Mlle Simon and Mlle Troisvallets

Mlle. Élisa Troisvallets was a dancer with the Paris Opéra. In 1860, she danced the role of the Harvest Fairy in Le Papillon, the ballet created by Marie Taglioni for Emma Livry. In March 1861, she was one of the Three Graces in the divertissement inserted into Act I of Wagner’s Tannhäuser (the other two were Mlles. Rousseau and Stoïkoff); the new opera received a notoriously hostile reception and closed after only three performances.

The day after the third and final performance of Tannhäuser, Amalia Ferraris created the title role in Graziosa, a one-act ballet by Lucien Petipa, with music by Labarre and scenario by J. Derley. This latter name cloaked the identity of comte Roger de Sainte-Marie, a young and elegant member of the Jockey Club. The action of the ballet was set in the public square of a small town near Naples in the days of Spanish rule.

Photographed by Disdéri of Paris.