| Coppélia | |
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Giuseppina Bozzacchi as Swanhilde in the Saint-Léon/Delibes Coppélia. Paris, 1870 |
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| Choreographed by | Arthur Saint-Léon |
| Composed by | Léo Delibes |
| Based on | Der Sandmann by E. T. A. Hoffmann |
| Date of premiere | 25 May 1870 |
| Place of premiere | Théâtre Impérial de l´Opéra, Paris |
| Characters | Doctor Coppélius Swanhilda Frantz |
| Genre | Romantic |
| Type | comic ballet |
Coppélia is a sentimental comic ballet with original choreography by Arthur Saint-Léon to a ballet libretto by Saint-Léon and Charles Nuitter and music by Léo Delibes. It was based upon two macabre stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, Der Sandmann (The Sandman), and Die Puppe (The Doll). The ballet premiered on 25 May 1870 at the Théâtre Impérial de l´Opéra, with the 16-year-old Giuseppina Bozzacchi in the principal role of Swanhilde. Its first flush of success was interrupted by the Franco-Prussian War and the siege 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 the Opera Garnier.
The team of Saint-Léon and Nuittier had a previous success with the ballet La Source (1860), for which Délibes had composed the music jointly with Ludwig Minkus.
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The story of Coppélia concerns a mysterious and faintly diabolical inventor, Doctor Coppélius[1] who has made a life-size dancing doll. It is so lifelike that Frantz, a village swain, is infatuated with it, and sets aside his true heart's desire, Swanhilde, who in Act II shows him his folly by dressing as the doll and pretending to come to life. The festive wedding-day divertissements in the village square that occupy Act III are often deleted in modern danced versions, though one of the entrées was the first czardas presented on a ballet stage.
The part of Frantz was danced en travesti by Eugénie Fiocre,[2] a convention that pleased the male members of the Jockey-Club de Paris and was retained in Paris until after World War II.
Some influence on this story comes from travelling shows of the late 18th and early 19th centuries starring mechanical automatons. This field of entertainment has been under-documented, but a recent survey of the field is contained in The Mechanical Turk by Tom Standage (2002). These shows were later to also influence Charles Babbage in his invention of the difference engine.
A variation of the Coppelia story is contained in Jacques Offenbach's opera, The Tales of Hoffmann, a fictional work about the same Hoffmann who wrote the story that inspired Coppelia. The opera consists of a prologue, three fantastic tales in which Hoffmann is a participant, and an epilogue. In the first story, based on Der Sandmann, Hoffmann falls in love with a mechanical doll, Olympia, but in this case, the story takes on a melancholy tinge as the doll breaks apart.
In 1974 George Balanchine choreographed a version of Coppélia for the New York City Ballet. He was assisted by Alexandra Danilova, who had performed the title role many times during her dancing career. She staged the Petipa choreography for Act II. Balanchine created new choreography for Act III and for the mazurka, czardas and Frantz's variation in Act I. Patricia McBride danced the role of Swanilda; Helgi Tomasson danced the role of Frantz; Shaun O'Brian portrayed Dr. Coppélius.
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Act I
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Act II
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Act III
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Coppelia was featured in the Danish film Ballerina, shown in two parts in the U.S. on Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color in 1966 and later released theatrically in Europe. Dancer Kirsten Simone played the lead.
A movie, The Fantastic World of Dr. Coppelius / El fantástico mundo del doctor Coppelius, was released on December 25, 1968. In the U.S., it was titled Dr. Coppelius. The Spanish production, with the ballet company and orchestra of the Gran Teatro del Liceo of Barcelona, features Walter Slezak as Dr. Coppelius and Claudia Corday in the doll-comes-to-life role, Swanhilda / Coppelia.[3][4]
A scene from the famous ballet film The Red Shoes shows Moira Shearer playing the fictional Victoria Page. Vicky is seen as Swanhilda in the scene in which she pretends to be Coppelia, and fools even Dr. Coppelius.
The ballet Coppélia and Giuseppina Bozzacchi's tragic fate are narrated in the novel No Telling (London: Vintage, 2004) by British author Adam Thorpe (*1956). The novel's protagonist, thirteen year-old Gilles, desperately wants to see the ballet because his crush Jocelyne plays a minor part. He researches into the topic in order to impress Jocelyne, who, sadly, turns out to be fed up with ballet in general and Coppélia in particular.
In the anime Princess Tutu, episode 15 is entitled "Coppelia". Within the episode, the ballet is referenced when the character Pique/Pike is hypnotized in Mythos's presence and begins dancing the puppet-like "Waltz of the Dolls" from Coppélia as the corresponding song plays in the background. Additionally, the clock tower shown throughout the show plays the beginning of "Waltz of the Hours" when it tolls the hour, and the hand organ of the character Edel plays a modified version of "Music of the Automatica" (the original plays in the show as well).
A stage adaptation of Coppelia was presented at the Gene Frankel Theater in 1999.
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