Joya, Gaetano

Born into the family of Antonio Joya and Anna Carbani (Fiori). Until the age of 12 he was brought up in a Jesuit college - his father, although he himself was a dancer, wanted his son to become a priest. The future of the child was changed by Auguste Westris , who was a friend of the Joya family.

He made his debut in Rome (probably in the women's party ^[1] ). Then he danced in Turin and Vicenza, where he staged his first ballet Sophonisba (1789). The ballet was a success, and Gaetano began dancing and staging ballets all over Europe at the same time: in the early 1790s - in Venice, in 1793 - in Lisbon, then in Milan (where he performed in Anjolini's ballets and staged in his style), Livorno, Florence and Genoa.

At the beginning of the XIX century he began working in Vienna, where he staged ballets in the style of classicism . He became seriously ill, he stopped dancing and returned to his native Naples, where he began to work as a choreographer at the San Carlo Theater. From that time, his rivalry with Vigano began - the choreographers called Aeschylus and Sophocles of the Italian pantomime drama.

He worked at the La Scala theater until 1812 (?), When he was replaced by Salvatore Vigano as choreographer.

Many prerequisites were laid in Joya's ballets, then picked up and developed in the work of S. Vigano. The choreographers were addicted to tragic pantomimes. When creating ballets, he delved into the study of history and mythology, striving for an independent interpretation of historical events and poetic legends ^[1] .

Although music played an illustrative role in the era of pre-romanticism, accompanying pantomime rather than generating dance, Joya in his performances was based on musical imagery and maintained the sequence of its structural forms. He rarely collaborated with composers, preferring finished material and often composing the scores of his ballets from plays by various authors. Having a musical education, the choreographer himself composed “some voices” of his own ballets. Having conceived the plan of the act or a separate scene, he checked the music he wrote or picked up on the violin ^[1] .

The choreographer was interested in a dance in which the feelings of the heroes were revealed, so the most important component of his performances were effective plastic monologues and dialogues of soloists. In his ballets, academic technique and pure dance gave way to the passions of the Italian choreodrama. The dance itself, demonstrating the technique and skill of the artists, was considered by the choreographer as a formal form of art, intended "only for the delight of the eye." At the same time, in his comedy ballets, he, like Vigano, did not shy away from the traditions of acrobatic areal shows.

Joya made a revolution in the interpretation of the functions of the corps de ballet, refusing to accept synchronism when the dancers simultaneously repeated any movements or gestures. In exchange, he composed acting ensembles, naturally moving according to the laws of pantomime. In corps de ballet artists, he needed acting qualities: each performer of voluminous moving canvases received an independent plastic text, which had to be combined with the actions of other artists.

His pantomime dramas were distinguished by the grandiose pathos of mass scenes. Thus, the grandiose scale of the spectacle, the monolithic nature of large layers and at the same time the elaborate elaboration of episodes, the coordination of the actions of the main characters and the corps de ballet ensured the success of the ballet Andromeda and Perseus (1803). At the same time, although the structure of mass scenes always obeyed the formula of a dramatic performance, it happened that an excess of detail led to cumbersomeness and lengths.

Skillful machinery played an important role in his ballets: earthquakes, storms, hurricanes and other natural disasters alternated with collapses, fires and other disasters. So, in the ballet “Morlacky” the bridge collapsed spectacularly, along which the main characters fled ^[1] .

In the productions of the choreographer, such dancers as Nikola Molinari shone.

For 37 years of work as a choreographer, Joya composed 221 ballet, trying himself in a variety of genres: from the demi-character and comic to serious and tragic, from small one-act works to canvases in 7 acts. The most fruitful was his work at the San Carlo Theater - for six years he showed 30 ballets there. Such fertility at times led to self-repetition and negligence, as noted by critics.

Vicenza

• 1789 - Sofonisba

Vein

• Alcesta , The Court of Paris , Zelima

San Carlo Theater, Naples

• 1803 - Andromeda and Perseus
• 1804 - “The Return of Ulysses to Ithaca”

La Scala Theater, Milan

• 1807 - Caesar in Egypt
• 1823 - “Kenilworth Castle”, a large historical ballet in five acts, “Siberian Exiles” (based on the novel by Sophie Kotten )
• “ The Bark, or Virgin of the Sun ” (based on Marmontel ’s poem “The Incas”)

Brother Gaetano Ferdinando was also a ballet dancer and choreographer: he restored the productions of Gaetano in various ballet troupes and taught at the Pantomime School in Milan.