Coppelia

ACT I – The Village Square

Swanilda enters and tries to attract the attention of Dr. Coppelius’s daughter Coppelia, who appears reading at a window. At the same time she sees her fiancé Frantz, whom she suspects of secretly admiring Coppelia. She watches him bow to her rival, she bows stiffly back. Disguising her feelings, she runs into the square, chasing a butterfly. Frantz catches the butterfly, stabs it and attaches it to his collar. The two lovers are interrupted by the Burgermeister, who announces to the Villagers that tomorrow a festival will be held to inaugurate the new bell given to the village by the Lord of the Manor. He proposes that the marriage of Swanilda and Frantz takes place during this festival. The villagers together dance a lively Mazurka. The Burgermeister then gives Swanilda a stalk of corn. Traditionally, if the wheat rattles when shaken, her love will be true. Swanilda and Frantz dance with the wheat, but, when she shakes the stalk, she and her friends hear nothing. Although Frantz says he hears it, she refuses to believe him. Swanilda refuses Frantz’s invitation to dance the Czardas and the Innkeeper, seeing the refusal, seizes the opportunity to thrust his daughter forward into Frantz’s empty arms. The Villagers, Frantz and the innkeeper’s daughter dance the czardas. Not to be outdone, Swanilda joins her girlfriends to dance as if nothing had happened to disturb their good time. The girls dance together until night falls. When they have dispersed, Dr. Coppelius emerges from his house and is at once set upon by a gang of youths; escaping them he drops his key. Swanilda finds the key and when she sees Frantz in the shadows, is tempted to use it to see her rival. She and her companions enter the mysterious house.

ACT II – Inside Dr. Coppelius’s Workshop

Swanilda and her friends timidly enter Dr. Coppelius’s workshop, which is full of dolls. They discover the Coppelia too, is no more than a mechanical doll. When Dr. Coppelius returns, all run away except Swanilda, who hides in the alcove where Coppelia is concealed. When Frantz now stealthily enters the workshop, Dr. Coppelius consults his book of magic, he makes as though to draw the life force from Frantz and transfer it to Coppelia. Swanilda impersonating the doll Coppelia tricks Dr. Coppelius into thinking his magic has worked. Fearing his doll is out of control Dr. Coppelius pushes her back into the alcove. Swanilda creeps out of the alcove and with the help of her friend’s sets the doll in motion. She and Frantz reunite, run off leaving Dr. Coppelius distraught at his doll Coppelia.

ACT III – The Village Square

The new bell stands on a cart, around which the dancers who are about to take part in the festival are grouped. Swanilda and Frantz are married. A festival to celebrate the arrival of the new bell begins. Divertissements (dances) are performed which reflect the important events when the bell will toll; The Hours of the Day, The Dawn, Prayer, The Harvest, Marriage, War and Peace.

Interesting facts