La Péri (Burgmüller)

La Péri is a fantastic ballet choreographed by Jean Coralli (1779-1854) to music composed by Friedrich Burgmüller.

With a scenario devised by Théophile Gautier and Coralli, scenery designed by Charles Séchan, Jules Diéterle, Édouard Desplechin, Humanité Philastre, and Charles Cambon, and costumes designed by Paul Lorimer and Hippolyte d'Orshwiller, it was first presented by the Paris Opera Ballet at the Académie Royale de Musique on 17 July 1843.

Gautier's scenario was inspired by his attraction to the Orient and was devised for his favorite ballerina, Carlotta Grisi, in the guise of a Persian fairy.

[2] She appears to the wealthy and world-weary Sultan Achmet, danced by Lucien Petipa, in one of his opium dreams, and he falls in love with her.

Achmet is imprisoned for refusing to surrender her to her owner, but in an apotheosis the walls of his prison vanish and he is seen entering paradise with the Péri.