel’s 1782 ballet, Colas is not made the butt of the hunters after his beloved leaves with the besotted king. Further, the young shepherd demonstrates true bravery with sword play when at the court, and the rustic lovers are genuinely reconciled before they are wed in the final scene. Clearly a part played by Vestris junior in a ballet directed by his father was framed to be as appealing as possible. The extent to which the differences in detail between the scenarios reflect distinct performance practices is of course uncertain. The Vestris scenario, however, is notable (as compared with that of Gardel for 1782) in indicating the motivations and feelings of all the principal protagonists. [5]


The Public Advertiser was fulsome in its praise of the 1781 London

performers:


Vestris, Senior, is incomparably the best Figure we remember to have seen … Nothing

can equal the Elegance and Graces he Displayed in the Minuet de la Cour but the

exalted Merit of his Partner, Madame Simonet.


Young Vestris is everything we can wish in a petulant Country Swain, jealous and loving, sad and lively, by Turns.


Mademoiselle Baccelli was truly admirable in the Display of that Rural Naivete … We

thought her to be inimitable in her affected Awkwardness in attempting the Minuet

…[as] one of the first Women of her Profession. [6]



That Ninette excited particular interest is suggested by the report in the Public Advertiser of 28 February 1781, announcing an extra night’s performance of the new pantomime ballet ‘On account of the very great number of Ladies and Gentlemen, who have been disappointed of places on every Night’s representation of the new pantomime ballet … call’d Ninette a la Cour’. [7] London’s unprecedented level of interest in theatre dance was marked by an anonymous satire entitled An heroic epistle, from Monsieur Vestris, sen[ior] in England, to Mademoiselle Heinel, in France.

‘Vestris’ wrote the following on Ninette:


The uproar ceas’d; then first I prov’d my pow’r,

First introduc’d my Ninette à la Cour;

Where sweet Baccelli, with a grace untold,

Baccelli form’d in Nature’s choicest mould!

That rustic flirt! Fond, sullen, scornful, gay,

Excell’d in all her charming naiveté;

And Simonet, by ev’ry dancer lov’d,

In the slow minuet a goddess mov’d. [8]



Adelaide Simonet as the countess, London 1781
Adelaide Simonet as the countess, London 1781


The choice of this work to launch Gaëtan and Auguste Vestris in London was evidently a success; the level of interest their visit generated in theatre dance and its practitioners was phenomenal, and is well documented by Judith Milhous. [9] Further, the casting of the Duke of Dorset’s sophisticated and elegant lover Baccelli as Ninette likely gave London audiences the same frisson as Parisians would have enjoyed when viewing the infamous socialite Marie-Madeleine Guimard in the same role. [10] To appreciate Baccelli’s sophistication the reader can view G.B. Locatelli’s nude statue of her that Dorset commissioned for display at Knole while the dancer presided over his table as his acknowledged mistress.


Paris, autumn 1782


Dorset and Baccelli travelled to Paris in autumn 1782, where he would assume the role of Britain’s ambassador to France. This diplomatic status may have facilitated Baccelli’s brief engagement at the Paris Opéra in November. [11] On her Paris début, the Italian dancer - billed in one source as the ‘1 st Dancer of the London Opera’ - performed in the opera Electre, [12] while Guimard that same evening pointedly (one assumes) reprised her title-role in Ninette. [13] Baccelli impressed the Mercure’s critic for the correctness and lightness of her dancing; she was recognised as a dancer of reputation, and for coming from a theatre which observed good standards in its dance department.


In Paris 1782’s Ninette, Lefèvre’s rendition of Colas was complimented for his demonstration of gaiety and of ‘the comic’ in his pantomime ([il] ‘a montré de la gaieté et du comique comme Pantomime’ [14]) but the most effusive praise was reserved for Auguste Vestris’s performance as an unnamed character in the final act, which was


enriched by an entrée danced by Mlle Dorival and Sieur Vestris the son: that young dancer, always astonishing with the vigour, agility, and precision of his steps (pas), effaces everything we have seen up until this day, particularly the abandons and sort of enthusiasm which he communicates to the spectator, and excites, on each occasion when he appears, the most vivid transports. [15]


Auguste Vestris as Colas, London 1781
Auguste Vestris as Colas, London 1781


This was surely Maximilien Gardel’s version of the ballet, as he was still ballet-master. As Auguste in this production was in a sense demoted (as compared with London 1781) to an anonymous role, there’s no indication that Gaëtan or his version of the ballet was in play. The review in the Mercure confirmed that Auguste and Anne Marguerite Dorival contributed an additional dance in the concluding fête; Eléonore Dupré and Pierre Gardel performed a new dance to much applause, while Mlle Gervais and Louis Nivelon demonstrated their ‘superior talents’ in a dance known as the Périgourdine. The format of the final act clearly facilitated the presentation of a pleasing sequence of performances featuring the Paris Opéra’s leading talents and would have been readily adaptable to insertions of new material

by promising younger talents such as Auguste. This act was ‘about the dance’ itself and would have appealed to an audience educated to appreciate the finer points of technique and performance on display.




Part II, Illustrations

Illustration 1) James Roberts (del), and J. Thornthwaite (sculp), ‘Signor Vestris Senr. in the character of

the Prince in the grand pantomime [sic] ballet (call'd) Ninette à la cour’ (London: Bell’s

British Theatre, 1781), The New York Public Library Digital Collections,


Illustration 2) James Roberts (del), and J. Thornthwaite (sculp), ‘Mad.e Simonet in the character of the

princess in the grand ballad (called) Ninnette à la cour’ (London: Bell’s British Theatre,

1781), The New York Public Library Digital Collections,


Illustration 3) G. Scorodoomoff (del), and C. Ruotte (sculp), ‘Mr. Vestris, Junr. dans le role de Colas dans le ballet de Ninette a la cour: in the character of Colas, in the ballet of Ninette a la cour’ (London: C. Ruotte, 1781), The New York Public Library Digital Collections,



References, Part II

[1] This second in a set of three blog posts was originally a paper presented at EADH’s annual conference 2025 (Queen’s University Belfast) ‘Histories of European Dance behind the borders: Mobility, Influence, and Impact.’

[2] Maximilien Gardel apparently never came to London, although Pierre danced under Noverre at the King’s Theatre during the 1781-2 season, and again in spring 1788.

[4] Sarah McCleave, ‘The Travels of Ninette à la Cour Part I: From Italy to Paris, from Comic Opera to Ballet’, https://www.eadh.com/eadh-blog.

[5] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

[8] An heroic Epistle, from Monsieur Vestris, sen: in England, to Mademoiselle Heinel, in France: with notes, [London]: R. Faulder, [1781], p. 21, in Eighteenth Century Collections Online, https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=ECCO&u=qubelfast&id=GALE%7CCW0110439120&v=2.1&it=r&sid=bookmark-ECCO&sPage=20&asid=baea8bb6 (accessed 20 July 2025).

[9] Judith Milhous, ‘Vestris-Mania and the Construction of Celebrity: Auguste Vestris in London, 1780- 1781’, Harvard Library Bulletin, 5 (1994-5): 30-64.

[10] For further on Guimard and her cultivation of celebrity, see Sarah McCleave, ‘The Celebrity Dancer Marie Madeleine Guimard’, Dance Biographies: Female theatrical Dancers circa 1680-1860, QUB Blogs Site, https://blogs.qub.ac.uk/dancebiographies/2023/01/29/the-celebrity-dancer-marie-madeleine-guimard/ (accessed 18 May 2026).

[11] See Ivor Guest, The Ballet of the Enlightenment: The Establishment of the Ballet d’Action in France, 1770-1793, London: Dance Books, 1996, pp. 205-6.

[12] ‘1ere Danseuse de l’Opéra de Londres’, see Journal de Paris, 15 November 1782, https://www.retronews.fr/journal/journal-de-paris/16-novembre-1782/3/97743603-5107-4a3d-a48f-a792da963ecb (accessed 21 May 2026).

[13] ‘Spectacles: Académie royale de musique’, Mercure de France, 22 Nov. 1782, pp.180-1, https://www.retronews.fr/journal/mercure-de-france/22-novembre-1782/36/d4d65513-083d-482f-9c0d-efbe5df2dca3 (accessed 21 May 2026).

[14] Ibid., p. 181.

[15] ‘… a encore été enrichi d’une entrée dansée par Mlle Dorival & le Sieur Vestris fils: ce jeune Danseur, toujours étonnant par la vigueur, l’agilité & la précision de ses pas, efface tout ce qu’on a vu jusqu’à ce jour, sur tout par un abandon & une sorte d’enthousiasme qui se communique aux Spectateurs, & excite, à chaque fois qu’il paroît, les plus vifs transports.’ Ibid, p. 181.

 
 
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