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| | Arts Calendar / April 12 / Ballet |
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 Ballet in three acts to music by Leo Delibes. Presented with two intervals. Libretto by Charles Nuitter and Arthur Saint-Leon after the stories by Ernst Theodore Amadeus Hoffmann. Choreography: Marius Petipa, Enrico Cecchetti. Revival and new choreographic version: Sergei Vikharev. Designer: Boris Kaminsky. In addition to excellent dances, this classical ballet has two other undoubted merits. First, Coppelia is a comedy of which there are not so many among the masterpieces of the classical legacy. Second, it is a comedy with fine music. Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky’s assessment of Delibes’ skill in “the sphere of ballet” is well-known: “The first ballet in which music constitutes not only the main, but the sole interest. What beauty, what elegance, what richness of melody, rhythm and harmony”. True, these words refer to another of the composer’s ballets, but they are equally applicable to Coppelia.
Bolshoi Theater New Stage  |
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