La Péri (Burgmüller)

About the show

The ballet, in two acts, three scenes, had a typically Romantic plot dealing with a mortal's love for a supernatural being. 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. 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. To test his love, she takes the form of a runaway slave, Leila. 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.