Is this ballet for you?
Go If: You love Romantic ballets like Giselle but wish the male dancer had a bigger role. You’re slightly OCD and sympathise with James’s determination to possess the ethereal Sylph.
Skip If: “What do you mean the leads never really dance together?†You can’t live without a proper Pas de Deux – preferably full of lifts – in classical ballet.
You should also skip if the ballet you’re looking for is actually Les Sylphides, which has nothing to do – and should never be confused – with La Sylphide.
Dream Cast
The Sylph: She’s a well-known face in our dream casts already but what can we do? Alina Cojocaru is the quintessential Sylph.
James: We keep crossing our fingers that it won’t be long till we see Steven McRae take this role. With his crisp footwork and dramatic intensity he is ideally suited.
Alina Cojocaru as The Sylph in La Sylphide. Photo: Johan Persson / ROH ©
History & Background
La Sylphide was the first major Romantic ballet and it is one of the oldest still regularly performed. Its story derives from the Romantic Period, more exactly from the obsessive stories of French writer Charles Nodier. In Nodier’s universe life would invariably “fluctuate between bliss and despair; the dream cannot be sustained for very long†and sorrow was “the only logical alternative to ecstasy, the only emotion to carry similar intensityâ€.  Thus, the Romantic concept of an unfortunate hero, forever chasing an elusive, supernatural force and ultimately facing a tragic destiny.
The Taglioni Version
Nodier’s Trilby ou Le Lutin d’Argail (The Elf of Argyll) published in 1822 tells of a male elf who lures a Highlands fisherman’s wife away from her husband. Inspired by it and with legendary ballerina Marie Taglioni in mind, Adolphe Nourrit, an operatic tenor and arts sponsor decided to create a ballet reversing the genders in Nodier’s story and casting Taglioni as the seducing spirit.
Nourrit borrowed the concept of the Sylph from previous 18th century ballets, only here he gave the Sylph more personality, making her a leading character. He also looked to Sir Walter Scott’s The Heart of Midlothian for the names Effie and Madge and possibly to Shakespeare’s Macbeth for the witches.
He took this scenario to Paris Opera ballet master Filippo Taglioni, Marie’s father. Instantly recognizing its potential as a vehicle for his virtuoso daughter Taglioni commissioned music from Jean-Madeleine Schneitzhöffer and the ballet premiered on 12 March 1832. La Sylphide became an instant classic and cemented Marie Taglioni’s reputation as the most ethereal of ballerinas.
Alina Cojocaru as The Sylph and Ivan Putrov as James in La Sylphide. Photo: Johan Persson / ROH ©
The Bournonville version
Bournonville’s La Sylphide is a rare case of a remake that’s better than the original. The Danish ballet master was Taglioni’s contemporary and great admirer of the ballerina. He had seen her dance La Sylphide in Paris in 1834 and for him “She lifted one up from this earth, and her dancing could make one weep”. Bournonville acquired Nourrit’s scenario and commissioned a new score from Norwegian composer Herman Løvenskiold (as Schneitzhoeffer’s score was too expensive). His new and improved La Sylphide premiered in Copenhagen in 1836.
The Danish ballet master saw in La Sylphide an opportunity to promote his own pupil Lucile Grahn but at the same time he wanted to take some emphasis out of the ballerina and put her on equal footing with the male dancer. He re-choreographed the ballet to suit his own abilities as a virtuoso dancer, thus giving a bigger role to the character of James, full of mighty leaps, turns and challenging beaten steps.
Bournonville filled his ballet with deeper meaning and intention. Cutting the “fat†in Taglioni’s choreography, he condensed it and fleshed out the poetic imagery and symbolism of the story. Thus, the witch Madge is a more important figure who sustains the drama. He also decided that James should not be able to touch the Sylph, so their pas de deux in Act 2 became a dance where James tries to emulate the ethereal moves he sees in the Sylphs. James tries to become like the creature he’s obsessed with. He aspires to belong in her world and to possess her and this ultimately leads to tragedy.
He also placed enormous importance in the contrast between James’s family life and the forest world of the Sylphs. In Act 1 all group dances are in character shoes and “to the ground†whereas in the forest in Act 2 the Sylphs dance en pointe and “off the ground’. Such carefully planned additions are evident when one compares his ballet to Pierre Lacotte‘s 1973 restoration based on Taglioni’s library notes which forms part of POB’s repertoire. With the intention of staying true to Taglioni’s text Lacotte kept Effie and her friends en pointe and glossed over the problem of James’s more conventional pas de deux with the Sylph, which seems to contradict the narrative.
At the time the ballet premiered some accused Bournonville of plagiarism, but for others it was clear that his version was overall superior. And while Taglioni’s version did not survive unscathed throughout the years, the Royal Danish Ballet (RDB) tradition ensured that Bournonville’s La Sylphide remained intact. It has been passed on from one generation to the next with very few modifications and is regularly performed by some of the world’s biggest ballet companies.
Mads Blangstrup in RDB's La Sylphide. Photo: David Amzallag / RDB ©
The Story
Act 1 –A Scottish Farmhouse
It is James’s wedding/betrothal day. As he lies asleep in an armchair by the fireplace waiting for his fiancée Effie and guests he is watched by the Sylphide. She hovers over his chair as he dreams (perhaps of her?), she dances out her love for him and impulsively kisses him. James wakes up perplexed. Seeing the Sylph he asks her why she is there but she avoids him and flies away up the chimney. James’s friend Gurn arrives and then Effie and her friends, but James is still slightly bewildered. Soon he notices a haggard old woman – Madge – warming herself at the fireplace, the same spot where he had last seen the Sylph before she flew off. Angrily he attacks Madge and wants to expel her from his property but his friends convince him to calm down and be more hospitable. She settles into a chair and offers to read the fortunes of Effie and her friends. She predicts that some will bear healthy children while others will bear children who will die. Madge tells Effie she will have many children and will be very happy and as Effie approaches James to share these news Madge tells her that her future lies instead with Gurn, sparking James’s fury again.
As Effie goes upstairs to prepare for the ceremony and guests leave, James is visited once again by the Sylph. She appears at the window and he rushes to welcome her, kneeling at her feet as if she were a deity. She approaches him and tells her she is sad: she loves him but she knows he loves someone else. He tries to cheer her up and soon she becomes flirtatious again wrapping his tartan scarf around herself. As guests begin to return James makes the Sylph hide in his armchair underneath a plaid blanket. Gurn, suspicious of James’s odd behaviour, uncovers the blanket but finds nothing there. All guests have now arrived and they dance together but the Sylph reappears teasing James. He is unable to concentrate on partnering his fiancée and his head turns increasingly towards the Sylph. As the young couple are about to exchange rings the Sylph snatches Effie’s ring and flees. James runs after her while the desolate Effie is consoled by James’s mother and her friends.
Tamara Rojo as The Sylph and Rupert Pennefather as James in La Sylphide. Photo: Johan Persson / ROH ©
Act 2 – A Misty Forest & Glade
The second act opens with Madge and her coven dancing around a boiling cauldron, out of which Madge pulls a scarf. The Sylph and James appear. She shows him her world, summoning other Sylphs to entertain him. He declares his love for her. They all dance together but she always evades his grasp. Frustrated he encounters Madge who – feigning good intentions – gives him the scarf and tells him to use it as a means to capture the Sylph.
Effie, Gurn and friends look for James. Gurn encounters James’s hat in the woods but Madge convinces him to say nothing of it. She advises Effie to forget about James and settle for Gurn. He is delighted and immediately proposes to Effie who accepts him somewhat reluctantly. Meanwhile, James shows the scarf to the Sylph. She is mesmerized and pleads him to give it to her but as he wraps the scarf around her, her wings fall off and she dies. The Sylphs carry her away while James grieves. Madge comes back and forces James to see all he has lost. In the background he sees the festivities celebrating Effie and Gurn’s union. He falls to the ground in a swoon as Madge rises over him triumphantly. In Johan Kobborg‘s version for The Royal Ballet Madge slightly lifts off her skirt revealing a bit of tutu, which suggests that Madge could have been a fallen Sylph herself.
Jette Buchwald as Madge and Mads Blangstrup as James in RDB's La Sylphide. Photo: David Amzallag / RDB ©
The Music
It had been Bournonville’s intention to use Schneitzhöffer’s original score for his Sylphide but when it proved too expensive to acquire he turned to 19-year old Herman Severin Løvenskiold, a talented pianist and fledgling composer. The score became one of Løvenskiold’s greatest successes combining a sense of narrative and character leitmotifs with lively dance sequences.
It is said that Bournonville’s decision to use Løvenskiold’s music had met with some opposition; some detractors had planned to boo it at the premiere, but ultimately the music was so lovely that the protest never materialised. His is now the oldest Romantic ballet score still being performed.
Løvenskiold and Bournonville collaborated again in 1847 on the ballet The New Penelope or The Spring Festival in Athens. Although his music was well received the ballet did not remain on RDB’s long term repertory.
Your La Sylphide Spotify/Ipod playlist should include the below tracks:
1. Act I: Overture
2. Act I: Introduction
3. Act I: Effie’s entrance
4. Act I: Fortune-teller Scene: James – Effie – the Witch
5. Act I: Window Scene: James and the Sylphide
6. Act I: Arrival of the Guests – Pas d’Ecossaise
7. Act I: Pas de deux – Reel
8. Act I: Finale
9. Act II: The Witch Scene
10.Act II: Forest Scene: James and the Sylphide
11. Act II: The Sylphide calls the Sylphs
12. Act II: Sylph Scene: Divertissement
13. Act II: James chasing the Sylphide
14. Act II: Gurn – The Witch – Effie
15. Act II: James and the Witch – The Scarf
16. Act II: Finale
17. Act II: Finale: Pas de deux
Videos
- Johan Kobborg (guesting with the Bolshoi) as Madge tells Effie and her friends their fortunes [link]
- Johan Kobborg (again guesting with the Bolshoi) as James [link]
- Stuttgart Ballet’s Marijn Rademaker as James [link]
- A short feature on Johan Kobborg’s production for the Bolshoi with Natalia Osipova as The Sylph [link]
- Natalia Osipova as the Sylph in Act 1 of Johan Kobborg’s production [link]
- Royal Danish Ballet promo video for La Sylphide featuring Thomas Lund & Gudrun Bojesen [link]
- Historical footage from 1906 of Royal Danish Ballet prima ballerina Ellen Price as the Sylph [link]
Mini Biography
Original Choreography: Filippo Taglioni
Original Music: Jean Schneitzhöffer;
Libretto: Adolphe Nourrit after Charles Nodier
Original Designs: Pierre Cicéri & Eugene Lami.
Original Cast: Marie Taglioni
Premiere: Paris Opera Ballet, Paris, 12 March 1832.
Original Choreography: August Bournonville
Original Music: Herman Severin Løvenskiold
Original Designs: Christian Ferdinand Christensen
Original Cast: Lucile Grahn & August Bournonville
Premiere: Royal Theatre, Copenhagen, 28 November 1836.
Sources and Further Information
- La Sylphide (Lacotte/Taglioni). Comparative study from website In The Name of Auguste Vestris [link]
- The Royal Ballet’s La Sylphide Programme Notes
- Marriage and The Inhuman, by Sally Banes and Noel Carroll. Essay published in Rethinking the Sylph, by Lynn Garafola [link]
- The Cult of the Unreal: Nodier and Romantic Monomania, by Marina van Zuylen. Essay published in Monomania, the Flight from Everyday Life in Literature and Art [link]
- The Royal Danish Ballet’s La Sylphide on DVD [link]
- La Sylphide on Bournonville.com website [link]
Coppélia
[...] is its great comedy.† The ballet is an obvious deviation from Romantic ballets, which featured ethereal figures like sylphs and wilis, long tulle dresses for costumes (later known as Romantic tutus), and tragic endings. In contrast, [...]
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[...] likes ballets that taste like 85% cocoa: pure, extra bitter, dark or intense. Her favorites are La Sylphide, Manon, Mayerling, Dances at a Gathering, Ondine, Symphonic Variations, plenty by Balanchine, quite [...]
La Sylphide/Les Sylphides FOTD «
[...] La Sylphide is claimed to be one of the oldest Romantic ballets and is still regularly performed. interestingly enough, there were two versions and only the remake survived. Of course I could tell the whole story and drama here but others have done that way better, so let me redirect you to Emilia of The Ballet Bag. [...]
RDB’s Thomas Lund: Bournonville Forever
[...] a delightfully Danish marathon to end his awe-inspiring career: Flemming Flindt’s The Lesson and August Bournonville’s La Sylphide. In The Lesson, he was joined by the young Ida Praetorius as the student, and his wonderful fellow [...]
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[...] of our 100 Ballets to See Before You Die, La Sylphide, as seen by the lenses of photographer Alice Pennefather, who also captured Balanchine’s hors [...]
Jane Waters
Just seen Tamara Rojo dance the role of the Sylph and cannot imagine a better performance. She is so delicate, she seems to float on air – those arms and those eyes!
Also, Dawid Trzensimiech in his debut as James was a revelation. First class.
Laura (@bellafigural)
@clouddancefest For La Sylphide, see @theballetbag’s intro perhaps: http://t.co/J8Kph6HG. If you liked Giselle, it might be worth seeing.
The Ballet Bag (@theballetbag) (@theballetbag) (@theballetbag) (@theballetbag)
With Salome AND La Sylphide we’re dubbing next ROH booking period “season of temptresses”. BTW, here’s why La S. rocks http://t.co/fjLMyYBJ
A Ballet Drama – and a new leotard – for Christmas
[...] classic fairy tales (Swan Lake, La Sylphide) to the extra gritty and dark dramas (Mayerling, Onegin), a good tearjerker is an ideal excuse to [...]
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[...] Elizabeth Mason and Friedemann Vogel. The Sylph, James & the fateful window [...]
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[...] trolls, a feisty heroine and a hero who triumphs against the odds. You are well-versed in Giselle, La Sylphide, Ondine and would like to try a different supernatural [...]
Giselle
[...] the great “white ballets” from classical dance’s Romantic period. Giselle and La Sylphide (also led by Marie Taglioni) inspired ballets like La Fille du Danube, L’Ombre, La Gitana and [...]
Sylvia
[...] a strong female character, a masculine huntress in contrast to the ethereal image of the fairy or Sylph. Sylvia represents an important change in the image of women in [...]
Natalya
I can’t thank you enough, “manhattnik”, for sharing this information regarding film footage of Gelsey (and of Misha).
Kirkland and Baryshnikov have been the most influential artists in my life, and they had both stopped performing classical ballet by the time I entered professional ballet school, which further illustrates the impact of their influence.
I have a library of VHS and DVD footage of both of them (and of many other celebrated partnerships of the 60s and 70s), but always craved and searched for more of Gelsey.
It seems defeatist or negative to say, but I don’t believe there will ever be another artist like Gelsey in classical ballet. She was the complete package of grace, lyricism, technical perfection, and deep character analysis with every role she performed.
She is truly nature’s Giselle, and I am booking my flight to New York to see those film clips as soon as humanly possible!
Thank goodness she’s started the Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet — Gelsey’s probably the only dancer that can resurrect the emotionally-soulless world of ballet!
I found it comforting (probably sounds weird but other former dancers might understand) that Misha still speaks of Gelsey with almost protective-admiration today — despite her book and despite their past conflicts. I watched/read several interviews in 2007 and 2008 in which Misha referred to her as one of the most important people in his life as an artist, and it seems as if he categorized Dancing on My Grave in with the time when she was “out of her mind” and “not at her full potential”. When the interviewer pressed him, he seemed to indicate that it was not how he wanted to remember their partnership. He really gave Gelsey serious respect.
I spoke to David Howard for my thesis on ballet in university a few years prior to that, and he said that Gelsey and Misha had sort of grown-up and gotten on with being respectful to one another, and that whenever Misha ran into Mr. Howard he always asked about Gelsey.
I suppose it sounds silly to reflect on these trivial details involving two artists that I’ve never met, but it is what my former dance colleagues and I hold onto at times when we feel that there are so few (as in, virtually none) great partnerships like Kirkland and Baryshnikov in dance today. That they could go through so much as artists and still admire each other is pretty amazing… and inspiring.
Anyway, thanks again. You totally made my day with that Gelsey/Sylphide description!
Romeo and Juliet Roundup
[...] in this ballet. They have been a successful partnership in 18th century classics like Giselle, La Sylphide and The Sleeping Beauty but here in Romeo and Juliet they don’t seem as ideally matched. [...]
La Sylphide - Review
[...] write a book called “100 ballets to see before you die†(perhaps there’s a market for that?), La Sylphide would certainly be one of my top 10 picks. It’s a ballet that digs deep, that still has much [...]
manhattnik
Actually, Gelsey’s Sylph has been preserved, sort of. Back in the Seventies, a woman named Lucia Wayne, supposedly an usher at Lincoln Center, famously (or infamously) smuggled a film camera (remember film?) into many of Gelsey’s performances. Her bootlegs ended up being donated to the Dance Research library at Lincoln Center, where you can watch them for free. But you can’t buy them, or see them anywhere else. Several years ago, the Dance Critics’ Association (I was the VP of their board for some reason once, and probably the worst they ever had) got someone to cobble together various films of Gelsey dancing Giselle (Wayne couldn’t film an entire performance at once; cameras didn’t have the capacity then) and had a pianist “retrofit” the music to her dancing. You can see this marvel at the Dance Collection, and a film of her doing the “Spessitseva” solo surfaced on YouTube. It’s the one where she starts out with that amazing penchee, melting from pique through her flat foot.
For years, I remembered a La Sylphide that Gelsey danced at the Met with George de la Pena as one of the most amazing things I’d ever seen. When her Sylph did those jetes across the stage in front of the reel, everyone, I mean everyone at the Met gasped like they used to do for Misha or Fernando. It was like a wind blew her.
Wayne did make films of Gelsey dancing La Sylphide a year or two earlier, at the NY State Theater, with Misha. When I heard them, I had to see them, but with a lot of trepidation. What if Gelsey wasn’t as good as my twenty-year-old memories? So I looked at these film fragments — no sound, crappy, grainy black-and-white footage shot from what looked like the Fourth Ring — starting with her dancing besides Misha’s sleeping James, and I was dumbfounded. Even in this terrible footage, she was astonishing; she wasn’t as good as I remembered — she was better. Those jetes across the stage were just as spine-tingling, with a little come-hither glance tossed over her shoulder at the hapless Misha as she vanished into the wings.
I tell every dance person I know who’s visiting New York to see those Gelsey films (well, you can probably skip Shadowplay). They’re amazing. Most of the commercially available footage of Gelsey was made when she was dancing well below her best (for the sad reasons she detailed in her book, Dancing on my Grave).
Emilia
Thanks, glad you found useful Eric I am very fond of La S. & could talk about it for days on end… poor readers! : )
As for GK as The Sylph (sigh), I can only imagine… It’s a shame it has not been preserved for future generations.
manhattnik
I learned a lot from this!
I’d just add that for those of us of a certain generation, Gelsey Kirkland will always be THE Sylph. I’ve seen many great Sylphs over the years, but Kirkland gave me goosebumps, even now as I remember her. It probably didn’t hurt her air of other-wordliness that she was pretty much stark raving bonkers by the late Seventies.