Sylvia (ballet)

Sylvia, a ballet with music by Léo Delibes, was premiered in 1876.

On the score

 * "Listened to the Leo Delibes' ballet Sylvia. In fact, I actually listened, because it is the first ballet, where the music constitutes not only the main, but the only interest. What charm, what elegance, what richness of melody, rhythm, harmony. I was ashamed. If I had known this music early then, of course, I would not have written Swan Lake." -- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to Sergei Taneyev (composer) on December 7, 1877.


 * Swan Lake is "poor stuff in comparison" -- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Plot

 * "Boy loves girl, girl captured by bad man, girl restored to boy by god" -- Sir Frederick Ashton

Choreography

 * "The part has everything for Fonteyn. It exploits her imperiousness, her tenderness, her pathos, her womanliness, her bravura. It gives us Fonteyn triumphant, Fonteyn bewildered, Fonteyn exotic, Fonteyn pathetic, Fonteyn in excelsis. The range of her dancing is unequalled, the heart-splitting significance she can give to a simple movement unsurpassed.  The whole ballet is like a garland presented to the ballerina by her choreographer." -- Clive Barnes