Coppelia

Coppelia
Coppelia is a name of one of the most likable sentimental yet comic French ballet by the audiences. The original choreography of the ballet was done by Arthur Saint-Leon and its music was composed by Leo Delibes.

The ballet owes its storyline to E. T. A. Hoffmann, which are two macabre stories titled The Sandman and The Doll. It is one of the old ballets as its premier was done on 25th May 1870, at the Theatre Imperial de l'Opera.

The ballet was received very well among the audiences but there was an interruption due to the Franco-Prussian War and the resultant siege of Paris. Later it had gained the lost glory and considered to be the most-performed ballet at the Opera Garnier.

It is interesting to tell you a little bit about the origination of the ballet, and the introduction of the key members with each other. Giuseppina Bozzachi had come to Paris for studies. It was the same time when Arthur Saint-Leon and the director of the Paris Opera, Emile Perrin were in an active search, and they had even gone to Italy for the the same reason, but could not find a suitable one.

It was the same time when they had discovered Bozzachi. She had created Swanhilda in the presence of Emperor Napoleon III, on 25th May 1870. She had done the same task in the later weeks too. At that time, a great dispute had started between France and Prussia on the issue of the succession of the Spanish throne.

There was war all around and Giuseppina Bozzachi danced Swanhilda for the 18th and final time on 31 August, the theatre was closed during the whole period of the war. Saint-Leon had died only two days after the closure of the theatre.

The theatre administration could not pay the salaries, and as a result Giuseppina became ill, due to malnutrition caught in smallpox and fever, and had died on the morning of her 17th birthday, in the same year of 1870.

The ballet was started after the end of war, and the later version was re-choreographed by New York City Ballet incharge George Balanchine, proving to be of so much success. The synopsis of Coppelia carries a strange and mysterious, but a fairytale like quality.

The main character of the story, Doctor Coppelius, creates a human like dancing doll. It is so real that Franz, who is a common villager swain, developes an infatuation for it, and he has no control over his heart.

It is the Swanilde, who in Act II highlights the false desire of his by dressing like a doll and pretending to come to life. There are so many festive wedding-day thing in the village square covering the Act III, but are not presented in the modern day versions.

The ballet has a definite influence of the traveling shows of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. There is a variation of the Coppelia story in the Jacques Offenbach's opera. The opera consists of a prologue, with the three fantastic tales in whom Hoffmann is a participant, and an epilogue.

In the first story, which is based on Der Sandmann, Hoffmann falls in love with a mechanical doll, Olympia, but in this case, the story takes on a tragic and melancholic touch with the break up of the doll.

Coppelia had a feature film presentation by the name of 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.