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| Coppélia | |
|---|---|
 Giuseppina Bozzacchi as Swanhilda in the Saint-Léon/DelibesCoppélia. Paris, 1870 | |
| Choreographer | Arthur Saint-Léon |
| Music | Léo Delibes |
| Based on | Der Sandmann byE. T. A. Hoffmann |
| Premiere | 25 May1870 Théâtre Impérial l'Opéra, Paris |
| Characters | Doctor Coppélius Swanhilda Franz |
| Genre | Romantic |
| Type | Comic ballet |
Coppélia (sometimes subtitled:La Fille aux Yeux d'Émail (The Girl with the Enamel Eyes)[1]) is acomic ballet from 1870 originally choreographed byArthur Saint-Léon to the music ofLéo Delibes, with libretto byCharles-Louis-Étienne Nuitter. Nuitter's libretto andmise-en-scène was based uponE. T. A. Hoffmann'sshort storyDer Sandmann (The Sandman). In Greek,κοπέλα (orκοπελιά in some dialects) meansyoung woman.Coppélia premiered on 25 May1870 at theThéâtre Impérial de l'Opéra, with the 16-year-oldGiuseppina Bozzacchi in the principal role of Swanhilda and ballerinaEugénie Fiocre playing the part of Frantzen travesti. The costumes were designed by Paul Lormier and Alfred Albert, the scenery byCharles-Antoine Cambon (Act I, scene 1; Act II, scene 1), andÉdouard Desplechin andJean-Baptiste Lavastre (Act I, scene 2).
The ballet's first flush of success was interrupted by theFranco-Prussian War and thesiege of Paris (which also led to the early death of Giuseppina Bozzacchi, on her 17th birthday), but eventually it became the most-performed ballet at theOpéra.
Modern-day productions are traditionally derived from the revivals staged byMarius Petipa for theImperial Ballet ofSt. Petersburg in the late 19th century. Petipa's choreography was documented in theStepanov method of choreographic notation at the turn of the 20th century. These notations were later used to stage the St. Petersburg version for such companies as theVic-Wells Ballet (precursor of today's Royal Ballet).
Dr. Coppélius is a doctor who has made a life-size dancing doll. It is so lifelike that Franz, a village youth, becomes infatuated with it and sets aside his heart's true desire, Swanhilda. She shows him his folly by dressing as the doll, pretending to make it come to life and ultimately saving him from an untimely end at the hands of the inventor.
The story begins during a town festival to celebrate the arrival of a new bell. The town crier announces that, when it arrives, anyone who becomes married will be awarded a special gift of money. Swanhilda and Franz plan to marry during the festival. However, Swanhilda becomes unhappy with Franz because he seems to be paying more attention to a girl named Coppélia, who sits motionless on the balcony of a nearby house. The house belongs to a mysterious and faintly diabolical inventor, Doctor Coppélius. Although Coppélia spends all of her time sitting motionless and reading, Franz is mesmerized by her beauty and is determined to attract her attention. Still upset with Franz, Swanhilda shakes an ear of wheat to her head: if it rattles, then she will know that Franz loves her. Upon doing this, however, she hears nothing. When she shakes it by Franz's head, he also hears nothing; but then he tells her that it rattles. However, she does not believe him and runs away heartbroken.
Later on, Dr. Coppelius leaves his house and is heckled by a group of boys. After shooing them away, he continues on without realizing that he dropped his keys in the melée. Swanhilda finds the keys, which gives her the idea of learning more about Coppélia. She and her friends decide to enter Dr. Coppelius' house. Meanwhile, Franz develops his own plan to meet Coppélia, climbing a ladder to her balcony.
Swanhilda and her friends find themselves in a large room filled with people. However, the occupants aren't moving. The girls discover that, rather than people, these are life-size mechanical dolls. They quickly wind them up and watch them move. Swanhilda also finds Coppélia behind a curtain and discovers that she, too, is a doll.
Dr. Coppelius returns home to find the girls. He becomes angry with them, not only for trespassing but for also disturbing his workroom. He kicks them out and begins cleaning up the mess. However, upon noticing Franz at the window, Coppélius invites him in. The inventor wants to bring Coppélia to life but, to do that, he needs a human sacrifice. With a magic spell, he will take Franz's spirit and transfer it to Coppélia. After Dr. Coppelius proffers him some wine laced with sleeping powder, Franz begins to fall asleep. The inventor then readies his magic spell.
However, Dr. Coppelius did not expel all the girls: Swanhilda is still there, hidden behind a curtain. She dresses up in Coppélia's clothes and pretends that the doll has come to life. She wakes Franz and then winds up all the mechanical dolls to aid their escape. Dr. Coppelius becomes confused and then saddened when he finds a lifeless Coppélia behind the curtain.
Swanhilda and Franz are about to make their wedding vows when the angry Dr. Coppelius appears, claiming damages. Dismayed at having caused such an upset, Swanhilda offers Dr. Coppelius her dowry in return for his forgiveness. However, Franz tells Swanhilda to keep her dowry and offers to pay Dr. Coppelius instead. At that point, the mayor intervenes and gives Dr. Coppelius a bag of money, which placates him. Swanhilda and Franz are married and the entire town celebrates by dancing.[2][3]
(Note: In some Russian versions of the ballet, after getting caught, Swanhilda confesses to Dr. Coppelius about what she and her friends did and her situation with Franz. Coppelius decides to forgive Swanhilda and teach her how to act like a doll coming to life to fool Franz, thus ending Act 2 on a happier note.)
Doctor Coppelius is not unlike Hoffmann's sinister Herr Drosselmeyer inThe Nutcracker or the macabreSvengali-like travelling magician of the same name inOffenbach'sThe Tales of Hoffmann.
The part of Franz was danceden travesti byEugénie Fiocre, a convention that pleased the male members of theJockey-Club de Paris and was retained in Paris until afterWorld War II.[4]
The festive wedding-daydivertissements in the village square that occupy Act III are often deleted in modern danced versions.
Some influence on this story comes from travelling shows of the late 18th and early 19th centuries starring mechanicalautomata.[5]
A variation of theCoppélia story is contained inJacques Offenbach's opera,The Tales of Hoffmann, a fictional work about the same Hoffmann who wrote the story that inspiredCoppélia. The opera consists of aprologue, three fantastic tales in which Hoffmann is a participant, and anepilogue. In the first story, based onDer Sandmann, Hoffmann falls in love with a mechanical doll, Olympia, but in this case, the story has a melancholy tinge as the doll was destroyed by Dr. Coppelius, who share the same name as Coppelius who wants Coppélia to come to life, after he didn't get a check from Spalanzani for Olympia's eyes.
In 1939,San Francisco Ballet produced a version ofCoppélia choreographed byWillam Christensen which was the first American complete version of the ballet. It starred Willam Christensen as Franz, Earl Riggins as Dr. Coppelius, and Janet Reed as Swanhilda and was an instant hit.
In 1974,George Balanchine choreographed a version ofCoppélia for theNew York City Ballet. He was assisted byAlexandra Danilova, who had performed the title role many times during her dancing career.[6] She staged the Petipa choreography for Act II. Balanchine created new choreography for Act III and for themazurka,czardas and Franz's variation in Act I.Patricia McBride danced the role of Swanhilda the friendliest girl;Helgi Tomasson danced the role of Franz; Shaun O'Brian portrayed Dr. Coppélius. In Act III, Balanchine added 24 young girls to dance and be in the scene during Waltz of the Hours, Dawn (L'aurore), Prayer, and Work (Le travail) variations.
From 2011 the Little Princess Ballet Academy (LPBA) has performedCoppélia on the virtual platformSecond Life. The adaptation follows the original in three acts, but the mime parts are problematic to perform in Second Life and has been changed, together with some changes in the sequences. All parts are played by individual avatars.[7][8]
In 2015, theLouisville Ballet produced a version ofCoppélia, choreographed by Robert Curran, that is set in Louisville'sGermantown neighborhood in 1917, just months after the United States has enteredWorld War I. In this version, Franz and a handful of other enlistees stationed atCamp Taylor all plan to marry their fiancées the next day, right before they depart for Europe.[9]
In 2019Jean-Christophe Maillot created a modernized version ofCoppélia for theLes Ballets de Monte-Carlo, calling itCoppél-i-A.[10] In it, Coppelia is an android with artificial intelligence. The original music was rewritten by Maillot's brother Bertrand Maillot to suit the dystopian theme.[11]
A family feature film,Coppelia, was released in 2021, directed and written by Jeff Tudor, Steven De Beul and Ben Tesseur. The film has no dialogue and mixes live action dance with animation. It was inspired by choreographer Ted Brandsen's 2008 production created forDutch National Ballet. In Brandsen's production, and in the film, Doctor Coppelius is updated from toymaker to cosmetic surgeon and Coppelia is a robot. The movie deals with issues such as the pressures of social media, the lure of superficial beauty and the importance of being yourself. The film stars ballerina, author and activistMichaela DePrince,Daniel Camargo, Vito Mazzeo,Darcey Bussell,Irek Mukahmedov, Sasha Mukahmedov, Jan Kooijman,Igone de Jongh and artists of Dutch National Ballet. ComposerMaurizio Malagnini wrote the original score. The movie premiered atAnnecy Festival 2021 and won the Golden Punt for Best Fiction Feature at the 40thCambridge Film Festival.
Below is the résumé of scenes and dances taken from the theatre program of the St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet. It is the Imperial Ballet's production as staged by Marius Petipa that serves as the basis for all modern-day productions.
Act I
Act II
Act III
La Fête de la cloche
Grand Pas de deux -
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