Les ballets de Delibes et la modernité musicale au temps de Berlioz

Although Delibes’ and Berlioz’s paths only crossed very briefly during rehearsals at the Théâtre Lyrique and the Paris Opéra and, although the composer of Les Troyens did not overly rate the young Delibes, the latter probably did not forget the lessons he learnt from his elder. The music of La Source, Delibes’ first ballet performed at the Paris Opéra during Berlioz’s lifetime, stood out from preceding works by its conscientious writing, its sense of drama, its dynamism and its orchestral inspiration. Delibes’ fresh attitude towards the hitherto scorned genre of ballet music was resolutely modernist in 1866. He successfully consolidated this new approach with Coppélia (1870) then Sylvia (1876).