Scene from: Coppélia
Composer: Léo Delibes
Conductor: Alexandre Viliumanis
Oleg Vinogradov's restaging of the comedy ballet Coppélia for the Kirov Ballet, was originally produced by Vinogradov for the Mali Theatre, Leningrad. Based on E. T. A. Hoffmann's original story The Sandman, Coppélia is a classical ballet in the true sense, and with its touch of East European folklore, continues to enjoy worldwide popularity.
Just as Giselle is ballet's great tragedy, so Coppélia is its great comedy. Both ballets are love stories and both have their roots in real life as well as in fantasy. In Giselle there are ghosts to test the quality of the hero's love for the heroine, and in Coppélia there is another romantic device by which the heroine makes sure of her lover's devotion. This device is the beautiful, lifeless doll, whose quiet, mechanical beauty contrasts with the charming liveliness of the real-life heroine. Because the hero in Giselle can only meet his lost love briefly in fantasy, and thereafter she is lost to reality, the ending of the ballet is tragic. But in Coppélia the inadequacy of the fantastic wax doll leads the hero back to his real love, and the ending is happy. Where Albrecht in Giselle learns an unhappy lesson from which he will never completely recover, Franz in Coppélia learns a lesson that makes his life happy forever after.
Coppélia combines the romance between Swanilda and Franz with the story of the doll-maker Coppelius, whose greatest desire is to create a doll with a soul. Franz immediately falls in love with Coppélia, who he thinks is alive, but eventually recognises that she is just a doll and returns to Swanilda, after which the final grand divertissement sees everyone reconciled.
Cast: Franz - Mikhail Zavialov, Swanilda - Irina Shapchits, Coppélia - Elvira Tarasova, Coppelius - Petr Rusanov.
Catalogue: 4509941902