Rosario Guerrero
Rosario Fernández Guerrero (born about 1880 – died 1960s) was a Spanish dancer and pantomimist with an international career. Although she was not a singer, she is most often associated with the role of Carmen.
Rosario Guerrero | |
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Friedrich August von Kaulbach, "Rosario Guerrero as Carmen" (circa 1908) | |
Born | Rosario Fernández Guerrero about 1880 Spain |
Died | 1960s Madrid |
Nationality | Spanish |
Other names | La Bella Guerrero, Rose Guerrero |
Occupation | dancer |
Early life
Guerrero was born in Spain; some sources give Madrid as the city, while she recalled a childhood in Seville.[1][2]
Career
Guerrero danced in Paris and London as a young woman.[3][4] She danced a ballet version of Carmen in 1903 in London, at the Alhambra Theatre. "I reveled in it," she told an interviewer, "I felt that I was Carmen, and do you know, I verily believe that my Don José was now and again really afraid of me."[1] She danced in New York in 1903 and 1904, appearing in The Rose and the Dagger and The Red Feather.[5] In 1905, she was in London again,[6] in a pantomime called The Nightmare with music by A. Porinelly, at the Palace Theatre.[7][8]
In 1906 there were reports that she was hospitalized in Vienna in 1906, found "violently insane" from "excessive dancing".[9] She performed pantomime shows[10] in London in 1908,[11] in New York and Chicago in 1909,[12][13] and in other American cities including San Francisco and Indianapolis in 1910.[14][15] She owned a "small estate" in France.[16]
Guerrero was described as a "famous beauty" in 1908.[17] She posed for a series of portraits by German artist Friedrich August von Kaulbach, who considered them among his best work.[18] Arthur Kampf's celebrated 1906 canvas, Spanische Tänzerin is similarly believed to be a portrait of Guerrero.
Her sister Enriqueta, billed as "the Little Guerrero" and "Guerrerrito", also worked as a dancer in London in the 1900s.[19][20]
References
- Lee, Edgar (April 22, 1905). "A Chat with La Guerrero". Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News. 63: 272.
- "Dancer Tells Story of 9 Years' Triumph". The Inter Ocean. May 30, 1909. p. 15. Retrieved April 24, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- Christoforidis, Michael; Kertesz, Elizabeth (2018-11-08). Carmen and the Staging of Spain: Recasting Bizet's Opera in the Belle Epoque. Oxford University Press. p. 191. ISBN 9780190694838.
- "To the Tinkle of the Tambourine". The South Bend Tribune. October 2, 1903. p. 11. Retrieved April 24, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Untitled brief item". The New York Times. November 28, 1903. p. 6. Retrieved April 24, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- "The Art of Pantomime". The Sketch. 50: 126. May 10, 1905 – via ProQuest.
- "Guerrero at the Palace Theatre". Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News. 83: 174. April 1, 1905.
- "Musical and Dramatic Notes". The Railway Official Gazette: 62. April 1905.
- "Rosario Guerrero Made Insane by Own Music". Statesman Journal. December 9, 1906. p. 10. Retrieved April 24, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- "This Beauty Does Not Talk at All". The San Francisco Call. September 19, 1909. p. 28. Retrieved April 24, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- "The Pavilion". Truth. 63: 1461. June 10, 1908.
- "When Rose Guerrero Comes". New York Star: 18. March 6, 1909.
- "Theatres". The Reform Advocate. 38: 827. December 25, 1909.
- "Spanish Beauty is Orpheum Star". The San Francisco Examiner. September 16, 1909. p. 4. Retrieved April 24, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Indianapolis". New York Dramatic Mirror. 63. January 15, 1910. p. 22. Retrieved April 24, 2019.
- "Noted Dancer Wires $200 to Poor Man". Detroit Free Press. May 2, 1909. p. 53. Retrieved April 24, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Dancer, Pantomimist -- and Famous Beauty". The Sketch. 62: 128. May 6, 1908.
- Margaux, Adrian (1906). "My Best Picture; by the Most Eminent German Painters". The Strand Magazine. 31: 45–46.
- "The Little Guerrero". The Sketch. 52: 5. November 22, 1905 – via ProQuest.
- "The Spanish Dancer Guerrerito at the Palace". The Tatler. 18: 269. November 22, 1905 – via ProQuest.
External links
- Portraits of Rosario Guerrero at the National Portrait Gallery, London
- Another portrait of Rosario Guerrero by Kaulbach, at the Frye Art Museum.
- Rosario Guerrero, Spanish Dancer, a website of clippings, images, and a timeline, maintained by Sarah Stovin.