page_title: Coppélia
section_title: Development of the ballet
hierarchical_section_title: Coppélia / Development of the ballet
caption_attribution_description: Bild aus Seite 789 in "Die Gartenlaube". Image from page 789 of journal Die Gartenlaube, 1877. Deutsch: Bildunterschrift: „Adele Grantzow.Nach einer Photographie auf Holz gezeichnet von Adolf Neumann.“ English: caption: "Adele Grantzow.Nach einer Photographie auf Holz gezeichnet von Adolf Neumann."
context_page_description: Coppélia ou La fille aux yeux d'email is probably the best-known and most performed comedy ballet in the world. Arthur Saint-Léon and Charles Nuitter based the ballet on E. T. A. Hoffmann's 1816 fairy tale Der Sandmann. Léo Delibes wrote the music. Saint-Léon choreographed the ballet.
  The ballet is set in a Polish village long ago. Swanhilda and Frantz are sweethearts. Swanhilda thinks Frantz is in love with Coppélia, a strange girl in the house of a dollmaker named Dr. Coppélius. Swanhilda discovers Coppélia is a doll. Dr. Coppélius tries to bring the doll to life using Frantz's life force. Swanhilda saves her sweetheart's life, and the two live happily ever after.
  Coppélia was in rehearsal for three years. It had many troubles. One was finding just the right dancer to portray Swanhilda. Sixteen-year-old Giuseppina Bozzacchi was finally chosen. Frantz was played by Eugenie Fiocre. The ballet was first performed on 25 May 1870 at the Théâtre Impérial de l´Opéra in Paris. Coppélia was a great success. It has been performed around the world.
context_section_description: Coppélia is one of many (if not the first) ballet about bringing a doll to life. Charles Nuitter started work on the libretto in late 1866 or early 1867. He had a young dancer named Léontine Beaugrand in mind for the part of Swanhilda. Delibes set to work writing the music.
  Rehearsals started. The director of the Opéra wanted a star with a well known name to portray the ballet's heroine, Swanhilda. Beaugrand was a lovely young dancer, but her career was just starting. She had yet to have the sort of name that would draw ballet-goers to the theatre.
  Adèle Grantzow, a German ballerina dancing at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, was hired to play Swanhilda. Saint-Léon was working between France and Russia at this time. He could not completely devote himself to Coppélia. Consequently, the ballet was rehearsed over a three-year period.
  Coppélia lost its star when Grantzow was injured. She went back to Russia. Beaugrand was again passed over for the part of Swanhilda. Giuseppina Bozzacchi was a sixteen-year-old dancer in the company. It was she who was chosen to play Swanhilda.
caption: Adèle Grantzow, 1877
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