Carl Godlewski

Carl Borromäus Godlewski (20 November 1862 in Dortmund; †6 December in Mödling) was a circus clown, acrobat, ballet master, dance teacher and choreographer.

Godlewski was the son of a builder. Unbeknownst to his father he learned in high school the arts of horse-riding, trapeze arts and acrobatics. After the death of his father Godlewski decided to adopt a circus commitment in order to receive a monthly salary of 50 rubles. After years of traveling with a traveling circus, he was supported by Ernst Renz (1815-1892) to commit to Berlin, where he trained as a clown and teeterboard springer. He worked with elephants and companies of soldiers with fixed bayonets, he later became well known and won world prizes.

Godlewski has already established himself as a celebrity when Wilhelm Jahn (1835-1900) brought him in 1893 from Berlin to the Vienna Court Opera. In his first year of his commitment he was one of the busiest members of the Corps. Because of his reputation, he was appointed at the turn of the century as a dancing master to the court. He was dancing with Grete Wiesenthal, he was the first mime and solo dancer of the Vienna Hofopernballetts from 1918–19, just before the archducal lost its influence over the stage.

In the spring of 1918, Godlewski looked back to 1770 performances on his 25 years anniversary.

Godlewski choreographed numerous ballets at the Vienna Opera, among others, including the world premiere of Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s first work, the pantomime The Snowman (1910). He also designed large revues for the general public, such as the trip Around the world in 80 days (1905) in Vienna’s Olympic Arena, which was over 4000 moorings and one of the largest theatres in Europe.

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