Louis Gallodier was a French ballet dancer and choreographer who spent the majority of his career in Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, were he was to have a great importance for the development of the ballet in Sweden as the ballet master

Ballet Master

Ballet Master is the term used for an employee of a ballet company who is responsible for the level of competence of the dancers in their company...

 of the Royal Swedish Ballet

Royal Swedish Ballet

The Royal Swedish Ballet is one of the oldest ballet companies in Europe. Based in Stockholm, Sweden, King Gustav III founded the ballet in 1773 as a part of his national cultural project in response to the French and Italian dominance in this field; he also founded the Royal Swedish Opera and the...

.

Biography and career

Louis Gallodier was born in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 circa 1734. He was employed at the opera Opéra-Comique

Opéra-Comique

The Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...

 in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 from 1756. As a dancer, he was a student of Jean-Georges Noverre

Jean-Georges Noverre

Jean-Georges Noverre was a French dancer and balletmaster, and is generally considered the creator of ballet d'action, a precursor of the narrative ballets of the 19th century...

. In 1758, he was hired as a member of the French Du Londel Troupe

Du Londel Troupe

The Du Londel Troupe was a French 18th-century theatre troupe. From 1753 to 1771, it was active as the French Theatre of Sweden, where it played a great part in that country's theatre history....

, which performed in the theatre of Bollhuset

Bollhuset

Bollhuset, also called ', ', and ' at various times, was the name of the first theater in Stockholm, Sweden; it was the first Swedish theater and the first real theater building in the whole of Scandinavia. The name "" means "The Ball House", and it was built in 1627 for ball sports and used in...

 in Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

 and in the court theatres Drottningholm Palace Theatre

Drottningholm Palace Theatre

The Drottningholm Palace Theatre is an opera house located at Drottningholm Palace in Stockholm, Sweden, which has been described by Per-Erik Öhrn, the theatre’s former artistic director, as "the Swedish jewel in our European cultural heritage crown of centuries-old theatres".Currently the...

 and Confidencen

Confidencen

Confidencen, or Ulriksdals slottsteater ; is a Swedish opera stage.Confidencen is Sweden's oldest rococo theatre situated in the National City Park, on the ground of the Ulriksdal Palace outside Stockholm. The building's original structure was built in 1671...

.

When the French troup was fired in 1771 by Gustav III of Sweden

Gustav III of Sweden

Gustav III was King of Sweden from 1771 until his death. He was the eldest son of King Adolph Frederick and Queen Louise Ulrica of Sweden, she a sister of Frederick the Great of Prussia....

, who wanted to found a national stage with native actors, the dancers of the French theatre were excluded from being fired. When the Swedish Royal Ballet was founded in 1773, several of them, such as the ballerina Ninon Dubois le Clerc, was to be a part of its first troup, and Gallodier was made its first ballet master. Elisabeth Soligny

Elisabeth Soligny

Jeanne-Elisabeth Le Clerc Soligny known also under her stage name Elisabeth Le Clerc, was a French ballet mistress and ballerina. She was a premier dancer at the French Ballet of the Du Londel Troupe in Sweden and of the Royal Swedish Ballet.Le Clerc was employed at the Ballet of the French...

, his colleague from the French troupe, was often paired with him in the Ballets. Gallodier also composed several dances to ballets and operas.

Louis Gallodier was in 1762-84 married to the Italian opera singer Gasparine Becheroni, active at the Italian opera company in Stockholm; in 1792 to the Swedish ballerina Judith Christina Brelin (1770-1794), and from 1796 with Marie Louise Du Londel (1776-1847), daughter of Louis Du Londel and Marguerite Morel

Marguerite Morel

Marguerite Morel as married Marguerite Du Londel, was a French ballerina, and actress and opera singer. She was active in Sweden 1755-1771 and at that time counted as the perhaps notable star in the ballet in Sweden...

 of the Du Londel Troupe

Du Londel Troupe

The Du Londel Troupe was a French 18th-century theatre troupe. From 1753 to 1771, it was active as the French Theatre of Sweden, where it played a great part in that country's theatre history....

Works

• Sylvie, opéra de Pierre Montan Berton (1774)
• Neptun och Amphitrite, opéra-ballet (1775)
• Æglé, opéra-ballet (1775)
• Adonis, opéra-ballet de Thomas Christian Walter (1776)
• Procris och Cephal, opéra de Lars Lalin (1778)
• Zemire och Azor, comédie-ballet d'André Grétry (1778)
• Arsène, féerie-comédie de Monsigny (1779)
• Atys, opéra-ballet de Piccinni (1784)