Léo Delibes (Coppélia, ou la Fille aux Yeux d’Émail, produced 1870, with excerpts from Sylvia, ou la Nymphe de Diane, produced 1876, and La Source [Naïla], 1866). Book by Charles Nuitter, after E. T. A. Hoffmann’s Der Sandmann (1815)
Choreography
Choreography by Alexandra Danilova and George Balanchine after Marius Petipa (1884; revised 1894 by Lev Ivanov and Enrico Cecchetti), with additional choreography by George Balanchine
Production
Scenery and costumes by Rouben Ter-Arutunian. Costumes executed by Karinska and Barbara Matera, Ltd. Lighting by Ronald Bates
Premiere
July 17, 1974, New York City Ballet, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, New York. Conductor: Robert Irving. (First New York State Theater performance, with children from the School of American Ballet, November 20.)
Cast
Swanilda/Coppélia, Patricia McBride; Frantz, Helgi Tomasson; Dr. Coppélius, Shaun O’Brien. ACT I: The Doll Coppélia; Villagers, 8 couples; Mayor, Michael Arshansky; Swanilda’s Friends, 8 women. ACT II: Swanilda and Her Friends; The Automatons: Astrologer, Juggler, Acrobat, Chinaman. ACT III: Burgomaster; Villagers, Brides, Grooms, and Friends, 8 women, 6 men; DEDICATION OF THE BELLS: WALTZ OF THE GOLDEN HOURS: Marnee Morris, 24 children; Dawn, Merrill Ashley; Prayer, Christine Redpath; Spinner, Susan Hendl; Jesterettes, 4 women; DISCORD AND WAR: Colleen Neary, Robert Weiss, 8 couples; PEACE (pas de deux): McBride, Tomasson; FINALE
Act I. A Village Square in Galicia
Act II. Dr. Coppélius’s Secret Workshop
Act III. A Village Wedding and Festival of Bells
Performance Type
Ballet
See Also
36. Pizzicato Polka, 266. [Pas de Deux], 273. Sylvia: Pas de Deux, 274. Music and Dance, 291. One, Yuletide Square, 350. Pas de Deux and Divertissement, 364. La Source
Balanchine and Danilova collaborated to reproduce parts of Petipa’s choreography for Coppélia, which they had learned while students at the Imperial Ballet School; Danilova had later become a leading interpreter of the role of Swanilda. Balanchine created entirely new choreography for Act III, and for the mazurka and czardas in Act I, and made slight revisions in other dances in Act I. Using music from Sylvia, Balanchine created a male variation for Act I and a complete pas de deux for Act III, in which the male variation is taken from his Sylvia: Pas de Deux [273]. The production was partially commissioned by the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.
Additional Productions
Revisions
1974, New York City Ballet: Act III costumes altered before first New York performance and new children’s costumes designed by Karinska; coda added to Act III PEACE pas de deux.
Additional music information provided by Gordon Boelzner, Robert Irving; additional revisions information provided by Betty Cage, Arlene Croce, Nancy Goldner
302.1. Pas de Deux 1954
Made for Television
Music
Léo Delibes (from Coppélia, ou la Fille aux Yeux d’Émail, produced 1870.)
Choreography
George Balanchine
Premiere
First telecast: May 13, 1954, CBC
Cast
Tanaquil Le Clercq, André Eglevsky
Performance Type
Television
See Also
266. [Pas de Deux], 291. One, Yuletide Square, 387. Coppélia
Although seemingly inspired by two of the three principal characters in Coppélia, this dance’s setting, story, and choreography differ from those in the famous ballet. It is not clear whether the pas de deux to music from Coppélia referred to by Tanaquil Le Clercq in 266 is the same ballet as this one. (In citing Nicholas Magallanes as her partner, Le Clercq may have misremembered.) It is also possible that Balanchine created three television ballets to selections from Delibes’ Coppélia score.
