Ballet in Stuttgart has a rich history whose origins go back to the 17th-century court of Württemberg. It had its first golden age in the 18th century, when the great dance reformer Jean-Georges Noverre exerted his influence as ballet master from 1759 to 1766. Figures such as ballet master Filippo Taglioni (1777–1871) and artist Oskar Schlemmer (1888–1943) also contributed to turning Stuttgart into an acclaimed centre for dance in Europe from the 18th to the early 20th century. Post 1945, numerous performances by foreign ballet companies from New York, Paris, London and Russia contributed to rekindle public interest in classical dance in Stuttgart. In 1957, Nicolas Beriozoff, a former dancer with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, was appointed to lead the ballet ensemble of the Württemberg State Theatre in Stuttgart. Beriozoff enlarged the company and redefined its repertoire with new stagings of narrative classics such as The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake and The Nutcracker.