Lanner, Katti |
| BALLET MASTER, CHOREOGRAPHER, DANCER (AUSTRIA) |
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BORN 14 Sep 1829, Wien - DIED 15 Nov 1908, London: 40 NorthSide, Clapham Common BIRTH NAME Lanner, Katharina Josefa GRAVE LOCATION London: West Norwood Cemetery, Norwood High Street, Norwood (square 40, grave 21835 (stone cross, de Francesco grave)) |
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Katti Lanner was the oldest daughter of the famous composer Joseph Lanner. She was trained by the ballet masters Pietro Campelli and Isidore Carey and started her career at the Court Opera in Vienna. After her mother and her brother August died she started travelling from 1855 onwards. She performed in Berlin, Dresden, Munich and from 1862 to 1866 in Hamburg. There she married the dancer Johan Alfred Geraldini in 1868. They had three daughters, but the marriage was no success and after the divorce he returned to Vienna where he had a ticket shop until his death in 1904. In 1869 Katti became ballet director of the Grand-Théâtre in Bordeaux, but soon she moved on and from 1873 to 1875 she toured in the USA. In 1875 Colonel Mapleson engaged her at Drury Lane in London. In London she lived with the dancer Giuseppe Venuto de Francesco from Naples. In 1878 she appeared as a ballerina for the last time and from then on she only worked as a choreographer. Her daughters by Geraldini were Katharina, Albertina and Sofia. Katharina was a dancer until her marriage and Sofia toured in the USA as a harpist. Her daughter Albertina wanted to be an actress and when she gave birth in 1881 to her daughter Clara, the child was brought up by Katti and Giuseppe. After 1887 Cora de Mere came from Bordeaux to join the household and she appeared in Ballets at the Empire Theatre from 1891 to 1904. At that theatre Katii was very successful with her choreography for many ballets that were staged there. She had her own dancing academy on North Side, Clapham Common. Among her pupils was Isadora Duncan. Katti spent the rest of her life in London. Giuseppe died in 1892 and was buried with his mother at West Norwood Cemetery. Katti died in 1908 and her old dog had died a few hours before her. She was buried next to Giuseppe. Many of her pupils and collegues attended her funeral. After her death Cora de Mere continued the academy for another twenty years, then using the name of Cora Lanner as Katti had requested in her will. Family • Father: Lanner, Joseph Related persons • was teacher of Duncan, Isadora |
| Images |
 The grave of Katti Lanner at West Norwood Cemetery, London. Picture by Androom (28 May 2014) |
