Playwright Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, better known as Molière, is renowned as one of the greatest writers of all time. He is best known as a playwright, but he also dabbled in writing comédie-ballets, a genre of plays that also contain music and dance. The most remembered comédie-ballet is 1670’s Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, produced in collaboration with composer Jean-Baptiste Lully and choreographer Pierre Beauchamp.

In 1667, the trio produced another comédie-ballet, entitled Le Sicilien ou l’Amour peintre, in which King Louis XIV of France performed. This work inspired another ballet of the same name, premiered at the Paris Opera in 1827. The 1827 ballet is mostly forgotten, and only received 6 performances. But one of those performances proved to be a landmark moment for the Paris Opera Ballet.

The Scottish Play (or Opera)

In 1827 the Paris Opera and Ballet companies were based at the Salle Le Peletier, and under the direction of the newly appointed Émile Lubbert. Lubbert’s tenure at the Opera produced many celebrated works, including Rossini’s Guillaume Tell and Auber’s La muette de Portici. He was also responsible for signing off on Meyerbeer’s Robert le diable, although it premiered during the term of Lubbert’s successor, Louis Véron.

One of the first operas produced during Lubbert’s term was an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, composed by Hippolyte André Jean Baptiste Chélard with a libretto by Rouget de Lisle. This work was to premiere on 29th June 1827, just over a fortnight after Le Sicilien. Of the two works, Macbeth was deemed more important, and this can be seen in the creation process of Le Sicilien.

The choreographer of the ballet was to be Anatole Petit. Petit was the husband of Madame Anatole, Constance-Hippolyte Gosselin. Gosselin was one of the four Gosselin sisters, all ballerinas. Madame Anatole danced with the Paris Opera from 1813-1829, performing major roles. Petit, on the other hand, went more under the radar. He produced a ballet in London in 1822, and had staged ballets in Belgium, but Le Sicilien was his only ballet choreographed for the Paris Opera. One pas was choreographed by Albert (François-Ferdinand Decombe), who was to create the role of Alphonse.

The situation with Macbeth meant little design work went into the ballet. Costumes and sets were reused from previous ballets, which wasn’t uncommon, but Ivor Guest writes that only 4 new costumes were created for the ballet. The music was similarly hurried, with guitarist Ferdinando Sor and composer Jean Schneitzhoeffer composing the score.

If one may be allowed to praise something in it, at least there was not very much noise.

Music critic Castil-Blaze, quoted in Guest (1966, p.72)

All in all, the creation of the ballet was rushed and hindered by the simultaneous creation of Macbeth. The ballet ended up premiering after only two weeks of rehearsals, on the 11th June 1827.

The Plot & The Dancers

Perhaps because it was rushed, or perhaps because they realised Molière’s writing didn’t need to be changed, the plot of the ballet roughly matches the original comédie-ballet. The ballet was only 1-Act, meaning portions were cut, and character names were also changed.

Don Pèdre is the guardian of a young woman Léonore, and is planning to marry her. Alphonse, a young man, has also fallen in love with Léonore, and enlists his valet Diégo to help him win Léonore’s heart. He first distracts Don Pédre with singers and dancers, then switches places with a painter painting Léonore’s portrait. These two instances allow him to inform Léonore of his plan (we are to assume Léonore is up for this). Finally he sends in another young girl, who asks Don Pédre to help hide her from her angry lover. He does so. The angry lover soon follows, but the lover is actually Alphonse in disguise. As Don Pédre calms him down the hiding girl switches clothes with Léonore, allowing her to run off to be with Alphonse.

As previously mentioned, Alphonse was danced by Albert (a stage name of François-Ferdinand Decombe). Albert was a senior dancer at the Opera, joining the company in 1808. Some noted previous roles of his included Germeuil, the male lead in Nina ou la folle par amour (1813), and Zéphire in the 1815 Paris Opera revival of Flore et Zephire. He had also choreographed Cendrillon for the Opera in 1823, and would choreograph La Jolie Fille de Gand in 1842.

Lise Noblet created the role of Léonore. Noblet had made her Paris Opera debut in 1919, dancing opposite Albert. In 1821 she danced the title role in the London premiere of Nina ou la folle par amour. She was one of the principal ballerinas of the Opera, having danced her way into being considered a replacement for Emilie Bigottini, the reigning ballerina who had retired in 1823 (and returned for one performance in April 1827).

Continuing the trend of male dancers going by mononyms, the role of Diégo was created by Ferdinand (Jean La Brunière de Médicis). Ferdinand joined the Paris Opera in 1813, enjoying a 20-year career there. He was a frequent partner of Lise Noblet, and just a couple of months after Le Sicilien premiered he would create the role of the male lead in La Somnambule, a highly-successful work that would be revived at the Opera for 20 years following its creation.

Simon Mérante danced Don Pèdre. Mérante created many similar roles, and danced with the Opera from 1808 all the way into the 1830s. The up-and-coming Mademoiselle Julia (full name Julia de Varennes) danced the young girl in distress. Other divertissements were danced by Pauline Montessu (see my whole post on her here), Madame Anatole (Constance Gosselin), Fanny Bias, and Félicité Noblet, the sister of Lise.

The Appearance of The Sylph

The 6 performances of the ballet rank it as one of the least performed ballets produced during the Romantic period (1820-1847). It stayed in the repertoire for about a month, then disappears completely. At one of those performances, on the 23rd July, Marie Taglioni made her debut at the Paris Opera.

Marie and her brother Paul, along with their father Filippo, had arrived in Paris in June 1827, most likely a few days before Le Sicilien premiered. They had accepted an engagement to dance in several performances over a fortnight, on the condition that Filippo was able to arrange the dances they performed (something he would continue to do for Marie). It was common then for guest dancers to have a pas inserted into a ballet, even if it didn’t really fit, and so Marie and Paul’s debut pas was inserted into Le Sicilien.

Their pas was set to music by violinist and composer Joseph Mayseder, and was a great success. Marie was the star of the evening, being compared to Geneviève Gosselin (the older sister of Madame Anatole), but also being praised for her originality. By all accounts, the Parisian public had never seen a dancer like Marie, and they were clamouring to see her again.

The occupants of the stalls at the Ópera have lost the habit of, but not the taste for, novelties; they stamped with joy… I have seldom witnessed such brilliant débuts in dancing as those of Mlle. and M. Taglioni.

An anonymous critic writing in Le Constitutionnel, 28th July 1827, quoted in Levinson (1977, p.21)

Marie and Paul repeated their pas on the 27th, and again on the 6th August, but it is unclear whether Le Sicilien was the main ballet being performed on either of these dates. They finished their debut appearances in August, having also danced in the opera Le Vestale, and a pas de schal.

Marie would go on to enjoy a successful career across Europe. La Sylphide, a ballet choreographer for her by her father, is one of the most successful ballets produced during the Romantic period (but is beaten by Giselle for the reigning title). The flurry of excitement surrounding her debut has allowed Le Sicilien a solid place in the history books, much like many other less successful ballets, which were often lifted by the performance of the dancers.

So why is it forgotten?

Le Sicilien was the first ballet commissioned by a new Director of the Ópera, a Director who would thankfully usher in more prosperous ballets during his tenure. The general consensus of the critics was that the ballet was decidedly mediocre. The performances were praised, particularly Ferdinand’s miming in the role of Diégo. At the premiere of the ballet the names of the creators were not booed, but didn’t cause much excitement either.

Reviews also notes that it was difficult to translate Molière’s wit into pure mime, and that the cast looked best when they were dancing. The rushed creation process can’t have helped. The fact that Anatole Petit never choreographed another ballet may well show that he was not the most gifted of choreographers. It doesn’t seem to be the biggest loss that the ballet has not survived in any form, especially when compared to other ballets from the era.

Molière’s comédie-ballet has had a better legacy. New scores were composed for revivals by Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1679), Antoine Dauvergne (1780) and Camille Saint-Saëns (1892). 20th-century revivals were produced in the interwar period. In 2005 it was revived by the Comédie-Française and the musical ensemble Les Arts florissants, using the original Lully score. The Lully score is still being used today for productions in France, and I think it’s safe to say Molière’s Le Sicilien wins the legacy battle here.

Sources

Beaumont, C.W. (1956). The Complete Book of Ballets. Putnam.

Grevedon, P.L. (1820s). Mademoiselle Noblet [Lithograph]. Prints and Drawing Department, British Museum (Registration Number 1871,0812.4230). https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1871-0812-4230

Guest, I. (1966). The Romantic Ballet in Paris. Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons Ltd.

Levinson, A. (1977). Marie Taglioni (C.W. Beaumont, Trans.). Dance Books (Original work published 1929).