Cat 266 Archives - The George Balanchine Foundation

Balanchine Catalogue Archive

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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 by Alexandra Danilova and George Balanchine after Marius Petipa (1884; revised 1894 by Lev Ivanov and Enrico Cecchetti), with additional choreography by George Balanchine

Scenery and costumes by Rouben Ter-Arutunian. Costumes executed by Karinska and Barbara Matera, Ltd. Lighting by Ronald Bates

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.)

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

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Note

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.

Stagings

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1977   Geneva Ballet (Grand Theatre de Geneve [Ballet])
2010   Boston Ballet
2010   Pacific Northwest Ballet
2011   Dresden SemperOper Ballett
2011   San Francisco Ballet
2016   Pacific Northwest Ballet
2019   Boston Ballet

Recorded Performances

Television

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1978 (PBS, Live from Lincoln Center)

Source Notes

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Additional music information provided by Gordon Boelzner, Robert Irving; additional revisions information provided by Betty Cage, Arlene Croce, Nancy Goldner

Made for Television

Léo Delibes (from Coppélia, ou la Fille aux Yeux d’Émail, produced 1870.)

George Balanchine

First telecast: May 13, 1954, CBC

Tanaquil Le Clercq, André Eglevsky

Performance Type

Television

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Note

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.

Additional Productions

Stagings

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2018 Ballet Chicago – Pas de Deux