German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once said that he liked the music of Leo Delibes because the French composer made “no pretensions to depth.”

Well, maybe--but without Delibes’ ballet scores for Sylvia and Coppelia, we would not have Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty or The Nutcracker. And that was a debt that Tchaikovsky himself was happy to admit.

In this hour, the impact of Delibes on ballet music in general, and Tchaikovsky’s in particular.