Václav Reisinger

Václav Reisinger, known also as Julius, Welzel, and Věnceslav Reisinger, was a Czech dancer, ballet master, choreographer and librettist born in Prague on 14 February 1828. He trained in the Italian school under Paolo Rainoldi, a lineage that would shape his approach to classical ballet during a transformative period in European dance. Reisinger's most significant achievement came on 4 March 1877, when he mounted the first staged production of Tchaikovsky's *Swan Lake* at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow—a landmark realization of the composer's score that preceded the better-known later versions. Beyond his work in Russia, Reisinger held a central role in the establishment of Czech institutional ballet. From 1882 to 1884, he served as the first ballet master of the Czech National Ballet, the newly founded company in his homeland. During his tenure, he created *Hashish* in 1884, contributing to the company's early artistic identity. Reisinger died in Berlin on 12 January 1893, leaving behind a career that bridged the Italian-school tradition and the emerging classical ballet of the late nineteenth century.