From the performance of the Moscow Academic Choreographic School on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater. Choreography by A. Gorsky, revival by A. Radunsky, S. Golovkina.

The action takes place in a small town in Galicia. A young girl, Swanilda, is jealous of her fiancé for the mysterious stranger who appears every morning in the window of the house opposite. She and her friends secretly enter the workshop of old Coppelius and, discovering that her rival is just a wind-up doll, dresses up in her dress and exposes Franz of imaginary infidelity. The ballet ends with the reconciliation of the lovers and a general celebration.

In 1959, Bolshoi Theater ballerina Sofya Golovkina left the stage and devoted herself to teaching. A year later she headed the Moscow State Choreographic School. And in 1977, together with Mikhail Martirosyan and Alexander Radunsky, she staged the ballet “Coppelia” for students of the Moscow Academic Choreographic School. This production was based on the choreographic version by Alexander Gorsky, which previously (since 1905) existed at the Bolshoi Theater.

This is a rare video recording; before the start of the ballet there is a short interview with Sofia Golovkina, conducted by ballerina Natalya Kasatkina. The role of Swanilda in “Coppelia” was performed by 21-year-old Galina Stepanenko, a student of Golovkina who graduated from MAHA in 1984. At that time, she was a soloist at the Moscow State Ballet Theater of the USSR (now the Classical Ballet Theater under the direction of N. Kasatkina and V. Vasilev), and in 1990 she was accepted into the ballet troupe of the Bolshoi Theater. Her partner Alexander Malykhin also graduated from MAHA and was accepted into the Bolshoi Theater.

The history of the ballet

The composer began working on the ballet Coppelia, which became a milestone in the work of Leo Delibes, in 1869, after he showed his talent and ingenuity by writing the music for Adana's ballet Le Corsaire and creating Sylvia, which Tchaikovsky later admired. The ballet was written based on a libretto by Charles Louis Etienne Nuiter, a famous French writer, librettist, archivist of the Grand Opera, author of the texts of many operas and operettas.

The initiator of the creation of the ballet, choreographer Arthur Saint-Leon, also took part in the work on the libretto of Coppélia. A multi-talented man, he debuted almost simultaneously as a violinist (in 1834 in Stuttgart) and as a dancer (in 1835 in Munich), and then for more than ten years he performed as a leading dancer on the stages of many European cities. In 1847, Saint-Leon began working as a choreographer at the Paris Academy of Music (later the Grand Opera), in 1848 he staged his first ballet production in Rome, and in 1849 he began working in St. Petersburg, where he staged 16 ballets over 11 years. He often invited newcomers to the genre to write music for ballets, in particular Ludwig Minkus and Leo Delibes. An excellent musician with an amazing memory, Saint-Leon also staged ballets to his own music (“The Devil’s Violin”, “Saltarello”), in which he himself performed violin solos, alternating violin playing with dance. By the time, together with Delibes and Nuiter, Saint-Leon began creating Coppelia, he was already a prominent maestro who enjoyed well-deserved authority.

The plot of “Coppelia” is based on the short story “The Sandman” (1817) by the famous romantic writer and musician E. T. A. Hoffmann, which tells the story of a young man who fell in love with a mechanical doll made by the skilled craftsman Coppelius. Unlike Hoffmann's novella with its inherent mystic features, this side was practically discarded in the ballet. The librettists created an entertaining comedy based on a fleeting quarrel and reconciliation between lovers.

Historical title: “Coppelia, or the Girl with blue eyes" The premiere of the play took place at the Paris Grand Opera on May 25, 1870 in the presence of Emperor Napoleon III and his wife, Empress Eugenie. The great success that befell the ballet at the premiere accompanies it to this day.

In Russia it was first staged on January 24, 1882 at the Moscow Bolshoi Theater by Joseph Hansen, who followed Saint-Leon's choreography. On November 25, 1884, the premiere of “Coppelia” took place at the capital’s Mariinsky Theater, choreographed by the famous Marius Petipa. There is also a version by A. Gorsky (1871–1924), performed at the Bolshoi Theater in 1905.

(Teatralnaya Square, 1)

Ballet in three actions
Leo Delio
2500-6000rub

Ticket prices for the play COPPELIA at the Bolshoi Theater:

1st tier: 2500-4000 rub.
Mezzanine: 3500-4500 rub.
Amphitheater: 3000-5000 rub.
Parterre: 4000-6000 rub.

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For exact prices and availability of tickets, please call the website. Tickets are available.

Coppelia - video

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 - .
Conductor-producer - Igor Dronov.
Production designer - Boris Kaminsky.
Costume designer - Tatyana Noginova.
Lighting designer - Damir Ismagilov.

The performance has two intermissions.

Duration - 2 hours 30 minutes.

Scenery sketches by Pyotr Lambin (Acts I and III), Heinrich Levot (Act II) and costume sketches by Adolphe Charlemagne, Pyotr Grigoriev, Evgeny Ponomarev were used.

The picturesque scenery was performed by Evgeny Yakimenko, Anton Danilov (Acts I and III) and Elena Kinkulskaya (Act II).

Archival research and coordination - Pavel Gershenzon.

Coppelia - about ballet

The choreography was restored based on materials stored in the Harvard Theater Collection.

Sketches and costumes provided by the St. Petersburg state museum theatrical and musical art and the St. Petersburg State Theater Library.

Sheet music provided by EDWIN F. KALMUS publishing house.

Characters and performers:

Conductor:
Igor Dronov

Swanilda:


Anastasia Stashkevich

Franz:
Vyacheslav Lopatin
Artem Ovcharenko
Ruslan Skvortsov

Coppelius:
Alexey Loparevich
Andrey Sitnikov
Gennady Yanin

Swanilda's friends:
Chinara Alizade
Svetlana Gnedova
Nina Golskaya
Ksenia Kern
Anna Okuneva
Svetlana Pavlova
Yanina Parienko
Anastasia Stashkevich
Anna Tatarova
Anna Tikhomirova

Coppelia (automatic):
mimance artist Nadezhda Gredasova
mimance artist Lyubov Miller
mimance artist Yulia Popova

Ruling Count:
Ilya Vorontsov
Alexander Fadeechev

Burgomaster:
Timofey Lavrenyuk
Dmitry Rykhlov

Priest:
Vladimir Avdeev
Konstantin Kuzmin

Mazurka:
Anna Antropova
Maria Isplatovskaya
Kristina Karaseva
Anastasia Meskova
Anna Nakhapetova
Ksenia Sorokina
Vitaly Biktimirov
Alexander Vodopetov
Evgeniy Golovin
Timofey Lavrenyuk
Anton Savichev
Igor Tsvirko

Czardas:
Anna Antropova
Maria Isplatovskaya
Kristina Karaseva
Vitaly Biktimirov
Georgy Geraskin
Evgeniy Golovin
Timofey Lavrenyuk
Denis Savin

L'Aurore (Dawn);
Ekaterina Krysanova
Anna Okuneva
Yanina Parienko
Anastasia Stashkevich

La Priere (Prayer):
Yulia Grebenshchikova
Nelly Kobakhidze
Olga Stebletsova
Anastasia Yatsenko

Le Travail (Work):
Chinara Alizade
Ksenia Kern
Anastasia Yatsenko

Ksenia Abbazova:
Alesya Boyko
Svetlana Gnedova
Nina Golskaya
Svetlana Pavlova
Olga Tubalova
Tatiana Lazareva

Noce Villageoise (Rural Wedding):
Anna Nakhapetova
Ksenia Sorokina
Batyr Annadurdyev
Peter Kazmiruk
Vadim Kurochkin
Ellina Bochkareva
Galina Ivanova
Elena Kotova
Elizaveta Kruteleva
Tatiana Kurilkina
Kristina Loseva
Dmitry Zagrebin
Arsen Karakozov
Anton Kondratov
Andrey Rybakov
Alexey Torgunakov
Roman Tselishchev

Folie:
Chinara Alizade
Ksenia Kern
Anna Leonova
Yanina Parienko
Anna Tikhomirova.

Ballet Coppelia - summary

Act I:
A public square in a small town on the borders of Galicia. Among the houses painted bright colors, one house - with bars on the windows and a tightly locked door. This is Coppelius's home.

Swanilda approaches Coppelius's house and looks at the windows, behind which a girl sitting motionless is visible; she is holding a book in her hand and appears to be deep in reading. This is Coppelia, daughter of old Coppelius. Every morning you can see her in the same place - then she disappears. She never left the mysterious dwelling. She is very beautiful, and many young people in the city spent long hours under her window, begging her for one look.

Swanilda suspects that her fiancé Franz is also partial to Coppelia's beauty. She tries to attract her attention, but nothing helps: Coppelia does not take her eyes off the book, in which she does not even turn the pages.

Swanilda begins to get angry. She is about to decide to knock on the door when Franz suddenly appears, and Swanilda remains hidden to watch what happens.

Franz heads towards Swanilda's house, but stops indecisively. Coppelia sits by the window. He bows to her. At that moment she turns her head, stands up and returns Franz’s bow. Franz barely had time to send a kiss to Coppelia when old Coppelius opened the window and mockingly watched him.

Swanilda burns with anger against both Coppelius and Franz, but pretends that she did not notice anything. She runs after a butterfly. Franz runs with her. He catches the insect and solemnly pins it to the collar of his dress. Swanilda reproaches him: “What has this poor butterfly done to you?” From reproach to reproach, the girl tells him that she knows everything. He deceives her; he loves Coppelia. Franz tries in vain to justify himself.

The burgomaster announces that tomorrow it is planned big holiday: The ruler gave the city a bell. Everyone crowds around the burgomaster. A noise is heard in Coppelius's house. Reddish light shines through the glass. Several girls move away from this damned house with fear. But this is nothing: the noise comes from the blows of the hammer, the light is the reflection of the fire burning in the forge. Coppelius is an old madman who is constantly working. For what? Nobody knows; and who cares? Let him work if he likes it!..

The Burgomaster approaches Swanilda. He tells her that tomorrow their owner should award a dowry and unite several couples in marriage. She is Franz's fiancée, doesn't she want her wedding to take place tomorrow? “Oh, it’s not decided yet!” - and the young girl, looking slyly at Franz, tells the burgomaster that she will tell him a story. This is a story about a straw that gives away all the secrets.

Ballad of the Ear

Swanilda takes an ear from the sheaf, puts it to her ear and pretends to listen. Then he hands it to Franz - isn’t the spikelet telling him that he no longer loves Swanilda, but has fallen in love with another? Franz replies that he doesn't hear anything. Swanilda then resumes her tests with one of Franz’s friends; he, smiling, says that he clearly hears the words of the ear of corn. Franz wants to object, but Swanilda, breaking the straw before his eyes, says that everything is over between them. Franz leaves in annoyance, Swanilda dances among her friends. The tables have already been prepared, and everyone drinks to the health of the ruler and burgomaster.

Coppelius leaves his house and locks the door with a double turn of the key. He is surrounded by young people: some want to take him with them, others force him to dance. The angry old man finally breaks away from them and leaves with curses. Swanilda says goodbye to her friends; one of them notices the key on the ground that Coppelius dropped. The girls invite Swanilda to visit his mysterious house. Swanilda hesitates, but meanwhile she would like to see her rival. "Well then? Let's go in!" - she says. The girls enter Coppelius's house.

Franz appears, carrying a ladder. Rejected by Swanilda, he wants to try his luck with Coppelia. The opportunity is favorable... Coppelius is far away...

But no, because at that moment when Franz leans the ladder against the balcony, Coppelius appears. He noticed the loss of the key and immediately returned to find it. He notices Franz, who has already climbed the first steps, and he runs away.

Act II:
A vast room filled with all kinds of tools. Many machines are placed on stands - an old man in a Persian costume, a black man in a threatening pose, a small Moor playing a cymbal, a Chinese man holding a harp in front of him.

The girls emerge from the depths with caution. Who are these motionless figures sitting in the shadows?.. They look at the strange figures that first frightened them so much. Swanilda lifts the curtains by the window and notices Coppelia sitting with a book in her hands. She bows to the stranger, who remains motionless. She talks to her - she does not answer. She takes her hand and steps back in fear. Is this really living creature? She puts her hand on her heart - it doesn't beat. This girl is nothing more than an automaton. This is the work of Coppelius! “Ah, Franz!” Swanilda laughs, “This is the beauty to whom he sends kisses!” She has been avenged in abundance!.. The girls run carefree around the workshop.

One of them, passing near the player on the harp, accidentally touches the spring - the machine plays a bizarre melody. The girls, embarrassed at first, calm down and begin to dance. They find the spring that moves the little Moor; he plays the cymbals.

Suddenly an enraged Coppelius appears. He lowers the curtains hiding Coppelia and rushes to pursue the girls. They slip between his hands and disappear down the stairs. Swanilda hid behind the curtains. That's how I got it! But no, when Coppelius raises the curtain, he only considers Coppelia - everything is fine. He sighs with relief.

Meanwhile, some noise can still be heard... A ladder can be seen in the window, and Franz appears on it. Coppelius does not show himself to him. Franz heads towards the place where Coppelia is sitting, when suddenly he is grabbed by two strong hands. Frightened Franz asks Coppelius to apologize and wants to run away, but the old man blocks his way.

"Why did you sneak in to me?" - Franz admits that he is in love - “I’m not as angry as they say about me. Sit down, let’s have a drink and talk!” Coppelius brings an old bottle and two goblets. He clinks glasses with Franz, then stealthily pours out his wine. Franz finds the wine to have a strange taste, but continues to drink, and Coppelius talks to him with feigned good nature.

Franz wants to go to the window where he saw Coppelia. But his legs give way, he falls into a chair and falls asleep.

Coppelius takes the magic book and studies the spells. Then the pedestal with Coppelia rolls up to the sleeping Franz, puts his hands to the young man’s forehead and chest and, it seems, wants to steal his soul in order to revive the girl. Coppelia rises, makes the same movements, then steps off the first step of the pedestal, then from the second. She walks, she lives!.. Coppelius went mad with happiness. His creation surpasses anything ever created human hand! So she begins to dance, first slowly, then so quickly that Coppelius can barely follow her. She smiles at life, she blossoms...

Waltz of the machine gun

She notices the goblet and brings it to her lips. Coppelius barely manages to snatch it from her hands. She notices a magic book and asks what it says. “It’s an impenetrable mystery,” he replies and slams the book shut. She looks at the machines. “I made them,” says Coppelius. She stops in front of Franz. "And this one?" - “This is also an automatic machine.” She sees the sword and tries the tip at the end of her finger, then amuses herself by piercing the little Moor. Coppelius laughs loudly... but she approaches Franz and wants to pierce him. The old man stops her. Then she turns on him and starts stalking him. Finally, he disarms her. He wants to arouse her coquetry and puts a mantilla on her. This seemed to awaken a whole new world of thoughts in the young girl. She is dancing a Spanish dance.

Magnola

Then she finds a Scottish scarf, grabs it and dances a jig.

She jumps, runs anywhere, throws to the ground and breaks everything that comes to her hand. Decidedly, she is too animated! What to do?..

Franz woke up amid all this noise and tries to collect his thoughts. Coppelius finally grabs the girl and hides her behind the curtains. Then he goes to Franz and drives him: “Go, go,” he tells him, “You are no longer fit for anything!”

Suddenly he hears a melody that usually accompanies the movement of his machine gun. He looks at Coppelia, repeating her sharp movements, and Swanilda disappears behind the curtain. It drives two other machines. “How?” thinks Coppelius, “Did they also come to life on their own?” At that same moment he notices Swanilda in the depths, who runs away with Franz. He realizes that he has become the victim of a joke, and falls exhausted in the midst of his automata, which continue their movements, as if to laugh at the misfortune of their master.

Act III:
Meadow in front of the ruler's castle. In the depths hangs a bell, a gift from the owner. An allegorical chariot stops in front of the bell, on which stands a group of people participating in the festival.

The priests blessed the bell. The first couples to be endowed with a dowry and united on this festive day come to greet the ruler.

Franz and Swanilda complete their reconciliation. Franz, having come to his senses, no longer thinks about Coppelia; he knows what kind of deception he was a victim of. Swanilda forgives him and, offering her hand, approaches the ruler with him.

There is a movement in the crowd: old Coppelius has come to complain and asks for justice. They laughed at him: they smashed everything in his home; works of art created with such difficulty are destroyed... Who will cover the loss? Swanilda, who has just received her dowry, voluntarily offers it to Coppelius. But the ruler stops Swanilda: let her keep her dowry. He throws Coppelius a wallet, and while he leaves with his money, he gives a sign for the beginning of the holiday.

Bell Festival

The bell ringer is the first to get off the chariot. He calls for the hours of the morning.

Waltz of the Hours:

Morning hours are; Aurora appears after them.

A bell rings. This is the hour of prayer. Aurora disappears, driven away by the hours of the day. These are the hours of work: the spinners and reapers begin their work. The bell rings again. He announces the wedding.

Final divertissement.

"Coppelia", full title "Coppelia, or the Beauty with Blue Eyes" is a comic ballet by the French composer Leo Delibes. The libretto was written based on E. Hoffmann’s short story “The Sandman” by S. Nuiter and the choreographer of the performance A. Saint-Leon. The ballet premiered at the Paris Opera (Grand Opera) on May 25, 1870, in the presence of Napoleon III and his wife, Empress Eugenie. The ballet is very popular and is constantly staged by many theaters around the world.

Contents of the ballet.
Main storyline ballet provides sufficient scope for creating alternative scenarios, which is what most directors have used. Here is brief retelling script based on the version staged by Petipa and Cecchetti and restored by Sergei Vikharev in Novosibirsk and the Bolshoi Theater.
First act.

The action of Hoffmann's German fairy tale is transferred to Galicia, which makes it possible to include Hungarian and Polish dances in the ballet. The scene depicts the square of a small town. In the window of one of the houses owned by Professor Coppelius, you can see his daughter Coppelia, beautiful and mysterious simply because she is never on the street and does not communicate with anyone in the city. Some youths in the city tried to make signs to her, but she did not respond to them. The main character of the ballet appears on stage, local girl Swanilda, who is engaged to Franz, but suspects that her fiancé, like many young people in the town, is not indifferent to Coppelia.
After some time, Franz appears on the square, at first he goes to Swanilda’s house, but then, thinking that they cannot see him, he bows to Coppelia, who returns his bow. Coppelius and Swanilda are watching this from their window from their hiding place. She runs out and chases the butterfly. Franz catches a butterfly and pins it to his hat. Swanilda is outraged by his cruelty and breaks up with him.
A crowd of people and the burgomaster appear in the square. He announces an upcoming celebration to celebrate the receipt of a new bell. He asks Swanilda if he shouldn’t arrange a wedding with Franz at the same time. By dancing with a straw, she shows that everything is over between her and Franz.
At night the town square is empty. Coppelius leaves the house to a nearby tavern. A crowd of young people surrounds him, inviting him to join them. He breaks free and leaves, but in the process loses the key to the house. A crowd of girls finds the key. They persuade Swanilda to enter Coppelius's house.
Franz appears, not knowing that the girls are in the house, he sets up a ladder and tries to climb through the window. At this time, Coppelius returns and sees Franz trying to get into the house.

Second act.
The action of the second act takes place in Coppelius's night workshop, full of books, tools, and automata dolls. The girls looking around the workshop notice Coppelia and realize that it is a doll. The girls, having played out, press the springs, and the dolls begin to move. Swanilda changes into Coppelia's dress. Coppelius appears and drives the girls away. He examines the doll, which appears to be intact. At this time, Franz climbs in through the window. He heads towards Coppelia, but is grabbed by an old man. Franz tells him of his love for Coppelia. Then Coppelius has an idea to revive the doll. He drugs Franz with wine and sleeping pills.
With the help of magic, he wants to transfer the vitality of Franz. It seems that this is successful - the doll gradually comes to life, dances a Spanish dance and a jig. She moves faster and faster, begins to drop her tools, and wants to pierce Franz with her sword. With great difficulty, Coppelius sat the doll in place. The old man wants to rest. Franz wakes up and leaves the house with Swanilda, who has appeared from behind the curtain. Coppelius understands that he was deceived and the role of the doll was played by Swanilda.

Third act.
City celebration of the consecration of the bell. Franz and Swanilda made peace. Coppelius appears and demands compensation for the destruction caused in the workshop. Swanilda wanted to give him her dowry, but the burgomaster gives him the money. The holiday begins with allegorical dances

	Swanilda (Maria Alexandrova) is able to stand up for herself, like a real prima ballerina (Coppelius - Gennady Yanin) Photo by Dmitry Lekai / Kommersant
	Tatiana Kuznetsova. . "Coppelia" at the Bolshoi Theater ( Kommersant, 16.3.2009). Anna Gordeeva. . The Bolshoi Theater staged "Coppelia" ( News Time, 16.3.2009). Leila Guchmazova. . Restoring old ballets is as fashionable today as authenticism in classical music and vintage in casual wear ( Results, 16.3.2009). Natalia Zvenigorodskaya. . "Coppelia" at the Bolshoi Theater ( NG, 16.3.2009). Svetlana Naborshchikova. The Bolshoi Theater ballet troupe presented "Coppelia" ( Izvestia, 16.3.2009).

Coppelia. Bolshoi Theater. Press about the performance

Kommersant, March 16, 2009

Sergei Vikharev showed off his old ways

"Coppelia" at the Bolshoi Theater

On the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theater, St. Petersburg connoisseur of the classical heritage Sergei Vikharev presented a “new choreographic version” of the ancient ballet “Coppelia” by Leo Delibes. TATYANA KUZNETSOVA appreciated the director's pedagogical gift.

“Coppelia” by Sergei Vikharev enchanted Moscow seven years ago: the Novosibirsk Ballet, led by the St. Petersburger, won the “Golden Mask” for it, leaving the Mariinsky Theater on the beans with Shemyakin’s “The Nutcracker” and the ballets of the living classic John Neumeier. “Coppelia” became the second performance made by Mr. Vikharev based on the recordings of the ballet director Nikolai Sergeev, who also found Petipa; and the debate over whether it is an original or a fake, and whether it is worth reviving the imperial classic at all, has brought the ballet community to the boiling point. Since then, the reconstruction of ballets has become not only a scientific, but also a commercial matter - the fashion for antiquity has spread throughout the world, but the battles do not subside to this day.

It is possible, of course, to catch the directors making inconsistencies - the differences in the Novosibirsk and Moscow versions, seemingly made from the same source, cannot be ignored. The Siberian ballerina performed 32 fouettés, while the Moscow ballerina was entrusted with only 16, and diagonally - as in the Australian version of Coppélia; in the finale of the ballet, the Siberians formed a motionless group, while the Muscovites danced a round dance gallop until the curtain closed; at the Bolshoi, the beginning of the heroine’s variation in the pas de deux was borrowed from the Muscovite Alexander Gorsky - it is much more impressive and allows you to show off your jump, but in Novosibirsk the ballerina was content with the dull pole dance of the St. Petersburg original. The audience does not need to know all these purely balletomanic details, but the point here is in principle: if it is allowed to change small details, then larger alterations are also allowed - since the new dances or mise-en-scène look more interesting than the old ones.

But Sergei Vikharev, insisting on the imperishable value of the St. Petersburg production by Marius Petipa and Enrico Cecchetti, does not allow himself any creative liberties. The mise-en-scenes and dances in the Vikharevo production look quite old-fashioned, and somehow one can believe that this is what the reviewers are talking about hundred years ago wrote: “Coppelia still gave the impression of a ballet of the distant past, sweet in its charming naivety.” Indeed, the plot is about how the girl Swanilda was jealous of her fiancé Franz with the daughter of the gloomy old man Coppelius, hanging out at the window with a book in her hands, how she entered his house to sort out her relationship with her rival, and when she discovered that the homewrecker was just a wind-up doll, she changed clothes in her dress, fooled the doll maker with the imaginary “come to life” of his product, taught the loving Franz a lesson and, completely satisfied, married him, even a century ago was perceived as nothing more than a sweet stylization of antiquity.

And even more so today: the scenery, masterfully reproduced by Boris Kaminsky from black and white photographs of the century before last, looks charmingly archaic. The rich (sometimes too rich and exotic) costumes of the artist Tatyana Noginskaya are exotic - however, the curator of the production Pavel Gershenzon explained in the booklet that although the action takes place in a provincial town on the border of Galicia, in fact it implies an empire in all its splendor - even the Austro-Hungarian, be it French or Russian.

It cannot be said that the choreography of “Coppelia” impresses with imperial splendor. In comparison with its almost contemporaneous films - "Sleeping Beauty" or "Paquita" - it is much more elementary: both in composition and in vocabulary. It looks as if the Frenchman Petipa and the Italian Cecchetti have just begun to put together brick by brick what will later be called the “Russian school.” Here is the French elegance of leisurely steps, and here is the Italian combative agility.

In the Bolshoi's production these contrasts are clearly highlighted. teaching aid. In the first act of "Slavic Variations" of Svanilda and her friends, conductor Igor Dronov either slowed down the tempo almost to a complete stop, or suddenly sped up - but not so much that the dancers' legs sparkled like spokes in a wheel. The artists rushed from the rapid fire into the dying flame with the diligence of excellent students: the director Vikharev turned out to be a wonderful teacher. Muscovites had previously been proud of their women, who looked beautiful in the reconstructed “Corsair” and “Paquita,” but “Coppelia” required complete self-denial - Mr. Vikharev taught them St. Petersburg pronunciation. And he taught: the corps de ballet began to “breathe” with their hands, began to distinguish a high passe from a small sur le cou de pied, and in a passe glissade - to fix the fifth position. And the most incredible thing: a whole crowd of people (except for the uncontrollable Anastasia Meskova in “Mazurka” and the hopeless Maria Isplatovskaya, for some reason nominated as a soloist in “Csardas”) learned pas gala, “keys” and “string” - which, however, they had to harden still in the fifth grade of school.

Only the leading ballerinas went beyond the ballet school in Coppelia. Both Maria Alexandrova and Natalya Osipova dance Svanilda wonderfully: easily, masterfully, flaunting technical and acting merits. But in completely different ways: ballerina Alexandrova plays with style, ballerina Osipova plays out the plot. The first dances more clearly and cleaner, the second - brighter and more relaxed. The first depicts a primo depicting a swashbuckling city woman; the second one infectiously lives through the love vicissitudes of its heroine. In a word, Maria Alexandrova tried to become a St. Petersburger, Natalya Osipova remained a purebred Muscovite. In which she was supported by her partner Vyacheslav Lopatin, who danced Franz superbly: for this couple in love, all their virtuosity was threaded into the end-to-end acting action. The gentleman of Maria Alexandrova danced the variation cleanly, mimed moderately, in right moment found himself in the field of view of his lady, did not knock her down on supports - and for Ruslan Skvortsov all this is already an achievement.

Unlike the Novosibirsk "Coppelia" seven years ago, the Moscow one does not look like a discovery - after all, it is a clone. In addition, over the past years, the public has already been spoiled with ballet antiques - authentic or stylized. The academically restrained production of the St. Petersburgers made many experienced balletomanes regret the loss of the old Moscow version of Alexander Gorsky - democratic and cheerful. However, there was no local Vikharev for her. So thanks for the lesson.

Vremya Novostei, 1 March 6, 2009

Anna Gordeeva

Only girls dance

Coppelia was staged at the Bolshoi Theater

“Coppelia” by Marius Petipa, resurrected on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater by choreographer-restorer Sergei Vikharev, is a rare thing, a unique product for Moscow. Not only because it is a ballet comedy. (There are twenty times fewer performances in the world repertoire that make the audience laugh or at least smile than works that require squeezing out handkerchiefs.) The main thing is that it is a reproduced monument to a forgotten era, an era overcome and, it seemed, buried by the ballet twentieth century. An era in which ballet was a toy - a complex, extremely expensive, noble toy, but still firmly remembering its place.

“Coppelia” was first composed by Arthur Saint-Leon in 1870, then it was reworked by Marius Petipa, and Enrico Cecchetti had a hand in it; restorers (Vikharev and his assistant Pavel Gershenzon) are now talking about reproducing the 1894 version. That is, the start of the 20th century, a little more, and ballet dancers will begin to assert that they are free people of art, themes of rebellion and dignity will come into fashion, and the entire Soviet 20th century will persistently talk about the freedom of a creative person (in parallel, ballet again became the court entertainment of the Kremlin, but no one cared). But “Coppelia,” which tells how the determined girl Swanilda dealt with her crush’s love young man into a mechanical doll and, of course, this doll won - this is still an exemplary puppet ballet.

At that time, dolls were played entirely by men, and therefore ballet was for women; the dancers only “served” precious dolls. In today's "Coppelia" this rule is carefully observed: there is Swanilda, there are eight of her friends, there are allegorical variations (Dawn, Prayer, Work), everyone is provided with dancing, but the young man, because of whom this whole story happened, hardly dances . He walks around the stage, sends ardent greetings to a mechanical girl sitting on the balcony (he doesn’t know that it’s just an automatic machine), quarrels and makes up with a living girl who is in love with him, climbs into the house of a beautiful stranger at night and, caught by the owner of the house , Master Coppelius, gets drunk with him to the point of unconsciousness. But he manages to jump over the stage, fly well over it - something that the dancers of the Moscow school can do so well - only in the finale of the third act, at own wedding. (And then the directors made a compromise - the variation belonged not to Petipa, but to Nikolai Sergeev, who later recorded the choreography, according to whose notation, in fact, the performance was restored.) Your observer had a chance to see two of the three premiere casts: in the first, Ruslan Skvortsov reproduced all the adventures of the hero with condescending good nature, in the second Artem Ovcharenko threw himself into the game with all the fervor of his youth (the scene when the uninvited guest is caught by the owner of the house and dragged by the ear through the living room was much funnier for yesterday's schoolboy). But Skvortsov’s accuracy or Ovcharenko’s impulse (which did not at all affect the purity of the dance - the entrechat was executed flawlessly), while delighting the audience, still determined little in the ballet. “Coppelia” is a purely ballerina performance.

A very complex, patterned text, not composed of platitudes. It requires not only mastery of classical dance, but also colossal endurance. Three acts on stage - Swanilda is jealous of a strange girl on the balcony, Swanilda tells the “ballad of the ear of corn”; Swanilda climbs into Coppelius’s house and pretends to be a doll (a huge scene where she “learns to walk” and “comes to life”, dancing variations on Spanish and Scottish themes); Swanilda is getting married. You need ballerina chic - and at the same time a willingness to play by the rules of a man's world.

Maria Alexandrova and Anastasia Goryacheva created completely different heroines. Which is quite understandable, given the difference in temperament and simply physical condition. Alexandrova is one of the brightest stars of today's Bolshoi Theater, a courageous dancer who is not afraid of experimenting both in completely new and newly revised old choreography. Bold, smart, capable of throwing away both “traditions” and prejudices, for her, playing the court ballerina (playing in turn Swanilda) became an example of the fate that would never be her fate. She can never be a decoration - in the theater or in the State Duma, her business is movement, flight, control of her own destiny. So why not play with the submissive toy? But temper takes its toll, and the best scene is the one where Swanilda fools Coppelius and heartily tramples his “black magic” book with her feet. Alexandrova looks very funny with Gennady Yanin, who plays Coppelius - the confrontation is nose to nose, but the girl clearly looks down on the hapless magician.

It’s different with Goryacheva. She is not a ballerina of rebellion, but that is exactly what a toy ballerina is, a figurine on the mantelpiece. A miniature young lady (to proudly look into the face of her Coppelius - Andrei Sitnikov, she needs to throw her head back), she takes off in quiet and weightless jumps, this is the best Sylph of the theater. (A rare role, a rare gift - and a difficult career, because in today's theater you have to be able to grab your role and, growling, not give it away.) She plays everything the same - and differently. Even her rebellion against Coppelius turns out to be somehow sweet and intelligent: she doesn’t thrash the book with her feet, just stomped it a couple of times. In Alexandrova’s work, the “transformation of a doll” looks very vivid: one moment there was wooden plastic – and now the arms acquired smoothness, the sharpness of the elbows disappeared, the hands sighed and began to sing. For Goryacheva, the same scene is only indicated - her “doll” initially had less “wood”, a quiet and clear soul made its way through the masquerade mask.

A lot of work and a lot of money were invested in the performance, and this is immediately obvious: the scenery was carefully drawn out according to ancient sketches (fantastic work by Boris Kaminsky), the costumes were masterfully composed (again, according to ancient sources) by Tatyana Noginova. Sergei Vikharev tried to straighten the brains and legs of the sprawling Moscow corps de ballet, and the mass dances looked more than decent. (True, in the first act of the dance of the eight friends, probably in order to reduce the “dirtiness” in the dance, the orchestra was ordered to play at such a tempo that from one note to another one could fall asleep and wake up.) The toy turned out to be very successful. Well, for those viewers who are bored without male dances, there is the rest of the Bolshoi Theater repertoire.

Results, March 16, 2009

Leila Guchmazova

Subject to restoration

Restoration of old ballets is as fashionable today as authenticism in classical music and vintage in everyday clothing.

The premiere of "Coppelia" at the Bolshoi Theater was a success, a full house and general excitement among the audience. Almost three hours of the restored ballet by Marius Petipa from 1894 are watched in one breath, despite the great naivety of the plot borrowed from Hoffmann. The young man falls in love with the doll, his bride acts out the situation, the final divertissement of allegories with refined constructions and perfect grace of lines pleases the eye and relaxes the mind. In a word, “classical ballet is a castle of beauty.” This castle was built by a team from the Mariinsky Theater, whose specialty is St. Petersburg ballets of the 19th century. Last year they received the Golden Mask for the restoration of Flora's Awakening in native theater. Now they have added antiques to the Bolshoi poster. Why are ancient ballets so in demand today and what are the prospects for fashion trend?

Restorations of ballet antiquities began in our country ten years ago with a banal reason - with an emergency. It suddenly became clear that the Mariinsky Ballet had nothing to bring for its next tour: there was no fresh, not well-worn exclusive. By this time, the theater had been dancing “The Sleeping Beauty” by Marius Petipa for half a century in a crude version of Soviet times, erasing the shine of the perfect ancient choreography. It was pointless to offer her for tours. But restoring the former, original ballet by Marius Petipa staged at the Mariinsky Theater seemed extremely tempting. The Soviet version was clung to by the tutoring corps (because it was the only one they owned) and the artists (who wants extra work?). But the management of the theater liked the idea of ​​restoration, since it was no longer possible to offer producers in the form of the Russian classic “Swan Lake” - a great thing, of course, but very boring - in the conditions of the greatly increased frequency of tours. Mariinsky choreographer Sergei Vikharev and his assistant Pavel Gershenzon restored the colossus of The Sleeping Beauty. Three years later came La Bayadère, then The Awakening of Flora. The new St. Petersburg antiques caused a storm of critical controversy, but became an undoubted artistic value. And a much-desired exclusive, however, is terribly inconvenient for management: taking such performances on tour is like sending the entire royal court on a trip.

However, in ballet circles there were and are people who understand that the ballets passed off as Petipa’s creations are remotely related to the original source. Ballet is a delicate matter. An opera score, despite all the differences between different orchestrations, still presupposes a clearly written musical text. Another thing is dance, where the turn of the head, the position of the hands and even the intensity of the steps were not recorded in any way in the pre-information age. Traditional foot-to-foot transmission naturally changed the choreography beyond recognition. What can we say about the editors of more or less educated choreographers who adjusted the classics to their own taste. The situation would not have changed if there had not been a breakthrough during perestroika - Russian specialists gained access to the Harvard Theater Collection.

The fact is that among the artists of the Imperial Theaters who scattered after the revolution was Nikolai Sergeev, an assistant to Marius Petipa, who recorded many of his works in a special notation. After the death of the custodian, his archive went up for auction and was acquired by Harvard University - it is clear that his homeland had no time for him. The casket opened, and normal public interest was added to the historically accurate value. The Harvard Archive has become a magnet for restorers and a guarantee of intrigue for the public. The Mariinsky Theater was the first to succeed: both because the management there quickly senses the situation, and because the notorious historical justice sooner or later triumphs - what disappeared from the St. Petersburg stage had to return to it. Petipa's house was simply restoring what had been lost, supplementing the idea of ​​it with forgotten rarities - they were looking for posters, designs for stage drivers, sketches of costumes and scenery.

In Moscow, Yuri Burlaka, now the artistic director of the Bolshoi Theater ballet troupe, works in the same field. He has already completed three restorations at the Bolshoi, including the capital “Corsair” and the recent “Paquita”. Burlaka uses documents from the same Harvard archive and, although he defends restorationist values ​​without the fervor of his St. Petersburg colleagues, he has a very clear idea of ​​​​his tasks. The desires of St. Petersburg and Moscow had already slightly collided at “The Awakening of Flora” - Burlaka worked on it in private and independently from the Mariinsky. More boldly than the St. Petersburgers, he speaks about the imperfections of the Harvard records and the interpretations derived from them. Further competition and cooperation will only get worse. On the one hand, the Bolshoi Theater and the artistic director of its ballet created all the conditions for the current success of Coppelia, staged in Moscow by St. Petersburgers. On the other hand, the Bolshoi had and still has ambitions to restore the ballets of Marius Petipa’s student, Alexander Gorsky. The legacy of this "Petipa of the Bolshoi Theater" remains in the storerooms and is waiting in the wings. And yet, no matter how the interests collide, restorers work towards one goal - the preservation of genuine classics, not littered with time and the ardor of editors.

Their work will be in demand. For some time, out of inertia, we nodded at the complexity of the post-Soviet situation, when, as a result of many years of isolation, we were cut off from global development and were unable to raise new choreographers who would give theaters a fresh repertoire. But it quickly became clear that the global situation was not much better. To put it in fashionable terms, the background is fine, but the creativity is also not very good. The world is dancing its more or less canonical classics of the 19th and 20th centuries and is waiting for new choreographers of the level of, if not Marius Petipa and Augustus Bournonville, then Jiri Kylian and William Forsythe. Against this background, with all allowances for the difference in genres, the passion for ballet antiquity is akin to the fashion for authenticism in classical music, for vintage in everyday clothes, for the endless book series “Everyday Life”, and finally, for historical role-playing games. The craving for antiquity is an understandable reaction to social problems, and classical ballet in this context seems like an ideal way of escapism. However, a piece from the 19th century to the music of Delibes, in which girls mime and flutter slyly on pointe shoes, and the corps de ballet taps out Galician mazurka and czardas based on French performances, looks much more modern than the overwhelming majority of today's ballets. That's the paradox. Surely the god of time Chronos, who is present in Coppelia, messed up something in his calculations.

NG, March 16, 2009

Natalia Zvenigorodskaya

Five-year commitments

"Coppelia" at the Bolshoi Theater

Moscow has just seen another result of Sergei Vikharev’s restoration work - Mikhail Fokine’s ballet Carnival, nominated for the Golden Mask, and it turned out: all the gifts former soloist The beloved Mariinsky troupe - the more than once disputed and exalted Sleeping Beauty, La Bayadère, Flora's Awakening - have been excluded from the repertoire of the Mariinsky Ballet by the new management. Be that as it may, as a result, the new broom and the porphyry-bearing widow suffered: Vikharev undertook another experiment in reconstructing the classics at the Bolshoi Theater. From now on, the country’s main theater has the exclusive right to the revived “Coppelia” for five years.

For the first time, the ballet “Coppelia, or the Beauty with Enamel Eyes” based on Hoffmann’s novella “The Sandman” was staged on stage Paris Opera in May 1870. The music was composed by Léo Delibes, the choreography by Arthur Saint-Leon. One of the few comedies on the ballet stage, the story of a frivolous young man who almost exchanged his living bride for an automatic beauty has been on the playbills of the most famous theaters in the world ever since. George Balanchine, Roland Petit, and Magi Maren turned to her. “Coppelia” by Delibes and Saint-Leon first appeared in Moscow in 1882. And in 1884, Marius Petipa presented his version in St. Petersburg. Ten years later, Enrico Cecchetti revived Coppélia for a benefit performance by Pierina Legnani at the Mariinsky Theatre. The program for the current performance at the Bolshoi includes two choreographers - Petipa and Cecchetti. The ballet was performed in St. Petersburg until 1926 and at the beginning of the century it was recorded by dancer and director Nikolai Sergeev in Stepanov’s choreographic notation system. This is not the first time that Sergeev’s recordings, stored in the Theater Collection at Harvard University, serve the noble cause of returning masterpieces, which Sergei Vikharev has been engaged in for more than ten years. He claims: there is “fundamentally nothing new” in his new choreographic version.

In fact, authenticity in ballet is a slippery topic. At least the music preserves the instruments of the era. And in ballet the instrument is human body. Try to imagine a dancer of Pierina Legnani's build on stage today. There are also problems with costumes. Artist Tatyana Noginova collected them from the pine forest. Separate sketches by Pyotr Grigoriev and Evgeny Ponomarev remained from the 1884 and 1894 versions. In some ways we had to rely on Adolphe Charlemagne’s sketches from the time of the creation of Coppélia. But how to adapt the old styles to the completely different texture of modern bodies, how to adapt to the current fabrics and colors? Their high-tech color, Tatyana admits, “screamed a little” at first. But set designer Boris Kaminsky had to take care of the coloring himself, because from the sets by Peter Lambin and Heinrich Levot for various productions of Coppelia he only got two photos and one sketch. I relied on experience and instinct. They didn't disappoint.

So what about authenticism? And is there any point in endless restorations if authenticity still cannot be achieved? I think there is. And this meaning is not so much in the goal as in the initial subconscious impulse. The desire for an “ideal artistic order” declared by Sergei Vikharev and the ideologist of the current editorial board, Pavel Gershenzon, is nothing more than the thirst inherent in man in general to rediscover the lost paradise, an attempt to join the lost ideal.

Meanwhile, the creators of the play hardly delved into the sacred jungle. We solved more pressing problems. “They are not shy about acting at the Bolshoi Theater!” – Vikharev was delighted. And why, really, should you be ashamed if it works out? Maria Alexandrova (Svanilda) does well, but not so well Ruslan Skvortsov (Franz). But who is truly inimitable is Gennady Yanin (Coppelius). You can't buy charm. And you can’t hide it either under a gray wig or under an eccentric robe.

The staging of the characteristic dances must have caused considerable difficulties. This culture has been largely lost. And it’s not easy for the St. Petersburg choreographer and the Moscow corps de ballet to come to an agreement. Even the same movements in two capitals are sometimes called differently. But is it really that important? That is, is it so important for the viewer? It’s up to the directors to know about the little things and understand the intricacies. Without preserving the little things, you cannot comply with the laws of genre and style. Namely, with them a feeling of harmony will come to the viewer. After all, this is what everything is essentially started for.

Izvestia, March 16, 2009

Svetlana Naborshchikova

Just no hands!

The Bolshoi Theater Ballet Company presented "Coppelia" - the third premiere of the 233rd season. The production team - choreographer Sergei Vikharev, conductor Igor Dronov, designers Tatyana Noginova (costumes) and Boris Kaminsky (set design) - are sure that the performance was performed in almost this form at the Mariinsky Theater in the early 1900s.

Choreographer-restorer Vikharev has to take his word for it - there was and is not an exact system for recording choreographic text in ballet. George Balanchine generally argued that ballet is like a butterfly. Today he lives, tomorrow he dies. However, for Mr. Vikharev, resuscitation of ballet butterflies has become a matter of life. The largest copies of his collection can be considered the four-act “Sleeping Beauty” from 1890 and “La Bayadère” from 1900. And the most miniature are “Carnival” (1910), shown recently in Moscow, and “The Awakening of Flora” (1894), awarded last year with the Golden Mask, with a live goat as the most attractive character.

"Coppelia", or "The Beauty with Enamel Eyes", was first released in 1870 at the Paris Opera. 12 years later, the creation of composer Leo Delibes, librettist Charles Nuitter and choreographer Arthur Saint-Leon was staged in Moscow, and two years later Marius Petipa moved it to St. Petersburg. Nowadays the ballet is performed on stages around the world in various choreographic versions. Delibes' luxurious music remains unchanged (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky put it above his own) and the plot, borrowed from Hoffmann's fairy tale "The Sandman".

The plot, the main characters of which are the jealous beauty Svanilda (Maria Alexandrova), the simple-minded young man Franz (Ruslan Skvortsov), the alchemist Coppelius (Gennady Yanin) and the wondrous beauty of the doll, the directors developed with the help of incredibly colorful costumes (an example of ancient color scheme - gray-yellow- Swanilda’s black and crimson robe), blissful decorations like a Christmas picture and abundantly layered with pantomime dances. The dances - classical and characteristic - are charming and will become even more beautiful if the dancers add elegance to the ancient steps. The latter does not apply to Maria Alexandrova. Her ballerina chic and artistic freedom are worth a lot.

As for pantomime, the domestic audience has long been unaccustomed to its abundance. Perhaps Alexei Ratmansky's The Little Humpbacked Horse, now staged at the Mariinsky Theater, where there is also plenty of pantomime, will change the situation, but for now, a dictionary included in the program, explaining the conversation with hands, would not hurt in the new-old Coppelia.

The problem is that the characters in Coppelia, deprived of dancing - and among them Franz, whose share is the only pas de deux - look like complete idiots. For example, Franz puts his index fingers to his temples (“Do you think I came to cuckold you?”) and shakes his head with the risk of damaging the cervical vertebrae (“Nothing of the kind!”). Coppelius reacts with a similar finger figure ("Horns?"), then breaks in half, putting his arms forward and turning his head like a Chinese bobblehead ("With a doll?"), after which he assumes a vertical position and vigorously pounds his fist on his palm ("What a fool you, boy...").

There are many such conversations in ballet, and, as sources testify, our great-great-grandfathers liked them. However, the smartest of them understood that descendants, having seen this, would seriously think about the mental health of the heroes. Otherwise, the director of “Coppelia” Marius Petipa would not have said the prophetic words: “I am a great admirer of everything elegant, but not skeletons, with which there is nothing to be done in the art of choreography. A talented choreographer, resuming previous ballets, will compose dances in accordance with his own imagination and tastes audience of his time and will not waste time and labor copying what was done by others in ancient times."

Why is this instruction not being taken into account? talented Mr. Vikharev is a mystery. Moreover, in its current form, the fate of the ballet inspires concern. There are only a few balletomanes who can appreciate its authentic charms. The general public will prefer a blockbuster like "The Corsair" or a dance extravaganza a la "The Pharaoh's Daughter." The play is too long for children. Fans of Delibes will not exchange the sparkling recordings of the best groups in the world for the heavy playing of a ballet orchestra. Those who like to look at the interiors of the New Stage of BT remain. But for them, the theater’s repertoire already has enough titles.

Coppelia Ballet in two acts

Composer - Leo Delibes

Libretto - Ш . Nuitter , Arthur Saint Leon.

Staging and choreography – Arthur Saint Leon , Marius Petipa .

Editorial team: Yuri Vetrov, Elena Radchenko.

Scenography and costumes - Sergey Radchenko , Elena Radchenko .

History of the performance

IN this ballet interesting classic dancing. Interesting characteristic dancing. AND Very interesting pantomime. That There is have place be All three whale, on which costs old classical ballet. AND plus - wonderful music Delibes.

Besides excellent dancing, There is at this antique ballet And more two undeniable dignity. In— first, « Coppelia» - This comedy, A their Not So many is listed among masterpieces classical heritage. In— second, comedy With beautiful music.

Home plot line this cheerful ballet, How neither Weird, taken from absolutely sad short stories Hoffman, mainly - from « Pesochny person». U Hoffman love enthusiasm young men doll ends tragically, A V ballet - wedding this young men With alive And energetic beautiful - Swanilda, managed resist insidious creator dolls - Coppelia, a little was Not has become fatal homewrecker.

« Coppelia» saw light ramps V 1870 G. V Parisian opera . Her creator became Arthur Sep— Leon - choreographer, A Also dancer— virtuoso, connoisseur dance folklore, composer And violinist. His subject interest To « dancing peoples peace» And determined appearance V musical score such rich « recruitment» based on folklore dance melodies.

For those fourteen years, What passed With moment Parisian premieres to own productions Petipa on stage Petersburg Bolshoi theater, « Coppelia» came out on scenes Brussels, Moscow Bolshoi theater And London. To endXIXcentury ballet was delivered Also V New— York, Milan, Copenhagen, Munich And more once V St. Petersburg, Now already on stage Mariinsky theater. XXcentury Also gave tribute this ballet, offering V volume number And Very modern reading And even at times refusing from his comedic elements.

Summary:

Act 1 - Scene 1 .

In a small town in Galiciapreparing for the holiday, Coppelius the master of puppets, is preparing a surprise. The day before, all residents were shocked by incredible news. Coppelius has a charming girl living with him, and no one knows, who is she! A stranger occupies the minds of young people. The boys tried to get to know her during breaks, although unsuccessfully, and the girls watched them jealously! However, one of the young people, Franz, lucky: the girl not only responded to his bow, but also answered him with an air kiss! Because of this, Franz had a quarrel with his beloved Swanilda.who refused to communicate with him.

It's getting dark. Young people try to get into Coppelius's house, but the owner catches them in the act and disperses them. In the chaos he loses the key to the house. Swanilda and her friends find the key, and the girls decide to sneak into the houseto find outWho is this beautiful stranger?

Coppelius returns, finds the door open and quietly enters the house, wanting to catch uninvited guests! And at the same time Franz, offended by Swanilda, decides to climb through the window to a strangerwithout knowingthat Swanilda and Coppelius are already in the house!

Picture2

Sneaking into the house, girls see a lot of dolls there. Among them is a beautiful stranger, which also turned out to be a doll! To celebrate, the girls wind up all the dolls and dance. Coppelius catches them! The friends manage to escape, but Swanilda is detained by Coppelius. At this time, Franz appears in the window! Swanilda complains to the Master about the young man’s betrayal. Good Coppelius feels sorry for the girl and he offers to play a prank on Franz and teach him a lesson! Making the flighty young man drunk with wine, he dresses Swanilda in a doll dressand introduces him to a beautiful stranger. The young man is confused by the girl’s angular movements.

When Coppelius tells himthat this is a doll, Franz cannot come to his senses from amazement! After admiring the dancing of the beautiful doll, Franz is about to leave. Coppelius stops him and says that he can revive the doll! Franz doesn’t believe him, but the doll really came to life! Franz is convinced of this by listening to her heart! She came to life! F backpack asks for her hand, now his betrayal is obvious! Swanilda rips off the doll's wig and makes Franz repent of his actions.. The young man begs her for forgiveness. Swanilda is relentless! However, Franz's repentance is so sincereand their love is so obviousthat the intervention of Coppeliuswho decided to reconcile the lovers, leads everything to a happy ending!

Act 2 – Scene 3

The long-awaited holiday has arrived. The square fills with people and dancing begins. In the midst of fun, the master asks for attention! He brings in a mysterious stranger, turns the key, and she dances! The charming girl in the window turned out to be a doll! Residents of the city admire the skill of Coppelius and meet the new bride and groom - Franz and Swanilda!!!