Luigi Astolfi

Luigi Astolfi (; 1790s–1860s) was an Italian dancer, choreographer and composer. Life Luigi Astolfi was born in Lombardy in the 1790s. In 1817 he had his first success as a dancer performing Osvaldo e Olfrida by Giuseppe Sorrentino at the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice. In the following years he also started to practise as a choreographer, especially in Lisbon and, to a lesser extent, also in Porto, in Vienna, and in Russia, but with less success; performances of Belisario and Gli esiliati in Siberia (1831) by Gaetano Donizetti, and La muette de Portici by Daniel Auber (1838) were warmly received by critics and audience. Later he was also composed the music that he performed as a dancer; his first success was Le sette reclute, performed for the first time in 1832 at the Teatro alla Canobbiana in Milan. Again at the Canobbiana in 1837 I minatori di Salerno was performed for the first time: this was his most performed ballet, not only by Astolfi himself but also by other performers; this was the only work by Astolfi to be performed after his death. He was premier danseur of both Italian and Portuguese dancers at the Royal Theatre of Saint John in Lisbon until the season 1839–40, whic