Delib. Ballet “Coppelia. "Coppelia" L. Delibes (Bolshoi vs. Mariinsky Theater) Ballet coppelia plot

"Coppelia" is one of the few ballets remaining from Western European choreography XIX century. More than a hundred years separate its premiere from today.

On May 25, 1870, the posters of the Grand Paris Opera announced that the pantomime ballet in two acts and three scenes “Coppelia or the Belle with blue eyes" The then fashionable choreographer Arthur Saint-Leon was the author of the performance's libretto. The musical score for the ballet was created by composer Leo Delibes.

These two names marked two opposing trends in the history of musical theater in France. The activities of Saint-Leon are associated with the decline of the former meaningfulness of choreographic culture. Delibes' work brought innovative trends to ballet music.

The rise of bourgeoisism during the Second Empire left its mark on artistic life Paris. Frankly entertaining, spectacular performances of light genres came into fashion. The names of father and daughter Taglioni, Jules Perrault, and Fani Elsler still lived in the memory of the older generation of Parisians. In previous decades, they were the creators and performers of such masterpieces of romantic ballet as La Sylphide, Giselle, and Esmeralda. The Romantic era elevated ballet to a rank equal to other arts and proved that dance is capable of revealing such areas mental life people who are no longer subject to any other types of theater. The art of Saint-Leon was born from the ruins of the romantic style. Often he took what his great predecessors found, striving for the greatest effect, varied it in his own way, composed brilliant dance compositions, complicating and modifying the dance technique in them. Saint-Leon masterfully mastered the traditional forms of the classics and masterfully applied them in practice. Grinding, honing shapes and language classical dance, choreographer prepared ballet theater to his magnificent rise late XIX century associated with Russian choreography, with the birth of such performances as “Swan Lake”, “The Nutcracker”, “Sleeping Beauty” by P. Tchaikovsky. Their authors - composer P. Tchaikovsky, choreographers L. Ivanov and M. Petipa brought new content to the ballet and used and developed much of what Saint-Leon found in the field expressive means academic ballet.

"Coppelia" was last performance Saint-Leon. He staged it in the year of his death, arriving in Paris after ten years of work in Russia (1859-1869).

The libretto of "Coppelia" is based on Hoffmann's short story "The Sandman". It also uses plot motifs from this writer’s story “Automata”. However, the authors of “Coppelia” took from the German romantic only the external outline of events and individual situations. They composed a scenario that was completely opposite to both the literary aesthetics of German romanticism and the lyrical-romantic ballet, which was close to it. Hoffmann wrote a science fiction novel about people whose identities are stolen. Its main character was a young man who met a mysterious doll maker. The scriptwriters of “Coppelia” created a domestic lyrical comedy, in the center of which is the image of a real, mischievous girl who wants to teach her unfaithful lover a lesson.

The story of a young man who fell in love with the ideal he created was a traditional plot of lyrical-romantic ballets. The story of how a real girl replaces an unreal one and makes the groom believe in the truth of living human feelings is fundamentally the opposite of lyrical romanticism. But he was also known to the ballet theater earlier from Jules Perrot’s play “The Artist’s Dream”. The authors of "Coppelia" mixed the plot of "An Artist's Dream" with the "puppet" motifs of Hoffmann's stories and composed a clear, joyful performance.

The master of puppets Coppelius, for example, in the first version of the ballet libretto recalled his literary prototype only in the scene where he intoxicates Franz with a mysterious potion in order to breathe his soul into the doll Coppelia, and in the notes of the tragic collapse of his illusions, when the old man learns that Swanilda made fun of him. Over time, this too disappeared from the libretto of Coppélia. New stage versions of Coppelia began to be created soon after its birth. For my long stage life she was getting closer and closer to the lyrical genre domestic comedy.

Probably, on different stages of the world, the emphasis within the script was so often rearranged, new editions were created stage action“Coppelia” because Saint-Leon’s choreography itself was not cohesive enough.

Today, the original choreography of the ballet is almost forgotten, but the ballet continues to live, acquiring new colors, new interpretations. The reason for this is the wonderful music of Leo Delibes.

Having composed the score of “Coppelia” according to the plan given to him by the choreographer, Delibes announced a new quality of ballet music, acting as a continuator of the reform begun by his senior colleague and teacher, the author of “Giselle” A. Adam. “He can be proud of the fact that he was the first to develop a dramatic principle in dance and at the same time surpassed all his rivals,” contemporaries wrote about Delibes. “Three or four French composers of the last century combined with a particularly poetic feeling and exquisite skill in their leisure time devoted to ballet musical theater... a keen understanding of the laws of combinations of plasticity and weight of sound with the laws of human dance. They managed to create undeniably convincing examples of musical and choreographic works of various genres, but mainly in the field of romantic legend and poeticized everyday comedy. I mean... Leo Delibes, a composer of the finest taste and poetic feeling for man as a plastic phenomenon, the author of the unsurpassed ballets “Coppelia” (1870) and “Sylvia” (1876),” wrote academician B.V. Asafiev.

Having an excellent command of dance forms, the composer symphonized the ballet score and cemented its traditional dance forms into a single whole.

Delibes' music brought ballet theater to new way. She ceased to be a “handmaiden of choreography”, turning into an equal component of the performance. P. Tchaikovsky admired the author’s art. “What charm, what grace, what melodic, rhythmic, harmonic richness,” the great Russian composer wrote to Taneyev, studying Delibes’ scores while working on “ Swan Lake" As Asafiev notes, Delibes “was not characterized by the scope and power of imagination for broad concepts.” These qualities distinguish Tchaikovsky's scores. But we, like Coppelia’s contemporaries, are attracted by the theatricality of its music, the Slavic motifs of its genre scenes, the grace of classical dance forms, and the kind smile of the composer. Coppelia first appeared on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater in 1882 - two years earlier than in St. Petersburg. The performance was based on the choreography of Saint-Leon, and I. Hansen transferred the ballet to Moscow. The role of Swanilda at the premiere was performed by the famous Moscow ballerina L. Gaten. The part of Franz, as in the Paris performance, was danced by a woman - a “travesty”, a student of theater school. Since then, at various intervals, “Coppelia” has constantly appeared on the Russian stage, maintaining its choreographic basis in different editions.

In 1901, the remarkable reformer of the Moscow ballet A. Gorsky approached her. They re-staged the dances and scenes of the play, and for the first time the role of the main character of the ballet, Franz, was assigned to a man. This part was performed by the famous dancer V. Tikhomirov.

Many famous Moscow ballerinas performed the role of Swanilda in Coppelia - E. Geltser, O. Lepeshinskaya, S. Golovkina, I. Tikhomirnova. The most interesting Franz there was a wonderful Soviet dancer A. Messerer. Wonderful mimic actors from V. Geltser to A. Radunsky created the image of Master Coppelius in the performance.

FIRST ACTION

PROLOGUE

Coppelius's workshop

Professor Coppelius completed his inspired work on a great masterpiece - the mechanical doll Coppelia...

FIRST PICTURE

Fairground

The lovely Swanilda captivated Franz's soul. The young man swears his love to her and proposes his hand and heart. But suddenly a strange girl appears on the square. The stranger moves unnaturally, as if mechanically. Coppelius catches up with the fugitive and takes her back to the house. And then a charming young lady appeared on the balcony of the house with a book in her hands. Franz and all the young men are fascinated by the beauty of the stranger.

SECOND PICTURE

Coppelius's workshop

Swanilda is in despair. Together with her friends, she secretly sneaks into the Professor's house. Oh happiness! Coppelia is just a mechanical doll! The professor drives the spoiled girls out of the house. But Swanilda remains and admits to the Master that her heart is broken. Coppelius triumphs - Franz recognized his “work” as a living girl. And here comes Franz. Swanilda plays him, pretending to be Coppelia. Franz swears his love to the living doll. Swanilda tears off Coppelia's wig. Franz begs Swanilda to forgive him. The lovers are happy again!

SECOND ACT

PROLOGUE

Coppelius's workshop

The professor is in seventh heaven - his doll was mistaken for a living girl! But in Coppelius’s house there are again uninvited guests - the mayor and his wife. They came to pick up their order - a Coppelia doll! The master rushes after them.

THIRD PICTURE

Hall in the Town Hall

Wedding of Swanilda and Franz. Guests try a delicious wedding cake. Coppelia herself is hidden under the colored icing of the cake. The doll starts dancing. Suddenly Coppelius appears at the wedding. The Professor throws a bag of ducats into the hands of the Mayor and takes away his favorite. The fun continues. Friends give Swanilda the Dance of the Clock and the Four Times of the Day, with wishes for a long life in marriage. Everyone is happy! But an incredible adventure with an automatic doll disturbed the peace in the city. The professor continued to play his pranks on Coppelia.

I rewatched it out of curiosity two productions of Delibes’ wonderful ballet “Coppelia”: Mariinsky 1993 and Bolshoi 2011.

March 24, 1992 - Mariinsky Theater, choreographer O.M. Vinogradov, artist V.A. Okunev (scenery), I. I. Press (costumes), conductor A. Vilumanis; Coppelius - P. M. Rusanov, Coppelia - E. G. Tarasova, Svanilda - L. V. Lezhnina, Irina Shapchits. Franz - Mikhail Zavyalov.

March 12, 2009 The Bolshoi Theater performance, staged by Sergei Vikharev, repeats his Novosibirsk attempt in 2001 to restore the choreography of Marius Petipa and Enrico Cecchetti of the Second St. Petersburg edition of the ballet from 1894. The revival of the scenery is by Boris Kaminsky, the costumes by Tatiana Noginova. The conductor of the performance is Igor Dronov. Cast: Swanilda - Maria Alexandrova, Natalya Osipova, Anastasia Goryacheva Franz - Ruslan Skvortsov, Vyacheslav Lopatin, Artem Ovcharenko.

Amazing metamorphoses of the libretto in these two versions! The funny thing is that in Kir.ballet Coppelia is a part, but in the Big Party there is no Coppelia at all, just a doll. Moreover, it is funny that it was the Bolshoi who set the task of this production to revive the original choreography of Marius Petipa. Well, I’ll tell you that I liked Vinogradov’s choreography and approach more.

A few words about ballet. Coppelia is the closest thing in mood and theme to The Nutcracker. Village holidays, dolls, the mischievous main character Swanilda and her lover Franz (which continues the glorious tradition of classical ballets, in which the majority male characters- these are unworthy men-rags). If “Bach Fountain,” for example, can be compared to an oxygen cocktail, then “Coppelia” is a marshmallow. Sweet, airy, but always wanting to cross the border of cloying.

Moreover, Delibes’ music seemed rather monotonous to me. Not annoying, but monotonous. The plot of the ballet develops in the first two acts, and the third is a village holiday that carries absolutely no meaning. It’s the third act that sometimes seems unreasonably drawn out, but I’ll probably not start with it.

The first act - in the kir. ballet version - is an introduction to Coppelia, her dancing with the villagers, the serenade of Franz and his friends under her window. At the Bolshoi, the first act is a benefit performance for Swanilda. France's friends are somehow indistinguishable from the rest of the corps de ballet, and Swanilda's own friends are twice as many as in the Mariinsky version, plus they don't include any "drama" at all. What I liked about the Mariinsky Theater is that they all play, both the main characters and their friends. The girlfriends were especially hot there. Coppelius, a kind of version of Drosselmeier, is indicated very schematically by the Bolshoi. He doesn't dance at all. The result was some kind of spineless sack of flour, suffering from a penchant for black magic. But in Kir.ballet, Copelius is pure sex (somehow he reminded me of Jack Sparrow, fortunately, in 1993 no one knew about this hero, so it’s not plagiarism). Not only does he have his own choreographic characteristics, he spends 5 times less time on stage than his Moscow counterpart, and at the same time manages to be remembered.

The second act is the quintessence of Coppélia. We find ourselves in the workshop of Coppelius, who is known to create bizarre, lifelike dolls. I’ll say right away that Vinogradov staged the second act 100%. Ballet is not perceived as ballet, it is perceived as an adventure, interesting and unusual. When Swanilda and her friends (who perfectly play out all the emotions that have gripped them) find themselves at Coppelius’s, they immediately begin to explore the space and turn on mechanical toys one by one. My favorite moment in The Nutcracker is when Drosselmeier shows the children various toys(the dance there is not dance, but a mixture of circus and acrobatics, which greatly enlivens classical ballet). So in Vinogradov’s version, each doll has its own dance. This is indescribable - very good finds, plus in music it’s mine favorite place. Swanilda eventually finds the Coppelia doll, and when the girls hear Coppelius's footsteps, they dress up in doll costumes to avoid being recognized. A small show by Swanilda-Coppelia, and the second act is cheerfully and lively completed.

What does the classical version of Petipa at the Bolshoi offer us? Swanilda and her eight (!) friends climb into the workshop. Then all the toys begin to dance at once (faceless and monotonous for about 30 seconds), then Coppelius and Franz appear, Coppelius knocks out France to give his soul to the doll, whose dress Swanilda has already changed into. While the old sack of flour is conjuring over the black books, the girl is playing a prank in front of him. long story humanizing the doll. All this time, France lies unconscious on a chair (in general, it should be a shame for the performer of the role of France, he was allowed to dance normally only in the first act). The second act also turns into Swanilda's benefit performance.

The village holiday did not impress me either in the first or in the second version. If Kir.ballet had a set of dances on a village theme (dance with spinning wheels - yeah, what could be more “dynamic”), then at the Bolshoi, the village holiday is a symbolic action denoting changing times of day, all this takes place against the backdrop of huge a clock on which an old man with a scythe sits. Yeah, symbolism-symbolism. But Kir.ballet still had a good moment at the very end, when Coppelius brings out his doll-daughter, and everyone, without being offended by each other, joyfully merges in the dance of friendship.

In short, marshmallow-marshmallow. Such a fun, beautiful, bright ballet that can and should be shown to children. No murders or debauchery (I immediately remember the “smart” parents who take their 4-5 year old children to our “Tango”, a ballet about a brothel).

And a few more words about the soloists. My favorite of the two casts was Irina Shapchits, the wonderful Swanilda, simply perfect. I won’t talk about technique, the Mariinsky Theater and the Bolshoi Theater are all ok with technique, but Shapnich is an amazing actress. Such character, such enthusiasm! I compared her with the well-known Natalya Osipova from the Bolshoi; if I had not seen Shapchits, I would have sung Osipova’s praises, but in comparison, Osipova did not finish her performance. The French - Lopatin and Zavyalov were somehow not even very memorable.

Price:
from 2000rub

Leo Delibes

Coppelia

Ballet in three acts

In the 2017/18 season, it was completely renewed.

The performance has two intermissions.

Libretto by Charles Nuitter and Arthur Saint-Leon based on the short stories by Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann

Choreography by Marius Petipa and Enrico Cecchetti

Staging and new choreographic version by Sergei Vikharev

Conductor (2009) - Igor Dronov

Production designer: Boris Kaminsky

Costume designer: Tatiana Noginova

Lighting designer: Damir Ismagilov

Restoration of choreography - Vladimir Grigoriev

Restoration of scenery - Dmitry Fialkovsky

Restoration of costumes - Olga Nikulina

Restoration of lighting design - Mikhail Sokolov, Igor Deryugin

The ballet "Coppelia" ("Beauty with Blue Eyes") was first presented to the public at the Paris Opera in 1870, on May 25. Wrote music for the ballet French composer Louis Delibes, and the choreographer was the famous choreographer Arthur Saint-Len. The libretto for the production was developed by S. Nuiter based on the plot of Hoffmann’s fairy tale “The Sandman”. The premiere of “Coppelia” was attended by Emperor Napoleon III himself and his wife, Empress Eugenie.

"Coppelia" is a recognized standard classical ballet, which is included in the repertoire of almost all famous theaters and ballet troupes. This is a magnificent example of a comic ballet performance - a rather rare genre. Here you will not see excessive psychologism or intense drama, but you will thoroughly enjoy the pantomime staging and varied dance patterns.

The action of the ballet "Coppelia", which you can see today on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater, takes us to Galicia, according to Hoffmann's fairy tale. Professor Coppelius lives here with his daughter, the mysterious beauty Coppelia. She is also mysterious because she never leaves the house and does not communicate with anyone. The young men in love try to make signs to the girl, but she does not answer them. main character ballet dancer, Swanilda, realizes that her fiancé Franz is also not indifferent to the professor’s daughter... But gradually the veil of secrecy is lifted, and Swanilda finds out that Coppelia is... a mechanical doll. What will be next? Who is Coppelius and what is he doing in his gloomy workshop? Will Franz be able to overcome his love affair with the animated doll and shake off his magical shackles? It is worth watching the wonderful ballet "Coppelia" in Bolshoi Theater to see the answers to these questions with your own eyes!

Coppelia was first shown at the Bolshoi Theater in the spring of 2009 after a long break (more than thirty years). New version directed by choreographer and choreographer Mariinsky Theater, famous restorer of ancient performances, Sergei Vikharev. He carried out a thorough and hard work, thanks to which you can see the unique choreography of Marius Petipa and Enrico Cecchetti, restored from the archival score of the 19th century. You will also enjoy costumes recreated from rare sketches and pre-revolutionary photographs and bright decorations, allowing you to transport viewers into the atmosphere of a provincial village of the century before last.