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
364. La Source 1968
(briefly called PAS DE DEUX: LA SOURCE)
Music
Léo Delibes (excerpts from La Source [Naïla], 1866)
Choreography
George Balanchine
Production
Costumes by Karinska. Lighting by Ronald Bates
Premiere
November 23, 1968, New York City Ballet, New York State Theater. Conductor: Robert Irving
Cast
Violette Verdy, John Prinz
Performance Type
Ballet
See Also
274. Music and Dance, 350. Pas de Deux and Divertissement, 387. Coppélia
Varying the conventional structure of a pas de deux, La Source begins with solos for the man and woman rather than a supported adagio.
Additional Productions
Revisions
1969, New York City Ballet: Expanded to include ALLEGRO VIVACE for female soloist and ensemble of 8 women, and VALSE DES FLEURS from Pas de Deux and Divertissement [350].
1971 Geneva Ballet (Grand Theatre de Geneve [Ballet])
1971 San Francisco Ballet
1982 Los Angeles Ballet
1988 Miami City Ballet
1994 Miami City Ballet
2000 Repertory Dance Theatre
2004 Alabama Dance Theatre
2005 Oregon Ballet Theatre
2005 Suzanne Farrell Ballet
2006 Miami City Ballet
2008 Boca Ballet Theater
2009 City Ballet of San Diego
2010 Suzanne Farrell Ballet
2012 Sofia National Ballet
2016 Miami City Ballet
2017 Pacific Northwest Ballet
273. Sylvia: Pas de Deux 1950
Music
Léo Delibes (from Sylvia, ou la Nymphe de Diane, produced 1876 [Act I VALSE LENTE and Act III pas de deux])
Choreography
George Balanchine
Production
Costumes by Karinska
Premiere
December 1, 1950, New York City Ballet, City Center of Music and Drama, New York. Conductor: Leon Barzin
Cast
Maria Tallchief, Nicholas Magallanes
Performance Type
Ballet
See Also
36. Pizzicato Polka, 350. Pas de Deux and Divertissement, 387. Coppélia
George Balanchine Foundation Interpreters Archive (ballerina solo), 1997
Note
A grand pas de deux in the French style, with entrée, adagio, two solos, and coda. In 1965, incorporated (with minor changes) into Pas de Deux and Divertissement [350], choreographed for the New York City Ballet. The male variation is reproduced in the Balanchine-Danilova Coppélia [387], Act III (PEACE pas de deux).
1958 Eglevsky Ballet Company
1963 National Ballet (Washington, D.C. 1963-74)
1965 American Ballet Theatre
1967 Den Norske Opera [Ballet] (Norway)
1968 Harkness Ballet (1964-70)
1979 Royal Winnipeg Ballet
1980 Pennsylvania Ballet
1981 Matsuyama Ballet Company (Japan)
1987 Pacific Northwest Ballet
1988 Miami City Ballet
Recorded Performances
Videos/DVD
1999, Kultur, American Ballet Theatre at the Met [1984]
George Balanchine (eight of thirteen dances), Todd Bolender, Frank Hobi, and Francisco Moncion
Production
Presented by the National Orchestral Society, Leon Barzin, Musical Director. Artistic Director: George Balanchine. Lighting Director: Jean Rosenthal
Premiere
February 10, 1951, Carnegie Hall, New York. Danced by members of the New York City Ballet and students of the School of American Ballet. Conductor: Leon Barzin
Cast
IV. SARABANDE from Louis XIV Suite (François Couperin, orchestrated by Wood-Hill): 4 women; VI. MINUET from Symphony No. 39, K. 543 (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart): Doris Breckenridge, Robert Barnett; VII. GAVOTTE from Ladies of the Ballet (Alfred Edward Moffat): 2 couples; VIII. BOURRÉE from Concerto for String Orchestra (Jean-Baptiste Lully): 2 couples; IX. RIGAUDON from the Lully Concerto: 4 couples; XI. WALTZ from Naïla (La Source, Léo Delibes): Maria Tallchief, 11 women; XII. TANGO from Le Carnaval d’Aix (Darius Milhaud): Tanaquil Le Clercq
Performance Type
Concert Works
See Also
350. Pas de Deux and Divertissement, 364. La Source, 387. Coppélia
Each musical selection was played by the orchestra alone and then repeated with dances. Mazurka from ‘A Life for the Tsar’ [272] was performed as Number XIII, closing the program.
First performed at a party given by the Princesse Héréditaire. Earliest program found (February 21, 1925, matinee) lists the work, then entitled Variation, as part of the ‘Suite de Danses’ under the general title Le Festin, in the series of concert performances by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes given in the Nouvelle Salle de Musique (Salle Ganne) of the Monte Carlo Casino. Other works performed at the concert included Balanchine’s staging of the Grand Pas Hongrois from Petipa’s Raymonda and his own appearance with Tamara Geva in Enigma [25].
