Sylvia - Ballet Music - II. Intermezzo Et Valse Lente

Sylvia Sylvia, ou La Nymphe de Diane (Sylvia, or Diana's nymph) is a ballet with music by Leo Delibes. First choreographed by Louis Mérante in 1876, it draws inspiration from Tasso's 1573 poem Aminta, which provides the basic plot of Delibes' work. The piano arrangement was written in 1876 and the orchestral suite was finished in 1880. The first productions of Sylvia were not commercially successful: it was the 1952 revival, choreographed by Sir Frederick Ashton, that popularized the ballet. Sylvia is nowadays considered an influential ballet for its times: the score is varied and rich, and it stands out, drawing the focus from the sets, the dancers, and the costumes. Instead of receding into the background, setting only the mood, Delibes' score sets the action. The prelude to the first act and the pizzicati in the third are the significantly more famous sections of this already notable score. The latter, the more famous, is a well-known example of pizzicato style. Clément Philibert Léo Delibes was a French composer of ballets, operas, and other works for the stage. His most notable works include ballets Coppélia (1870) and Sylvia (1876) as well as the operas Le roi l'a dit (1873) and Lakmé (1883). Some musicologists believe that the ballet in Gounod's Faust was actually composed by Delibes. He died in Paris from natural causes on 16 January 1891, at the age of 54. He was buried in the Cimetière de Montmartre in Paris.