Léo Delibes was 30 years old when he achieved his critical breakthrough in France’s musical metropolis. Having made his debut with the music for the ballet La Source (The Source), he was immediately entrusted with the commission of writing a ballet composition that would fill an entire evening performance; the result was Coppélia. The scenery for this fairy-tale piece was designed by Charles Nuitter, and the story was taken from E.T.A. Hoffmann’s Der Sandmann (The Sandman). In 1994 the Opéra National de Lyon performed Léo Delibes’s ballet Coppélia under the choreography of Maguy Martin. The set was designed by Renaud Gaulot, costumes by Montserrat Casanova, with lighting by Jørgen S. Johannessen. Kent Nagano conducted the orchestra of the Opéra National.