The Story of Coppelia

     For some reason I love the ballet.  I'm not musical nor do I have the coordination to have been a dancer, so maybe it's the costumes and the sets that appeal to me.  The sensual delight of ballet creates fairy tales in my mind that just end too quickly.

     A few years ago, I saw Coppelia danced by the Ballet Arizona.  This is classified as a "comic" ballet because there are no deaths or great suffering played out in the performance.  The town's mayor announces a celebration to be held the following day when the town's bell will be honored.  Sitting in the window of the shop across from the town square is Coppelia, a life-size doll, who draws the attention of Swanilda's lover, Franz. 

Coppelia - art journal page

   Dr. Coppelius, the maker of Coppelia, drops his keys as he is leaving his shop.  After Swanilda finds the keys, she and her friends decide to enter the shop.  Before they can investigate too much, Dr. Coppelius returns, and everyone runs away except Swanilda who hides in the alcove where Coppelia is sitting.  Soon Franz appears declaring his love for the exquisite Coppelia.  The two men share several drinks while Dr. Coppelius plots to take the energy from Franz and infuse it in his exquisite Coppelia.  She will be alive!  The Doctor brings out what he believes to be the doll but is really Swanilda who dances around the room.  As she does so, Franz awakens and they flee Dr. Coppelius's shop.  Only then does the doctor realize that Coppelia is lying on the shop floor.  He has been tricked.

   Act 3 shows the celebration in the village where all the  betrothed couples are given a dowry.  Swanilda gives the doctor her dowry to make up for the trick played upon him.  The remaining part of this act is devoted to dancing and rejoicing.

     Copplia was introduced to the Paris ballet audience in May of 1870.  Within a few months, France and Prussia were at war with many privations for the French people.  France's Emperor Napoleon III was defeated and there followed a period of civil unrest.  The 16 year old ballerina, Giuseppina Bozzacchi,  chosen to dance the title role of Swanilda became a casualty of the time dying of smallpox on the morning of her 17th birthday, November 23, 1870.

     Surprisingly many men enjoy this ballet as well as women.  Perhaps it is the light nature of the program or the introduction of several folk dances.  Whatever causes the magic, it's there for all to see and enjoy.

     So, remember the ladies.

                       Carol