La Sylphide

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This article is about the Taglioni and Bournonville ballets. For Mikhail Fokine's ballet, see Les
Sylphides.
La Sylphide (English: The Sylph; Danish: Sylfiden) is a romantic ballet in two acts. There were
two versions of the ballet; the original one choreographed by Filippo Taglioni in 1832, and a
version choreographed by August Bournonville in 1836. Bournonville's is the only version
known to have survived and thus is one

Taglioni version[edit]
La Sylphide

Marie Taglioni in La Sylphide

Choreographer

Filippo Taglioni

Music

Jean-Madeleine Schneitzhoeffer

Libretto

Adolphe Nourrit

Based on

Charles Nodier's "Trilby, ou Le lutin d'Argail"

Premiere

March 12, 1832

Salle Le Peletier, Paris Opera, Paris, France

Original ballet

Paris Opera Ballet

company

Characters

James Ruben
The Sylph
Gurn
Effie
Old Madge
Effie's mother

Setting

Scotland

Created for

Marie Taglioni and Joseph Mazilier

Genre

Romantic ballet

On March 12, 1832, the first version of La Sylphide premiered at the Salle Le Peletier of
the Paris Opra with choreography by the groundbreaking Italian choreographer Filippo
Taglioni and music by Jean-Madeleine Schneitzhoeffer.[1]
Taglioni designed the work as a showcase for his daughter Marie. La Sylphide was the first
ballet where dancing en pointe had an aesthetic rationale and was not merely an acrobatic
stunt, often involving ungraceful arm movements and exertions, as had been the approach of
dancers in the late 1820s. Marie was known for shortening her skirts in the performance of La
Sylphide (to show off her excellent pointe work), which was considered highly scandalous at
the time.[citation needed]
The ballet's libretto was written by tenor Adolphe Nourrit, the first "Robert"
in Meyerbeer's Robert Le Diable, an opera which featured Marie Taglioni in its dances section,
"The Ballet of Nuns." Nourrit's scenario was loosely based on a story by Charles Nodier,
"Trilby, ou Le lutin d'Argail," but swapped the genders of the protagonists a goblin and
a fisherman's wife in Nodier; a sylph and a farmerin the ballet.
The scene of the Old Madge's witchcraft which opens Act II of the ballet was inspired
by Niccol Paganini's Le Streghe, which in its turn was inspired by a scene of witches
from , an 1812 ballet by choreographer Salvatore Vigan and
composerFranz Xaver Sssmayr.[2]

Emma Livry in the title role of the Taglioni/Schneitzhoeffer La Sylphide. Paris, 1862

Revivals[edit]
Emma Livry, one of the last ballerinas of the Romantic ballet era, made her debut with
the Paris Opera Ballet as the sylph in an 1858 production of La Sylphide. When Marie
Taglioni (who had retired in 1847) saw Livry in the role, she stayed on in Paris to teach the girl,
who reminded her of herself as a young woman.
In 1892, Marius Petipa mounted a revival of Taglioni's original La Sylphide for the Imperial
Ballet, with additional music by Riccardo Drigo. A variation Drigo composed for the
ballerina Varvara Nikitina in Petipa's version is today the traditional solo danced by the lead
ballerina of the famous Paquita Grand Pas Classique, interpolated by Anna Pavlova in 1904.
In 1972, a revival of the Taglioni version was staged by Pierre Lacotte for the Paris Opera
Ballet. Since Taglioni's choreography has been irretrievably lost, Lacotte's choreography is
based on prints, notes, drawings, and archival materials from the era of the ballet's premiere.
Lacotte's choreography is in the style of the period but entirely new and has been criticised by
some[who?]as inauthentic. Interpreters of the role of Lacotte's version at the Opera National de
Paris includeGhislaine Thesmar (Lacotte's wife) and Aurelie Dupont. Both artists have
recorded their work on DVD and video.

Bournonville version[edit]
La Sylphide
Choreographer

August Bournonville

Music

Herman Severin Lvenskiold

Libretto

Adolphe Nourrit

Based on

Charles Nodier's "Trilby, ou Le lutin d'Argail"

Premiere

November 28, 1836

Royal Danish Theatre,Copenhagen, Denmark

Original ballet company

Royal Danish Ballet

Characters

James Ruben
The Sylph
Gurn
Effie
Old Madge
Effie's mother

Setting

Scotland

Created for

Lucile Grahn and August Bournonville

Genre

Romantic ballet

August Bournonville in 1841.[3]

The Danish ballet master August Bournonville had intended to present a revival of Taglioni's
original version in Copenhagen with the Royal Danish Ballet, but the Paris Opera demanded
too high a price for Schneitzhoeffer's score. In the end, Bournonville mounted his own
production of La Sylphide based on the original libretto, with music by Herman Severin
Lvenskiold. The premiere took place on November 28, 1836,[4] with the prodigy Lucile
Grahn and Bournonville in the principal roles.
The Bournonville version has been danced in its original form by the Royal Danish Ballet ever
since its creation and remains one of Bournonville's most celebrated works. Modern
interpreters of Bournonville's version include Eva Evdokimova and Lis Jeppesen, whose
performance is recorded on DVD.

Scenario[edit]
Act 1[edit]
In the hall of a Scottish farmhouse, James Ruben, a young Scotsman, sleeps in a chair by the
fireside. A sylph gazes lovingly upon him and dances about his chair. She kisses him and then
vanishes when he suddenly wakes. James rouses his friend Gurn from sleep, and questions
him about the sylph. Gurn denies having seen such a creature and reminds James that he is
shortly to be married. James dismisses the incident and promises to forget it.
James' bride-to-be, Effie, arrives with her mother and bridesmaids. James dutifully kisses her,
but is startled by a shadow in the corner. Thinking his sylph has returned, he rushes over, only
to find the witch, Old Madge, kneeling at the hearth to warm herself. James is furious with the
disappointment.
Effie and her friends beg Old Madge to tell their fortunes, and the witch complies. She gleefully
informs Effie that James loves someone else and she will be united with Gurn. James is
furious. He forces Madge from the hearth and throws her out of the house. Effie is delighted
that James would tangle with a witch for her sake.
Effie and her bridesmaids hurry upstairs to prepare for the wedding, and James is left alone in
the room. As he stares out the window, the sylph materializes before him and confesses her
love. She weeps at his apparent indifference. James resists at first, but, captivated by her
ethereal beauty, capitulates and kisses her tenderly. Gurn, who spies the moment from the
shadows, scampers off to tell Effie what has happened.
When the distressed Effie and her friends enter after hearing Gurn's report, the sylph
disappears. The guests assume Gurn is simply jealous and laugh at him. Everyone dances.
The sylph enters during the midst of the revelry and attempts to distract James.
As the bridal procession forms, James stands apart and gazes upon the ring he is to place on
Effie's finger. The Sylph snatches the ring, places it on her own finger, and, smiling enticingly,
rushes into the forest. James hurries after her in ardent pursuit. The guests are bewildered with
James' sudden departure. Effie is heartbroken. She falls into her mother's arms sobbing
inconsolably.

Act 2[edit]
In a fog-shrouded part of the forest, Madge and her companion witches dance grotesquely
about a cauldron. The revellers add all sorts of filthy ingredients to the brew. When the
contents glow, Madge reaches into the cauldron and pulls a diaphanous, magic scarf from its
depths. The cauldron then sinks, the witches scatter, the fog lifts, and a lovely glade is
revealed.

James enters with the sylph who shows him her charming, woodland realm. She brings him
berries and water for refreshment but avoids his embrace. To cheer him, she summons her
ethereal sisters who shyly enter and perform their airy dances. The young Scotsman is
delighted and joins the divertissement before all flee for another part of the forest.
Meanwhile, the wedding guests have been searching the woodland for James. They enter the
glade. Gurn finds his hat, but Madge convinces him to say nothing. Effie enters, weary with
wandering about the forest. Madge urges Gurn to propose. He does and Effie accepts his
proposal.
When they all have left, James enters the glade. Madge meets him, and tosses him the magic
scarf. She tells the young farmer the scarf will bind the sylph to him so she cannot fly away.
She instructs him to wind the scarf about the sylph's shoulders and arms for full effect. James
is ecstatic. When the sylph returns and sees the scarf, she allows James to place it around her
trembling form.
As James embraces the sylph passionately, her wings fall off, she shudders, and dies in
James' arms. Sorrowfully, her sisters enter and lift her lifeless form. Suddenly, a joyful wedding
procession led by Effie and Gurn crosses the glade. James is stunned. Madge directs his gaze
heavenward; he sees the sylph borne aloft by her sisters. James collapses. Madge exults over
his lifeless body. Justice has triumphed.

Characters[edit]

James Ruben, a Scottish farmer

The Sylph, a forest spirit

Gurn, James' friend

Effie, James' fiancee

Old Madge, a village sorceress

Effie's mother, an elderly woman

Bridesmaids, wedding guests, witches

Other versions[edit]
John Barnett's 1834 opera The Mountain Sylph is based on the storyline of La Sylphide; this
opera's plot was in turn satirized by W. S. Gilbert in the 1882 Savoy opera,Iolanthe.[5]
La Sylphide is often confused with the 1909 ballet Les Sylphides, another ballet involving the
mythical sylph. The latter was choreographed by Michel Fokine for the Ballets Russes as a
short performance. Though inspired by La Sylphide, it was meant to be performed as an
independent ballet with its own merits.