Description
La Sylphide is a classic of the Romantic ballet repertoire that originated in the 1830s. The 1836 choreography by August Bournonville is one of the world’s oldest surviving ballets and remains one of his most celebrated works. Set in Scotland, it portrays a love triangle between the central character, a young Scottish farmer named James, his fiancee, Effie, and a seductive supernatural sylph who first appears to him in a dream before he awakens on his wedding day, and then reappears to attempt to lure the conflicted James away and prevent him from following through with the marriage.
Robert O’Hearn was an American set designer, for theater, ballet, and especially, opera. He designed 13 productions for the Metropolitan Opera between 1960 and 1985. Educated at Indiana University, he designed productions for the Brattle Theatre at Harvard University from 1948 to 1952 and began working regularly on Broadway starting in 1953. He also designed productions for the New York City Opera, New York Shakespeare Festival, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, and other American and European productions. From 1988 until 2008 he was a faculty member at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.
Condition: Each generally very good with the usual overall light toning, wear, handling. Swatches of fabric pinned on paper, as issued.
References:
“La Sylphide.” American Ballet Theatre Repertory Archive. 5 June 2022. https://www.abt.org/ballet/la-sylphide-lander/ (8 June 2022).
“La Sylphide.” American Ballet Theatre Repertory Archive. https://www.abt.org/ballet/la-sylphide-bruhn-1971/ (8 June 2022).
“La Sylphide.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Sylphide (8 June 2022).
“Robert O’Hearn.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_O%27Hearn (23 June 2020).
“Scene design for Act II in La Sylphide.” McNay Art Museum. 2022. https://collection.mcnayart.org/objects/11766/scene-design-for-act-ii-in-la-sylphide (8 June 2022).
