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Sylphide

Small Sylph from Pope's The Rape of the Lock

The Sylphid (French Sylphide, English Sylphid, Latin sylphida) is the decisive canonical adaptation of the small Sylph or young Sylph introduced as 'sylphid' in line 50 of Canto 1 of the satirical poem The Rape of the Lock (1714 5-canto expanded edition) of Alexander Pope (Alexander Pope, 1688-1744) published in England on 4 May 1712. The etymology combines the Latin sylphus (Sylph, air spirit) of Paracelsus of 1566 with the Greek-Latin diminutive-feminine suffix -ida — the decisive canonical vocabulary — and the iconography depicts an elegant, light spirit with small butterfly- or dragonfly-like wings in white attire. The decisive canon is the ballet La Sylphide premiered at the Salle Le Peletier opera house in Paris on 12 March 1832 — composed by Jean-Madeleine Schneitzhoeffer, choreographed by Filippo Taglioni, with Marie Taglioni in the lead role — establishing the decisive origin of 19th-century Romantic ballet as the first pointe-shoe performance in ballet history. The 1822 novella Trilby, ou le Lutin d'Argail of the French writer Charles Nodier (Charles Nodier, 1780-1844) is the decisive source of the 1832 ballet libretto, and the Danish version premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen on 28 July 1836, choreographed by August Bournonville (1805-1879) and composed by Herman Severin Lovenskiold, is the decisive Danish ballet canon preserved to 2024.

Origin

The iconographic origin combines the Sylph of Paracelsus's four-element-spirit canon of 1566 with the Greek-Latin diminutive suffix -ida — the decisive canonical adaptation. The 1712 satirical poem The Rape of the Lock of Alexander Pope (1688-1744) (first edition 2 cantos, 1714 expanded 5 cantos) published in London on 4 May 1712 — the decisive vocabulary canonisation as 'sylphid' in line 50 of Canto 1. The decisive canon is the 1822 novella Trilby, ou le Lutin d'Argail of the French writer Charles Nodier (Charles Nodier, 1780-1844) — the tragic love of the forest spirit Trilby in the Scottish Highlands of Argyll and the fisherman's wife Jenny — the decisive source of the 1832 ballet libretto, and the ballet La Sylphide premiered at the Salle Le Peletier opera house in Paris on 12 March 1832 — composed by Jean-Madeleine Schneitzhoeffer (1785-1852), choreographed by Filippo Taglioni (1777-1871), with Marie Taglioni (1804-1884) in the lead role — establishing the decisive origin of 19th-century Romantic ballet as the first pointe-shoe performance in ballet history. The Danish version premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark on 28 July 1836, choreographed by August Bournonville (August Bournonville, 1805-1879) and composed by Herman Severin Lovenskiold (Herman Severin Lovenskiold) — preserved to 2024 — is the decisive Danish ballet canon.

Features

Very small form (butterfly or dragonfly size)
Elegant dancer-like movements
Light and swift like air
White attire and small wings
Tradition of guarding virgins
Weakness to physical impact

Stories

The 'sylphid' vocabulary in line 50 of Canto 1 of the 1712 satirical poem The Rape of the Lock of Alexander Pope (1688-1744) published in London on 4 May 1712 is the decisive vocabulary canonisation event. The decisive canon is the ballet La Sylphide (2 acts) premiered at the Salle Le Peletier opera house in Paris on 12 March 1832 — composed by Schneitzhoeffer (1785-1852), choreographed by Filippo Taglioni (1777-1871), with Marie Taglioni (1804-1884) in the lead role — the decisive origin of 19th-century Romantic ballet as the first pointe-shoe performance in ballet history, and the 1822 novella Trilby, ou le Lutin d'Argail of Charles Nodier (1780-1844) is the decisive source of the 1832 ballet libretto. The Danish version premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen on 28 July 1836, choreographed by August Bournonville (1805-1879) and composed by Herman Severin Lovenskiold — the decisive Bournonville school canon — is preserved and performed by the Royal Danish Ballet to 2024. The decisive other ballet canon is the Les Sylphides (Les Sylphides) premiered at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris on 2 June 1909, choreographed by Mikhail Fokine (Mikhail Fokine, 1880-1942) and produced by Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes (Ballets Russes) — Chopin-music arrangement — the decisive 20th-century abstract ballet canon. The Sylph of the 1977 D&D Monster Manual by Gary Gygax of TSR in the USA and the summoned beast Sylph of the 1987 Square's Final Fantasy III in Japan are modern canons.

Weakness

The Sylphid's weaknesses are: (1) physical impact — the decisive canon that, being very light and small, it is weak against human force; (2) binding to a human man's love — the decisive tragic canon in the 1832 ballet La Sylphide that when a Sylphid loves a human man, she loses her free essence; (3) the witch's magical scarf — the decisive 19th-century Romantic ballet tragic canon in the finale of the 1832 ballet La Sylphide in which the Scottish youth James (James) receives from the witch Madge (Madge) a magical scarf that can make the Sylphid his forever, but wrapping it around her causes her wings to fall off and her to die; (4) revelation of secrets — the canon in Nodier's 1822 Trilby and Montfaucon de Villars's 1690 Le Comte de Gabalis that revealing a promise causes the Sylphid to vanish; (5) strong wind — the small form is swept by storms; (6) heavy substances — weak against lead and iron according to the four-element binding of the 1566 Paracelsus canon; (7) the essence of fickleness — cannot stay in one place; (8) the betrayal of a human bride — the decisive 19th-century Romantic tragic finale in the 1832 ballet La Sylphide in which James abandons his fiancee Effie (Effie) to chase the Sylphid, and after the Sylphid's death, Effie marries James's friend Gurn (Gurn). The decisive finale is the 1832 ballet La Sylphide in which sister Sylphids lift the dead Sylphid's body into the sky — the decisive 19th-century Romantic ballet tragic canon.

Cultural Significance

The Sylphid is the canonical iconographic figure of the decisive ballet-dance canon traversing the vocabulary canon in line 50 of Canto 1 of Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock of 1712, the 1822 novella Trilby, ou le Lutin d'Argail of Charles Nodier, the 1832 ballet La Sylphide of Schneitzhoeffer/Filippo Taglioni/Marie Taglioni, the 1836 Danish version of Bournonville/Lovenskiold, and the 1909 ballet Les Sylphides of Fokine. The decisive ballet canon is the ballet La Sylphide (2 acts) premiered at the Salle Le Peletier opera house in Paris on 12 March 1832 — as the first pointe-shoe performance in ballet history — became the decisive origin of 19th-century Romantic ballet, and Marie Taglioni (Marie Taglioni, born 23 April 1804 in Stockholm, Sweden, died 22 April 1884 in Marseille, France) — choreographed by her father Filippo Taglioni — became the decisive first ballerina to take the stage in pointe shoes and the decisive canon of 19th-century ballet. The Danish version La Sylphide premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen on 28 July 1836, choreographed by Bournonville (August Bournonville, 1805-1879) and composed by Lovenskiold (Herman Severin Lovenskiold) — the decisive Bournonville school canon — is preserved and performed by the Royal Danish Ballet to 2024. The Les Sylphides (Les Sylphides) premiered at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris on 2 June 1909, choreographed by Mikhail Fokine (Mikhail Fokine, 1880-1942) and produced by Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes (Ballets Russes) — arrangement of Chopin's (Frederic Chopin) nocturnes, waltzes, mazurkas, and preludes — is the decisive 20th-century abstract ballet canon.

In Popular Culture

Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock Canto 1 line 50 (1712) — decisive vocabulary canonCharles Nodier, Trilby, ou le Lutin d'Argail (1822) — decisive ballet source canonBallet La Sylphide, Paris (1832) — decisive 19th-century Romantic ballet origin canonBournonville, La Sylphide, Copenhagen (1836) — decisive Danish ballet canonBallet Les Sylphides, Fokine/Diaghilev (1909) — decisive 20th-century abstract ballet canonGygax, D&D Monster Manual, Sylph (1977) — decisive fantasy RPG canonSquare, Final Fantasy III, Sylph (1987) — decisive video-game canonFrederick Ashton, La Sylphide (1960) — British Royal Ballet decisive canon

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