Coppélia

Coppélia
Giuseppina Bozzacchi as Swanhilde in the Saint-Léon/Delibes Coppélia. Paris, 1870
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 Coppélia Frantz
Genre	Romantic
Type	comic ballet
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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 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, 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.

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 life-like that Frantz, a village swain, is infatuated with it, setting 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. If Mary Shelley's Frankenstein represents the dark side of the theme of scientist as creator of life, then Coppelia is the light side. If Giselle is a tragedy set in a peasant village, then Coppélia is a comedy in the same setting. 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.

Ballet

Scoring

Woodwinds

2 flutes (2nd doubling on piccolo)

2 oboes (2nd doubling on English horn)

2 clarinets

2 bassoons

Brass

4 horns

2 valved cornets (or trumpets)

2 trumpets

3 trombones

tuba

Percussion (2 players)

Timpani

triangle

cymbals

drum

bass drum with cymbals

glockenspiel

Harp

Strings

Popular culture

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.

Coppélia's Casket (Kopperia no Hitsugi) sung by Ali Project is the title of opening theme song of the Japanese anime Noir, the tale of two female assassins. Coppélia's Casket makes several references to the story of Coppélia such as, "People are dolls tired from dancing."

Also mentioned is the line "Coppélia's Heartbeat" also translated as "Coppélia's Pulse" something that an automaton would not possess, and neither would one be laid to rest in a casket.

One of the lesser enemies in Castlevania's Portrait of Ruin is named Coppelia. She appears in the "Nation of Fools" level as a blue-skinned tightrope walker that throws knives. The player often sees her shot out of cannons, or walking on tightropes upside-down, or tightropes that run vertically.

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.

Notes

See also

External links

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